With a mental appetite uninjured by tit-bits and dainties, she digested the strong food, and asked eagerly for more.
Her progress was marvelous, and the old scholar often had cause to wonder at the quickness with which his pupil's clear mind grasped the truths he showed her.

Often before he could finish speaking, a bright nod, or word, showed that she had caught the purpose of his speech, while that wide eager look, and the question that followed, revealed her readiness to go on.

It was as though many of the things he sought to teach her slept already in her brain, and needed only a touch to arouse them to vigorous life.
In time, the girl's very clothing, and even her manner of dressing her hair, came to reveal the development and transformation of her inner self; not that she dressed more expensively; she could not do that; but in the selection of materials, and in the many subtle touches that give distinction even to the plainest apparel, she showed her awakening.

To help her in this, there was Aunt Mollie and a good ladies' magazine, which came to her regularly, through the kindness of her teacher.
Sammy's father, too, came unconsciously under the shepherd's influence.

As his daughter grew, the man responded to the change in her, as he always responded to her every thought and mood.