ing and suspense, Catherine looked at
her mother, and waited for an explanation.

"Don't you see it?" Mrs. Presty asked.

"I can't say that I do."

The old lady's excellent temper was not in the least ruffled, even by
this.

"Quite inexcusable on my part," she acknowledged; "I ought to have
remembered that you don't inherit your mother's vivid imagination. Age
has left me in full possession of those powers of invention which used
to amaze your poor father. He wondered how it was that I never wrote a
novel. Mr. Presty's appreciation of my intellect was equally sincere;
but he took a different view. 'Beware, my dear,' he said, 'of trifling
with the distinction which you now enjoy: you are one of the most
remarkable women in England--you have never written a novel.' Pardon
me; I am wandering into the region of literary anecdote, when I ought to
explain myself. Now pray attend to this:--I propose to tell Kitty that I
have found a book which is sure to interest her; and I shall direct her
attention to the lamentable story which you have just read. She is quite
sharp enough (there are sparks of my intellectual fire in Kitty) to
ask if the friends of the poor shipwrecked people were not very much
surprised to see them again. To this I shall answer: 'Very much, indeed,
for their friends thought they were dead.' Ah, you dear dull child, you
see it now!"

Catherine saw it so plainly that she was eager to put the first part of
the experiment to an immediate trial.

Kitty was sent for, and made her appearance with a fishing-rod over her
shoulder. "I'm going to the brook," she announced; "expect some fish for
dinner to-day."

A wary old hand stopped Catherine, in the act of presenting "Disasters
at Sea," to Kitty's notice; and a voice, distinguished by insinuating
kindness, said to the child: "When you have done fishing, my dear, come
to me; I have got a nice book for you to read.--How very absurd of
you, Catherine," Mrs. Presty continued, when they were alone again, "to
expect the child to read, and draw her own conclusions, while her head
is full of fishing! If there are any fish in the brook, _she_ won't
catch them. When she comes back disappointed and says: 'What am I to do
now?' the 'Disasters at Sea' will have a chance. I make it a rule never
to boast; but if there is a thing that I understand, it's the management
of children. Why didn't I have a large family?"

Attended by the faithful Susan, Kitty baited her hook,