CHAPTER IX

Conclusion

A NEW little boy came two years ago into
our story-book world. When Miss North,
taking Ezekiel by the hand, led him into her
school-room,' we met a child full of what we
call temperament; dreaming quaint stories,
innocently friendly, anxious to please for
affection's sake, in his queer, unconscious
way something of a genius. We saw his
big musing eyes looking out upon a world in
which his teacher stood serene and reasoning,
but a little cold like her name; his friend.
Miss Jane, kind and very practical; his em¬
ployer, Mr. Rankin, amused and contemptu¬
ous; all watching him with the impersonal
interest with which one might view a new
species in the animal world. For Ezekiel,
unlike our other story-book boys, had a
double being, he was first Ezekiel Jordan, a

1 Lucy Pratt, "Ezekiel."
218