Aikenside | Page 9

and teachers, he did not consider
that it mattered which examined that young girl, himself or Dr.
Holbrook. Viewing it somewhat in the light of a joke, he rather enjoyed
it; and as the Framingham teacher had first asked her pupils their names
and ages, so he, when the pencil was sharpened sufficiently, startled
Madeline by asking her name.
"Madeline Amelia Clyde," was the meek reply, which Guy quickly

recorded.
Now, Guy Remington intended no irreverence; indeed, he could not tell
what he did intend, or what it was which prompted his next query:
"Who gave you this name?"
Perhaps he fancied himself a boy again in the Sunday school, and
standing before the railing of the altar, where, with others of his age, he
had been asked the question propounded to Madeline Clyde, who did
not hear the doctor's smothered laugh as he retreated into the adjoining
room.
In all her preconceived ideas of this examination, she had never
dreamed of being catechised, and with a feeling of terror as she thought
of that long answer to the question, "What is thy duty to thy neighbor?"
and doubted her ability to repeat it, she said: "My sponsors, in baptism
gave me the first name of Madeline Amelia, sir," adding, as she caught
and misconstrued the strange gleam in the dark eyes bent upon her, "I
am afraid I have forgotten some of the catechism; I did not know it was
necessary in order to teach school."
"Certainly, no; I do not think it is. I beg your pardon," were Guy
Remington's ejaculatory replies, as he glanced from Madeline to the
open door of the adjoining room, where was visible a slate, on which,
in huge letters, the amused doctor had written "Blockhead."
There was something in Madeline's quiet, womanly, earnest manner
which commanded Guy's respect, or he would have given vent to the
laughter which was choking him, and thrown off his disguise. But he
could not bear now to undeceive her, and, resolutely turning his back
upon the doctor, he sat down by that pile of books and commenced the
examination in earnest, asking first her age.
"Going on fifteen," sounded older to Madeline than "Fourteen and a
half," so "Going on fifteen" was the reply, to which Guy responded:
"That is very young, Miss Clyde."

"Yes, but Mr. Green did not mind. He's the committeeman. He knew
how young I was," Madeline said, eagerly, her great brown eyes
growing large with the look of fear which came so suddenly into them.
Guy noticed the eyes then, and thought them very bright and handsome
for brown, but not so bright or handsome as a certain pair of soft blue
orbs he knew, and feeling a thrill of satisfaction that sweet Lucy
Atherstone was not obliged to sit there in that doctor's office to be
questioned by him or any other man, he said: "Of course, if your
employers are satisfied it is nothing to me, only I had associated
teaching with women much older than yourself. What is logic, Miss
Clyde?"
The abruptness with which he put the question startled Madeline to
such a degree that she could not positively tell whether she had ever
heard that word before, much less could she recall its meaning, and so
she answered frankly, "I don't know."
A girl who did not know what logic was did not know much, in Guy's
estimation, but it would not do to stop here, and so he asked her next
how many cases there were in Latin!
Maddy felt the hot blood tingling to her very fingertips, the
examination had taken a course so widely different from her ideas of
what it would probably be. She had never looked inside a Latin
grammar, and again her truthful "I don't know, sir," fell on Guy's ear,
but this time there was a half despairing tone in the young voice usually
so hopeful.
"Perhaps, then, you can conjugate the verb _Amo,_" Guy said, his
manner indicating the doubt he was beginning to feel as to her
qualifications.
Maddy knew well what "conjugate" meant, but that verb Amo, what
could it mean? and had she ever heard it before? Mr. Remington was
waiting for her; she must say something, and with a gasp she began: "I
amo, thou amoest, he amoes. Plural: We amo, ye or you amo, they
amo."

Guy looked at her aghast for a single moment, and then a comical smile
broke all over his face, telling poor Maddy plainer than words could
have done, that she had made a most ridiculous mistake.
"Oh, sir," she cried, her eyes wearing the look of the frightened hare, "it
is not right. I don't know what it means. Tell me, teach me. What is it to
amo?"
To most