The moment Jenny appeared, the whole party set up a shout so deafening, that the Widow Perkins came out in a trice, to see “if the old Harry was to pay, or what.”  No sooner did Henry Lincoln get sight of Mary, than springing to his feet, and swinging his arm around his head, he screamed out, “Three cheers for the school ma’am and her handsome lover, Billy!  Hurrah!”

In the third and last hurrah, the whole company joined, and when that was finished, Henry struck up on a high key,

    “Oh, where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy,
    Oh, where have you been charming Billy?”

but only one voice joined in with his, and that was Ella’s!  Mary reddened at what she knew was intended as an insult, and when she heard her sister’s voice chiming in with Henry, she could not keep back her tears.

“Wasn’t that smart?” said Jenny, when at last the hay cart disappeared from view, and the noise and dust had somewhat subsided.  Then as she saw the tears in Mary’s eyes, she added, “Oh, I wouldn’t care if they did teaze me about Billy Bender.  I’d as lief be teazed about him as not.”

“It isn’t that,” said Mary, smiling in spite of herself, at Jenny’s frankness.  “It isn’t that.  I didn’t like to hear Ella sing with your brother, when she must have known he meant to annoy me.”

“That certainly was wrong,” returned Jenny; “but Ella isn’t so much to blame as Henry, who seems to have acquired a great influence over her during the few weeks he has been at home.  You know she is easily flattered, and I dare say Henry has fully gratified her vanity in that respect, for he says she is the only decent-looking girl in Chicopee.  But see, there comes Mrs. Mason, I guess she wonders what is keeping you so long.”

The moment Mrs. Mason entered the school-room, Jenny commenced talking about Mount Holyoke, her tongue running so fast, that it entirely prevented any one else from speaking, until she stopped for a moment to take breath.  Then Mrs. Mason very quietly remarked, that if Mary wished to go to Mount Holyoke she could do so.  Mary looked up inquiringly, wondering what mine had opened so suddenly at her feet; but she received no explanation until Jenny had bidden her good-bye, and gone.  Then she learned that Mrs. Mason had just received $100 from a man in Boston, who had years before owed it to her husband, and was unable to pay it sooner.  “And now,” said Mrs. Mason, “there is no reason why you should not go to Mount Holyoke, if you wish to.”

The glad tears which came to Mary’s eyes were a sufficient evidence that she did wish to, and the next day a letter was forwarded to Miss Lyon, who promptly replied, expressing her willingness to receive Mary as a pupil.  And now Rice Corner was again thrown into a state of fermentation.  Mary was going to Mount Holyoke, and what was more marvellous still, Mrs. Mason had bought her a black silk dress, which cost her a dollar a yard! and more than one good dame declared her intention of “giving up,” if paupers came on so fast.  This having been a pauper was the thing of which Mary heard frequently, now that her prospects were getting brighter.  And even Ella, when told that her sister was going to Mount Holyoke, said to Miss Porter, who was still with her, “Why, isn’t she getting along real fast for one who has been on the town?”