A few of the girls were there--girls who laughed rudely and talked loudly, none of them Gypsy's friends.

Tom never liked to have Gypsy linger about in No.
1, before or after school hours; he said it was not the place for her, and Tom was there that morning, knotting his handsome brows up into a very decided frown, when he saw her in the doorway, with Joy peeping over her shoulder.

So Gypsy--somewhat reluctantly, it must be confessed, for the boys seemed to be having a good time, and with boys' good times she had a most unconquerable sympathy--went up with Joy into Miss Cardrew's recitation room.

Nobody was there.

A great, empty schoolroom, with its rows of silent seats and closed desks, with power to roam whithersoever you will, and do whatsoever you choose, is a great temptation.