“And how is Luke?” asked Miss Sprague, in a tone of friendly interest.

“Very well, thank you.”

“Luke was always a great favorite of mine,” continued the spinster. 
“Such a manly boy as he is!”

“He is a great help to me,” said Mrs. Larkin.

“No doubt he is.  He takes care of the schoolhouse, doesn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“How much pay does he get?”

“A dollar a week.”

“I hope he will be able to keep the position.”

“What do you mean, Melinda?” asked the widow, not without anxiety.

“You know Doctor Snodgrass has resigned on the school committee, and Squire Duncan has been elected in his place.”

“Well?”

“Mrs. Flanagan went to him yesterday to ask to have her son Tim appointed janitor in place of Luke, and I heard that she received considerable encouragement from the squire.”

“Do they find any fault with Luke?” asked Mrs. Larkin, jealously.

“No, not as I’ve heard; but Mrs. Flanagan said Luke had had it for a year, and now some one else ought to have the chance.”

“Are you quite sure of this, Melinda?”

Miss Sprague, though over forty, was generally called by her first name, not as a tribute to her youth, but to the fact of her being still unmarried.

“Yes, I am; I had it from Mrs. Flanagan herself.”

“I don’t think Tim would do as well as Luke.  He has never been able to keep a place yet.”

“Just so; but, of course, his mother thinks him a polygon.”  Probably Miss Sprague meant a paragon—­she was not very careful in her speech, but Mrs. Larkin did not smile at her mistake.  She was too much troubled at the news she had just heard.  A dollar a week may seem a ridiculous trifle to some of my readers, but, where the entire income of the family was so small, it was a matter of some consequence.

“I don’t think Luke has heard anything of this,” said the widow.  “He has not mentioned it to me.”

“Perhaps there won’t be any change, after all,” said Melinda.  “I am sure Tim Flanagan wouldn’t do near as well as Luke.”

Miss Melinda was not entirely sincere.  She had said to Mrs. Flanagan that she quite agreed with her that Luke had been janitor long enough, and hoped Tim would get the place.  She was in the habit of siding with the person she chanced to be talking with at the moment, and this was pretty well understood.

Luke, however, had heard of this threatened removal.  For this, it may be said, Randolph was partly responsible.  Just after Mrs. Flanagan’s call upon the squire to solicit his official influence, Prince Duncan mentioned the matter to his son.

“How long has Luke Larkin been janitor at the schoolhouse?” he asked.

“About a year.  Why do you ask?”

“Does he attend to the duties pretty well?”

“I suppose so.  He’s just fit to make fires and sweep the floor,” answered Randolph, his lip curling.