The New Mistress: A Tale

"Remember, Hazel," said Mrs Thorne, "remember this--we may be reduced in circumstances; we may have been compelled by misfortune to come down into this wretched little town, and...

Books were put away, the lady teachers rose, and, with the exception of Miss Burge, moved towards the door, the latter lady glancing at the new mistress, and, apparently pitying...

About a year and a half before Hazel Thorne had the task of conducting her school for the first time to Plumton church, she was in her home at Kensington, leading the every-day...

All looked so easy and bright in the future that it seemed harsh on the part of Fate to crush out hope after hope. All appeared so promising when Hazel had discussed her positio...

Hazel Thorne felt giddy as she took her seat in the front of the gallery, the seat with a little square patchy cushion close to the red curtains in front of the organist's pew....

The eyes of Beatrice Lambent opened with astonishment and she stared at this daring young man, who had the presumption to talk of interposing between the new schoolmistress and...

Hazel was not destined to reach home without adventure, for before she had gone far she could see Mr Chute walking along very slowly, right at the bottom of the street, and evid...

It was a busy morning with Hazel Thorne as she took her place in the large schoolroom, feeling that her responsibilities had now commenced in earnest. For there were no ladies t...

"I don't know what has come to Henry," said Miss Lambent. "If I had been in his place I should have immediately called a meeting of the governors of the school, paid Miss Thorne...

Mr William Forth Burge was gorgeous in the newest of frock-coats and the whitest of waistcoats, as he stood outside the schools watching the marshalling of the little forces, an...

It was Burns who wrote his wish that some power would give us the ability to see ourselves from other people's point of view. If Hazel Thorne had received this gift she would no...

There was too much sheer hard work at Plumton School for Hazel Thorne to have much time for thoughts of anything but business. She had seen no more of Archibald Graves, but she...

The Reverend Henry Lambent was born when his mother was in very bad health, and the consequence was that he had to be brought up "by hand," which in those days meant by spoon, a...

That same day the Reverend Henry Lambent walked straight down to the girls' school, telling himself that he was quite disenchanted now, and that he could talk to Miss Thorne as...

"Mr Lambent treats me with respect," reasoned Hazel one afternoon when the soreness had somewhat worn off, leaving a feeling that perhaps after all it would be possible to stay...

"Or get Miss Penstemon to give her a few pilules out of one of her bottles--the one she selected when I came down on the Czar last year at that big hedge."

George Canninge went straight into his study and threw himself into a chair, to lie back, his brows knit, and his eyes fixed upon one particular spot in the pattern of the paper...

Now it so happened that the Rev Henry Lambent, who had been greatly troubled in his mind of late concerning what he called parish matters, was out that very day making a few calls.

It was quite like old days, Hazel thought, as George Canninge walked beside her up the drive to Mr William Forth Burge's door. There was no assumption of gallantry, not a word b...

Was there ever a young schoolmaster or mistress yet who did not view with a strange feeling of tribulation the coming of inspection day, when that awful being, Her Majesty's Ins...

"I should put on my best silk this morning, Hazel," said Mrs Thorne, unrolling the broad white strings of her widow's cap and rolling them the reverse way to make them lie flat.

After the plain manner in which the Reverend Henry Lambent had shown himself disposed to take the part of the young schoolmistress against his sisters, the attacks made by Rebec...

Hazel Thorne turned round, to find that the speaker was Feelier Potts, who was holding up a goodly bunch of roses, snapdragons, rose bay, and other homely flowers tied up with s...

"Ah, my child, when will you grow wise?" said Mrs Thorne one day when Hazel, making an effort to master her weariness, was bustling in and out of the room with an apron on, her...

Faint, pale, and utterly prostrate after a long and wearisome day in the school, heartsick at finding how vain her efforts were in spite of everything she could do to keep the a...

Hazel's first impulse was to hurry up to her room, but to her astonishment, she became aware of the fact that her mother had been watching both interviews, by her manner, for sh...

Several things interfered with Hazel's obtaining a good night's rest. She had given up her bedroom to Percy, and the little sofa was cramped and hard. But had she been in the mo...

It was soon school-time, and leaving her brother, who needed no instructions to send for her should any one call, Hazel Thorne hurried to her duties, read prayers with wandering...

"I'm very glad you're in trouble, Miss Thorne," said Mr William Forth Burge, as he took the chair in the little parlour which Hazel placed for him, Mrs Thorne, not being dressed...

"I am the last person in the world, Rebecca, to interfere," said Beatrice, as she busied herself making a series of holes with some thick white cotton, which she wriggled till s...

It was, some will say, a childish, old-fashioned way of keeping cash, but all the same it was the plan adopted by Hazel, who every week dropped the amounts she had received from...

"Heaven give me strength to be patient and forbearing!" said Hazel softly, as she left the cottage and went into the school, for it was just upon two o'clock. "What am I to do?...

"You must ask Mr Canninge, Hazel, or else Mr Burge or Mr Lambent," said Mrs Thorne dictatorially. "Either you must ask one of those gentlemen, or I shall certainly feel that it...

"Nothing serious, my dear; only you know what good people they are, and when they make a _protegee_ of anybody, and that body doesn't turn out well, of course they feel it deeply."

"Let it go, Betsey. Don't try to stop it, dear. Let it go," said Mr William Forth Burge in the most sympathising of tones; and his sister did let it go, crying vehemently for a...

It was a most extraordinary thing, but, probably from uneasiness, Mrs Thorne was the first down next morning. Hazel had had a sleepless night, and it was not till six o'clock th...

As soon as Hazel Thorne had fairly started the school that morning, she took out the envelopes and studied each handwriting fairly to see if she could make out who were the send...

You may make money, and you may turn philanthropist giving right and left, letting not either hand know what the other doeth; but if you think you are going to make innumerable...

Mr William Forth Burge's heart gave a big throb, and his red face assumed a mottled aspect as he went out to the front to welcome Hazel Thorne, who shook hands warmly; and her p...

The place was scrupulously clean; there was not so much as a speck upon the windows; but the chamber was miserably bare. One well-worn, damaged rush-chair was beside the worm-ea...

There was a good deal of conversation about it at the Vicarage, where it became known through a visit paid by Rebecca and Beatrice to the school, and their coming back scandalis...

The news of Hazel Thorne's imprisonment, for it could be called little else, was not long in reaching Ardley, and Mrs Canninge watched her son's countenance to see what effect i...

It was many hours yet before the doctor came, for the life of one patient is no more to a medical man than that of another, and the great physician had several urgent cases to s...

Hazel Thorne's illness came like a shock to Plumton All Saints, and the opposing members of the committee, who had been instrumental in gaining her dismissal, looked angrily one...

Hazel seemed to have borne the moving well, and the doctor smiled his satisfaction at seeing his patient in such light and cheerful quarters; but the days had gone on without ch...