The Charm School
"You've changed this room, haven't you?" he said, not at once appreciating where the change had really taken place.
"Changed?" said Mrs. Rolles, proudly. "No, not in twenty-five years. And so," she went on, presently, when tea had been brought in—"so you have become a school-master?"
"Yes, and a darned successful one, too," said Austin, surprised to note another change had come over his spirit. In old times he had pretended not to be afraid of Mrs. Rolles—now, incredible as it seemed, he actually wasn't. He found that he regarded her simply as a parent, and parents were now to him as seals to Hagenbeck.
Mrs. Rolles smiled. "And I suppose your idea is that you can get Susie to come and darn socks and be a mother to the pupils?"
"A model—not a mother," answered Austin. "I want to be able to point to her as an example of my method of education."
"But it was I educated Susie, not you, Mr. Bevans."
"Ah, but my system of education is founded on your ideas, though, as a matter of fact, on a show-down I believe it would be found that I had had a lot to do with
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