"Hello, Jim! I came to tell you some good news. You said if you were only sure there was something Teacher was afraid of, you wouldn't feel so scared of her." "Well," prompted Jim eagerly. "I thought I'd find out for you, so I took a mouse to school and let it loose." "Gee!" David then related the occurrences of the morning, not omitting the look in Little Teacher's eyes when she beheld Jim from the window. "I'll hook up this very night and go to see her," confided Jim. "Be sure you do, Jim. If you find your courage slipping, just remember that you owe it to me, because she won't let me come back to school unless she knows why I wasn't sorry." "I give you my word, Dave," said Jim earnestly. The next morning Little Teacher stopped at the Brumble farm. "I came this way to walk to school with you and Janey," she said sweetly and significantly to David. When they reached the road, and Janey had gone back to get her sled, Little Teacher looked up and caught the amused twinkle in David's eye. A wave of conscious red overspread her cheeks. "Must I say I am sorry now?" he asked. "David Dunne, there are things you understand which you never learned from books." CHAPTER XI Late spring brought preparations for M'ri's wedding. Rhody Crabbe's needle and fingers flew in rapturous speed, and there was likewise engaged a seamstress from Lafferton. Rhody had begged for the making of the wedding gown, and when it was finished David went to fetch it home. "It's almost done, David, and you tell M'ri the last stitch was a loveknot. It's most a year sence you wuz here afore, a-waitin' fer her blue waist tew be finished. Remember, don't you, David?" He remembered, and as she stitched he sat silently reviewing that year, the comforts received, the pleasures pursued, and, best of all, the many things he had learned, but the recollection that a year ago his mother had been living brought a rush of sad memories and blotted out happier thoughts. "I wish yer ma could hev seen Mart and M'ri merried. She was orful disapp'inted when they broke off." There was no reply. Rhody's sharp little eyes, in upward glance, spied the trickling tear; she looked quickly away and stitched in furious haste. "But, my!" she continued, as if there had been no pause, "how glad she would be to know 't was you as fetched it around." David looked up, diverted and inquiring. "Yes; I learnt it from M'ri. She told me about the flowers you give him. I thought it was jest sweet in you, David. You done good work thar." "Miss Rhody," said David earnestly, "maybe some day I can get you a sweetheart." "'T ain't no use, David," she sighed. "No one wants a plain critter like me." "Lots of them don't marry for looks," argued David sagely. "Besides, you look fine in your black silk, and your hair crimped. Joe thinks your picture is great. He's got it on a shelf over his fireplace at the ranch."