at least, was to be placed under Mr. Everett's instruction, felt in
no wise eager for his arrival, fearing, as he told 'Lena that
"between the 'old man' and the tutor, he would be kept a little too
straight for a gentleman of his habits;" and it was with no
particular emotions of pleasure that he and Anna saw the stage stop
before the gate one pleasant morning toward the middle of November.
Running to one of the front windows, Carrie, 'Lena, and Anna watched
their new teacher, each after her own fashion commenting upon his
appearance.

"Ugh," exclaimed Anna, "what a green, boyish looking thing! I reckon
nobody's going to be afraid of him."

"I say he's real handsome," said Carrie, who being thirteen years of
age, had already, in her own mind, practiced many a little coquetry
upon the stranger.

"I like him," was 'Lena's brief remark.

Mr. Everett was a pale, intellectual looking man, scarcely twenty
years of age, and appearing still younger so that Anna was not wholly
wrong when she called him boyish. Still there was in his large black
eye a firmness and decision which bespoke the man strong within him,
and which put to flight all of Anna's preconceived notions of
rebellion. With the utmost composure he returned Mrs. Livingstone's
greeting, and the proud lady half bit her lip with vexation as she
saw how little he seemed awed by her presence.

Malcolm Everett was not one to acknowledge superiority where there
was none, and though ever polite toward Mrs. Livingstone, there was
something in his manner which forbade her treating him as aught save
an equal. He was not to be trampled down, and for once in her life
Mrs. Livingstone had found a person who would neither cringe to her
nor flatter. The children were not presented to him until dinner
time, when, with the air of a young desperado, John Jr. marched into
the dining-room, eying, his teacher askance, calculating his
strength, and returning his greeting with a simple nod. Mr. Everett
scanned him from head to foot, and then turned to Carrie half smiling
at the great dignity which she assumed. With 'Lena and Anna he
seemed better pleased, holding their hands and smiling down upon them
through rows of teeth which Anna pronounced the whitest she had ever
seen.

Mr. Livingstone was not at home, and when his mother appeared, Mrs.
Livingstone did not think proper to introduce her. But if by this
omission she thought to keep the old lady silent, she was mistake