The Getting of Wisdom

er stomach, was roused ne

u. She says you can get into bed in my place, before

as standing in the doorway holding her nightgown to her

h's going to give me my bat

d you yesterday you could say Laura, and ..

and mere sticks of legs-she was "all belly" as Sarah put it-and the me

rs, began to pull on her clothes, confusing strings and buttons in her haste, and quite forgetting that on this eventful

don't you know y

'm dressed now,"

be fine an' angry. An' you needn'

r she would hold on to the seat with both hands. But even if she had to yield to Sarah's greater strength-well, at least she was up and dressed. Not like the last time-about a week ago Mother had tried this kind of thing. Then, she had been caught unawares. She had gone into Pin's warm place, curious and unsuspecting, and thereupon Mother had begun to talk seriously to her, and not with her usual directness. She had reminded Laura

little face relaxed. She felt very hungry, too, and when at length

ays to come to breakfast and not be si

he sisters ran

ir own hands the little boys had been allowed to paste on this a b

Rambotham The Ladie

ding at the breakfast-t

hild," was all she said at the

also with a side-glance at the generous pile o

ciously; it galled her still to be considere

aid Mother. "You'll be hungry enough by this e

get any dinner?" she asked: and to her soft little heart going t

id, 'ow can she?" said Sarah. "Do

ever such a lot!" begged

n a lump in her throat with a gulp of tea. But when Pin had gone with Sarah t

n life-you're so disobedient and self-willed. It would serve you very well right, I'm sure,

ought it wiser not to reply. Gobbling up t

o flower. Here again was the old fig tree with the rounded, polished boughs, from which, seated as in a cradle, she had played Juliet to Pin's Romeo, and vice versa-but oftenest Juliet: for though Laura greatly preferred to be the ardent lover at the foot, Pin was but a poor climber, and, as she clung trembling to her branch, needed so much prompting in her lines-even then to repeat them with such feeble emphasis-that Laura invariably lost patience with her and the love-scene ended in a squabble. Passing behind a wooden fence which was a tangle of passion-flower, she opened the door of the fowl-house, and out strutted the mother-hen followed

be all right. Sarah'll take care of them, 'cause of the eggs. But Maggy and the bunnies don't have eggs, and if they're not fed, or if Frank treads on Maggy again, then the

you're not her

tremulously never, never to forget; but Laura was not satisfied until each of them in turn had

fing

fing

strike

tell

thy business, and was accomplished amid bustle, and scolding, and little peace-making words from Pin; for in her hurry that morn

, and simultaneously the rumble of wheels was heard. Sarah c

eyes were moist. "You don't see Miss Laura be such a

ig-bodied, lumbering, scarlet, pulled by two stout horses, drew

I drove you all across for the first time. These children wasn't big enough then to git up and down be thimselves. Now I warrant you they can-just look at 'em, will you?-But my! Ain't you ashamed of yourself"-he spoke to Pin-"pipin' your eye like that? Why

helped the three children up-they were to ride with Laura to the outskirts of the township. The little boys giggled

Miss L

thing. Whether you are happy-and if you get enough to eat-and if you have enough blankets on your bed. And r

while dressing, she had resorted to counting the number of times the profile of a Roman emperor appeared in the flowers on the wallpaper. Now the w

'll be all right. Good-bye." She could not, however, r

tween O'Donnell and the servant while the steps were being folded and put away. Laura did not smile; her thi

alone, feel in the pocket of your ulster and

e ... go

set in motion and trundled down the main street. Until it turned the corner by the Shire Gardens, Laura let her ha

right. She seems such a child to be sending off like this. Yet what else could I do? To a State School

where the coach had disappeared. She was still a comparatively young woman, and straigh

An' children WILL grow up an' get big ... an' change their feathers." She spoke absently, drawing her metaphor from a brood

moment's worry. But Laura's different. I seem to get less and les

urself. You sit up nights an' don't get no proper sleep slavin' away at that blessed embroid'ry an' stuff, so as Miss Laura can get off to school an' to 'er books. An' then you want to worry o

alarm.-"Shut the side gate, will you. Those children have left it

, Sarah herself had a sneaking weakness for what she called "dra'in'-room days". For the drawing-room was the storehouse of what treasures had remained over from a past prosperity. It was crowded with bric-a-brac and ornament; and as her mistress took these objects up one by one, to dust and polish them, she would, if she were in a good h