uch
disappointed with his general manner and appearance, but that, as he had
come so far, they were graciously willing to keep him if he would
consent to take a lower salary than that first agreed on. At this the
schoolmaster grew very red, and, with much stammering, he managed to
make a speech. He said that he liked the wildness and extreme beauty of
the country, and the children appeared to him attractive; he did not
wish to go away; and as to salary, he would take what they thought him
worth.

In this way they closed the bargain with him on terms quite satisfactory
to themselves.

'But hoots,' said the stout Macpherson as he ambled home from the
meeting, 'I've only half a respect for a man that can't stand up for
himself;' and this sentiment was more or less echoed by them all.

Happily, the schoolmaster did not desire society. The minister's wife
asked him to tea occasionally; and he confided to her that, up to that
time, he had always lived with his mother, and that it was because of
her death that he had left his old home, where sad memories were too
great a strain upon him, and come farther west. No one else took much
notice of him, partly because he took no notice of them. At the ladies'
sewing meeting the doctor's wife looked round the room with an injured
air and asked: 'How is it possible to ask a gentleman to tea when you
know that he'll meet you in the street next morning and won't remember
who you are?'

'A lady who respected herself couldn't do it,' replied Mrs. Reid
positively; and then in an undertone she remarked to herself, 'The
gaby!'

Miss Ann Blakely pursed her lips and craned her thin neck over her work.
'As to that I don't know, Mrs. Reid; no one could visit the school, as I
have done, and fail to observe that the youth of the town are more
obedient than formerly. In my opinion, a gentleman who can command the
respect of the growing masculine mind----' She finished the sentence
only by an expressive wave of her head.

'There is much truth in Miss Blakely's remark,' said a timid little
mother of six sons.

People married early, as a general thing, in Haven Settlement, and Miss
Blakely, having been accidentally overlooked, had, before he came,
indulged in some soft imaginations of her own with regard to the new
schoolmaster; like others, she was disappointed in him; but she had not
yet decided 'whether,' to use her own phrase, 'he would not, after all,
be better than none.' She poised thi