That hiss , faint as it was , irritated the irascible gentleman , and sealed the culprit 's fate . `` Your hand , Miss March ! '' was the only answer her mute appeal received , and too proud to cry or beseech , Amy set her teeth , threw back her head defiantly , and bore without flinching several tingling blows on her little palm . They were neither many nor heavy , but that made no difference to her . For the first time in her life she had been struck , and the disgrace , in her eyes , was as deep as if he had knocked her down . `` You will now stand on the platform till recess , '' said Mr. Davis , resolved to do the thing thoroughly , since he had begun . That was dreadful . It would have been bad enough to go to her seat , and see the pitying faces of her friends , or the satisfied ones of her few enemies , but to face the whole school , with that shame fresh upon her , seemed impossible , and for a second she felt as if she could only drop down where she stood , and break her heart with crying . A bitter sense of wrong and the thought of Jenny Snow helped her to bear it , and , taking the ignominious place , she fixed her eyes on the stove funnel above what now seemed a sea of faces , and stood there , so motionless and white that the girls found it hard to study with that pathetic figure before them . During the fifteen minutes that followed , the proud and sensitive little girl suffered a shame and pain which she never forgot . To others it might seem a ludicrous or trivial affair , but to her it was a hard experience , for during the twelve years of her life she had been governed by love alone , and a blow of that sort had never touched her before . The smart of her hand and the ache of her heart were forgotten in the sting of the thought , `` I shall have to tell at home , and they will be so disappointed in me ! '' The fifteen minutes seemed an hour , but they came to an end at last , and the word ` Recess ! ' had never seemed so welcome to her before . `` You can go , Miss March , '' said Mr. Davis , looking , as he felt , uncomfortable . He did not soon forget the reproachful glance Amy gave him , as she went , without a word to anyone , straight into the anteroom , snatched her things , and left the place `` forever , '' as she passionately declared to herself . She was in a sad state when she got home , and when the older girls arrived , some time later , an indignation meeting was held at once . Mrs. March did not say much but looked disturbed , and comforted her afflicted little daughter in her tenderest manner . Meg bathed the insulted hand with glycerine and tears , Beth felt that even her beloved kittens would fail as a balm for griefs like this , Jo wrathfully proposed that Mr. Davis be arrested without delay , and Hannah shook her fist at the ` villain ' and pounded potatoes for dinner as if she had him under her pestle . No notice was taken of Amy 's flight , except by her mates , but the sharp-eyed demoiselles discovered that Mr. Davis was quite benignant in the afternoon , also unusually nervous .
Just before school closed , Jo appeared , wearing a grim expression as she stalked up to the desk , and delivered a letter from her mother , then collected XXXXX 's property , and departed , carefully scraping the mud from her boots on the door mat , as if she shook the dust of the place off her feet .
Amy Beth Davis Hannah Snow anteroom griefs hour minutes years