There were no children there, for it was understood that big words would be given out--words children could not pronounce, much less spell.
The teacher was amazingly pretty on this eventful night.

She was dressed as no other woman in Bramble County, except Rosalie Gray, could have attired herself--simply, tastefully, daintily.

Her face was flushed and eager and the joy of living glowed in every feature.

Ed Higgins and 'Rast Little were struck senseless, nerveless by this vision of health and loveliness.

Anderson Crow stealthily admitted to himself that she was a stranger in a strange land; she was not of Tinkletown or any place like it.
Just as the captains were completing their selections of spellers the door opened and three strangers entered the school-room, overcoated and furred to the tips of their noses--two men and a woman.