“I think I can get a school,” Maria said.
“Where?”
“Aunt Maria said she thought I could get that little school near her in Amity. The teacher is engaged, and she said she thought she would get married before so very long. She said she thought she must have almost enough money for her wedding outfit. That is what she has been working for.”
Harry smiled a little.
“Aunt Maria said she was to marry a man with means, and she was working quite a while in order to buy a nice trousseau,” said Maria. “Aunt Maria said she was a very high-spirited young lady. But she said she thought she had been engaged so long that she would probably not wait more than a year longer, and she could get the school for me. Uncle Henry is one of the committee, you know.”
“You are pretty young to begin teaching,” Harry said, thoughtfully.
“Aunt Maria said she thought I did not look as young as I really was, and there wouldn't be any difficulty about it,” said Maria. “She said she thought I would have good government, and Uncle Henry thought so, too, and Aunt Eunice.”
Aunt Eunice was Maria's Uncle Henry's wife. Maria had paid a visit to Amity the summer before, renewing her acquaintance with her relatives.
“Well, we will see,” said Harry, after a pause. Then he added, somewhat pitifully: “Father wishes there was no need for his little girl to work. He wishes he had been able to put more by, but if—”
Maria looked at her father with quick concern.