“Yes, and yet you, Sophie, stand merely upon the threshold of the temple of knowledge, and can do what some of the high priests of the altar would fail in attempting. Thus a teacher’s efficiency should be judged not by his own reputation for natural intelligence or acquired knowledge, but by his ability to convey the same to his pupils, to be tested by the actual progress of his pupils. If people would only follow the natural bent of their faculties, how much swindling, cheating, idleness, humbuggery, hypocrisy, _misery_ would be saved; had _I_ done so how much—” He stopped and bit his lip. “Your pupils at first will be the youngest children of the congregation who are old enough to attend school. While instructing them you will be cultivating your own mind and adding to your stores of information; in this latter part of the plan I shall assist you, Miss Churchill. It will give me pleasure to be your teacher, for though I have no particular vocation for the profession, yet as it is so much easier to teach a grown person than a child, for in the former case the pupil meets one more than half way, and in the latter case one has to go _all_ the way and charm the pupil _out and on_, I shall have no great trouble with you. And by next year you will be able to take a more advanced class of young ladies.” Then with Sophie he explored the ruinous apartments on the other side of the hall, selected the old disused drawing-room as the future school-room, and saying that he would send carpenters and plasterers over in the morning, he withdrew. The next morning a carpenter, a plasterer, and a glazier came, and they came every day for a fortnight, and at the end of that time the boarded up, close, dark old drawing-room looked large, lightsome, and clean. In another week the school furniture arrived—a nice little mahogany desk for the teacher, and a dozen stained and varnished pine forms for the pupils.