"Not since the letter she sent me when she reached the mine, and you saw that. I'm getting anxious. She has stopped some time and the school has reopened." "She has stopped too long," said George, whose face got red. "It looks as if you didn't know they had filled her post." "I was afraid they might do so, but it's a shock all the same. But perhaps you can do something. You persuaded the principal and managers when Agatha was ill." "I've come from Toronto and I saw the principal," George replied. "Couldn't get at anybody else and imagine they didn't want to see me." "Well?" said Mrs. Farnam when he stopped with some embarrassment. "She was very polite, with the kind of politeness that freezes you. Didn't say much--nothing that I could get hold of and deny. But she implied a lot." "You can be frank. I believe I'm Agatha's oldest friend and I trust my husband with all I know." "Very well; I've got to talk. Miss Southern began by supposing I had come to explain my sister's neglect of her duty, which had made things awkward at the school. I said I had not; I didn't know why Agatha had not come back, but had no doubt it was because she found it impossible. She'd gone off on an excursion into the northern bush, and accidents happened. One lost one's canoes and provisions ran out. "Miss Southern said it was plain that as Agatha had important duties she ought not to run such a risk, and asked what was the object of the excursion. "I said it was a prospecting trip. Agatha had gone to find some silver ore; and Miss Southern gave me a look that made me mad. It hinted that she thought my statement much too thin! Then she remarked that the managers felt that their teachers must concentrate on their work and divided interests made for slackness. In short, as Agatha had not come back, they had got somebody else to take her post. "That was a knock, but I said I supposed they'd give her a first-rate testimonial if she applied for another job. "She looked as if she didn't want to hurt me, but admitted that they would be willing to state that Agatha had ability and taught science well. Then she stopped and I asked if she could go no farther. Ability wasn't all a teacher needed. "She said she must agree, and hinted that she had expected much from Agatha, but felt badly disappointed now. She remarked that managers made searching inquiries when they engaged a teacher for young girls and thought I could understand that she felt responsible-- "Well, I'd had enough. I said my sister was fit for a better job than the best they'd got and wouldn't bother them for a recommendation. Then I left; thought I'd better quit before I let myself go." George paused and wiped his hot face. "You see how I was fixed? I could have bluffed a man into making a plain statement and then have knocked him out; but that cool, polite lady made me hate my helplessness."