He nodded, and seemed very much interested in two little boys who sat
near him, engaged in the laudable employment of seeing which could
snap spittle the farthest and the best.

Just then there was a movement at the door, and a new visitor appeared
in the person of Mrs. Perkins, who, with her large feather fan and
flounced gingham dress, entered smiling and bowing, and saying "she
had been trying all summer to visit the school."

Mr. Stuart immediately arose and offered his chair, but there was
something in his manner which led Mary to suppose that an introduction
was not at all desired, so she omitted it, greatly to the chagrin of
the widow, who, declining the proffered seat, squeezed herself between
Lydia Knight and another girl, upsetting the inkstand of the one, and
causing the other to make a curious character out of the letter "X"
she chanced to be writing.

"Liddy, Liddy," she whispered, "who is that man?"

But Lydia was too much engrossed with her spoiled apron to answer this
question, and she replied with, "Marm may I g'wout; I've spilt the ink
all over my apron."

Permission, of course, was granted, and as the girl who sat next knew
nothing of the stranger, Mrs. Perkins began to think she might just as
well have staid at home and finished her shoes. "But," thought she,
"may-be I shall find out after school."

Fortune, however, was against the widow, for scarcely was her feather