New England -- Fiction; New England -- Politics and government -- Fiction
Thus they jingled into Brampton Street and stopped before the cottage of
Judge Graves--a courtesy title. The judge himself came to the door and
bestowed a pronounced bow on the minister, for Mr. Satterlee was honored
in Brampton. Just think of what Ezra Graves might have looked like, and
you have him. He greeted Cynthia, too, with a warm welcome--for Ezra
Graves,--and ushered them into a best parlor which was reserved for
ministers and funerals and great occasions in general, and actually
raised the blinds. Then Mr. Satterlee, with much hemming and hawing,
stated the business which had brought them, while Cynthia looked out of
the window.
Mr. Graves sat and twirled his lean thumbs. He went so far as to say
that he admired a young woman who scorned to live in idleness, who
wished to impart the learning with which she had been endowed. Fifteen
applicants were under consideration for the position, and the prudential
committee had so far been unable to declare that any of them were
completely qualified. (It was well named, that prudential committee?)
Mr. Graves, furthermore, volunteered that he had expressed a wish to
Colonel Prescott (Oh, Ephraim, you too have got a title with your new
honors!), to Colonel Prescott and others, that Miss Wetherell might take
the place. The middle term opened on the morrow, and Miss Bruce, of the
Worthington Free Library, had been induced to teach until a successor
could be appointed, although it was most inconvenient for Miss Bruce.
Could Miss Wetherell start in at once, provided the committee agreed?
Cynthia replied that she would like nothing better. There would be an
examination before Mr. Errol, the Brampton Superintendent of Schools.
In short, owing to the pressing nature of the occasion, the judge would
take the liberty of calling the committee together immediately. Would
Mr. Satterlee and Miss Wetherell make themselves at home in the parlor?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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