ful glance at his mother and her guests, and said to Betty,
"I will teach you, darling."

Betty said, "Can you, Hugh?" and he said, "Rather!"

Into the drawing-room he stumped, followed by the impressed Betty.

"You may come, Aunt Woggles," he said, "if you don't talk."

I promised not to talk, and sat down to write letters.

Hugh sat down on the sofa and Betty plumped down beside him. She
carefully arranged her muslin skirts over her long black-stockinged
legs, and then told Hugh to begin.

"What's it going to be about?" she asked.

"All sorts of things," said Hugh grandly. "Perhaps about Adam and
Eve, and Jonah and the whale, and Samson and Elijah. Do you know the
diff'rence between Enoch and Elijah? That's the first thing."

"No, I don't," said Betty reluctantly.

"Well, darling, you must remember the diff'rence is that Enoch only
walked with God, but the carriage was sent for Elijah!"

"Was it a carriage and pair, Hugh?"

"More, I expect."

"What next, Hugh?"

"We'll just look until we find something." And Hugh opened the Bible.

"It's upside down," whispered Betty.

Hugh assumed the expression my spaniel puts on when he meets a dog
bigger than himself--an expression of extreme earnestness of purpose
combined with a desire to look neither to the right nor to the left, but
to get along as fast as he can.

Hugh assumed an immense dignity and looked straight in front of him,
just to show Betty he was thinking and had not heard what she said,
while he turned the Bible round.

"Go on, Hugh," said Betty humbly, feeling it was she who had made the
mistake. How often do men make women feel this!

"Now, Betty," he said, "you must listen properly and not talk, because
it's a proper lesson, just like mother gives us when visitors aren't
here." A pause, then Hugh said in a very solemn voice, "You know,
darling, Jesus would have been born in the manger, but the dog in the
manger wouldn't let him!"

I stole out of the room.

"You don't disturb us, Aunt Woggles," called out Hugh; "you truthfully
don't."

Hugh had evidently told all he knew, for in a few minutes he came out of
the drawing-room and joined us in the hall. "We've done!" he exclaimed;
"we've had our lesson all the same."

"I am sorry, Hugh," said Diana.

He slipped his hand in hers as a sign of forgiveness, and by way of
making matters quite right, I said, "You know, Hugh, mothers must look
after their guests. Their children are always wit