oh, such hurt feelings! She turned sick at the very thought of facing
all the staring, curious faces in the playground turned on the new
scholar as she had seen them at home! She would never, never do it! She
would walk around all the afternoon, and then go back and tell Cousin
Ann that she couldn't! She would EXPLAIN to her how Aunt Frances never
let her go out of doors without a loving hand to cling to. She would
EXPLAIN to her how Aunt Frances always took care of her! ... it was easier
to think about what she would say and do and explain, away from Cousin
Ann, than it was to say and do it before those black eyes. Aunt
Frances's eyes were soft, light blue.

Oh, how she wanted Aunt Frances to take care of her! Nobody cared a
thing about her! Nobody UNDERSTOOD her but Aunt Frances! She wouldn't go
back at all to Putney Farm. She would just walk on and on till she was
lost, and the night would come and she would lie down and freeze to
death, and then wouldn't Cousin Ann feel ... Someone called to her,
"Isn't this Betsy?"

She looked up astonished. A young girl in a gingham dress and a white
apron like those at Putney Farm stood in front of a tiny, square
building, like a toy house. "Isn't this Betsy?" asked the young girl
again. "Your Cousin Ann said you were coming to school today and I've
been looking out for you. But I saw you going right by, and I ran out to
stop you."

"Why, where IS the school?" asked Betsy, staring around for a big brick,
four-story building.

The young girl laughed and held out her hand. "This is the school," she
said, "and I am the teacher, and you'd better come right in, for it's