excellence before him,
besides the privilege of being surrounded by a garland of the blossoms
of the school in all their freshness and beauty, it was well understood
that he had the greater privilege of--er--standing in loco parentis to
one of these blossoms. It was not for him to allude to the high trust
imposed upon him by--er--deceased and cherished friend, and daughter of
one of the first families of Virginia, by the side of one who must feel
that she was the recipient of trusts equally supreme (here the colonel
paused, and statuesquely regarded the alarmed Miss Prinkwell as if he
were in doubt of it), but he would say that it should be HIS devoted
mission to champion the rights of the orphaned and innocent whenever and
wherever the occasion arose, against all odds, and even in the face of
misguided authority. (Having left the impression that Miss Prinkwell
contemplated an invasion of those rights, the colonel became more
lenient and genial.) He fully recognized her high and noble office; he
saw in her the worthy successor of those two famous instructresses of
Athens--those Greek ladies--er--whose names had escaped his memory,
but which--er--no doubt Miss Prinkwell would be glad to recall to her
pupils, with some account of their lives. (Miss Prinkwell colored; she
had never heard of them before, and even the delight of the class in the
colonel's triumph was a little dampened by this prospect of hearing more
about them.) But the colonel was only too content with seeing before him
these bright and beautiful faces, destined, as he firmly believed, in
after years to lend their charm and effulgence to the highest
places as the happy helpmeets of the greatest in the land. He
was--er--leaving a--er--slight testimonial of his regard in the form
of some--er--innocent refreshments in the hands of his ward, who
would--er--act as--er--his proxy in their distribution; and the
colonel sat down to the flutter of handkerchiefs, an applause only half
restrained, and the utter demoralization of Miss Prinkwell.

But the time of his departure had come by this time, and he was too
experienced a public man to risk the possibility of an anticlimax by
protracting his leave-taking. And in an ominous shining of Pansy's big
eyes as the time approached he felt an embarrassment as perplexing as
the odd presentiment of loneliness that was creeping over him. But
with an elaborate caution as to the dangers of self-indulgence, and the
private bes