“I am glad of that,” said Mrs. Kent, “but it seems so extortionate, my accepting ten dollars a week!”
“Then don’t let any one know how much I pay you. It will imperil my secret if you do. Am I to consider myself accepted?”
“I shall be very glad of your company, Miss Frost, and I know Rose will be delighted.”
“Will you come here, really and truly, Miss Frost?” asked Rose eagerly.
“Since your mother is willing, Rose.”
Rose clapped her hands in delight, and showed clearly how acceptable the arrangement was to her.
Mabel’s choice of a boarding place excited general surprise in Granville. “I wish the school teacher joy of her boarding place,” said Mrs. Breck, tossing her head. “Why, Widder Kent has meat only once or twice a week; and once, when I called about supper time, I noticed what she had on the table. There wasn’t nothing but cold bread and butter, a little apple sauce, and tea. It’ll be something of a change from the hotel.”
“She lives better now,” said Mrs. Cotton. (This was several days after Mabel had become an inmate of Mrs. Kent’s house.) “I called yesterday on purpose to see what she had for supper, and what do you think? She had cold meat, eggs, preserves, warm bread, and two kinds of pies”{sic}
“Then all I can say is, that the woman will be ruined before the summer’s out,” said Mrs. Breck, solemnly. “What the school teacher pays her won’t begin to pay for keepin’ such a table as that. It’s more’n I provide, myself, and I don’t think my table is beat by many in Granville. Mrs. Kent’s a fool to pamper a common school teacher in any such way.”
“You’re right, Mrs. Breck; but, poor woman, I suppose she has to. That Miss Frost probably forces her to it. I declare it’s very inconsiderate, for she must know the widow’s circumstances.”
“It’s more than inconsiderate — it’s sinful,” said Mrs. Breck, solemnly.
“Mrs. Kent can’t be very prudent to go to such expense,” said the other party to this important discussion.
“Miss Frost flatters Rose, and gets around the mother in that way. She’s a very artful young woman, in my opinion. The way she pets that Hadley boy, they say, is positively shameful.”
“So I think. She wants to keep on the right side of the School Committee, so as to get the school another term.”
“Of course. That’s clear enough,” chimed in Mrs. Breck. “I should like to know, for my part, a little more about the girl. Nobody seems to know who she is or where she came from.”
“Squire Hadley engaged her on Mary Bridgman’s recommendation, I hear.”
Mrs. Breck sniffed. “Mary Bridgman may know how to cut dresses,” she remarked, “though it’s my opinion there’s plenty better; but it’s a new thing to engage teachers on dressmakers’ recommendations. Besides, there’s Clarissa Bassett, one of our own folks, wanted the school, and it’s given to a stranger.”
Miss Bassett boarded with Mrs. Breck, and this may have warped the good lady’s judgment.
“I don’t know as I’m in favor of Clarissa,” said Mrs. Cotton, “but there’s others, no doubt, who would be glad to take it.”
“As for Miss Frost, I don’t see how she is able to dress so well. That gown she wears to school must have cost two weeks’ salary, and I’ve seen her with two other dresses.”
“And all new?”
“Yes, they don’t look as if they had had much wear.”
“Perhaps she’s seen better days, and has saved them dresses from the wreck.”
“But you forget that they look new.”
“Well, I give it up. It’s clear she puts all her money on her back. A pretty example for our girls!”
Such were the comments of the mothers. Among the children, on the other hand, Mabel grew more and more popular. She succeeded in inspiring an interest in study such as had not been known before. She offered to teach a class in French and one in Latin, though it entailed extra labor.
“She knows an awful lot, father,” said Ben Hadley.
“She was my selection,” said the Squire complacently. “You predicted she would make a failure of it, Mrs. Hadley. The fact is we have never had a better teacher.”