rsation, she commenced talking
about her adventure of the evening before, and again the
"magnificent-looking stranger, with his perfectly splendid eyes," was
duly described.

"Oh, yes," said Jenny, who generally managed to talk all the time,
whether she was heard or not. "Yes, Mary told me about him. He was in
her school yesterday, and if I were going to describe George Moreland,
I could not do it more accurately than she did, in describing Mr.
Stuart. You never saw George, did you?"

"No," said Ella pettishly, "but seems to me Mary is dreadful anxious
to have folks know that Mr. Stuart visited her school."

"No, she isn't," answered Jenny. "I told her that I rode past her
school-house yesterday, and should have called, had I not seen a big
man's head protruding above the window sill. Of course, I asked who he
was, and she told me about him, and how he saved you from a broken
neck."

Ella's temper, never the best, was fast giving way, and by the time
the company were all gone, she was fairly in a fit of the pouts.
Running up stairs, and throwing herself upon the bed, she burst into
tears, wishing herself dead, and saying she knew no one would care if
she were, for every body liked Mary better than they did her.

Miss Porter, who stood by, terribly distressed of course, rightly
guessed that the every body, on this occasion, referred merely to Mr.
Stuart and Lizzie Upton. Ella was always jealous of any commendation
bestowed upon Mary seeming to consider it as so much taken from
herself, and consequently, could not bear that Lizzie should even
think well of her. The fact, too, that Mr. Stuart had not only visited
her school, but also walked home with her, was a sufficient reason why
she should he thoroughly angry. Miss Porter knew that the surest
method of coaxing her out of her pouting fit, was to flatter her, and
accordingly she repeated at least a dozen complimentary speeches, some
of which she had really heard, while others were manufactured for the
occasion. In this way the cloud was gradually lifted from her face,
and erelong she was laughing merrily at the idea, that a girl "so
wholly unattractive as Mary, should ever have made her jealous!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

A NEW PLAN.

The summer was drawing to a close, and with it Mary's school. She had
succeeded in giving satisfaction to the entire district with the
exception of Mrs. Bradley, who "didn't know why Tim should be licked
and thrashed round just be