is did not know.

It was a bare little place. The sanded floor gave little help or
seeming of comfort; the wooden chairs and benches were old and hard;
however, the small stove did give out warmth enough to make the place
habitable, even to its furthest corners. Six people were already there.
Lois gave a rapid glance at the situation. There was no time, and it
was no company for a prolonged battle with the intruder.

"Mr. Dillwyn," she said softly, "will you take a seat by the stove, as
far from us as you can; and make believe you have neither eyes nor
ears? You must not be seen to have either--by any use you make of them.
If you keep quite still, maybe they will forget you are here. You can
keep up the fire for us."

She turned from him to greet her young friends, and Mr. Dillwyn obeyed
orders. He hung up his wet hat and coat and sat down in the furthest
corner; placing himself so, however, that neither eyes nor ears should
be hindered in the exercise of their vocation, while his attitude might
have suggested a fit of sleepiness, or a most indifferent meditation on
things far distant, or possibly rest after severe exertion. Lois and
her six scholars took their places at the other end of the room, which
was too small to prevent every word they spoke from being distinctly
heard by the one idle spectator. A spectator in truth Mr. Dillwyn
desired to be, not merely an auditor; so, as he had been warned he must
not be seen to look, he arranged himself in a manner to serve both
purposes, of seeing and not seeing.

The hour was not long to this one spectator, although it extended
itself to full an hour and a half. He gave as close attention as ever
when a student in college he had given to lecture or lesson. And yet,
though he did this, Mr. Dillwyn was not, at least not at the time,
thinking much of the matter of the lesson. He was studying the
lecturer. And the study grew intense. It was not flattering to
perceive, as he soon did, that Lois had entirely forgotten his
presence. He saw it by the free unconcern with which she did her work,
as well as in the absorbed interest she gave to it. Not flattering, and
it cast a little shadow upon him, but it was convenient for his present
purpose of observation. So he watched,--and listened. He heard the
sweet utterance and clear enunciation, first of all; he heard them, it
is true, whenever she spoke; but now the utterance sounded sweeter than
usual, as if there were a vibration fr