* * * * * * *

Hale waited till noon-recess was nearly over, and then he went to
take June to the school-house. He was told that she was in her
room and he went up and knocked at the door. There was no answer--
for one does not knock on doors for entrance in the mountains,
and, thinking he had made a mistake, he was about to try another
room, when June opened the door to see what the matter was. She
gave him a glad smile.

"Come on," he said, and when she went for her bonnet, he stepped
into the room.

"How do you like it?" June nodded toward the window and Hale went
to it.

"That's Uncle Billy's mill out thar."

"Why, so it is," said Hale smiling. "That's fine."

The school-house, to June's wonder, had shingles on the OUTSIDE
around all the walls from roof to foundation, and a big bell hung
on top of it under a little shingled roof of its own. A pale
little man with spectacles and pale blue eyes met them at the door
and he gave June a pale, slender hand and cleared his throat
before he spoke to her.

"She's never been to school," said Hale; "she can read and spell,
but she's not very strong on arithmetic."