blue eyes fixed upon Arabella, as if he could think of nothing else.

At first she seemed not to notice him, but after a time she moved
restlessly on her seat, and wriggled about in a way that delighted the
small boy.

Arabella was not used to being stared at. She always stared boldly at
other people, but here was some one who looked at her without so much as
blinking. She glanced at the clock, and then, as if just remembering
something, took a small bottle from her pocket, shook some pills into
her hand, swallowed them, and turned to see if Reginald were looking. He
was, and Arabella was provoked.

"What you staring at?" she whispered rudely.

"You!" he whispered, not a bit abashed.

"Well, you just _needn't_," said Arabella.

"I know _I needn't_," replied the small boy, "but I like to."

"Why?" she asked.

"'Cause you're funny," Reginald said. It was not strange that Arabella
was angry. Would any girl be pleased to have a small boy watching her,
and declaring that she was "funny?"

And now Aunt Charlotte was calling the youngest class in reading, and
Reginald hastily snatched his book, and began to hunt for the lesson.

"The third page, Reginald," said Aunt Charlotte; "you may read the first
paragraph."

He found the place, and read the lines without a mistake. It was his
first term at school, but his mother had found pleasure in teaching him,
and he read quite as well as some of the younger pupils.

"Read the next paragraph, Reginald," said Aunt Charlotte.

"'When the king rode over the highway, the sun glistened upon his,--on
his,--'"

It was a word which Reginald had never seen, and he frowned until an
odd little pucker appeared on his forehead.

"'When the king rode over the highway, the sun glistened upon
his,'"--again he paused. The word looked no easier this time than when
he had first read the lines.

"I _can't_ pronounce that word," he said.

"Read the lines again, and when you come to the word that puzzles you,
pronounce it as you think it should be," said Aunt Charlotte.

The other pupils were interested, but when Reginald glanced toward
Arabella, he saw that she was smiling in evident delight at his
discomfiture. He resolved to rush through the reading in a way that
would tell her that he could read _anything_. He drew a long breath, and
then, as fast as possible, he read:

"'When the king rode over the highway, the sun glistened upon his
_carrot_ wheels!'"

Even Aunt Charlotte s