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Chapter 9 The Other School · The Wind Boy

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  Chapter nine of The Wind Boy by Ethel Cook Eliot. This LibriVox recording is
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  in the public domain. Chapter nine The Other School That Monday morning, the
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  minute Genteen and Kay had slipped into their seats, they looked to see if
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  Miss Todd had kept her Sunday face, a face that was so alive,
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  But alas she had not. Now she was her school self again, borisk
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  and business like, but the aliveness was gone. She began the morning with
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  an arithmety example, the same for all, and those who get the correct
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  answer in five minutes shall have turns in making up problems for the class.
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  She promised. That will be interesting, won't it. Now? Although Gentian
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  had been hearing the language of this adopted country for more than a year,
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  she was still slow at understanding when someone spoke as briskly as Miss Todd always
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  did speak in school. I must tell you that Gentian was a little slower
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  at everything than Kay. It was not that she did not think as much
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  and as truly, it was that she did not think so quickly. And
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  now she knitted her brow over the very wording of the example that Miss Todd
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  had dictated. How was she ever to begin figuring until she remembered the meanings
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  of the words. She looked up at the clock with its moving hands.
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  Her cheeks began to get hot. She glanced worriedly across at Kay, but
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  he, all unaware of her trouble, was bent over his paper, his
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  pencil moving surely and swiftly. If he had understood, why couldn't she.
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  On the way back to her vaper, her eyes met Miss Todd's inquiring ones.
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  What is it to genteen? Miss Todd asked, if you have your
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  answer already, please bring it to me. Miss Todd must have known that
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  there had not been time for Gentian to do the problem, especially with her
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  eyes wandering around the room. The words were spoken only to shame the little
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  girl for idling. Genteen shook her head. I suppose that gesture means that
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  you have not the answer yet, Miss Todd said, then please attent to
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  your work as the others are doing. Gentian looked at you to flee down
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  at the paper on her desk, But now she found that even the meanings
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  of the few words she had understood when she took them down had left her.
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  The figures and letters danced crazily all together back and forth, and up
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  and down on the yellow scratch paper. Her cheeks were getting hotter and hotter,
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  for she felt that Miss Todd was still watching her. It seemed hours
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  to Gentian before the given five minutes were up, but Miss Todd's words then
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  filled her with dismay. They were now all put down your pencils please,
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  while Gentian gives us her answer. Gentian looked at Miss Todd with doubtful surprise.
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  Didn't she know that Gentian had not made one mark on her paper?
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  Hadn't she been watching all the time? Yes. Miss Todd's expression told Gentien
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  that she knew then why Gentian dropped her head now in the shame that Miss
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  Todd thought it well for her to feel. I haven't got the answer,
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  She said, in a low voice. I don't understand. Don't whisper.
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  Please stand up up and repeat what you muttered, loudly enough for me and
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  your schoolmates to hear. Gentians stood up by her desk. I have not
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  got an answer. I have not done the problem, not done it at
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  all, not even begun, No, not even begun. Miss Todd was
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  silent at that, and all the children held their breath. How many have
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  done the problem, she at last asked. Several pupils raised their hands,
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  and Kay was among them. You see, Miss Todd, said to Gentian,
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  many of the others have finished, while you haven't even begun. I
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  know, of course, that you are slower. You might at least have
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  tried again. She was silent. Gentians still stood. She was looking at
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  her sandals, for she had not the heart to look anywhere else. What
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  were they all thinking of her? And Kay, oh, how ashamed of
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  his sister he must be. Miss Todd, out of her silence, came
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  to a decision. I must do with you, then, Gentean, what
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  I have not had to do with another child for years. It is an
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  old fashioned punishment and quite out of keeping with my modern methods, but I
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  can think of no other way to impress you with your lack of corporation.
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  You must wear a dunce cap and stand in the corner here behind me for
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  half an hour. A giggle went round the room, but Miss Todd's swift
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  glance sought the gigglers out, and the school was as silent as before.
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  Then she made the high dunce cap very quickly and expertly, from an old
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  map that she took from a drawer of her desk. She pinned it into
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  shape with pins from another drawer. Then she beckoned Gentian to her, and
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  when Gentian had got there, her eyes still on her sandals, her cheeks
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  are hot, poppy red with shame. Miss Todd fitted the dunce cap down
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  on her bright fairy gold head. That done so snugly there was no chance
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  of it tumbling off. Miss Todd turned Gentian about by the shoulders and gave
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  her a gentle shove toward the corner. How Gentian found the corner safely,
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  I do not know, for her eyes were quite blurred with tears that she
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  was steadfastly winking back. Now, Gentian heard Miss Todd say to her other
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  pupils, you are not to stare at Gentian any more. Kay may stand
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  and give us his answer. Gentean very well knew that Kay's pleasure in being
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  so chosen was entirely spoiled by his shame and sorrow for his sister. Her
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  shoulders began to shake, and two tears escaped her hardest blinking and rolled down
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  her cheeks to splash on the faded blue of her dress, and to add
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  to its dimness. Oh I mustn't, I mustn't cry out loud, she
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  said to herself, Kay would never forgive me. I must stop, stop,
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  stop now. Gentian, in spite of all her gentleness, was a
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  brave little girl, and using all the braveness that was hers, she did
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  manage to wink her tears away. The minute they were gone and her eyes
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  were clear, she instantly forgot all her trouble in her utter surprise at what
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  was happening. She was not looking at the corner of the schoolroom at all.
