is in view her four
years' course had been pursued with pluck and determination. The picture
of Joanna Baker, as young as herself, climbing easily to the topmost
round of the ladder, had fired and stimulated _her_, and she had allowed
it to be known that her life was dedicated to learning, and by-and-by to
teaching.

All the faculty at Mount Seward knew her aspirations, and several of the
professors had promised their aid in securing her a position, but she
had not expected anything of this kind so soon.

Why, her diploma would not be hers until next week! Surely there must be
some benignant angel at work in her behalf. But--Hilox? Had she ever met
any one from Hilox?

Suddenly the light went out of the ardent face, and a frown crinkled the
smooth fairness of her brow. This, then, _he_ had dared to do!

Memory recalled an episode two years back, and half-forgotten. Margaret
had been spending her vacation at home in the West Virginia mountains,
and a man had fallen in love with her. There was nothing remarkable in
this, for a beautiful girl of seventeen, graceful, dignified,
accomplished, and enthusiastic, is a very lovable creature. A visiting
stranger in the village, the minister's cousin, had been much at her
father's house, had walked and boated with her, and shared her rides
over the hills, both on sure-footed mountain ponies. As a friend
Margaret had liked Dr. Angus, as a comrade had found him delightful, but
her heart had not been touched. What had she, with her Greek
professorate looming up like a star in mid-heaven before her--what had
she to do with love and a lover? She had managed to make Dr. Angus know
this before he had quite committed himself by a proposal; but she had
understood what was in his thought, and she knew that he knew that she
knew all about it. And Dr. Angus had remained and settled down as a
practitioner in the little mountain town. The town had a future before
it, for two railroads were already projected to cross it, and there were
coal mines in the neighborhood, and, altogether, a man might do worse
than drive his roots into this soil. She had heard now and then of Dr.
Angus since that summer--her last vacation had been passed with cousins
in New England--and he was said to be courting a Mrs. Murray, a rich and
charming neighbor of her father's.

Dr. Angus had friends in Colorado. Now she remembered he had a relative
who had helped to found Hilox, and had endowed a chair of languages o