“Halloo, thar, Tally; you shore air lookin’ robustious—”
“Good-morning,” responded Talitha coldly. “I’ve just got a letter from Martin, and—and I’ve been wondering what you told him. He writes as though it wasn’t—well, he almost joked about the schoolhouse being burned.” The girl’s lips quivered.
“Law, now, did he?” considered the old man, evading the look of reproach in Talitha’s eyes. “I didn’t go fer to give him any sech idee. Hit war a powerful mean thing fer Jake Simcox ter do, and I aimed ter lay thet out plain ter Mart. S’pose you jest walk along with me ter the ruins. I thought a sight of thet old shack; hit’s whar I spent cornsiderable many years. I like ter think of you-all a set-tin’ on them benches. You war a powerful bouncin’ leetle gal, Tally, and I war an ill enough teacher, but I done the best I knowed then.”
Talitha’s anger had suddenly vanished. There was something pitiful in the schoolmaster’s fondness for recalling the past. After all, he felt the loss of the old place more deeply than he would have people think. “You mustn’t say that,” she insisted. “Of course you did the best you could, but I know just how you feel; I wish I’d done more when I had the chance.”
“Law, now, Tally, you’re jest a colt, as hit war, and thar’s plenty of chances comin’ fer you. Hit ain’t as if you war sech a broken-down hoss critter as I be.”
“But I can’t bear to give up the school!” cried the girl. “I’ve been trying so hard to think of some way, and nobody seems to have the least interest in it any more.”
“Don’t they now?” said Si Quinn with recovered cheerfulness. Then stopping suddenly, “’Pears ter me suthin’s been goin’ on up this a way.” They had come to where, through a cleared space among the trees, a blackened heap was visible—all that was left of the poor little schoolhouse.
But Talitha hardly noticed it. Something beyond had caught her eye—a substantial yet picturesque structure of logs, the rough bark still covering them and adding a beauty in harmony with the surroundings. The carefully laid chimney at one end was receiving the last finishing touches at the hands of a capable mason from the Settlement. A dozen men stood about watching him admiringly.
The old man saw Talitha’s eyes widen in amazement.
“Why, what is it?” she cried suddenly. “I don’t understand!”