The Desired Woman

tains Tom Drake received a letter from the rural

ier said, cheerfully. "You've got good c

middle-aged. He wore no beard, had mild brown eyes, heavy chestnut hair upon which rested a shapeless wool hat full of holes. His arms and legs were long, his gait slouching and deliberate. He was in his shirt-sleeves; his patc

notted hair, stood on the porch impatiently waiting for him. Behind her, leaning in the doorway, was her brother,

ively, when her husband had paused at the bottom

with a broadening smile. "You two are as good at guessin' as the general run, but if I gave you a hundred tr

o do that's piled up like a haystack on the dinin'-room table, to say nothin' of the be

bachelor, with a dry cackle. "That's my guess. You fellows that was licked don't git no

e with his slow glance of amusement, fold

over-work, but Dick Mostyn, your Atlanta boarder, writes that he's a little bit run down an' wants to come an' stay a solid month. Money seems to b

time I've been thinkin' he'd never think of us any more. There wasn't a thing for him to do t

-webs. He had six pairs o' pants, if he had one, an' a pair o' galluses to each pair. I axed him one day when they was all spread out on his bed what on earth he had so many galluses for, an' Mostyn said-I give you my word I'm not jokin'-he said"-Webb laughed out impulsively-"he said it was to keep from botherin' to button 'em on ever' time he changed! H

her voice. "Nobody's usin' the company-room, an' the presidin' elder won't be here till fall. Mr. Mostyn never was a bit of trouble and seemed to love eve

through the passage bisecting the lower part of the plain two-story house and went out at the rear door. In the back yar

our sister's the teacher you can run wild like a mountain shote. My Lord, look at your clothes! I'll swear it would be hard to tell whether

rings and knots to look up. "Some fool left it in the creek, and it's laid there for the last month," he mumbled. "

s as sound as they ought to be licked, and thar is some talk about appointin' some able-bodied man that lives close about to step in an' sort o' clean up

shaggy brown hair. "You talk mighty big. I'd

he chance if Dolly call

started to tell you

t is," George said, wi

bb was caught in the

ass. "You and Sue Tidwell are going to get spliced. The whole valley's talking about it, and hoping that it wil

the flush which, fold upon fold, came into his face. "Jokin

laugh through the net which he had drawn ov

of propitiation in his voice; and, not a little discomfited, he turned

' entirely too forward-entirely, for a b

the mountain. The white frame building, oblong in shape, had four windows with green outer blinds on each of its two sides, and a door at the end nearer the road. As Webb traversed the open space, where, on Sundays, horses were hitched to the trees and saplings,

whose backs were turned to him. At a blackboard on the platform, a bit of chalk in her fingers, Dolly, a girl eighteen yea

y like this an' try to git lessons in my head. I don't blame George a bit, so I don't. I can't recall a thing in the Saviour's teachin

n, turning to a table on which stood a cumbersome brass bell, she said

od and feet bare pounded the floor. Merry yells rent the air. On the platform itself two of the arithmetic delinquents were boxing playfully, fiercely punching, t

as quite pretty; her eyes were large, with fathomless hazel depths. Her brow, under a mass of uncontrollable reddish-brown hair, was high and indicative of decided intellectual power. She was of medium height, very shapely, and daintily graceful. She had a good nose and a sweet,

lay with the balance an' li

t what a woman teacher has to contend with than a day-old kitten.

now?" Webb s

pened right to-day. George flatly refused to come to school-even d

dn't see her in that drove just now, and she cer

share my humiliation." Therewith Dolly grimly pointed at a closet door close by. "Open it," she said. "The truth is, I told her she would have to stay there twenty minute

e she stood. And there against the wall, seated on the floor, was Dolly's sister Ann, a slim-legged, rather pretty girl about fourteen years of age, he

y. "She's still breathin' below the nec

to foot," Dolly said, for the c

prisoner save a desultory picking of th

eacher said?" Webb asked, in an effort

ply. "She thinks it will mend matters f

Ann muttered; "I like i

cool and n

she does. Scripture says them whose deeds is evil likes darkness better'n light. You certainly made a mis

. "I've got to talk to her,

l's wrist and drew the reluctant creature to her

ice at the store as she passed this morning and brought them to school in her pocket. She's been gorging herself with it all day. You can see it all over her face, und

ge. "Looks like ham gravy, don't it?" he said. "An' as I understand it, the book

of her, Uncle John, fo

she's my o

s nigh enough to make me feel plumb ashamed. I've always tuck pride in both you gals; but lawsy me, if Ann is goi

. I've lost heart completely. I want to be proud of you and George, but I'm afraid I never can be. She can't write, Uncle John; she can't sp

can work it. He says he can do it, and one or two other men, but that he never has seen a woman teacher yet who could get the answer. I was within an inch of the solution when I caught sight of t

o. Do you know what that's meant for? It is for no other reason under the shinin' sun than to make the average parent think teachers know more'n the rest o' humanity. In the first

," Dolly broke in, wi

ow and reap and thresh wheat in hot weather like this without sweatin' ove

the bell-handle. "My time's up," she said. "I wish I could stop my ears with c

mornin'." Webb knew his words would

it?" Doll

styn; he's comin' up to boar

staring at the speaker in surprise. She said nothing,

d stagger you," Webb said

r perfect composure under trying circumstanc

'n Ann is when he was here last, but you was daffy about 'im the same as yo

I'm ashamed to hear you accuse me of-

o see if he was bein' fed right. La me, I'm no fool! I know a little about females, an' I never saw a mountain woman yet that wouldn't go s

toward the bell, but

e asked, her eyes holdi

ller that owns a bank in Atlanta 'an they do of a mossback clod-hopper with the right sort o' heart in 'im. Say, Mostyn ain't nothin' but human, an' if what some say is so he ain't the highest grade o' that. Over at Hilton's ware

"It's not true. It's a meddlesome lie. They are jealous. People are always like that

d before he gits up here," John said, dryly. "From al

d turned her back to Webb; and, unable to make himse

been the feller's gallant way. I remember he used to say she was the purtiest an' brightest little trick he ever seed. Maybe he said somethin' o' the sort to her, young as she was. I remember