“Only five quarters!” she repeated, in evident amazement. “Why, Lina has taken _three years_, and she wouldn’t consider herself competent to _teach_, even were she _poor_, and obliged to do so.” The latter part of this speech I did not fancy; for even if a person _is_ poor, and obliged to work, they do not often like to be taunted with it; at least, _I_ didn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. I was at the mercy of Mrs. Lansing, who proceeded to say, that “she had often been deceived by Northern teachers, who thought to palm themselves off for better scholars than they really were; and now she had almost come to the conclusion that they were not so well educated as the majority of Southern girls.” “_I_, at least, never intended to deceive you,” said I; “I told you in my letter that I was _not_ an accomplished musician, and still you consented to employ me.” Here I broke down entirely, and wept passionately, telling her, in broken sentences, that “however mortifying it would be, I was willing to go back, if she wished it.” At this point, little Jessie, who all the time had been present, came to my side, and winding her arms around my neck, said, “You sha’n’t go home. We like you, Hal and me, and you sha’n’t go—shall she, Hal?” Thus appealed to, Hal took up my cause, which he warmly defended; telling his mother “she made every governess cry, and told them they didn’t know anything, when they _did_, for Uncle Dick said so, and _he_ knew; and that, as for music, Miss Lee played a _heap_ better than Lina, because she played something _new_—something he never heard before.” “Nor any one else,” muttered Mrs. Lansing, while Hal continued, “Uncle Dick says, the best teachers sometimes don’t play at all, and Miss Lee sha’n’t go home.” Very faintly, I repeated my willingness to do so, if Mrs. Lansing thought best; to which she replied, “I will deal fairly with you, Miss Lee. I am disappointed in your musical abilities, and if I find that your are deficient in other things, I shall be obliged to dismiss you; but for a few days I will keep you on trial.” “Uncle Dick won’t let you send her away, I know,” said Hal; and this, I am inclined to think, determined her upon getting rid of me before his return.