His worship of the teacher interfered with Wollaston's studies.

He was wondering as he sat there if he could not walk home with her that night, if by chance any _man_ would be in waiting for her.

How he hated that imaginary man.

He glanced around, and as he did so, the door opened softly, and Harry Edgham, Maria's father, entered.

He was very late, but he had waited in the vestibule, in order not to attract attention, until the people began singing a hymn, "Jesus, Lover of my Soul," to the tune of "When the Swallows Homeward Fly." He was a distinctly handsome man.