Mr. Randolph Chester was piqued. He felt that his attentions were not estimated at their real value. The school mistress could not understand what an eligible parti he was.
“Do you propose to remain here after the summer is over, Miss Frost?” he asked.
“My plans are quite undecided,” said Mabel.
“I suppose she isn’t sure whether she can secure the school for the fall term,” thought the bachelor.
There was a piano in the room, recently purchased for Carrie Pratt, Mrs. Pratt’s daughter.
“I wonder whether she plays,” thought Mr. Chester. “Will you give us some music, Miss Frost?” he asked.
“If you desire it. What is your taste?”
“Do you know any operatic airs?”
“A few; and Mabel began with an air from La Sonnambula.” She played with a dash and execution which Mr. Chester recognized, though he only pretended to like opera because it was fashionable.
“Bravo!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands in affected ecstasy. “Really you are an excellent player. I suppose you have attended the opera?”
“Occasionally,” said Mabel.
“And you like music? But I need not ask.”
“Oh, yes, I like music. It is one of my greatest pleasures.”
“You would make a very successful music teacher, I should judge. I should think you would prefer it to teaching a country school.”
“I like music too well to teach it. I am afraid that I should find it drudgery to initiate beginners.”
“There may be something in that.”
“Do you sing, Miss Frost?” asked Mrs. Pratt.
“Sometimes.”
“Will you sing something, to oblige me?”
“Certainly, Mrs. Pratt. What would you like?”
“I like ballad music. I am afraid my ear is not sufficiently trained to like operatic airs, such as Mr. Randolph Chester admires.”
After a brief prelude Mabel sang an old ballad. Her voice was very flexible, and was not wanting in strength. It was very easy to see that it had been carefully cultivated.
Mr. Chester was more and more surprised and charmed. “That girl is quite out of place here,” he said to himself. “Any commonplace girl would do for the Granville school mistress. She deserves a more brilliant position.”
He surveyed Mabel critically, but could find no fault with her appearance. She was beautiful, accomplished, and had a distinguished air. Even if she were related to the baker’s family on Sixth Avenue, as he thought quite probable, she was fitted to adorn the “saloons of fashion,” as he called them.
“I rather think I will marry her,” he thought. “I don’t believe I can do better. She is poor, to be sure, but I have enough for both, and can raise her to my own position in society.”
Fortunately Mabel did not know what was passing through the mind of the antiquated beau, as, she regarded him, who amused her by his complacent consciousness of his superiority. When it was ten o’clock, she rose to go.
“It won’t do to be dissipated, Mrs. Pratt,” she said. “I must be going home.”
“Permit me to escort you, Miss Frost,” said Mr. Chester, rising with alacrity.
She hesitated, but could think of no reason for declining, and they walked together to Mrs. Kent’s. The distance was’ short — too short, Mr. Chester thought, but there was no way of lengthening it.
“I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you again soon, Miss Frost,” said the bachelor at parting.
Mabel responded in suitable terms, and Mr. Randolph Chester went back to the hotel in quite a flutter of excitement. The staid bachelor was as nearly in love as such a well regulated person could be.
The next evening Mabel spent in writing a letter to Mary Bridgman, part of which it may be well to quote.
“You,” she said, “are the only person in my confidence, the only one who knows of my present whereabouts. You will, I feel sure, be glad to know that my experiment is proving to be a success. I believe I have inspired in my pupils a real and earnest interest in study. It gives me genuine pleasure to see their minds unfolding and expanding, day by day, and to feel that I am doing an important part in guiding them in this intellectual growth. I can assure you that I get more satisfaction and exhilaration from the life I am leading now than I found in my last summer’s round of amusements at Newport.