With one or two exceptions, she liked her pupils, and had led them patiently along the uphill road to knowledge.

They had made some progress, but she had lost her delight in leading.

For one thing, few would go far, and when they left her the rest would turn aside from the laborious pursuit of science into pleasant human paths and forget all that she had taught while they occupied themselves with the care of husband and children.

Moreover, she herself could not follow the climbing road to the heights where the light of knowledge burns brightest, as she once had hoped.

When the school term was finished she must turn back and begin again, at the bottom, to direct the faltering steps of another band.