A clock in the schoolroom struck nine; Miss Miller left her circle,

and standing in the middle of the room, cried-

Discipline prevailed: in five minutes the confused throng was

resolved into order, and comparative silence quelled the Babel clamour

of tongues. The upper teachers now punctually resumed their posts: but

still, all seemed to wait. Ranged on benches down the sides of the

room, the eighty girls sat motionless and erect; a quaint assemblage

they appeared, all with plain locks combed from their faces, not a