CHAPTER XXIV

SUSAN PLAYS TRUANT At nine o’clock that Monday morning, Susan had been triumphant. By ten she was defiant, and at eleven, contrite. Noon found her crushed beneath a consciousness of culpability for which she could plead no extenuating circumstance. Susan had played truant. Like most crimes it had been unpremeditated. At half past eight she had reminded herself that it was time to get ready for school, and then had yielded to cheerless anticipations of the prospect ahead. She did not know her lessons. The “smarty ki…