Alice Duer Miller

“ Who cares about the girls? No, the parents—the parents of our public in education. Now, Mr. Johns, what is it that every parent who sends a girl to a fashionable school really wants?"
"To get rid of her," answered Johns, with utmost conviction.
"Very true, but that's not all. It's no good to get rid of them for four or five years and then have them back on their hands forever. Parents want them made into charming women—marriageable women. Parents don't dare to say this—least of all to teachers, of whom they are naturally afraid. ”

“ David, I hate that sort of narrowness. If a girl feels a thing, is there any reason why she shouldn't tell it, just as much as a man?"
"Simply they don't—not the nice ones," said David, speaking as an observer, a lawyer, and a man of the world.
"The nice ones!" cried Austin. "You seem to think it isn't nice to be human; and, anyhow, who made you the arbiter of women's conduct?" ”

“ Mr. Johns gave a tremendous grunt. "Do you mean to tell me that at your age you think you know more about women than I do?" he shouted.
"Of course I think I do—and I do, too," said Austin. "I've got beyond that old mystery stage, anyhow."
One of the best ways of keeping your temper in an argument, as most of us know only too well, is not to listen to anything the other person has to say. ”

“ Bevans,—What do you think about moods? I know what you will say—that we should conquer them. I think so, too. But how? All to-day I have been so dreadfully depressed—so that my heart really aches like a tooth, and anything beautiful makes me want to cry. Yet I have no reason for being unhappy—quite the contrary. I keep telling myself how fortunate I am—one of the luckiest girls. Only the world seems so large and dangerous, and I so small and inexperienced.
Respectfully yours,
Elise Benedotti. ”

“ Austin made a grab at his professional manner as a man makes a grab at his hat in a high wind, and caught it in time.
"You must learn to take an interest in the subjects you study, irrespective of the teacher's personality, Elise," he said.
"I'll remember that—when I get to college."
"To college, Elise? Surely you know that neither I nor your grandfather approves of your going to college."
Oh, Mr. Bevans, don't interfere with my going to college. I want to so much. You have to have degrees, nowadays, to do anything in the world, and school, even if you work hard, isn't the same. ”

“ Miss Curtis went on. "He's just the kind of young man who ought never to be allowed to enter a girls' school at all. He's—he's unsettling; he's beautiful," she added, as if nothing could be wickeder than that.
"Well, if he owns the school we can't keep him out," said Miss Hayes, growing grave in deference to her friend's obvious distress. "You're sure he really is Mr. Bevans?"
Miss Curtis sighed. "Oh, I'm afraid there's no doubt about that. Mr. Johns, the little princess's grandfather, brought him. And the worst of it is he's going to break up the whole morning's work. ”

“ It is a question at which the stoutest heart sinks, which every one would like to answer in the negative, but to which good usage seems to demand that an enthusiastic affirmative be given.
"Good Lord!" cried Bevans, "is there still worse to come?"
There was. "The truth is," said Mrs. Rolles, "that Susie's feelings are not deep. She never has and I don't believe she ever will care deeply for any one. Now, I don't mean by that that she is a cold, calculating villain. Quite the contrary. She is kind, unselfish, and in her own way affectionate, only no one matters very much to her. ”

“ Every one ought to have a course in listening to an office-boy trying to get off to a ball-game. There's a look of almost divine innocence that comes over his face that, once seen, is never forgotten. It's been on every one of your faces for the last ten minutes."
There was a pause, and then Sally Boyd said, in the tone of one who had been wounded almost beyond bearing, "You don't mean that you don't believe us, Mr. Bevans?" ”

“ Then she added, with a smile, "Have you been losing weight, Austin?"
"My weight never varies very much," he answered, and cut the meal short by rising to his feet.
He admitted to himself one disadvantage of being the masculine head of a feminine institution—a head-mistress would have gone straight to the bedside of a sick pupil, whereas he, the only person who really understood her, was obliged to content himself with sending Miss Curtis, running up-stairs like a rabbit, to bring him word. ”

“ Doughty settled back in his chair.
"Helen," he said, "is just the type to profit by a college education."
"I should have said exactly the opposite," answered Austin.
"I consider her intellectual equipment far above the average, though, of course," he added, as one to whom such a thing had never so far happened, "I may be wrong."
"You are not wrong," said her school-master. "She is far above the average—especially in her originality," and he thought of her wonderful story about the Book of Job—"and it is for that reason I do not want to see her run into a mold. ”

“ I'll teach 'em—have 'em taught, that is."
"By constant personal contact with young ladies?" asked Johns, mildly.
"Quite the contrary," answered Bevans, firmly. "I shall hold myself entirely aloof. I shall be an unseen power. Oh, I shall speak to the assembled school whenever it is necessary to put over an idea. I shall set my ideals before them. Now when a dear old fat woman like my aunt told them to stand up straight and lower their voices, they didn't pay the least attention, but when a young man about their own age tells them, you'll find it makes a lot more impression. ”

“ I believe girls ought to marry young—out of the way—out of mischief. Clean young feller—dull dog, though."
"Does Elise seem to—to fancy him?" asked Austin, and even put like this in the face of fact she knew to the contrary, the idea disgusted him.
"Don't know—treats him like the devil—that's no sign with a woman that she isn't crazy about him, though."
"Oh, Mr. Johns, for Heaven's sake don't get off that stuff about woman's being a mystery," cried Bevans. "Take it from the head of a girls' school that she isn't—she's just so clear and direct that men can't get the hang of it." ”

“ Boyd was a tall, heavy man, not so good tempered as fat people are supposed to be. Both George and Sally took after him physically; indeed, Mrs. Boyd, who was pretty and slight, seemed like a visitor in her own family, or like a captured fairy who has assumed obligations toward her jailers. She was at heart a strangely unmaternal person, but sympathetic, and so interested—not to say curious—about all lives, her children's among others, that she really knew and understood more about them than many better parents. ”

