Page:Duer Miller--The charm school.djvu/183

 old women, he thought, impatiently—putting on their best shawls to tell him that he had lost his love?

Presently the door opened and Mrs. Hayes and Miss Mary came in—both in their way very like his Miss Hayes; it was evidently a family that ran true to type. They had the same manner that the servant had—the same manner that all New-Englanders seem to have toward strangers, of conscientiously suspending judgment, which, sooner or later, for good or evil, they will be obliged to pass upon you.

"You wanted to see me?" said Mrs. Hayes, and her daughter stood beside her ready to protect her from blue-eyed strangers in a high state of nervous excitement.

"Yes," said Austin. "My name is Bevans. I am the head of the school where your daughter teaches."

"Where my daughter used to teach?" said Mrs. Hayes. "I understand you no longer need her services."

Austin was startled. "The news reached you quickly."

"I had a telegram from my daughter."

What else was in that telegram? Austin's hopes rose. "Of course," he said, "I could not really get on without your daughter."