[Dark Saint Alaick]

The excitement of this scene is equal to that afforded by any city spectacle whatever; and
towards the close of the evening, when difficult and unusual words are chosen to
confound the small number who still keep the floor, it becomes scarcely less than painful.
When perhaps only one or two remain to be puzzled, the master, weary at last of his task,
though a favorite one, tries by tricks to put down those whom he cannot overcome in fair
fight. If among all the curious, useless, unheard-of words which may be picked out of the
spelling-book, he cannot find one which the scholars have not noticed, he gets the last
head down by some quip or catch. "Bay" will perhaps be the sound; one scholar spells it
"bey," another, "bay," while the master all the time means "ba," which comes within the
rule, being in the spelling-book.
It was on one of these occasions, as we have said, that Miss Bangle, having come to the
spelling-school to get materials for a letter to a female friend, first shone upon Mr.
Horner. She was excessively amused by his solemn air and puckered mouth, and set him
down at once as fair game. Yet she could not help becoming somewhat interested in the
spelling-school, and after it was over found she had not stored up half as many of the
schoolmaster's points as she intended, for the benefit of her correspondent.
In the evening's contest a young girl from some few miles' distance, Ellen Kingsbury, the
only child of a substantial farmer, had been the very last to sit down, after a prolonged
effort on the part of Mr. Horner to puzzle her, for the credit of his own school. She
blushed, and smiled, and blushed again, but spelt on, until Mr. Horner's cheeks were
crimson with excitement and some touch of shame that he should be baffled at his own
weapons. At length, either by accident or design, Ellen missed a word, and sinking into
her seat was numbered with the slain.