“If you really think you would be willing to take my place,” said Allen Barclay, “I will see at once if I can obtain your appointment.”

“I am not in any hurry to commence, Mr. Barclay, though I may be in a hurry to get through, if I should take the place.”

“That is my feeling now. The sooner I can be free, the better it will be for my health. The climate is getting worse for me with the approach of winter.”

“I leave the matter in your hands, then. Who are the trustees?”

“General Wall is the principal one, and I will call to see him this evening. Besides him there is the village doctor--Dr. Owens--but he has so much to attend to that he has very little to do with the schools. Then there is Squire Griffiths, a man who was selected because he is rather prominent in town affairs, but he is a man of no education. General Wall is the only one at all qualified for the position. Last year the minister belonged to the board, and was competent and useful, but he got unpopular by taking sides in a local dispute, and was left off.”

“I suppose teachers are examined by the trustees so that they may discover whether they are competent.”

“Yes, but the examinations don’t amount to much, as you can judge from the composition of the Board of Trustees.”

“I think I can pass pretty well. I have not been out of school long enough to forget my studies.”

“I have no doubt you’ll be all right. I’ll call on the general this evening.”

In accordance with his determination, Allen Barclay knocked at the door of General Wall’s residence about an hour after supper.

“Is the general in?” he inquired.

“Yes, sir; will you come in?”

“I would like to see him a few minutes.”

He was ushered into the sitting-room, and General Wall soon made his appearance.

“Good-evening, Mr. Barclay,” he said, in his usual patronizing way, “I am glad to see you. Nothing wrong at the school, I hope?”

“No, sir; there is nothing wrong at the school; but it is about the school I have come to speak.”

“Any advice, ahem! which I can give, will be freely tendered. This is, of course, incumbent upon me in the official position which I hold, but I feel an additional interest as a parent.”

“You haven’t much reason as a parent to feel proud,” thought Allen Barclay; but there are some thoughts that are best unspoken.

“I am afraid, General Wall, that I shall be compelled to give up the school!”

“What!” exclaimed General Wall, in surprise. “Have you any cause of dissatisfaction? Are you not content with the salary?”

“I don’t complain of that, but I find that the climate does not agree with my health.”

“Indeed! Are you feeling unwell?”

“My lungs are weak, and I find that the cough with which I have been troubled for a year past, instead of improving, as I hoped it would, is increasing, and becoming daily more troublesome. I think it will be best, therefore, for me to give up teaching, and go elsewhere.”

“I am sorry to hear this, Mr. Barclay. Don’t you think you can keep along to the end of the term--six weeks, I believe?”

“I don’t think it would be wise, General Wall.”

“We shall find it difficult to fill your place. We could get teachers, but we want one who is competent to teach Latin as well as English. I want my son John to go on in the same liberal course which I have projected for him,” said the general, rather pompously.

“It is on this account that I have delayed mentioning the matter before, but I now think I can recommend a substitute.”

“Indeed! May I inquire who it is?”

“You perhaps observed the young man who was walking with me this morning when we met.”

“I saw a boy with you, Mr. Barclay. Surely you do not allude to him.”

“I know he is young, General Wall, but I have reason to think he is a good scholar. In Latin he is as far advanced as I am. He was educated at an Eastern institution of high rank.”

“I am afraid,” said General Wall, dubiously, “that his extreme youth would prevent his succeeding.”

“I was not much older when I commenced teaching, but I got along well.”

“Is the young man desirous of teaching? Is that the object of his coming here?”

“No; he was not certain that there was an opening. He is looking round for some business to occupy him. Being well educated, he thinks he might like to be a teacher.”

“I should prefer that you would remain, Mr. Barclay.”

“Thank you, General Wall; I like teaching, and if my health would allow of it, I would be glad to continue; as it is, I must resign at any rate. I think you had better try this young man.”

“What is his name?”

“Gilbert Howard.”

“Were you previously acquainted with him, Mr. Barclay?”

“No, sir; but from what I have seen of him, I have formed a favorable opinion of him.”

“He was my fellow-passenger on the stage last evening.”

“So he told me.”

“John and he didn’t quite agree, but I dare say John was in fault. John is a spirited boy, Mr. Barclay, and is disposed to stand up for his rights.”

“And sometimes for what are not his rights,” thought the teacher; but this again was one of the things which he thought it would not be best to express.

“I think he will be a smart man,” continued the general.

“So I hope,” said Allen Barclay.

“As a lawyer, it won’t do him any harm to be a little tenacious.”

Allen Barclay thought the term tenacious rather a mild one to express John’s overbearing and grasping tendency. But he only said, “It won’t do for a lawyer to be too mild and unselfish.”

“Just my idea, Mr. Barclay. A milk-and-water sort of a man won’t succeed.”

At this moment John Wall entered the room.

“Don’t you see Mr. Barclay, John?” said his father.

John nodded carelessly, for he thought the teacher of a country school, earning a salary of forty dollars a month, out of which he had to pay his board, by no means his equal in the social scale; and financially speaking, certainly, Allen Barclay could make no great pretensions; but he was a gentleman, which John Wall was not, and probably never would be.

“Good-evening, John,” said the teacher.

“Evening,” was all that could be heard in reply.

Considering the manner in which he got on, or rather did not get on, in Latin, John might have supposed that Mr. Barclay had called to speak on the subject to his father; but he was too conceited to think he was doing poorly, and never dreamed that, if he were, the teacher would have the temerity to complain of him.

“John is, I believe, your most advanced pupil, Mr. Barclay,” said General Wall, complacently.

“He is further advanced in Latin than any other,” answered the teacher.

“I referred to that. I am not acquainted with Latin myself, but I consider it a highly important branch of education.”

“A good deal of benefit may be derived from the study, I think,” said Barclay. “But John is not likely to know enough to be of much advantage to him,” was his inward reflection.

“I should be sorry to have John discontinue it, now that he is so far advanced. However, the young man you speak of understands it well, you say.”

“Yes, sir; at least I have every reason to think so.”

There was something in this remark which caught John’s attention. Who was the young man referred to, and what connection could his scholarship have with his continuing the study of Latin?

“What are you speaking of?” he inquired of his father.

“Mr. Barclay is thinking of giving up teaching, John, on account of his health. I was speaking of the young man whom he has recommended in his place.”

“Who is it?”

“You remember the young man who was in the stage yesterday?”

“Do you mean the one that wouldn’t give up his seat to me?”

“As he took the seat first, he had the best right to it. He is the one I mean.”

“What! is he a teacher? Why, he is only a boy!”

“He is rather young, but Mr. Barclay tells me he is an excellent scholar, especially in Latin. However, we shall examine him to-morrow evening, and see if he is qualified.”

“He can’t keep school,” said John.

“Why not, my son?”

“He can’t keep order. He is only a boy.”

“If the scholars behave themselves, and he knows enough to teach, I don’t see why he should not succeed. I hope, John, you do not propose to make any trouble.”

“No,” said John, slowly, “but the other fellows will.”

“Then,” said Mr. Barclay, “you can exert your influence to prevent them.”

John felt rather flattered by this reference to his influence, but nevertheless he did not like the idea of having Walter for a teacher. Mr. Barclay, though he entertained no very flattering opinion of John, was worldly wise, and had shown him some subserviency on account of his father’s position. John had a secret feeling that Walter would not do this, and he determined to make trouble for him. He didn’t mean to help him, at any rate.