CHAPTER XI

A NEW LESSON TO LEARN


It was a long time before the children ceased to talk and laugh over
that jolly evening. Dorry declared he wished there could be a
Valentine's-Day every week.

"Don't you think St. Valentine would be tired of writing verses?" asked
Katy. But she, too, had enjoyed the frolic, and the bright recollection
helped her along through the rest of the long, cold winter.

Spring opened late that year, but the Summer, when it came, was a warm
one. Katy felt the heat very much. She could not change her seat and
follow the breeze about from window to window as other people could. The
long burning days left her weak and parched. She hung her head, and
seemed to wilt like the flowers in the garden-beds. Indeed she was worse
off than they, for every evening Alexander gave them a watering with the
hose, while nobody was able to bring a watering-pot and pour out what
she needed--a shower of cold, fresh air.

It wasn't easy to be good-humored under these circumstances, and one
could hardly have blamed Katy if she had sometimes forgotten her
resolutions and been cross and fretful. But she didn't--not very often.
Now and then bad days came, when she was discouraged and forlorn. But
Katy's long year of schooling had taught her self-control, and, as a
general thing, her discomforts were borne patiently. She could not help