"He visited my school yesterday afternoon."

"Oh, no, that can't be the one," returned Ella, while Miss Porter,
too, said, "Certainly not; our cavalier never thaw the inthide of a
district school-houth, I know."

"I am quite sure he saw one yesterday," said Mary, relating the
circumstance of Mr. Knight's meeting him at the spot where Ella came
so near getting a fall.

"Did he go home with you?" asked Ella, in a tone plainly indicating
that a negative answer was expected.

Mary understood the drift of her sister's questioning, and promptly
replied, "Yes, he went home with me, and staid to tea."

Ella's countenance lowered, while Miss Porter exclaimed, "I declare,
we may as well give up all hope, for your sister, it seems, has the
first claim."

"Pshaw!" said Ella, contemptuously, while Miss Porter, again turning
to Mary, asked, "Did you learn his name? If you did, you are more
fortunate than we were; and he came all the way home with us, too,
leading Ella's pony; and besides that, we met him in the street this
morning."

"His name," returned Mary, "is Stuart, and he lives in Boston, I
believe."

"Stuart,--Stuart,--" repeated Ella; "I never heard Lizzie Upton, or