school-house, although school had not begun, because Miss Tabitha Hanks had arrived. Her spare form, stiff and wide, and perpendicular as a board, showed above the desk. She wore a purple merino dress buttoned down the front with dark black buttons, and a great breastpin of twisted gold. Her hair was looped down over her ears in two folds like shiny drab satin. It scarcely looked like hair, the surface was so smooth and unbroken; and a great tortoise-shell comb topped it like a coronet.

Miss Tabitha's nose was red and rasped with the cold; her thin lips were blue, and her bony hands were numb; but she set copies in writing-books with stern patience. Not one to yield to a little fall in temperature was Tabitha Hanks. Moreover, she kept a sharp eye on the school, and she saw every scholar who entered, while not seeming to do so.

She saw Comfort Pease when she came shyly in, and at once noticed something peculiar about her. Comfort wore the same red tibet dress and the same gingham apron that she had worn the day before; her brown hair was combed off her high, serious forehead and braided in the same smooth tails; her blue eyes looked abroad in the same sober and timid fashion; and yet there was a change.

Miss Tabitha gave a quick frown and a sharp glance of her gray eyes at her, then she continued setting her copy. “That child's up to something,” she thought, while she wrote out in her beautiful shaded hand, “All is not gold that glitters.”

Comfort went forward to the stove, which was surrounded by a ring of girls and boys. Matilda Stebbins and Rosy were there with the rest. Matilda moved aside at once when she saw Comfort, and made room for her near the stove.

“Hullo, Comfort Pease!” said she.

“Hullo!” returned Comfort.

Comfort held out her numb right hand to the stove, but the other she kept clenched in a little blue fist hidden in her dress folds.

“Cold, ain't it?” said Matilda.

“Dreadful,” said Comfort, with a shiver.

“Why don't you warm your other hand?” asked Matilda.

“My other hand ain't cold,” said Comfort. And she really did not think it was. She was not aware of any sensation in that hand, except that of the gold ring binding together the third and fourth fingers.

Pretty soon the big girl with red cheeks came in. Her cheeks were redder than ever, and her black eyes seemed to have caught something of the sparkle of the frost outside. “Hullo!” said she, when she caught sight of Comfort. “That you, Comfort Pease?”

“Hullo!” Comfort returned, faintly. She was dreadfully afraid of this big girl, who was as much as sixteen years old, and studied algebra, and was also said to have a beau.

“Got that gold ring” inquired the big girl, with a giggle, as she held out her hands to the stove.

Comfort looked at her as if she was going to cry.

“You're real mean to tease her, so there!” said Matilda Stebbins, bravely, in the face of the big girl, who persisted nevertheless.

“Got that gold ring?” she asked again, with her teasing giggle, which the others echoed.

Comfort slowly raised her left arm. She unfolded her little blue fist, and there on the third and fourth fingers of her hand shone the gold ring.

Then there was such an outcry that Miss Tabitha Hanks looked up from her copy, and kept her wary eyes fixed upon the group at the stove.

“My sakes alive, look at Comfort Pease with a gold ring on two fingers!” screamed the big girl. And all the rest joined in. The other scholars in the room came crowding up to the stove. “Le'ss see it!” they demanded of Comfort. They teased her to let them take it. “Lemme take it for just a minute. I'll give it right back, honest,” they begged. But Comfort was firm about that; she would not let that ring go from her own two fingers for one minute.

“Ain't she stingy with her old ring?” said Sarah Allen to Rosy Stebbins.

“Maybe it ain't real gold,” whispered Rosy; but Comfort heard her.

“'Tis, too,” said she, stoutly.

“It's brass; I can tell by the color,” teased one of the big boys. “'Fore I'd wear a brass ring if I was a girl!”

“It ain't brass,” almost sobbed Comfort.

Miss Tabitha Hanks arose slowly and came over to the stove. She came so silently and secretly that the scholars did not notice it, and they all jumped when she spoke.

“You may all take your seats,” said she, “if it is a little before nine. You can study until school begins. I can't have so much noise and confusion.”

The scholars flocked discontentedly to their seats.

“It's all the fault of your old brass ring,” whispered the big boy to Comfort, with a malicious grin, and she trembled.

“Your mother let you wear it, didn't she?” whispered Matilda to Comfort, as the two took their seats on the bench. But Comfort did not seem to hear her, and Miss Tabitha looked that way, and Matilda dared not whisper again. Miss Tabitha, moreover, looked as though she had heard what she said, although that did not seem possible.

However, Miss Tabitha's ears had a reputation among the scholars for almost as fabulous powers as her eyes. Matilda Stebbins was quite sure that she heard, and Miss Tabitha's after-course confirmed her opinion.

The reading-class was out on the floor fixing its toes on the line, and Miss Tabitha walked behind it straight to Comfort.

“Comfort Pease,” said she, “I don't believe your mother ever sent you to school wearing a ring after that fashion. You may take it off.”

Comfort took it off. The eyes of the whole school watched her; even the reading-class looked over its shoulders.

“Now,” said Miss Tabitha, “put it in your pocket.”

Comfort put the ring in her pocket. Her face was flushing redder and redder, and the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Miss Tabitha drew out a large pin, which was quilted into the bosom of her dress, and proceeded to pin up Comfort's pocket. “There,” said she, “now you leave that ring in there, and don't you touch it till you go home; then you give it right to your mother. And don't you take that pin out; if you do I shall whip you.”

Miss Tabitha turned suddenly on the reading-class, and the faces went about with a jerk. “Turn to the fifty-sixth page,” she commanded; and the books all rustled open as she went to the front. Matilda gave Comfort a sympathizing poke and Miss Tabitha an indignant scowl under cover of the reading-class, but Comfort sat still, with the tears dropping down on her spelling-book. She had never felt so guilty or so humble in her life. She made up her mind she would tell her mother about it, and put the ring back in the box that night, and never take it out again until her finger grew to it; and if it never did she would try to be resigned.

When it was time for recess Miss Tabitha sent them all out of doors. “I know it's cold,” said she, “but a little fresh air won't hurt any of you. You can run around and keep warm.”

Poor Comfort dreaded to go out. She knew just how the boys and girls would tease her. But Matilda Stebbins stood by her, and the two hurried out before the others and ran together down the road.

“We've got time to run down to the old Loomis place and back before the bell rings,” said Matilda. “If you stay here they'll all tease you dreadfully to show that ring, and if you do she'll whip you. She always does what she says she will.”

The two girls got back to the school-house just as the bell rang, and, beyond sundry elbow-nudges and teasing whispers as they went in, Comfort had no trouble. She took her seat and meekly opened her geography.

Once in a while she wondered, with a qualm of anxiety, if her ring was safe. She dared not even feel of her pocket under her dress. Whenever she thought of it Miss Tabitha seemed to be looking straight at her. Poor Comfort had a feeling that Miss Tabitha could see her very thoughts.

The Stebbinses and