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  No, she was standing just inside another school, facing it. She
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  knew it at once. She knew at once, by the clear crystal light,
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  that she had got through her own crystal tears somehow to a school in
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  the clear land, the school that hung in the air above her every day
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  school. Why, of course, the school must have its other school too,
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  just as the shoe store had its other shoe store. The artists mentioned
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  its other mansion rising into the clouds, and the village church its other church,
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  but she had not thought of that before. This other school was very
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  different from the school she had just left. Back there. Its walls and
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  roof were nothing but delicate green vines and white star flowers growing on trellises.
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  It was just a big arbor with a grassy floor, and the pupils were
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  sitting about cross legged on the ground. The teacher, though, sat at
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  the end of a low green garden bench, and she was helping a little
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  clear child, the youngest in the school, with a problem. He was
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  on his knees beside her on the bench, leaning against her shoulder, watching
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  the figures she was making on the tablet in her hand. That was why,
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  just at first, Gentian did not guess that she was the teacher at
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  all, for in her own school no one would think of leaning against miss
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  Todd in that happy, carefree way. But the minute the teacher spoke,
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  Gentean knew that she must be the teacher, for her voice had such sure,
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  clear authority. She was looking at Gentian, a little surprised, perhaps
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  to see a human child standing there in her arbor school. What is it,
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  little girl, she asked, do you want something here? Gentian did
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  not answer quickly. I have told you she was apt to think slowly,
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  but that was not her only reason for forgetting to answer promptly. Now,
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  this teacher was so lovely. Her gown was yellow and fell from her shoulders
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  in soft folds and trailed out onto the grass beside her like a long,
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  wide sunbeam. Her soft golden hair was braided in two thick plaits that laid
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  down her breasts and hung far below her knees. Around her brow was a
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  shining circlet of star flowers, violets, and her patchus and hippaticas, And
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  that brow, because she was a clear person, was shining and wide.
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  If you had suddenly broken out of your school into its other school in the
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  air, and found a teacher there, all made up of light, would
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  you have remembered to answer her first question promptly? I think I would have
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  done just as Gentian did, and gazed wide eyed. But when Gentian did
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  remember, she said, oh, excuse me, please, I am sorry,
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  I am so slow. I don't want anything. You don't want anything,
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  exclaimed the teacher. Are you sure, Gentian laughed, then her merriest
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  laugh that so few people ever heard. Why? Yes, of course,
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  I want lots of things. I want my father to find us, and
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  I want my mother to have a new frock. I want the wind boy
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  to get his mask back too. Oh. I do want many things,
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  But don't you want anything? That we can give you here in this school,
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  asked the teacher. You must have come for something. I want not
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  to be so slow at problems. But perhaps I was born slow and nobody
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  can help me there. At that, the teacher laughed and all her pupils
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  laughed gaily musically. Of course you're not born slow. What a quaint idea,
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  And that is just why you have come to my school, then,
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  to learn to think quickly. What is the problem that is bothering you at
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  this minute? Gentian went to her and showed the paper which she had kept
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  in her hand. Here it is, she said, I can't even understand
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  the world birds. It is the very problem we ourselves were doing when you
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  came up. I am helping little Basile here with his because he is so
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  small. Then the teacher turned to her school, Which of you would like
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  to help the little human? She asked. All the clear children were eager
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  to help Gentian, and they raised their hands to say so. But one
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  little girl away at the farther side of the arbor in her hand held up
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  a little stone and smiled at Gentian. It was as yell. The teacher
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  saw the special friendly smile, and the keepsake. I see that you know
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  as Yel, she said, so she may be the one to help you.
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  Asi El rose quickly and came across to where Gentian was standing. The
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  playmates were glad to be together again. At once. They sat down close
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  to each other on the grass and looked at Gentian's paper. What is it
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  that you can't understand, Aziel whispered, so as not to disturb the other
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  children, who had now gone back to their work. Well it's the words
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  first, What do they mean? Now? It is not easy for a
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  little girl of Aziel's age to explain the meanings of words, no matter how
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  well she understands them herself. But Aziel tried hard, and here in this
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  bright quiet Gentian found that the meanings of the words were coming back into her
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  mind, all of their own accord. Anyway, Oh, I understand now,
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  she said, suddenly, I see it all. I'd like to try
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  finishing it for myself. I think all right, Aziel agreed, I'll do
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  mine at the same time, and we can compare answers. So each little
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  girl bent over her knee and worked out the problem without help, and when
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  they were done, the answers were the same the teacher came over to look.
