."

Thereupon, from the little pocket of her blouse, which had held the
pebble, the teacher took a folded paper, closely covered with her
neatest script, and read therefrom paragraphs which alternately plunged
her pupil into despair or exalted him to extravagant delight. And the
fortunate result of this first lesson was that when it was ended
Montgomery had repeated an entire sentence with reasonable smoothness.
But he had accomplished this without the pebble and with almost
interminable pauses between words.

"Yet you did it, you did it!" cried Katharine, exultantly; "and now for
a reward you shall hear the most glorious plan I ever thought out.
Listen to me, Mr. President-that-is-to-be!"

So Montgomery listened in astonishment, doubt, and delight, after his
habit of mind; yet also, because of her zeal in his cure, with
unquestioning allegiance. In any case, it was a scheme that would have
appealed to him irresistibly and was one full worthy of the brain of
"Kitty Quixote," so that he was fast outstripping even her ingenuity in
the matter of detail, when the sudden call of Widow Sprigg fell like a
dash of cold water upon their glowing spirits:

"Montgomery Sturtevant! You come right down out that mow this minute!
Here's Squire Pettijohn after you!"

CHAPTER IX.

SQUIRE PETTIJOHN

Katharine should have grown familiar, by this time, with Monty's
spasmodic disappearances, but this last was the most amazing of all. It
seemed that at the sound of "Pettijohn" the hay had opened and swallowed
him. There had been no other summons and she had heard only a faint
swish of something sliding, then found herself alone.

"But he'll come back, of course," she reflected, "after he's seen that
gentleman. Must have been somebody he liked or he wouldn't have hurried
so. Anyway, I don't mind being here a little while by myself to think
things out all clear, and a hay-mow is the loveliest place in the world
for dreaming."

It proved such in reality for Katharine, who, burrowing herself a fresh,
chair-like "nest" in the sweet-scented hay, laid her head back and fixed
her gaze upon the clouds floating above the slatted window. Soon her
lids dropped and she fell fast asleep.

When she awoke the loft was dusky in twilight and she was very cold. The
wind had risen, and little tufts of the hay about her blew here and
there, clinging to her clothing and lodging among her short curls.
Montgomery had not returned, and after lyin