She knew Paul was ten but he looked no more than eight . He had the most beautiful little face she had ever seen in a child ... features of exquisite delicacy and refinement , framed in a halo of chestnut curls . His mouth was delicious , being full without pouting , the crimson lips just softly touching and curving into finely finished little corners that narrowly escaped being dimpled . He had a sober , grave , meditative expression , as if his spirit was much older than his body ; but when Anne smiled softly at him it vanished in a sudden answering smile , which seemed an illumination of his whole being , as if some lamp had suddenly kindled into flame inside of him , irradiating him from top to toe . Best of all , it was involuntary , born of no external effort or motive , but simply the outflashing of a hidden personality , rare and fine and sweet . With a quick interchange of smiles Anne and Paul were fast friends forever before a word had passed between them . The day went by like a dream . Anne could never clearly recall it afterwards . It almost seemed as if it were not she who was teaching but somebody else . She heard classes and worked sums and set copies mechanically . The children behaved quite well ; only two cases of discipline occurred . Morley Andrews was caught driving a pair of trained crickets in the aisle . Anne stood Morley on the platform for an hour and ... which Morley felt much more keenly ... confiscated his crickets . She put them in a box and on the way from school set them free in Violet Vale ; but Morley believed , then and ever afterwards , that she took them home and kept them for her own amusement . The other culprit was Anthony Pye , who poured the last drops of water from his slate bottle down the back of Aurelia Clay 's neck . Anne kept Anthony in at recess and talked to him about what was expected of gentlemen , admonishing him that they never poured water down ladies ' necks . She wanted all her boys to be gentlemen , she said . Her little lecture was quite kind and touching ; but unfortunately Anthony remained absolutely untouched . He listened to her in silence , with the same sullen expression , and whistled scornfully as he went out . Anne sighed ; and then cheered herself up by remembering that winning a Pye 's affections , like the building of Rome , was n't the work of a day .
In fact , it was doubtful whether some of the Pyes had any affections to win ; but Anne hoped better things of XXXXX , who looked as if he might be a rather nice boy if one ever got behind his sullenness .
Andrews Anne Anthony Clay Morley Paul Rome day hour outflashing