to the scholars. Her name was Miss Edgeworth.

The first virtue of a good master is gravity, and Philip had begun at
the beginning. He was now graver even than usual while he briefly
addressed his youthful auditors.

"My dear children," he said, "I am going away, and have to leave you
in the care of this young lady, Miss Edgeworth. I am sure you will
find her to be a better teacher than myself, because she has been
trained in the schools of the great city of Dublin, and I,
unfortunately, had no training at all; she is highly educated, and
will be, I doubt not, a perfect blessing to the rising generation of
the Rocky Waterholes. I hope you will be diligent, obedient, and
respectful to her. Good-bye, and God bless you all."

These words were spoken in the tone of a judge passing sentence of
death on a criminal, and Miss Edgeworth was in doubt whether it would
be becoming under the circumstances to laugh or to cry, so she made
no speech in reply. She said afterwards to Mrs. Martin, "Mr. Philip
must have been a most severe master; I can see sternness on his
brow." Moreover, she was secretly aware that she did not deserve his
compliments, and that her learning was limited, especially in
arithmetic; she had often to blame the figures for not adding up
correctly. For this reason she had a horror of examinations, and
every time the inspector came round she was in a state of mortal
fear. His name was Bonwick. He was a little man, but he was so
learned that the teachers looked forward to his visits with awe. A
happy idea came into Miss Edgeworth's mind. She was, it is true, not
very learned, nor was she perfect in the practice of the twelve
virtues, but she had some instinctive knowledge of the weakness of
the male man. Mr. Bonwick was an author, a learned author who had
written books--among others a school treatise on geography. Miss
Edgeworth bought two copies of this work, and took care to place them
on her table in the school every morning with the name of the author
in full view. On his next visit Mr. Bonwick's searching eyes soon
detected the presence of his little treatise, and he took it up with
a pleased smile. This was Miss Edgeworth's opportunity; she said, in
her opinion, the work was a must excellent one, and extremely well
adapted for the use of schools.

The inspector was more than satisfied; a young lady of so much
judgment and discrimination was a peerless teacher, and Miss
Edgeworth's work w