task. But they did not speak or ask Grandmamma any questions, and
somehow the old lady felt a little uneasy, for, even though they were on
the whole quiet children, this morning there was a sort of constraint
about them which she did not understand. And they, on their side, felt
glad when the "washing-up" was over and Grandmamma sent them upstairs to
their nursery, where they had lessons every morning for two hours with a
young girl whose mother had a sort of dame school in the village.




CHAPTER III.

QUEER VISITORS.

"... they are what their birth
And breeding suffer them to be--
Wild outcasts of society."
_Gypsies_--WORDSWORTH.


Miss Mitten, the young governess, had not yet come when the children got
to the nursery, though all was in order for her--the table cleared, the
three chairs set round it ready. There was nothing to do but to get out
the books and slates. Duke went to the window and stood there staring
out silently; Pamela, who always liked to be busy, dragged forward a
chair, meaning to climb on to it so as to reach up to the high shelf
where the lesson things were kept. But, as she drew out the chair,
something that had been hidden from view in a corner near which stood a
small side-table caught her eye. She let go the chair, stooping down to