Lippincott's Magazine, December, 1885

his friend Miss Eldridge, "to marry

an his own. This was a slander. In the high dry Greek atmosphere which surrounded and enc

followed by one question, with a variable termination. Th

ve possessed h

istina Eldridge said, in low, shocked tones, "Alas that a man of his simply colossal mind shoul

ple in long division, on a smeared slate, brought to him with tears and faltering accents by Miss Christina, would have produced the effect which followed when Miss Rosamond May betrayed her shameful ignorance by handing him the slate and saying f

ples where the knuckles should have been-rested upon the unresponsive marble, in the other she held the slate. She was a teacher of some of the

n appreciation of the stately principal which, but for his untimely death,-he was only seventy,-mi

ium and the furniture of their rented house, with a little old-fashioned jewelry and silverware of the smallest possible intrinsic value, Miss Christina called up

room next year, after the new wing is added; and, meanwhile, I know of a v

d I am afraid I don't know enough to teach even the very little girls.

g-lessons, and teach the class of little girls who have not gone beyond the first four rules of arithmetic, and perhaps you will help t

h, I can easily do that much. I love little girls. I wil

n, my dear," repli

ring lessons, binding up broken hearts, playing heartily with her scholars in the intermissions, and being idolized by them in each of h

a friendly light upon her over the top of his spectacles that she began to tell him her small troubles and to ask his advice in a manner which sometimes completely took his breath away. He had never had a sister, his mother died before his remembrance, and he had been brought up by t

ve you no female friend with whom you can con

r. And papa used always to advise me, when I asked him, to get what I liked

nd he heard the feet of students coming down the stairs,-"I should advise you, by a

s she called his attention to it. He looked at her more seeingly than he had y

gayly. "It is bec

I should think it would be quite-quite warm,-

to get it," continued she triumphantl

ancy his class, his brother professors, getting hold of such a rare bit of gossip! But he would not hurt h

to my age and profession, not to repeat the result of our conferences? With thoughtless people it might in some slight measure be considered der

now she won't repeat it; and I'll never do so any more, if you'll let me come to

at the irritation, and he strove to banish all trace of it from his voice and manner as he said, gravely a

face was pale, and her soft yellow hair was pushed back

th me in arithmetic, and by next week they'll be ahead of me; and I feel as if I oughtn't to tak

tudy, and so keep in advance of your

d to do the sums that came next, last night, and they wouldn

t his watch: "perhaps, if you will bring me your book and

ou have so much Greek in your head!" And, obeying an impulse, as she so often did, she caught his hand in both her own and kissed it heartily. Then she skimmed across the parlor

ming childish? No; I am only sixty. But, even if it were possible, it would be base

y and patiently, as if to a little child, he pointed out the errors and expounded the rule, amply rewarded by her joyful exclamation, "Oh, I see exactly h

y dear," he answered, still looking at the slate

inkled hand and holding it between her soft palms. "How glad papa must be

to her father, she held

reverently on her forehead,-or, if the truth must be told, on her soft, frizzl

h, I see exactly how it's done, now!" followed his patient reiteration of rules and explanations, how could he help rewa

invited to spend it with some distant cousins,-distant in both senses of the word,-and that on her return she would be swallowed up by the academy and woul

ng lips and blue eyes swimming in tears, as she told him how she should miss him, how she did not see what she should do without him, hi

lieve I have a great deal. You shall do what you will with it, and with me. We will travel: you shall see the Old World, with

t, too much astonished to s

to me as you do, with all your little cares

d, finding voice at last; and her chi

face in his hands. In a moment her arms were abou

nhappy, ungrateful wretch that I am! Of course I love you; of co

world it is found sometimes, I think, by the divining-rod of Love. But many students gnashed their teeth, a