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  Yes, yours are both right, she assured the little girls. And
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  Gentian has made her figures so round and clear that we all might take a
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  lesson from her. I would be very proud to have you for a pupil
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  of mine. How happy Gentian was made. Oh I wish I were a
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  pupil of yours, she cried. Well, even though you belong in the
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  school down there, the teacher assured her. Still, when things get too
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  difficult, you know, you may come up to us, where you can
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  do your best in bright quiet. Oh, I shall never dread school again.
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  Then we are going to dance now. Would you like to stay a
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  little while longer and dance too? But I don't know how mother hasn't sent
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  us to dancing school. Oh it's not that sort of dancing at all,
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  you shall see. Only stay. May we have a circle dance to day?
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  Begged Darziel. Oh may it be a circle dance? The teacher nodded.
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  All the children then joined hands in a circle. But how shall I
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  tell you of that dance? It was in the clear land, you see,
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  and no dancing was ever like it down here. Genty and silver sandals
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  helped her a great deal, of course, they were so light, and
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  in the clear land they could climb the air, remember in a circle,
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  and to the music of the leaves in the vine, and a splashing fountain
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  not far off, the children started dancing. They danced away out of the
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  arbor, over a meadow, tranquil in the still light, to the music
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  of a stream that ran through it, then into a wood, and there
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  to the music of bird songs, over a hill, to the music of
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  the light spring wind in the long grass, and then up into the blue
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  air, to the music of their own happiness. Those who were not wearing
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  silver sandles were drawn along and up by those who were, And I think
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  those dancers felt as the wind feels in springtime when it moves across a cherry
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  orchard, all in blossom. At last, still in a circle, they
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  came into the arbor again and dropped to rest on the grass. The teacher
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  was waiting there. She took Gentien's hand, and, bending down to her,
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  said, your half hour is up, little human Mistard wants you back.
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  Here is your cap. The dunce cap, which Gentian had forgotten once
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  on coming into this other school, had fallen off just as she danced out
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  of the arbor. The teacher was putting it back on her fairy gold head
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  now, but smiling so beautifully right down into her eyes as she did it
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  that Gentin did not mind the cap a bit. Then the teacher turned her
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  around and gave her a gentle push toward the corner of her own schoolroom,
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  and it was well that the dunce cap had been put back, for at
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  that instant Gentian felt another hand on her shoulder, a hand that turned her
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  around. Her eyes were seeing sunlight again, and the four walls of her
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  own schoolroom. It was Miss Todd's hand now on her shoulder. The arbor,
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  the children, the other teacher, where were they? They were there,
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  of course, Still, it was only that Gentian was seeing in sunlight
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  now, not in that other crystal clear light. Well, Gentian, Miss
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  Todd was saying, you may take your seat, and next time, perhaps
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  you will remember at least a start of problem when I But Miss Todd forgot
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  what she meant to say, in amaze at Gentian's happy, smiling face.
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  Never had she seen her child's face sunnier in all her years of teaching.
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  She had not expected this, of course, from a little girl who had
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  been standing with her face in a corner and a dunce cap on her head
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  for half an hour. And Gentian's schoolmates were as amazed as Miss Todd,
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  for there was no understanding it. But Gentian did not notice their surprise.
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  She was too full her experience. She looked up at Miss Todd, though,
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  and said, I have found out how to do that example. I
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  couldn't do it before because I didn't remember what the words meant, but now
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  I have remembered that is well, said Miss Todd a little doubtfully. Then
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  you may do it now on the board for the class, explaining it as
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  you go. And Gentian did take a piece of chalk and work the problem.
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  She remembered what the other teacher had said about her beautifully formed figures,
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  and now she tried to make these even rounder and clearer than they had been
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  up there. She did the figuring quickly and explained it well. And Miss
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  Todd, who was suddenly truly sorry that she had made Gentian wear the dunce
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  cap, said very well done, indeed, But you should have told me
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  Genteen that you didn't understand the wording of the problem. I would glad have
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  helped you. Then came recess, and Kay quickly sought his sister out standing
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  so that their schoolmates might not see, he squeezed her hand. Don't you
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  care, genty and deer, He whispered. If anybody laughs about the dunce
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  cap or even says a word, well they'd better try, That's all.
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  Kay's other hand was clenched and his mouth set. Thanks Kay, his sister
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  whispered back, squeezing his hand in return. But I didn't mind a bit,
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  not after the first I'll tell you all about it going home. And
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  oh please don't fight about me, Kay, no matter what they do.
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  You know how mother hates your fighting. But Kay had no need to fight,
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  for there was not a single jeer, and no one cried oh see
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  the dunce. Who would have been tempted to mock the happy, confident little
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  girl Gentian had become instead one little girl called tag as she ran by it
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  that minute, touching Gentian lightly on the shoulder, and Gentian whirled away in
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  a noisy game of tag with all the children. But she was not it
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  for long, as you must know, for she could run like the wind
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  end of chapter nine