The Naughtiest Girl in the School Read Online Free PDF Page A

“I hope you will be very happy with us, Elizabeth.”
    “I shan’t be,” said Elizabeth in a rude voice.
    “What a funny little girl!” said Miss Belle, and she laughed. “Cheer up, dear-you’ll soon find things are very jolly here, and I am sure you will do your best to work hard, and make us proud of you.”
    “I’m not going to,” said Elizabeth, going red, “I’m going to be as bad and naughty and horrid as I can possibly be, so there! I don’t want to go to school. I hate Whyteleafe School! I’ll be so bad that you’ll send me home next week!”

    The little girl glared at the two mistresses as she said all this, expecting them to jump up in anger. Instead they both threw back their heads and laughed and laughed!
    “Oh, Elizabeth, what an extraordinary child you are!” said Miss Belle, wiping away the tears of laughter that had come into her eyes. “You look such a good, pretty little girl too-no one would think you wanted to be so bad and naughty and horrid!”
    “I don’t care how you punish me,” said Elizabeth, tears coming into her own eyes-but tears of anger, not of laughter. “You can do all you like-I just shan’t care!”
    “We never punish anyone, Elizabeth,” said Miss Best, suddenly looking stern again. “Didn’t you know that?”
    “No, I didn’t,” said Elizabeth in astonishment. “What do you do when people are naughty, then?”
     “Oh, we leave any naughty person to the rest of the children to deal with,” said Miss Best. “Every week the school holds a meeting. You know, and the children themselves decide what is to be done with boys and girls who don’t behave themselves, it won’t bother us if you are naughty-but you may perhaps find that you make the children angry.”
    “That seems funny to me,” said Elizabeth, “I thought it was always the teachers that did the punishing.”
    “Not at Whyteleafe School,” said Miss Belle.
    “Well, Elizabeth, my dear, perhaps you’d go now and tell the next child to come in, will you? Maybe one day Whyteleafe School will be proud of you, even though you are quite sure it won’t!”
    Elizabeth went out without another word. She couldn’t help liking the two headmistresses, though she didn’t want to at all. She wished she had been ruder to them. What a funny school this was!
    She spoke to Helen outside the door, “You’re to go in now,” she said. “The Beauty and the Beast are waiting for you!”
    “Oh, you naughty girl!” said Helen, with a giggle. “Miss Belle and Miss Best—the Beauty and the Beast! That’s rather clever of you to think of that, Elizabeth!”
    Elizabeth had meant it to be very rude. She did not know enough of other children to know that they always loved nicknames for their masters and mistresses. She was surprised that Helen thought her clever-and secretly she was pleased.
    But she stuck her nose in the air and marched off. She wasn’t going to be pleased with anything or anybody at Whyteleafe School! She wandered round by herself until the supper-bell went at seven o’clock.
    She felt hungry and went into the dining-hall. The children were once more opening their tins of cakes, and a lively chatter was going on. It all looked very jolly.
    There were big mugs on the table and big jugs of steaming hot cocoa here and there. There were piles of bread again, butter, cheese, and dishes of stewed fruit. The children sat down and helped themselves.
    Nobody took any notice of Elizabeth at all, till suddenly Helen remembered what she had called Miss Belle and Miss Best. With a giggle she repeated it to her neighbor, and soon there was laughter all around the table.
    “The Beauty and the Beast,” went the whisper, and chuckles echoed round. Elizabeth heard the whispers and went red.
    Nora O’Sullivan laughed loudly. “It’s a jolly good nickname!” she said. “Belle means Beauty, and Best is very like Beast-and certainly Miss Belle is lovely, and Miss Best isn’t! That was pretty smart of