nce called Recitations;
light refreshments and musical performances being distributed at
intervals, to encourage the exhausted audience. The local newspaper sent
a reporter to describe the proceedings, and some of Miss Ladd's young
ladies enjoyed the intoxicating luxury of seeing their names in print.

"It begins at three o'clock," the housemaid went on, "and, what with
practicing and rehearsing, and ornamenting the schoolroom, there's a
hubbub fit to make a person's head spin. Besides which," said the girl,
lowering her voice, and approaching a little nearer to Francine, "we
have all been taken by surprise. The first thing in the morning Miss
Jethro left us, without saying good-by to anybody."

"Who is Miss Jethro?"

"The new teacher, miss. We none of us liked her, and we all suspect
there's something wrong. Miss Ladd and the clergyman had a long talk
together yesterday (in private, you know), and they sent for Miss
Jethro--which looks bad, doesn't it? Is there anything more I can do for
you, miss? It's a beautiful day after the rain. If I was you, I should
go and enjoy myself in the garden."

Having finished her breakfast, Francine decided on profiting by this
sensible suggestion.

The servant who showed her the way to the garden was not favorably
impressed by the new pupil: Francine's temper asserted itself a little
too plainly in her face. To a girl possessing a high opinion of her own
importance it was not very agreeable to feel herself excluded, as
an illiterate stranger, from the one absorbing interest of her
schoolfellows. "Will the time ever come," she wondered bitterly, "when
I shall win a prize, and sing and play before all the company? How I
should enjoy making the girls envy me!"

A broad lawn, overshadowed at one end by fine old trees--flower beds and
shrubberies, and winding paths prettily and invitingly laid out--made
the garden a welcome refuge on that fine summer morning. The novelty
of the scene, after her experience in the West Indies, the delicious
breezes cooled by the rain of the night, exerted their cheering
influence even on the sullen disposition of Francine. She smiled, in
spite of herself, as she followed the pleasant paths, and heard the
birds singing their summer songs over her head.

Wandering among the trees, which occupied a considerable extent of
ground, she passed into an open space beyond, and discovered an old
fish-pond, overgrown by aquatic plants. Driblets of water trickled