xamine this extraordinary imp of a child
herself. 'Haven't you used any real geography books?' she asked presently.

Barbara looked vague.

'Do you know the map of England, for instance?' pursued Margaret, rather
desperately.

'Oh, yes, I know the map of England,' answered the child, confidently.
'It's so easy to find, because it's pink. I know America too, because
father has gone there to lecture, and he won't be back for ever so long,
not till----'

'Hush!' said the head girl. 'Tell me what arithmetic you have done.'

'Let me see, that's figures without letters, isn't it?' inquired Babs.
'I'm afraid I can only add up, because Bobbin hasn't got any further yet;
he's backward in sums, you see, and I've only learnt mine through helping
him with his prep. Sometimes, I wish he'd get on a little faster, because
I'm getting so tired of----'

'Then you mean to say,' interposed Margaret, rather impatiently, 'that
you can only do simple addition?'

'That's in arithmetic,' Barbara hastened to point out. 'I've got as far
as fractions in the funny sums that Kit does out of the other book;
they're much easier, because they have letters dotted about to help
you. I always do Kit's sums, when he has asthma; but he says I'm very
slow. Then there's the nice interesting book with pictures of triangles
and things; we've got up to----'

'Oh, don't!' said Margaret, and Barbara paused, a little surprised. Why
did people ask her questions if they did not mean her to answer them?
Margaret was drumming her fingers on the table and looking a little
worried. 'Have you learnt any languages?' she asked suddenly. 'I mean,
anything besides French--German, for instance?'

'No, I haven't learnt any German, and I don't want to, thank you,' said
Babs, decidedly. 'Ever since the German band complained to father, because
Peter tried to stop their noise by shying potatoes at them from the
window, we've all made a vow never to learn their beastly language. And I
don't know any French either; no more does father. I know Latin up to the
deponent verbs, though,--deponent verbs _are_ catchy, aren't they?--and
I've begun Greek with father. I'm afraid that's all the languages I----'

'Well, you are a curiosity!' declared Margaret, giving up the attempt to
hide her amusement. 'So you've never had a governess at all? Nor been to
classes?'

'I've been to a gymnastic class,' said Barbara, eagerly. 'It's the only
thing I can do properly. Have you got a gym