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 cannot flatter myself, madam," he said, "that you did me the honor to visit me in order to discuss my vocation."

"Bless me," said she, "you talk to me as if I were a pupil, not a parent! I don't wonder the girls are afraid of you."

"You have a daughter at this school?" asked Austin. He thought of adding, "In one of the younger classes, I'm sure," but decided that she did not deserve it.

"Yes, I am Mrs. Boyd, the mother of that dear, fat Sally—I, who have never had even to exercise in order to keep thin."

Finding her becoming more respectful, he opened the study door and ushered her in. She turned on the threshold and asked, impulsively:

"But how did you happen to become a schoolmaster?"

"It was Sally we were to discuss," he said.

"Ah yes," said his visitor, as if she had not been now twice reproved. "So we were." She sank into a chair and loosened her furs. She was thinking that he really was like the picture of Tristram in the back hall, only that to her, as to the Queen of Sheba on a not too-dissimilar occasion, the half had not been told. "My poor child," she went on, "in spite of her solid exterior,