THE CINDERELLA FROCK. 19

_ school phraseology, homely ; sadly, unmistak-
ably homely, and a fretful, unamiable look she
wore about her, made her, at first sight, quite
unbearable. She was a ‘‘ scholar” though ;
her reading absolutely filled the room like a
burst of music. Indeed, with a voice singu-
larly melodious, she possessed a grace of ut-
terance not excelled even by the teacher.
There was one Elizabeth Hale (our Lizzie)
who interested her exceedingly, in the same
class. She was certainly below Rovina in
scholarship, but such a fresh, heartsome, joy-
ous face as hers there was not in the school.
Not a handsome face though ; oh, no; there
was many a great black freckle on it, and the
nose was monstrously flat and wide, and the
mouth wider still in proportion—it was really
plainer than Rovina’s. But there, nobody
could help being taken by it, at least Alice,