Miss Fanny looked at Mr. Bryan. Then she rang the bell. It was not yet recess-time; but since Miss Fanny rang the bell, the Fifth Reader Class filed out wonderingly. Miss Fanny, looking at Mr. Bryan, had a queer smile in her eyes. Yet it was not as though Miss Fanny's smile was laughter. But, after all, Sadie and Mary Agatha and Sally and Rebecca did try at Examination. Miss Fanny, it seemed, insisted they should. A teacher from the Grammar School came and examined the class. Later, one went back to find out. There was red ink written across the reports of Sadie and Sally and Mary Agatha and Rebecca. It said "Failure." Emmy Lou breathed. There was no red ink on her report. Emmy Lou had passed for the Grammar School. Down-stairs Mary Agatha said her papa would see to it because she had failed. Her papa furnished pokers and shovels for the schools, and her papa would call on the Board. Mary Agatha's Papa did see to it, and the papas of Sadie and Sally and Rebecca supported him. They called it religious persecution; and they wanted Miss Fanny removed. Emmy Lou heard about it at home. It was vacation. Uncle Charlie owned a newspaper. It was for Miss Fanny. And Miss Fanny's grandpapa, talking at the gate with Uncle Charlie, struck the pavement hard with his cane; he'd see about it, too, said her grandpapa. Emmy Lou heard him. But when it came time for the Board to meet, Miss Fanny, it seemed, had resigned. Aunt Louise read it out of the paper at breakfast. "How strange--" said Aunt Louise. "Not at all," said Uncle Charlie. Aunt Louise said, "Oh!" She was reading on down the column. "--resignation by request, because the Board, in recognition of her merit and record as Teacher, has appointed her Principal of the new school on Elm Street." "But she's not a man," said Emmy Lou when it had been explained to her. Emmy Lou was bewildered. "It's a departure," said Uncle Charlie. "Don't tease her, Charlie," said Aunt Cordelia. Emmy Lou felt troubled; she liked Miss Fanny; she could not bear to contemplate her in the guise of Principal. One could never like Miss Fanny then any more. Miss Fanny's mamma had cried because Miss Fanny was a teacher, Emmy Lou remembered. But that was nothing to this. Some teachers could be nice. Miss Fanny had been nice. But to be a Principal! Emmy Lou had known but one type. She looked up from her plate. "I reckon Miss Fanny's mamma will cry some more," said Emmy Lou. THE CONFINES OF CONSISTENCY Aunt Louise was opposed to the public school. Uncle Charlie said he feared Aunt Louise did not appreciate the democratic institutions of her country. Emmy Lou caught the word--democratic; later she had occasion to consider it further. Aunt Louise said that Uncle Charlie was quite right in his fear, and the end was that Emmy Lou was started at private school.