“ Bevans, I agreed with every word you said, but I don't see how I ever can be made into a charming woman of the world—you know I can't, and so I think I'd just better go away and not be a blot on the school."
"Sally," said Austin, and this time he spoke with great severity, "you must understand that that is entirely a question for me to decide. I intend to retain you as a pupil. When in my opinion you become a blot, you will hear from me. Until then confine your attention to matters within your comprehension. You can be made anything I decide to make you. That will do." ”

“ Austin looked from one to the other, and Miss Hayes, seeing that Miss Curtis was quite beyond explanation, said, dryly:
"It appears, Mr. Bevans, that charm is like rain and falls upon the just and the unjust. Elise has been charming the new bookkeeper." ”

“ The notion, therefore, that this adventurous schoolmaster, this Tristram with blue eyes, was not only free of this terror, but actually contrived to make the great man motor him about the country, was simply intolerable.
"It's out of the question," he said, trying to rouse his parents to some sense of their responsibilities. "It can't be allowed. It ought to be against the law for a man under thirty to own a girls' school—particularly if he is handsome."
"Wouldn't it be amusing," said Mrs. Boyd, "to watch a jury deciding how handsome a man had to be in order to disqualify him." ”

“ He spoke firmly. "I should like to speak a few words to the school—pupils and teachers both. Will you call them together."
"But they are in classes," stammered Miss Curtis.
"They must be taken out of them."
"Of course, of course," murmured Miss Curtis, experiencing once again the joy of being under orders. "Please wait a moment in the office, and I'll assemble them in the great hall." She ushered them into a little room, and hurried away.
"Ha!" said Johns, when they were alone. "Going to be a tyrant, eh?"
"Most people like orders better when they're clear," said Austin. ”

“ When it was over he took whatever satisfaction was to be derived from making Miss Curtis cry bitterly. After which he suddenly recovered his temper and felt very much ashamed of himself.
"I'm sorry I was cross," he said, "but—"
"Oh, I know," she answered. "You feel your great responsibility to the parents."
"Yes, of course," said Austin. "And I don't like this young man. He seems to take a personal interest in the girls."
"Oh no!" said Miss Curtis, shocked at the idea that a bookkeeper should so far forget himself. "I think you do him injustice. ”

“ Johns," he said, politely. "Didn't you understand that that was why we telephoned you? She's run away."
"Well, this is the hell of a school," shouted Mr. Johns. "Teach girls charm, you say—teach 'em to be damned vagrants. D'yer think parents pay you to lose their children for them? Could do that for ourselves if we had a mind to. Where is Elise, that's what I want to know?"
The mere volume of sound of these remarks was like a blow. Sally and Miss Curtis both began to cry again, and even George set his jaw in a nervous sort of spasm.
"Mr. Johns," said Austin, "you must not shout." ”

“ Bevans, it will ruin the school if any parent got a hint of such a thing. They'd think we had been careless."
"And so we have been," said Austin, "damned careless. And if we are ruined, we're ruined, but at least I'm going to have the satisfaction of saying what I think."
He jammed his hat on his head and made his way rapidly toward the garage.
"What's he going to do? If he'd only listen to reason," said Miss Curtis, feebly. "He'll ruin the school."
"But what can you expect of a jealous boy?" said Miss Hayes.
"Jealous?" said Miss Curtis. "I don't understand. Who do you think is jealous? ”

“ David supposed Austin was changing the subject when, instead of answering this question, he asked one of his own:
"How are you and Susie getting on?"
Rare indeed is the nature that does not become a little more intense when its own affairs come under discussion. David sat up, his rumpled hair mitigating that "aristocratic sort of ugliness" which Mrs. Rolles admired.
"Austin," he said, solemnly, "if it weren't that I know she's crazy about you, I'd really think I had a chance."
"Don't be an ass, Dave. No woman has ever been crazy about me—really." ”

“ Miss Curtis wiped her eyes.
But praise of an old lady he had hardly seen a dozen times in his life did not take all Austin's attention, and it was during this part of his speech that his eyes began to rove critically over his audience. They were a very nice-looking group of girls, he thought, some positively handsome; it would not be out of the question to teach them charm. His eye fell on a fat, red-faced girl chewing something rhythmically. Should he allow her to stay? Could she be made to do him credit? Yes, fat people had a peculiar charm all their own. He must not be narrow. ”

“ Mr, Johns scowled terrifically. "Well, no one ever called me a lamb before," he said.
"No one understands you but me, grandfather darling," said Elise. "Good night," and, kissing him quite against his inclination, she went away.
In the hall she turned ecstatically to Austin. "Isn't it wonderful that grandfather's so pleased?" she said.
Austin hesitated. "Well," he said, "do you feel sure that he—"
"Oh yes, he's delighted—that's his way. Oh, isn't everything in the world perfect?"
At this moment they perceived Miss Hayes was standing near, waiting for them. ”

“ It was possible, it was even likely, that the little princess had exaggerated her emotions; the first grown man she met might drive her schoolmaster out of her head; but if she were right, if this really were her great passion, could he give his life to anything better than trying to make her happy? Susie didn't care for him, might never, perhaps, care, though he hadn't been able to face the truth before. ”

“ Bevans, the intellectual standards of this school are going down, really they are, and that's hard on those of us who have given the best part of our lives to building them up. I know you think the girls are going to get something to compensate them, but isn't it really something that compensates you—men, I mean? I feel as if there were something profoundly wrong and unjust in a young man having control of the destinies of these girls. One knows what men have always thought women ought to be educated for. ”