back to the slums of London; hand-to-mouth tenants of the valley-aristocrat,
hewers of wood for him in the lowlands and upland guardians of his cattle and
sheep. And finally, walking up and down the earth floor--stern and smooth of
face and of a preternatural dignity hardly to be found elsewhere--the mountain
school-master.

It was a "blab school," as the mountaineers characterize a school in which the
pupils study aloud, and the droning chorus as shrill as locust cries ceased
suddenly when Chad came in, and every eye was turned on him with a sexless
gaze of curiosity that made his face redden and his heart throb. But he forgot
them when the school-master pierced him with eyes that seemed to shoot from
under his heavy brows like a strong light from deep darkness. Chad met them,
nor did his chin droop, and Caleb Hazel saw that the boy's face was frank and
honest, and that his eye was fearless and kind, and, without question, he
motioned to a seat--with one wave of his hand setting Chad on the corner of a
slab and the studious drone to vibrating again. When the boy ventured to
glance around, he saw Daws Dillon in one corner, making a face at him, and
little Tad scowling from behind a book: and on the other side, among the
girls, he saw another hostile face--next little Melissa which had the pointed
chin and the narrow eyes of the "Dillon breed," as old Joel called the family,
whose farm was at the mouth of Kingdom Come and whose boundary touched his
own. When the first morning recess came, "little recess," as it was called--the
master kept Chad in and asked him his name; if he had ever been to school, and
whether he knew his A B C's; and he showed no surprise when Chad, without
shame, told him no. So the master got Melissa's spelling-book and pointed out
the first seven letters of the alphabet, and made Chad repeat them three
times--watching the boy's earnest, wrinkling brow closely and with growing
interest. When school "took up" again, Chad was told to say them aloud in
concert with the others--which he did, until he could repeat them without
looking at his book, and the master saw him thus saying them while his eyes