It
would not have occurred to Mr. Silas Peckham to ask his assistant whether
he felt well enough to attend to his duties; and Mr. Bernard chose to be
at his post. A little headache and confusion were all that remained of
his symptoms.

Later, in the course of the forenoon, Elsie Venner came and took her
place. The girls all stared at her--naturally enough; for it was hardly
to have been expected that she would show herself, after such an event in
the household to which she belonged. Her expression was somewhat
peculiar, and, of course, was attributed to the shock her feelings had
undergone on hearing of the crime attempted by her cousin and daily
companion. When she was looking on her book, or on any indifferent
object, her countenance betrayed some inward disturbance, which knitted
her dark brows, and seemed to throw a deeper shadow over her features.
But, from time to time, she would lift her eyes toward Mr. Bernard, and
let them rest upon him, without a thought, seemingly, that she herself
was the subject of observation or remark. Then they seemed to lose their
cold glitter, and soften into a strange, dreamy tenderness. The deep
instincts of womanhood were striving to grope their way to the surface of
her being through all the alien influences which overlaid them. She
could be secret and cunning in working out any of her dangerous impulses,
but she did not know how to mask the unwonted feeling which fixed her
eyes and her thoughts upon the only person who had ever reached the
spring of her hidden sympathies.

The girls all looked at Elsie, whenever they could steal a glance
unperceived, and many of them were struck with this singular expression
her features wore. They had long whispered it around among each other
that she had a liking for the master; but there were too many of them of
whom something like this could be said, to make it very remarkable. Now,
however, when so many little hearts were fluttering at the thought of the
peril through which the handsome young master had so recently passed,
they were more alive than ever to the supposed relation between him and
the dark school-girl. Some had supposed there was a mutual attachment
between them; there was a story that they were secretly betrothed, in
accordance with the rumor which had been current in the village. At any
rate, some conflict was going on in that still, remote, clouded soul, and
all the girls who looked upon her face were impressed and