“Oh, shut up, Dick!” said Barney sharply.
“Oh, well,” replied Dick, “no one expects mathematics from a girl, anyway.”
“Do you hear the conceit of him?” said his mother indignantly, “and Margaret there can show all of you the way.”
“Yes, that's true, mother, but Margaret is a wonder, too. But whatever you say, the reciting and singing were good. Even little Link Young was quite dramatic. They say that 'Maine' Jabe for the first time in his life is quite reckless in regard to the school rates.”
“We will just wait a year,” said his mother. “It is a new broom that sweeps clean.”
“Now, mother, you are too hard to please.”
“Perhaps,” she replied, grimly closing her lips.
As they reached the manse gate the minister, who had evidently been pondering Dick's words, said, “Well, Mrs. Boyle, we have had a delightful afternoon, whatever, a remarkable exhibition. Yes, yes. And after all it is a great matter that the children should be taught to read and recite well. And it was no wonder that the poor thing would seek to make it easy for the little girl. And Margaret will need to take Dugald over his mathematics, I fear, before he goes up to the entrance.” At which remark the painful feeling which the reciting and singing had caused Barney to forget for the time, returned with even greater poignancy.
But in all the section there was only one opinion, and that was that, at all costs, the teacher's services must be retained. For once, the trustees realised that no longer would they depend for popularity upon the sole qualification of their ability to keep down the school rate. It was, perhaps, not the most diplomatic moment they chose for the securing of the teacher's services for another year. It might be that they were moved to immediate action by the apparent willingness on her part to leave the matter of re-engagement an open question. On all hands, however, they were applauded as having done a good stroke of business when, there and then, they closed their bargain with the teacher, although at a higher salary, as it turned out, than had ever been paid in the section before.