"Did you contract for another school?" cried Adam.

"I surely did," said Kate slowly. "I signed an agreement to teach
the village school in Walden. It's a brick building with a
janitor to sweep and watch fires, only a few blocks to walk, and
it pays twenty dollars a month more than the home school where you
can wade snow three miles, build your own fires, and freeze all
day in a little frame building at that. I teach the school I have
taken."

"And throw our school out of a teacher? Father could be sued, and
probably will be," said Adam. "And throw the housework Nancy
Ellen expected you to do on her," said Agatha, at the same time.

"I see," said Kate. "Well, if he is sued, he will have to settle.
He wouldn't help me a penny to go to school, I am of age, the debt
is my own, and I don't owe it to him. He's had all my work has
been worth all my life, and I've surely paid my way. I shall
teach the school I have signed for."

"You will get into a pretty kettle of fish!" said Adam.

"Agatha, will you sell me your telescope for what you paid for it,
and get yourself a new one the next time you go to Hartley? It is
only a few days until time to go to my school, it opens sooner
than in the country, and closes later. The term is four months
longer, so I earn that much more. I haven't gotten a telescope
yet. You can add it to my first payment."