The land was secured at a small outlay. The canal was surveyed and a
little digging was done that fall. When the snow came, Rupert rode
twenty-one miles to the county seat, took the teachers' examination,
received a certificate, and obtained the Chamogo district school for the
winter. It was a new experience for him, and a trying one at first. The
big boys came to school to get out of the storm, and incidentally, to
learn something of the three R's. They were often wild, but Rupert
managed them without doing any "licking," the usual mode of discipline.
He now wrote to his sister Nina, and told her that he was located for
the winter; that he expected to get back to Willowby, but not for a
time.

So the winter months passed. Rupert studied his own lessons when he was
not preparing for his day's work. He made frequent visits to the
Jansons, though it was a good three miles' drive. He was always received
as a friend, and, indeed, was treated as one of the family.

Was it strange that a tie should grow between Rupert Ames and Signe
Dahl? Was it anything out of the way that Rupert's trips became more
frequent, and that the fair-haired Norwegian looked longingly down the
road for the school-master's horse?

Rupert did not try to deceive himself. It had been a year only since his
experience with Virginia Wilton. He had thought that he never would get
over that, but even now he could look back on it with indifference, yes,
even with thankfulness. This love which seemed to be coming to him was
different from that first experience. He could not explain this
difference, but he knew that it existed. Rupert had no misgivings. Signe
did not thrill him, did not hold him spell-bound with her presence. No;
it was only a calm, sweet assurance that she was a good girl, that he