your native language."

"Oh!"

Ben was about to leave the room to avoid further questions of an
embarrassing nature, when his father interrupted his exit by saying--

"Stay, Benjamin, do not withdraw till I have made all the inquiries
which I intend."

The boy unwillingly returned.

"You have not answered my question."

"I've forgotten what it was."

"What good would it do?" asked the Squire, simplifying his speech to
reach Ben's comprehension, "what good would it do to teach the kitten to
swim?"

"O, I thought," said Ben, hesitating, "that some time or other she might
happen to fall into the water, and might not be able to get out unless
she knew how."

"I think," said his father with an unusual display of sagacity, "that
she will be in much greater hazard of drowning while learning to swim
under your direction than by any other chance likely to befall her."

"Shouldn't wonder," was Ben's mental comment, "Pretty cute for you,
dad."