With a yearning so
poignant that it hurt, he yearned and yearned to show her what she
really was. "Just once!" he said to Fred Mitchell. "That's all I ask,
just once. Just gimme one chance to show that girl what she really is.
I guess if I ever get the chance she'll find out what's the matter with
her, for _once_ in her life, anyway!" Thus it came to be talked about
and understood and expected in Ramsey's circle, all male, that Dora
Yocum's day was coming. The nature of the disaster was left vague, but
there was no doubt in the world that retribution merely awaited its
ideal opportunity. "You'll see!" said Ramsey. "The time'll come when
that ole girl'll wish she'd moved o' this town before she ever got
appointed monitor of _our_ class! Just you wait!"
They waited, but conditions appeared to remain unfavourable
indefinitely. Perhaps the great opportunity might have arrived if Ramsey
had been able to achieve a startling importance in any of the "various
divergent yet parallel lines of school endeavour"--one of the phrases by
means of which teachers and principal clogged the minds of their unarmed
auditors.
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