She made her way to the door and waited before it, eyebrows raised as she turned her gaze
upon the children. They gazed back in some bewilderment
"Is no one going to remember his manners?" asked Miss Enderby.
With a nervous start Anne hastened forward to the door, but was waved back by a movement
of her headmistress's hand. A dozen or more children made a rush to open the door. A freckled girl
with two skinny red plaits was the first to drag open the door. She was rewarded by a smile.
"Thank you, dear, thank you," said Miss Enderby and sailed majestically into the corridor.
There came a faint sigh of relief as the door closed behind her, and the forty-six tongues which had
so far kept unnaturally silent began to wag cheerfully. Anne watched this change with some dismay.
She remembered with sudden relief some advice given her at college in just such a situation.
"Stand quite still, be quite calm, and gradually the children will become conscious that you
are waiting. Never, never attempt to shout them down."
So Anne stood her ground waiting for the chattering to subside. But the noise grew in volume
as conversations became more animated. One or two children ran across the room to see their distant
friends. Two little boys attacked each other. A child with birthday cards was displaying their beauties
to an admiring crowd round her desk. Arnold had removed his blue pullover and was attempting to
pull his shirt over his head, in order to show his friends a scar on his shoulderblade.
Amidst growing chaos Anne remained silent. She looked at the clock which jerked from one
minute to the next and decided to let it leap once more before she abandoned hope.
One crumb of comfort, if comfort it could be called, remained with her. This was an outburst
of natural high spirits. Her presence, she noted, meant nothing at all to them.
A chair fell over, someone yelped with pain, there was a burst of laughter, and Anne saw the
clock jump to another minute. Anne advanced into action.
"To your desks!" she roared, "And quickly!"
With a pleasurable shock she saw her words obeyed. Within a minute order had returned.
Refreshed by the break the children turned attentive eyes upon her.
Anne's self-esteem crept back.
( From "Fresh from the Country" by Miss Reed)
VOCABULARY NOTES
1. to look υ i/t 1. смотреть, глядеть, е.g. I looked (up, down) at the opposite house, but saw
no lights in its windows.
8 Borstal: an institution (like a prison) for young criminals.
9 break n: This is widely used in schools to denote a 10- or 20-minute interval in the middle of the morning (11—11.30).