The master, afraid of being himself detected in the attempt to combine prayer and vision, kept his "eyelids screwed together tight," and played the spy with his ears alone.

The boys and girls, understanding the source of their security perfectly, believed that the eyelids of the master would keep faith with them, and so disported themselves without fear in the delights of dumb show.
As soon as the prayer was over they dropped, with no little noise and bustle, into their seats.

But presently Annie was rudely pushed out of her seat by a hoydenish girl, who, arriving late, had stood outside the door till the prayer was over, and then entered unperceived during the subsequent confusion.

Some little ones on the opposite form, however, liking the look of her, and so wishing to have her for a companion, made room for her beside them.

The desks were double, so that the two rows at each desk faced each other.
"Bible-class come up," were the first words of the master, ringing through the room, and resounding awfully in Annie's ears.
A moment of chaos followed, during which all the boys and girls, considered capable of reading the Bible, were arranging themselves in one great crescent across the room in front of the master's desk.