But the truth was, Anne Shirley was in that class;
and Anne Shirley was the one living human being that I was afraid of.
Not that I disliked her. But she had such a habit of asking weird,
unexpected questions, which a Philadelphia lawyer couldn't answer.
Miss Rogerson had that class once and Anne routed her, horse, foot
and artillery. _I_ wasn't going to undertake a class with a walking
interrogation point in it like that. Besides, I thought Mrs. Allan
required a slight snub. Ministers' wives are rather apt to think they
can run everything and everybody, if they are not wholesomely corrected
now and again.

"It is not what _I_ like best that must be considered, Mrs. Allan," I
said rebukingly. "It is what is best for those boys. I feel that _I_
shall be best for THEM."

"Oh, I've no doubt of that, Miss MacPherson," said Mrs. Allan amiably.
It was a fib for her, minister's wife though she was. She HAD doubt. She
thought I would be a dismal failure as teacher of a boys' class.

But I was not. I am not often a dismal failure when I make up my mind to
do a thing. I am noted for that.

"It is wonderful what a reformation you have worked in that class, Miss
MacPherson--wonderful," said the Rev. Mr. Allan some weeks later. He
didn't mean to show how amazing a thing he thought it that an old
maid noted for being a man hater should have managed it, but his face
betrayed him.

"Where does Jimmy Spencer live?" I asked him crisply. "He came one
Sunday three weeks ago and hasn't been back since. I mean to find out
why."

Mr. Allan coughed.

"I believe he is hired as handy boy with Alexander Abraham Bennett, out
on the White Sands road," he said.

"Then I am going out to Alexander Abraham Bennett's on the White Sands
road to see why Jimmy Spencer doesn't come to Sunday school," I said
firmly.

Mr. Allan's eyes twinkled ever so slightly. I have always insisted that
if that man were not a minister he would have a sense of humour.

"Possibly Mr. Bennett will not appreciate your kind interest! He
has--ah--a singular aversion to your sex, I understand. No woman has
ever been known to get inside of Mr. Bennett's house since his sister
died twenty years ago."

"Oh, he is the one, is he?" I said, remembering. "He is the woman hater
who threatens that if a woman comes into his yard he'll chase her out
with a pitch-fork. Well, he will not chase ME out!"

Mr. Allan gave a chuckle--a ministerial chuckle, but still a chuckle.
It