Do n't stir till I come back . '' `` No , 'm , I wo n't . '' Away went the tender parent to find her son studying Caesar for dear life , and all the more amiable for the little gust which had blown away the temporary irritability . The brothers were often called `` Thunder and Lightning , '' because Frank lowered and growled and was a good while clearing up , while Jack 's temper came and went like a flash , and the air was all the clearer for the escape of dangerous electricity . Of course Mamma had to stop and deliver a little lecture , illustrated by sad tales of petulant boys , and punctuated with kisses which took off the edge of these afflicting narratives . Jill meantime meditated morally on the superiority of her own good temper over the hasty one of her dear playmate , and just when she was feeling unusually uplifted and secure , alas ! like so many of us , she fell , in the most deplorable manner . Glancing about the room for something to do , she saw a sheet of paper lying exactly out of reach , where it had fluttered from the table unperceived . At first her eye rested on it as carelessly as it did on the stray stamp Frank had dropped ; then , as if one thing suggested the other , she took it into her head that the paper was Frank 's composition , or , better still , a note to Annette , for the two corresponded when absence or weather prevented the daily meeting at school . `` Would n't it be fun to keep it till he gives back Jack 's stamps ? It would plague him so if it was a note , and I do believe it is , for compo 's do n't begin with two words on one side . I 'll get it , and Jack and I will plan some way to pay him off , cross thing ! '' Forgetting her promise not to stir , also how dishonorable it was to read other people 's letters , Jill caught up the long-handled hook , often in use now , and tried to pull the paper nearer . It would not come at once , for a seam in the carpet held it , and Jill feared to tear or crumple it if she was not very careful . The hook was rather heavy and long for her to manage , and Jack usually did the fishing , so she was not very skilful ; and just as she was giving a particularly quick jerk , she lost her balance , fell off the sofa , and dropped the pole with a bang . `` Oh , my back ! '' was all she could think or say as she felt the jar all through her little body , and a corresponding fear in her guilty little mind that someone would come and find out the double mischief she had been at . For a moment she lay quite still to recover from the shock , then as the pain passed she began to wonder how she should get back , and looked about her to see if she could do it alone . She thought she could , as the sofa was near and she had improved so much that she could sit up a little if the doctor would have let her . She was gathering herself together for the effort , when , within arm 's reach now , she saw the tempting paper , and seized it with glee , for in spite of her predicament she did want to tease Frank .
A glance showed that it was not the composition nor a note , but the beginning of a letter from Mrs. Minot to her sister , and XXXXX was about to lay it down when her own name caught her eye , and she could not resist reading it .
Annette Caesar Frank Jack Jill Mamma compo daily escape first