as well as the fact that she was the only heiress of the old squire, who
was one of the "best-fixed" men in all that "country," made her quite
the belle of the region. She had already made a deep impression on both
big Jake Dennison and his younger brother Dave. Dave was secretly in
love with her, but Jake was openly so, a condition which he manifested
by being as plainly and as hopelessly bound in her presence as a bear
cub tangled in a net. For her benefit he would show feats of strength
which might have done credit to a boy-Hercules; but let her turn on him
the glow of her countenance, and he was a hopeless mass of
perspiring idiocy.

Keith found her a somewhat difficult pupil to deal with. She was much
more intent on making an impression on him than on progressing in
her studies.

After the first shyness of her intercourse with the young teacher had
worn off, she began for a while rather to make eyes at him, which if
Keith ever dreamed of, he never gave the least sign of it. She,
therefore, soon abandoned the useless campaign, and for a time held him
in mingled awe and disdain.

The Ridge College was a simple log-building of a single room, with a
small porch in front, built of hewn logs and plastered inside.

Gordon Keith, on entering on his new duties, found his position much
easier than he had been led to expect.

Whether it was the novelty of the young teacher's quiet manner, clear
eyes, broad shoulders, and assured bearing, or the idea of the
examination with which he undertook to begin the session, he had a week