“Superfine,” replied Justice.
“Where from?” I inquired.
“Like Shelley’s immortal soul,” replied Justice solemnly, “she cometh from afar. She cometh to study Rural School Conditions—sent out by some Commission or other. She’s likely to visit your school. Thought I’d tell you ahead of time so you’d manage to be on the premises when the delegation arrived. She might object to hunting through the woods for you.” Here we were both overcome with laughter at the remembrance of the last “visitation” of the school board.
“I can’t figure out yet why I wasn’t fired,” said I, flicking a sociable spider off my lap with the stem of a leaf. “I would have been willing to bet my eyebrows on it that night. What made them change their minds, I wonder?”
“Maybe it was because they hated to lose the bargain,” answered Justice, half to himself.
“Hated to lose what bargain?” I asked innocently. Then suddenly I understood.
“Justice Sherman!” I exclaimed, starting up. “Did you threaten to leave if they discharged me?”
Justice turned crimson and became reticent. “Well, I don’t know as I threatened them exactly,” he replied in a soothing drawl. “I don’t look very threatening, now, do I?”
“Oh, Justice,” was all I could say, for at the thought of what he had done for me I was stricken dumb.
Verily the power of the Bargain was great in the land!