had had a good deal of ripe old Madeira and
other generous elements mingled with it, so that it ran to gout sometimes
in the old folks and to high spirit, warm complexion, and curly hair in
some of the younger ones. The soft curling hair Mr. Bernard had
inherited,--something, perhaps, of the high spirit; but that we shall
have a chance of finding out by and by. But the long sermons and the
frugal board of his Brahmin ancestry, with his own habits of study, had
told upon his color, which was subdued to something more of delicacy than
one would care to see in a young fellow with rough work before him.
This, however, made him look more interesting, or, as the young ladies at
Major Bush's said, "interestin'."

When Mr. Bernard showed himself at meeting, on the first Sunday after his
arrival, it may be supposed that a good many eyes were turned upon the
young schoolmaster. There was something heroic in his coming forward so
readily to take a place which called for a strong hand, and a prompt,
steady will to guide it. In fact, his position was that of a military
chieftain on the eve of a battle. Everybody knew everything in Pigwacket
Centre; and it was an understood thing that the young rebels meant to put
down the new master, if they could. It was natural that the two
prettiest girls in the village, called in the local dialect, as nearly as
our limited alphabet will represent it, Alminy Cutterr, and Arvilly
Braowne, should feel and express an interest in the good-looking
stranger, and that, when their flattering comments were repeated in the
hearing of their indigenous admirers, among whom were some of the older
"boys" of the school, it should not add to the amiable dispositions of
the turbulent youth.

Monday came, and the new schoolmaster was in his chair at the upper end
of the schoolhouse, on the raised platform. The rustics looked at his
handsome face, thoughtful, peaceful, pleasant, cheerful, but sharply cut
round the lips and proudly lighted about the eyes. The ringleader of the
mischief-makers, the young butcher who has before figured in this
narrative, looked at him stealthily, whenever he got a chance to study
him unobserved; for the truth was, he felt uncomfortable, whenever he
found the large, dark eyes fixed on his own little, sharp, deep-set, gray
ones. But he managed to study him pretty well,--first his face, then his
neck and shoulders, the set of his arms, the narrowing at the loins, the
make of hi