He glanced over it, and, third upon the list, he saw:
“Music, instrumental, by Miss Stella Gladstone.”
Further down he read:
“Essay, by Miss Stella Gladstone. Subject: ‘Walls Must Get the Weather-stain Before They Grow the Ivy.’”
He looked up at her with some surprise.
“Did you choose the subject of your essay?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why did you take such a topic?”
“I do not know, sir,” Star answered, thoughtfully. “I read the line somewhere one day; it haunted me continually, until I wrote out some thoughts upon it, as I often do upon different subjects. Professor Roberts found them between the leaves of my Horace one day, and liked them so well that he asked me to elaborate and extend them, and read it as an essay to-day. He always has two or three essays from members of the junior class read upon commencement day.”
Mr. Richards had been looking her over critically while she was speaking.