"We can't tell, I s'pose," replied the child; "but I think they
are, anyway. Now what shall I say?"

"The subjunctive mood, past perfect tense of the verb 'to know.'"

"If I had known
If thou hadst known
If he had known
If we had known
If you had known
If they had known"

"Oh, it is the saddest tense," sighed Rebecca with a little
a little break in her voice; "nothing but ifs-, ifs, ifs! And it
makes you feel that if they only had known, things might have
been better!"

Miss Dearborn had not thought of it before, but on reflection she
believed the subjective mood was a "sad" one and "if" rather a
sorry "part of speech."

"Give me some examples of the subjective, Rebecca, and that will
do for this afternoon," she said.

"If I had not eaten salt mackerel for breakfast I should not have
been thirsty," said Rebecca with an April smile, as she closed
her grammar. "If thou hadst love me truly thou wouldst not have
stood me up in the corner. If Samuel had not loved wickedness he
would not have followed me to the water pail."