scolding, the servant stood her ground, and recovered the use of
her tongue.

"There's a gentleman in the drawing-room," she persisted. Miss
Wigger tried to interrupt her again. "And here's his card!" she
shouted, in a voice that was the louder of the two.

Being a mortal creature, the schoolmistress was accessible to the
promptings of curiosity. She snatched the card out of the girl's
hand.

_Mr. Herbert Linley, Mount Morven, Perthshire._ "I don't know
this person," Miss Wigger declared. "You wretch, have you let a
thief into the house?"

"A gentleman, if ever I see one yet," the servant asserted.

"Hold your tongue! Did he ask for me? Do you hear?"

"You told me to hold my tongue. No; he didn't ask for you."

"Then who did he want to see?"

"It's on his card."

Miss Wigger referred to the card again, and discovered (faintly
traced in pencil) these words: "To see Miss S.W."

The schoolmistress instantly looked at Miss Westerfield. Miss
Westerfield rose from her place at the head of her class.