during the remainder of the drive, and did
not recur to the conversation that had been interrupted by coming upon
the schoolhouse.

The teacher, glancing for a moment through the open door of the
schoolhouse, had seen a handsome young lady staring at her,--Miss Leary
had a curiously intent look when she was interested in anything, with
no intention whatever to be rude,--and beyond the lady the back and
shoulder of a man, whose face was turned the other way. There was a
vague suggestion of something familiar about the equipage, but Rena
shrank from this close scrutiny and withdrew out of sight before she
had had an opportunity to identify the vague resemblance to something
she had known.

Miss Leary had missed by a hair's-breadth the psychological moment, and
felt some resentment toward the little negroes who had interrupted her
lover's train of thought. Negroes have caused a great deal of trouble
among white people. How deeply the shadow of the Ethiopian had fallen
upon her own happiness, Miss Leary of course could not guess.

XXVII

AN INTERESTING ACQUAINTANCE

A few days later, Rena looked out of the window near her desk and saw a
low basket phaeton, drawn by a sorrel pony, driven sharply into the
clearing and drawn up beside an oak sapling. The occupant of the
phaeton, a tall, handsome, well-preserved lady in middle life, with
slightly gray hair, alighted briskly from the phaeton, tied the pony to
the sapling with a hitching-strap, and advanced to the schoolhouse door.

Rena wondered who the lady might be. She had a benevolent aspect,
however, and came forward to the desk with a smile, not at all
embarrassed by the wide-eyed inspection of the entire school.

"How do you do?" she said, extending her hand to the teacher. "I live
in the neighborhood and am interested in the colored people--a good
many of them once belonged to me. I heard something of your school,
and thought I should like to make your acquaintance."

"It is very kind of you, indeed," murmured Rena respectfully.

"Yes," continued the lady, "I am not one of those who sit back and
blame their former slaves because they were freed. They are free
now,--it is all decided and settled,--and they ought to be taught
enough to enable them to make good use of their freedom. But really,
my dear,--you mustn't feel offended if I make a mistake,--I am going to
ask you something very personal." She looked suggestively at the
gaping pupils.

"T