or hers to watch her as she went to her
seat. Miss Anne pointed out the arithmetic lesson and, without lifting
her eyes, June bent with a flushed face to her task. It reddened with
shame when she was called to the class, for she sat on the bench, taller
by a head and more than any of the boys and girls thereon, except
one awkward youth who caught her eye and grinned with unashamed
companionship. The teacher noticed her look and understood with a sudden
keen sympathy, and naturally she was struck by the fact that the new
pupil was the only one who never missed an answer.

"She won't be there long," Miss Anne thought, and she gave June a smile
for which the little girl was almost grateful. June spoke to no one, but
walked through her schoolmates homeward, when school was over, like a
haughty young queen. Miss Anne had gone ahead and was standing at the
gate talking with Mrs. Crane, and the young woman spoke to June most
kindly.

"Mr. Hale has been called away on business," she said, and June's heart
sank--"and I'm going to take care of you until he comes back."

"I'm much obleeged," she said, and while she was not ungracious, her
manner indicated her belief that she could take care of herself. And
Miss Anne felt uncomfortably that this extraordinary young person
was steadily measuring her from head to foot. June saw the smart
close-fitting gown, the dainty little boots, and the carefully brushed
hair. She noticed how white her teeth were and her hands, and she saw
that the nails looked polished and that the tips of them were like
little white crescents; and she could still see every detail when she
sat at her window, looting down at the old mill. She SAW Mr. Hale when
he left, the young lady had said; and she had a headache now and was
going home to LIE down. She understood now what Hale meant, on the
mountainside when she was so angry with him. She was learning fast, and
most from the two persons who were not conscious what they were teaching
her. And she would learn in the school, too, for the slumbering ambition
in her suddenly became passionately definite now. She went to the mirror
and looked at her hair--she would learn how to plait that in two braids
down her back, as the other school-girls did. She looked at her hands
and straightway she fell to scrubbing them with soap as she had never
scrubbed them before. As she worked, she heard her name called and she
opened the door.

"Yes, mam!" she answered, for alrea