Miss Russell talked on indifferent subjects to Hester, and at the end of
the half-hour the two entered the class-room side by side, Hester's
little head a good deal turned by this notice from one of the oldest
girls in the school.

As the two walked together into the school-room, Susan Drummond, who,
tall as she was, was only in the fourth class, rushed up to Miss Forest,
and whispered something in her ear.

"It is just as I told you," she said, and her sleepy voice was quite wide
awake and animated. Annie Forest rewarded her by a playful pinch on her
cheek; then she returned to her own class, with a severe reprimand from
the class teacher, and silence reigned in the long room, as the girls
began to prepare their lessons as usual for the next day.

Miss Russell took her place at her desk in her usual dignified manner.
She was a clever girl, and was going to leave school at the end of next
term. Hers was a particularly fastidious, but by no means great nature.
She was the child of wealthy parents; she was also well-born, and because
of her money, and a certain dignity and style which had come to her as
nature's gifts, she held an influence, though by no means a large one, in
the school. No one particularly disliked her, but no one, again, ardently
loved her. The girls in her own class thought it well to be friendly with
Dora Russell, and Dora accepted their homage with more or less
indifference. She did not greatly care for either their praise or blame.
Dora possessed in a strong degree that baneful quality, which more than
anything else precludes the love of others--she was essentially selfish.

She sat now before her desk, little guessing how she had caused Hester's
small heart to beat by her patronage, and little suspecting the mischief
she had done to the girl by her injudicious words. Had she known, it is
to be doubted whether she would have greatly cared. She looked through
the books which contained her tasks for the next day's work, and, finding
they did not require a great deal of preparation, put them aside, and
amused herself during the rest of preparation time with a storybook,
which she artfully concealed behind the leaves of some exercises. She
knew she was breaking the rules, but this fact did not trouble her, for
her moral nature was, after all, no better than poor Annie's, and she had
not a tenth of her lovable qualities.

Dora Russell was the soul of neatness and order. To look inside her
school de