continually coming lovingly together, but were separated the next
moment.'

'And to-day this sum,' said Jane; 'seven scrapes in one week! I
really am of opinion, as Rachel says when she is angry, that school
is the best place for her.'

'I think so too,' said Claude.

'I do not know,' said Emily, 'she is very troublesome, but--'

'Oh, Claude!' cried Lily, 'you do not mean that you would have that
poor dear merry Master Phyl sent to school, she would pine away like
a wild bird in a cage; but papa will never think of such a thing.'

'If I thought of her being sent to school,' said Claude, 'it would be
to shield her from--the rule of love.'

'Oh! you think we are too indulgent,' said Emily; 'perhaps we are,
but you know we cannot torment a poor child all day long.'

'If you call the way you treat her indulgent, I should like to know
what you call severe.'

'What do you mean, Claude?' said Emily.

'I call your indulgence something like the tender mercies of the
wicked,' said Claude. 'On a fine day, when every one is taking their
pleasure in the garden, to shut an unhappy child up in the
schoolroom, with a hard sum that you have not taken the trouble to