Then Gyp's words taunted her. "You can back out--if you want to!" Oh, no--she would not do that--now; she would not be a coward, she would see it through; she would measure up to the challenge, let it cost what it might she would hold the honor of the school--_her_ school (she said it softly) above all else!
Jerry had never been severely punished in her life; as she sat very quietly in Dr. Caton's office waiting for assembly to end she wondered, with a quickening curiosity, what it would seem like. Anyway, _nothing_ could be worse than having to walk out of the room before all those staring boys and girls.
But Jerry found that something _was_! Barbara Lee came into the room, looking surprised, disappointed and unhappy.
"Jerry," she exclaimed, "I can't believe it."
Jerry wanted to cry out the truth--it wasn't fair. Miss Lee sat down next to her.
"If you had to make fun of someone, why _didn't_ you pick out me--anyone but poor little Miss Gray! I think that if you knew how unhappy and--and _drab_ poor Miss Gray's life has been, how for years she had to pinch and save and deny herself all the little pleasures of life in order to care for her mother who was a helpless invalid, you'd be sorry you had in the smallest measure added any to her unhappiness."
"I wouldn't hurt her feelings for the world," burst out Jerry. Did she not know more about poor little Miss Gray than did even Barbara Lee?
"Then _why_----" But at this dangerous moment Dr. Caton walked into the room.
Jerry's sentence was very simple. She listened with downcast eyes. She was to lose all school privileges for a week; during that time she must occupy a desk in the office, she must eat her lunch alone at this desk, she must not share in any of the school activities until the end of suspension. She must apologize to Miss Gray.
In Jerry's punishment there was an element of novelty that softened its sting. It was very easy to apologize to Miss Gray, partly because she was really innocent and partly because a fresh bunch of violets adorned Miss Gray's desk toward which Jerry had contributed thirty-four cents. Then a message from the Ravens was spirited to her.
You're _wonderful_! We're proud of you. Keep up your nerve. Blessed is the lot of the martyr when for honor he has suffered.