A RAINY DAY ily 
wait under cover until three o’clock, and Miss Wilde was 
helped to make her preparation for leaving. 
When the children came trooping back, they found the 
door between cloak-room and schoolroom closed, and teacher 
waiting for them in the outer room with very rosy cheeks 
and a happier expression than her face usually wore. 
Tommy Todd looked relieved, for, he reasoned, if 
teacher knew there were two rats in his desk, she would 
not have looked pleased. In a few words Miss Wilde 
explained the happenings, cautioned them to be very good, 
and saying, “ Right, left, right, left,’”’ was about to open 
the door for the children to march in, when Sarah Barnes 
asked, “Teacher, what is her name, so we can call her by 
it?” Then teacher realized that she didn’t know. But 
as the door opened Sarah said, in a very loud whisper, 
as whispers are apt to sound louder than the natural voice, 
‘“Why, it’s my Gray Lady!” and so in truth it was. 
Teacher watched them until they took their seats, and 
then gently closed the door behind her. For a moment 
no one spoke. Tommy Todd peeped cautiously into his 
desk to be sure the rats were safe, and found to his dismay 
that they were gone. Inwardly he hoped they wouldn’t 
get loose, for Gray Lady didn’t look as if she would like 
rats, which showed that after only one glance he wished to 
please her, while at the same time the name by which they 
first knew her became fixed in the mind of every child. 
