Dr. Lavendar's People

Mr. Spangler said. He was calling upon Mrs. Barkley, and the con

as no mind. Still, he has tried, poor fellow." Then she recited the story of David's failures. "There is really nothing that he is capable of doing," she

a month, he had not yet become acclimated to Mrs. Barkley. The watchword of duty made

himself how much pleasanter than paro

Ellen's pupils work out examples on the blackboard and hearing them read, turn about, in

n 'Catiline's Reply,'" Lydia Wright sa

id the older girls. And the second-class girls said they certainly never did. So when Mr. Spangler came and listened to recitations we poked one another, and put out our tongues behind our Readers, and made ourselves extremely obnoxious-if dear Miss Ellen had had the eyes to see it, which, indeed, she had not. She was very absent in those days; but she did her work

law's family is much attached t

m afraid I can't live at my brother-in-law's any longer.

ruck. "Tired? Of yo

ly to tea; and when she came was as kind and pitiful as only dear, kind Ellen could be. But perhaps she took Mrs. Smily's griefs a little less to heart than she might have done had she heard the tale a month before. J

stified by a reasonable affluence. "And," Augustus Spangler reminded himself, "my circumstances are not affluent." Indeed, that warm, pleasant old house in Mercer, and Mary Ann, and his books, and those butt

itter fragrance over the bare beds in the gardens-for that week Mr. Spangler thought often of his income, but oftener of Miss Ellen

awing to a close; I shall not tarry more than another fortnight; so I felt, my dear friend, that I

d," Ellen Baily s

ould "seek other fields of usefulness," she could not take David with her. It was equally clear that she could not leave him behind her. Where would he find his occasional new coat, or even the hat with the blue band, if there were no school in the basement? Compared to love-making and romance, how sordid are questions about coats! Yet, before starting on that Saturday-afternoon walk

ernoon," said David; and went pottering back into the empty school-room to mend a bench that Ellen told him needed a nail or two. But the room was still and sunny, and Ellen's chair was comfortable; and sitting there to think about the bench, he nodded once or

difference to you, won

ed to me. However," he added, with a little si

s. "Mr. Baily, I do think y

erect. "Oh, you mustn

," Mrs. Smily said, gravely

hat. "Ellen expected it," he said to himself. "Well, I did myself, and so did Mrs. Barkley." It never occurred to him that the Reverend Mr. Spangler might also have had expectations which left him disappointed and mortified. Yet when a gentleman of Mr. Spangler's age-one, too, whose income barely suffices for his own comfort, and who, added to this, has had his doubts whether the celibacy of the clergy may not be a sacrament of grace-when such a gentleman does make up his mind to

ing-song, absolutely new to Old Chester, "Zaccheus stood forth, and said, Behold, Lord-" his glance, roving over the congregation, rested once on Ellen Baily, and was as carefully impersonal as though she were only a pa

was inconceivable, considering what he was offering her,

ake the dust of Old Chester from off his feet as witness against Miss Baily, and depart. By the next Sunday he had ceased to be angry, but his pride was still deeply wounded. By Wednesday he had softened to melancholy; he was able to say

ain about his income; he had known that to marry a wife meant greater economy; but sacrifices had not seemed too di

y. He was very miserable; and the more miserable he became, the more in love he knew himself

mpossible-impossible!" he said. Then, absently, he made some calculations: To meet the support of David Baily he would have to have an increase of so

man conquered. His expenses should be de

two-yes, or three. But he would have Miss Baily. And warmed with this tender thought, he sat down, then and there, at nearly midnight, and wrote Miss Ellen a letter. It was a beautiful letter, full of most beautiful sentiments expressed with great elegance and gentility. It appreciated Miss Ellen's devotion to her family, and acknowledged that a sense of duty was a

es and other emblems of the Scarlet Woman, but his letter, beneath its stilted phrase, w

t river in South America; but we might have said it was the largest river in Pennsylvania, and Miss Ellen would have gone on smiling at us. At recess we poured out into the garden, eager to say, "Goodness!

dia Wright, "he ha

t she did not look troubled, or "cross," as the girls called it; so we knew it could not be an exercise that she was correcting. But when she came out to us, and said, in a sweet, fluttered voice, "Children, will one of you take this letter to the post-office?" we knew what it meant-for it was addressed to the Reverend Mr. Spangler. How we all ran with it to the post-office!-giggling and palpitating

y something

our mothers had bidden us have manners like Mr. David!-but they never did. They used to say, "Try and behave as politely as Miss Maria Welwood," or, "I hope you will be as modest in your deportment as Miss Sally Smith." And there was this model before our eyes. It makes my heart beat now to remember how He got out of that rattling old carriage and turned and lifted his hat to a lady inside, and gave her his

was with sorrow, we never expected him to know our names-"little girls,

with a start looked at the clock and put out her hand to ring the bell. "

st why she followed us as we ran out into the garden with her purse perhaps she hardly knew herself. But as s

said, "I have a pres

stepped forward and threw her

llen Baily sa

ester," said Mr. David, "and I have broug