"Would be rather funny, wouldn't it? Anyway, I've got nothing else to do at present except think about it—I guess something will turn up."
"Wouldn't it be better to find something yourself instead of waiting for it to come to you?"
"I guess you're right, Miss Wallace; but here's your school and forty kids waiting for teacher to let them in. I won't forget your question. Good-bye." Will raised his cap and walked away.
The children loved Barbara, and usually ran to meet her like a drove of stampeded animals, but on this morning, when they saw her coming accompanied by a stranger, they remained huddled on the steps of the schoolhouse.
"Who's that man?" one of the little girls asked when Barbara arrived within speaking distance.
"Mr. Flint," she replied, with her usual candour.
"Is he a real good man?" piped another. Barbara was not sure, but did not wish to say so. Without making a reply she unlocked the door and went in, followed by her flock, and was soon deep in the morning's work: trying to make the youngsters believe that the earth is round, explaining such perplexing words as pare, pear, and pair, and proving that twelve times twelve makes one hundred and forty-four,—if you do it right.
During the day the question that the little girl had asked, "Is he a real good man?" frequently came into Barbara's mind. She did not know the answer, and wondered why she thought of it at all.
Miss Wallace boarded with Mrs. Tweedie. She was a quiet little woman, but one whose appearance and personality had been, for some unexplainable reason, the cause of not a little comment among the people of Manville. Her eyes—Mrs. Tweedie thought that blue eyes lacked strength; and her hair did not please Mrs. Doctor Jones because it was neither yellow nor red. According to Mrs. Thornton's standard for feminine contours, her form was "positively dumpy;" and everybody knew that Mrs. Deacon Walton had told Mrs. Undertaker Blake, confidentially, that she "always suspicioned folks that didn't have any more to say about things and people than Miss Wallace did." Many other women were of the same opinion.
On the other hand, the men who knew her thought that she was the right sort; and those who were not acquainted wished that they were. Mr. Tweedie especially was captivated by her quiet manner, and did everything possible for her comfort; and Barbara—perhaps it was because she pitied him—showed in many ways her appreciation of his thoughtfulness. Thomas, the "Tweedie Indian," as he was sometimes appropriately called, declared that "She's the best teacher in town, but when she licks a feller it hurts." Men and women will disagree sometimes—especially about another woman.