`` Father Bhaer let Nat off too easy , '' muttered Ned to Emil , as they got out their books . `` Hold your tongue , '' growled Emil , who felt that this event was a blot upon the family honor . Many of the boys agreed with Ned , but Mr. Bhaer was right , nevertheless ; and Nat would have been wiser to confess on the spot and have the trouble over , for even the hardest whipping he ever received from his father was far easier to bear than the cold looks , the avoidance , and general suspicion that met him on all sides . If ever a boy was sent to Coventry and kept there , it was poor Nat ; and he suffered a week of slow torture , though not a hand was raised against him , and hardly a word said . That was the worst of it ; if they would only have talked it out , or even have thrashed him all round , he could have stood it better than the silent distrust that made very face so terrible to meet . Even Mrs. Bhaer 's showed traces of it , though her manner was nearly as kind as ever ; but the sorrowful anxious look in Father Bhaer 's eyes cut Nat to the heart , for he loved his teacher dearly , and knew that he had disappointed all his hopes by this double sin . Only one person in the house entirely believed in him , and stood up for him stoutly against all the rest . This was Daisy . She could not explain why she trusted him against all appearances , she only felt that she could not doubt him , and her warm sympathy made her strong to take his part . She would not hear a word against him from any one , and actually slapped her beloved Demi when he tried to convince her that it must have been Nat , because no one else knew where the money was . `` Maybe the hens ate it ; they are greedy old things , '' she said ; and when Demi laughed , she lost her temper , slapped the amazed boy , and then burst out crying and ran away , still declaring , `` He did n't ! he did n't ! he did n't ! '' Neither aunt nor uncle tried to shake the child 's faith in her friend , but only hoped her innocent instinct might prove sure , and loved her all the better for it . Nat often said , after it was over , that he could n't have stood it , if it had not been for Daisy . When the others shunned him , she clung to him closer than ever , and turned her back on the rest . She did not sit on the stairs now when he solaced himself with the old fiddle , but went in and sat beside him , listening with a face so full of confidence and affection , that Nat forgot disgrace for a time , and was happy . She asked him to help her with her lessons , she cooked him marvelous messes in her kitchen , which he ate manfully , no matter what they were , for gratitude gave a sweet flavor to the most distasteful . She proposed impossible games of cricket and ball , when she found that he shrank from joining the other boys . She put little nosegays from her garden on his desk , and tried in every way to show that she was not a fair-weather friend , but faithful through evil as well as good repute .
Nan soon followed her example , in kindness at least ; curbed her sharp tongue , and XXXXX her scornful little nose from any demonstration of doubt or dislike , which was good of Madame Giddy-gaddy , for she firmly believed that Nat took the money .
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