So I
looked forward to his coming with a curiosity not unmingled with more
doubtful emotions.
It was Friday, and so near the close of the afternoon session that I had
quite dismissed from my mind the contemplation of any dread advent for
that day. It was just at that trying hour of Friday afternoon when only
the spelling-classes remained to be heard, and teacher and scholars both
were conscious, the one with a deep inward sense of relief, the others
with many restless demonstrations of impatience, that the week was near
its close; and that "to-morrow" would be Saturday and a holiday.
Estella the raven-haired--familiarly known as the "Modoc," a long and
ungainly creature, with arms and legs so seemingly profuse and
unmanageable, that they reminded one of the tentacles of a
cuttle-fish--Estella was "passing around the water."
She was performing this accustomed office with a grin of such supreme
delight and satisfaction as seemed actually to illuminate the back of her
head, when the door of the school-room opened, and there, without any
previous warning, appeared a grim, fierce-looking little man, whom I knew
at once to be the "Turkey Mogul.
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