At last she grew entirely miserable and wished she hadn't carried it so far.
When poor Alfred, seeing that he was losing her, he did not know how, kept exclaiming: "Oh, here's a jolly one! look at this!" she lost patience at last, and said, "Oh, don't bother me! I don't care for them!" and burst into tears, and got up and walked away.
Alfred dropped alongside and was going to try to comfort her, but she said:
"Go away and leave me alone, can't you! I hate you!"
So the boy halted, wondering what he could have done-for she had said she would look at pictures all through the nooning-and she walked on, crying.
Then Alfred went musing into the deserted schoolhouse.
He was humiliated and angry.
He easily guessed his way to the truth-the girl had simply made a convenience of him to vent her spite upon Tom Sawyer.
He was far from hating Tom the less when this thought occurred to him.
He wished there was some way to get that boy into trouble without much risk to himself.