Arabella would have answered him sharply, but they were entering the schoolroom, so she was obliged to be silent.
Later, when they were asked to write upon the little blackboard, Arabella looked for a chance to tease Reginald.
"If he does anything that I can laugh at, I'll laugh till he's mad as a hornet," she whispered.
It happened that Reginald was the first to go to the board.
Aunt Charlotte asked for a sentence which should contain but five words, and yet tell a bit of news.
Dorothy intended to write: "Nancy is a true friend," while Nancy thought that this would be interesting: "Dorothy will have a party," but Reginald felt sure that he had thought of the smartest sentence, and his face beamed with delight when he was told that he might write it.
He glanced toward Arabella as he strutted to the blackboard, and boldly he wrote:
It was funny, and Reginald wondered why even Aunt Charlotte looked amused. Every one knew Fido, and only that morning the little dog had followed Reginald and Katie half-way to school, the bell on his new collar tinkling all the way.
That Reginald should have spelled the name "_Phido_" made them laugh, but Arabella was not contented with laughing; she fairly shouted.
"Well, I don't care if you do laugh," he said, his eyes blazing as he looked at her; "you spell photo, just _p-h-o_, and why can't Fido be spelt _P-h-i_?"
When the room was again quiet Aunt Charlotte told Reginald and Arabella to remain for a few moments after school.
When the other pupils had gone, Aunt Charlotte turned toward the two who still kept their seats, and very gently she told Arabella how rude it was to laugh at another's error, and how equally rude for Reginald to reply in so saucy a manner.
"A little girl should be a little lady," she said, "and a small boy should surely be a little gentleman."
Looking straight into Arabella's eyes, he said:
"I guess I'm a gentleman, so I'll 'pol'gize; if I was just a boy I _wouldn't_, though." Arabella was fully equal to a reply.
"I'm as much a lady as you are a gentleman, so I'll say I oughtn't to have laughed, but I _won't_ say I'm sorry."
It was late afternoon, and Flossie, on the piazza, waved her hand to her playmates as they ran down the walk to the gate.