"My middle name's Merton," said the small boy, coolly.

"Well, Reginald Merton Dean, then," Katie said, "and whatever your name
is, you ought not to tell things like that!"

"Like what? Like learning 'bout folks choppin' off other folks' heads?
Well, I guess it's so if my big brother says so," Reginald replied.

The girls did not believe it, but they could not deny it. They knew that
Reginald _thought_ what he said was true, but they believed that, in
some way, the facts had become twisted.

They were at the cottage door now, and as they entered Reginald
whispered:

"You just see, Katie Dean! I tell you Bob knows!"

The early morning lessons were the same as usual, and the girls soon
forgot what Reginald had said, and at recess there were so many games to
be played that there was little time for talking.

It was after recess that the surprise came. The reading lesson had been
unusually interesting, and instead of twenty minutes, it had occupied a
half-hour.

When the readers were put aside, Aunt Charlotte said:

"Commencing to-morrow, we shall devote a half-hour to studying history.
You are all much younger than the pupils in the public schools who begin
to study history, but we shall take it up in an easy, enjoyable way. I