“You’re the best and dearest man that ever lived.  What could have made you think of such a thing for me, Mr. Gridley?”

“Because you are ignorant, my child,—­partly I want to see you fitted to take a look at the world without feeling like a little country miss.  Has your aunt Silence promised to bear your expenses while you are in the city?  It will cost a good deal of money.”

“I have not said a word to her about it.  I am sure I don’t know what she would say.  But I have some money, Mr. Gridley.”

She showed him a purse with gold, telling him how she came by it.  “There is some silver besides.  Will it be enough?”

“No, no, my child, we must not meddle with that.  Your aunt will let me put it in the bank for you, I think, where it will be safe.  But that shall not make any difference.  I have got a little money lying idle, which you may just as well have the use of as not.  You can pay it back perhaps some time or other; if you did not, it would not make much difference.  I am pretty much alone in the world, and except a book now and then—­Aut liberos aut libros, as our valiant heretic has it,—­you ought to know a little Latin, Myrtle, but never mind—­I have not much occasion for money.  You shall go to the best school that any of our cities can offer, Myrtle, and you shall stay there until we agree that you are fitted to come back to us an ornament to Oxbow Village, and to larger places than this if you are called there.  We have had some talk about it, your aunt Silence and I, and it is all settled.  Your aunt does not feel very rich just now, or perhaps she would do more for you.  She has many pious and poor friends, and it keeps her funds low.  Never mind, my child, we will have it all arranged for you, and you shall begin the year 1860 in Madam Delacoste’s institution for young ladies.  Too many rich girls and fashionable ones there, I fear, but you must see some of all kinds, and there are very good instructors in the school,—­I know one,—­he was a college boy with me,—­and you will find pleasant and good companions there, so he tells me; only don’t be in a hurry to choose your friends, for the least desirable young persons are very apt to cluster about a new-comer.”

Myrtle was bewildered with the suddenness of the prospect thus held out to her.  It is a wonder that she did not bestow an embrace upon the worthy old master.  Perhaps she had too much tact.  It is a pretty way enough of telling one that he belongs to a past generation, but it does tell him that not over-pleasing fact.  Like the title of Emeritus Professor, it is a tribute to be accepted, hardly to be longed for.

When the curtain rises again, it will show Miss Hazard in a new character, and surrounded by a new world.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Myrtle hazard at the city school.