for her cordial liking of her teacher.

It will be necessary henceforth to omit the less significant details in
the career of our friend "Mr. Birch." Before a month was past, he had
firmly established himself in the favor of the different members of the
Van Kirk family. Mrs. Van Kirk spoke of him to her lady visitors as "a
perfect jewel," frequently leaving them in doubt as to whether he was a
cook or a coachman. Edith apostrophized him to her fashionable friends
as "a real genius," leaving a dim impression upon their minds of flowing
locks, a shiny velvet jacket, slouched hat, defiant neck-tie and a
general air of disreputable pretentiousness. Geniuses of the foreign
type were never, in the estimation of fashionable New York society, what
you would call "exactly nice," and against prejudices of this order
no amount of argument will ever prevail. Clara, who had by this time
discovered that her teacher possessed an inexhaustible fund of fairy
stories, assured her playmates across the street that he was "just
splendid," and frequently invited them over to listen to his wonderful
tales. Mr. Van Kirk himself, of course, was non-committal, but paid the
bills unmurmuringly.

Halfdan in the meanwhile was vainly struggling against his growing
passion for Edith; but the more he rebelled the more hopelessly he found
himself entangled in its inextricable net. The fly, as long as it keeps
quiet in the spider's web, may for a moment forget its situation; but
the least effort to escape is apt to frustrate itself and again reveal
the imminent peril. Thus he too "kicked against the pricks," hoped,
feared, rebelled against his destiny, and again, from sheer weariness,
relapsed into a dull, benumbed apathy. In spite of her friendly
sympathy, he never felt so keenly his alienism as in her presence. She
accepted the spontaneous homage he paid her, sometimes with impatience,
as something that was really beneath her notice; at other times she
frankly recognized it, bantered him with his "Old World chivalry," which
would soon evaporate in the practical American atmosphere, and called
him her Viking, her knight and her faithful squire. But it never
occurred to her to regard his devotion in a serious light, and to look
upon him as a possible lover had evidently never entered her head. As
their intercourse grew more intimate, he had volunteered to read his
favorite poets with her, and had gradually succeeded in imparting to her
something of hi