"My dear Kathleen!"

"I have--with a girl, so it doesn't matter. She's the prettiest,
sweetest, bonniest thing I ever saw in my life. I am going to hunt round
for her immediately after dinner. I thought I'd say so, for I mean to do
it."

"Oh, Kathleen!" said Alice in a distressed voice, "you really mustn't.
You must come back to the school with me. I promised Miss Dove that I'd
see you through your tasks.--You know, mother," continued Alice,
"Kathleen is not very advanced for her age, and Miss Dove wants to get
her into a proper class as quickly as possible; therefore she is to be
coached a little, and I have undertaken to do it.--You will come with
me, Kathleen? I must get back to the school again by half-past two. You
will be sure to come, dear?"

"I think not, dear," replied Kathleen in her most aggravating tone.

"But you must.--Mustn't she, mother?"

"You ought to, Kathleen," said Mrs. Tennant. "You have been sent here to
learn. Alice can teach you; she can help you very much. She means to be
very kind to you. You certainly ought to do what she suggests."

"But I am afraid," said Kathleen, "that I am not going to do what I
ought. I don't wish to be good at all to-day. I couldn't live if I
wasn't really naughty sometimes. I mean to be terribly naughty all the
afternoon. If you will let me have my fling, I do assure you, Mrs.
Tennant, that I will work off the steam, and will be all right
to-morrow. I must do something desperate, and if Alice opposes me I'll