Bret published his four-chapter novelette "Mliss" in 1873, 16 years after this episode is set. Mliss is nine years old and her father is initially still alive. The story takes place over two years so that she is "nearly eleven" by the end. The schoolmaster asks Mliss to go away with him, but nothing is said of marriage.
Bret Harte (1836-1902) is credited with inventing western fiction.