his tragic air.

Ah, the dreams of the climbers! How silly they are! Golden clouds at the
top, and just as they are reached, some little Jack comes along and
chops down the beanstalk, clouds and all.

So, Mrs. Yorke dreamed, and, a trifle anxious over Alice's persistent
reference to the charms of Spring woods and a Southern climate, after a
week or two of driving down-town and eager choosing of hats and wearying
fitting of dresses, started off with the girl on the yacht of Mr.
Lancaster, a wealthy, dignified, and cultivated friend of her husband's.
He had always been fond of Alice, and now got up a yacht-party for her
to see the boat-race.

* * * * *

Keith had thought that the time when he should leave the region where he
had been immersed so long would be the happiest hour of his life. Yet,
when the day came, he was conscious of a strange tugging at his heart.
These people whom he was leaving, and for whom he had in his heart an
opinion very like contempt on account of their ignorance and narrowness,
appeared to him a wholly different folk. There was barely one of them
but had been kind to him. Hard they might appear and petty; but they
lived close together, and, break through the crust, one was sure to find
a warm heart and often a soft one.

He began to understand Dr. Balsam's speech: "I have lived in several
kinds of society, and I like the simplest best. One can get nearer to
men here. I do not ask gratitude. I get affection."

Keith had given notice that the school would close on a certain day. The
scholars always dropped off as summer came, to work in the crops; and
the attendance of late had been slim. This last day he hardly expected
to have half a dozen pupils. To his surprise, the school-house
was filled.

Even Jake Dennison, who had been off in the mountains for some little
time getting out timber, was on hand, large and good-humored, sitting
beside Phrony Tripper in her pink ribbons, and fanning her hard enough
to keep a mine fresh. A little later in the day quite a number of the
fathers and mothers of the children arrived in their rickety vehicles.
They had come to take leave of the young teacher. There were almost as
many as were present at the school celebration. Keith was quite
overcome, and when the hour arrived for closing the school, instead of,
as he had expected, tying up the half-dozen books he kept in his desk,
shaking hands with the dozen children eager to