Naughtiest Girl 2: The Naughtiest Girl Again Read Online Free PDF Page A

the whole School on him.
    "Was Robert swinging you high?" asked William Peter looked across at Robert. Robert gave him a queer look. Peter spoke in a trembling voice. "Yes-he was swinging me quite high."
    "Were you frightened?" asked William "N-no-no," said Peter.
    "Did you squeal for help?" asked Rita, "No," said Peter, with a look at Robert. "I was just-just squealing for fun, you know,"
    "Thank you," said William. "Sit down." Elizabeth leapt up. "Robert must have made Peter promise to say all that!" she cried. "Ask if there are any other yo ung ones who would like to complain about Robert, Rita,"
    Rita looked round to where the younger children sat. "Is there anyone who has a complaint to make about Robert?" she asked. "If he has been unkind to you, or ill-treated you in any way, speak now."

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    Elizabeth waited for half a dozen children to stand up and speak. But there was a complete silence! Nobody spoke, nobody complained. What a very strange thing!
    Now what was going to happen?
    Elizabeth IS VERY CROSS.
    The complaints to the School Meeting were so serious that the two Judges and the Jury took a long time to discuss them, In the meantime the rest of the children also discussed the matter among themselves, Not many of them were for Robert, for he was not liked, but on the other hand most of the boys and girls felt that Elizabeth had no right to lose her temper so fiercely.
    "And after all," whispered one child to another, "she was the naughtiest girl in the school last term, you know."
    "Yes. We used to call her the Bold Bad Girl," said another child, "But she was quite all right after the half-term, She really did turn over a new leaf,"
    "And I know quite well that she meant to do her very best this term," said Harry. "I've heard her say so heaps of times. She lost her temper with me last term, but she said she was sorry arid has been absolutely decent to me ever since,"
    So the talk went on, whilst Elizabeth and Robert sat up straight, hating one another, each longing to hear that the other was to be punished.
    Meanwhile, the Judges and Jury were finding things very difficult. Some of the Jury felt quite certain that Robert was a real bully-and yet not even Peter would complain, so maybe there was not much truth in what they thought. All the monitors on the Jury were fair-minded and just, and they knew quite well that they must never judge anyone unless they had real, clear proof of wrong-doing.
    Again, all the Jury knew quite well how bad Elizabeth had been the term before, and yet how marvellously she had managed to conquer herself and turn over a new leaf.
    They could not believe that she would fight Robert just for nothing. It was all very difficult, They did not feel that they wanted to punish Elizabeth in case by any chance Robert did turn out to be a bully.
    At last William knocked with his wooden mallet for silence. The whole School sat up, eager to know what had been decided. Elizabeth was still fiery red in the face, but Robert looked quite pale and cool.
    "We find this matter very difficult to decide," said William in his pleasant voice. "It is quite clear that Elizabeth did lose her temper badly, and flew at Robert, but it isn't quite as clear that Robert was bullying Peter, After all, we must take Peter's word for that. He should know! But we know enough of Elizabeth to realise that she is a very just person, and it is quite plain that she thought Robert was doing something very unkind."
    There was a pause. The School listened hard. William thought for a moment and then went on: "Very well, Elizabeth may have been mistaken, but she really believed that Robert was being unkind, So she lost her temper and flew at him to stop him. That is where you were wrong, Elizabeth, Hot temper makes you see things alt muddled instead of clearly, so when you see something you disapprove of, you must try to keep your temper, so that you can judge things properly and not get them all exaggerated and twisted. You spoke as