Thursday morning came, and with it a long, gossipy letter from Mary, and an envelope from Crofield, containing a letter from his mother and a message from his father written by her, saying how he had talked a little--only a little--with Mr. Magruder. There was a postscript from Aunt Melinda, and a separate sheet written by his younger sisters, with scrawly postscripts from the little boys to tell Jack how the workmen had dug down and found the old church bell, and that there was a crack in it, and the clapper was broken off. Jack felt queer over those letters. "I won't answer them right away," he said. "Not till I get into some business. I'll go farther down town today, and try there." At ten o'clock that morning, a solemn party of seven men met in the back room of the Mertonville Bank. "Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, please come to order. I suppose we all agree? We need a teacher of experience. The academy's not doing well. The lady principal can't do everything. She must have a good assistant." "Who's your candidate, Squire Crowninshield?" asked Judge Edwards. "I'm trustee as Judge of the County Court. I've had thirty-one applications for my vote." "I've had more than that," said the Squire good humoredly. "I won't name my choice till after the first ballot. I want to know who are the other candidates first." "So do I," said Judge Edwards. "I won't name mine at once, either. Who is yours, Elder Holloway?" "We'd better have a nominating ballot," remarked the Elder, handing a folded slip of paper to Mr. Murdoch, the editor of the _Eagle_. "Who is yours, Mr. Jeroliman?" "I haven't any candidate," replied the bank-president, with a worried look. "I won't name any, but I'll put a ballot in." "Try that, then," said General Smith, who was standing instead of sitting down at the long table. "Just a suggestion." Every trustee had something to say as to how he had been besieged by applicants, until the seventh, who remarked: "I've just returned from Europe, gentlemen. I'll vote for the candidate having the most votes on this ballot. I don't care who wins." "I agree to that," quickly responded General Smith, handing him a folded paper. "Put it in, Dr. Dillingham. It's better that none of us should do any log-rolling or try to influence others. I'll adopt your idea." "I won't then," said Squire Crowninshield, pleasantly but very positively. "Murdoch, what's the name of that young woman who edited the _Eagle_ for a week?" "Miss Mary Ogden," said the editor, with a slight smile. "A clever girl," said the Squire, as he wrote on a paper, folded it, and threw it into a hat in the middle of the table. He had not heard Judge Edwards's whispered exclamation: "That reminds me! I promised my wife that I'd mention Mary for the place; but then there wasn't the ghost of a chance!" In went all the papers, and the hat was turned over.