In the Woods When First We Met

140. Excuse to Leave

As class resumed, Mr. Phillips looked around the room and said, "We seem to be missing people- where is Gilbert?"

Then he noticed Anne missing as well.

Josie raised her hand. "They're in the privy," she said. "Together."

"What?" Mr. Phillips asked, walking over to the window and peering out of it.

"Anne is sick," Jane was quick to say. "Gilbert just went to check on her, that's all."

She looked over at her brother, feeling hurt. His nose had stopped bleeding, and she wondered if it would begin to bruise.

"Well, someone go out and tell them to come back in here," he ordered. "This instant."

No one volunteered.

"I'll go," Moody said. He had not been involved in any of it and so had no idea that it was anything beyond Anne being sick.

He went outside and found Gilbert and Anne crammed in the privy.

"Anne, I'm sorry to hear you're feeling sick," he said, "But Mr. Phillips says you two have to come back in now."

Anne was not looking at him. Gilbert said, "Okay...thanks Moody."

Moody nodded at him and headed back to the building.

Gilbert squeezed Anne to him once more, and then pulled her away from him, looking at her face. He wiped her hair out of her eyes, letting his palm rest against her cheek. He'd never touched her face and wouldn't assume he had any right to, but at the moment it seemed to be a kindness rather than an imposition.

She closed her eyes as his palm brushed her cheek, holding onto every bit of strength he was pouring into her. Then she took a deep breath and began to stand up.

He stood up, too, and put one arm behind her as they walked.

"Moody said he was sorry you're sick," Gilbert said. "So someone must have said we were in the privy because you'd gotten sick again."

She just breathed.

"That's a good thing," he decided. "Because if Mr. Phillips thinks you're sick, you'll be able to go home."

They stepped into the school room.

Mr. Phillips looked at Anne with disdain. She looked even worse, he thought, than she usually did. Her face, always pale, was whiter than a sheet, and her eyes, too large, were puffy and swollen looking.

"It seems you're ill," he said, "Again."

She nodded, looking at the floor.

"Go get your things," he said rather curtly, and began writing something at his desk.

"I'll walk her home," Gilbert said quickly.

"Surely one of the girls ought to accompany her," Mr. Phillips said.

All the girls suddenly became very interested in looking down at their books.

Gilbert shook his head. "I should," he said, sounding firm. "She's...she's sick enough that she might collapse, Mr. Phillips, and if a girl takes her they'll have to leave her alone and walk all the way back to school to get help. She needs someone strong enough to help her along if she gets too weak to walk."

"Very well," Mr. Phillips said, not looking up from his writing.

Gilbert stared at him a moment, then walked to the cloakroom to get his own things.

When he came back, Anne was with him, and Mr. Phillips handed Anne what he had been writing. "Give that to a parent when you get home."

Anne just nodded, still not looking at him.

Gilbert started to turn toward the door, with Anne at his side, when Mr. Phillips said, "And Gilbert?"

"Yes?" Gilbert asked.

"Don't follow a girl into the privy. Even if she is sick. You ought to have asked another girl to check on her. ...It doesn't look well for you."

Gilbert's jaw changed. Then he said- with a hard look at Mr. Phillips- "You're right, sir. School is a terrible place to show impropriety."