y in surprise, "The
time's not up yet," and would continue with the lesson.

Martha Ellen was always kind, and one of the few people with whom
Elizabeth expanded. Elizabeth was often wild and foolish in school,
but in Sunday school that older inner self was always predominant and
she was as wise and well behaved as Noah Clegg himself. For inside the
church building the child's mind was held in a kind of holy fear. She
spent most of her time there dwelling upon her sins and longing to be
good. She did not know that the starched pinafore that scratched her
neck, the tightness of her heavy braid of hair, and the stiffness of
her Sunday boots contributed not a little to her inner discomfort. But
she gave her undivided attention to Miss Robertson and the lesson.

She was never distracted, as Rosie so often was by Katie Price's
clothes. Katie had on a new sash to-day, and Rosie sighed and poked
Elizabeth and asked her if she didn't wish to goodness she had one,
too. Elizabeth glanced at the sash quite unmoved. The Gordon girls
never had sashes, nor finery of any kind, but why should one who knew
she would some day wear a flashing suit of silvery armor and a crimson
velvet cloak be envious of mere ribbons? Elizabeth did not confide
this comforting assurance to Rosie, but she whispered truthfully, No,
that she didn't want one like Katie Price's. She was quite unconscious
of the fact that there dwelt in her mind not a little of Aunt
Margaret's pride--the feeling that it was infinitely better to be a
Gordon in a dun-colored pinafore than a Price in a silk sash and a
flower-trimmed hat.

She soon forgot all about Katie in her absorption in the lesson.
Anything savoring of religion took strong hold of Elizabeth, and even
Martha Ellen's presentation of a passage of Scripture appealed to her.
When the passage was re-read, Miss Robertson read a list of questions
off the printed page before her. "Who was Zaccheus?" was the first
question. Katie Price was looking at her sash and didn't know. Susie
Martin hung her head and blushed, Eppie Turner was always too shy to
speak, and Rosie Carrick ventured the remark that "he was a man." Miss
Robertson passed on perfectly good-natured. "Lizzie Gordon, who was
Zaccheus?" Lizzie Gordon knew all about him, and spun off information,
even to his being little and having to climb a tree. "I can tell lots
more," she said invitingly, as Miss Robertson held up her hand to stem
the flo