Park, considered her strangely neglectful of their education,
but Miss Chester had her own ideas on that subject, and would not listen
to objections. Nothing, she insisted, was so important to children of
Dennis and Maisie's age as plenty of liberty and fresh air. The time
would soon come when Dennis must go to school, and Maisie must have a
governess; until then, the daily hour in which they learned to read and
write and to do simple sums--for Aunt Katharine was not great at
figures--was quite education enough.

This was decidedly the opinion of the children themselves, and perhaps
they were not the worse for the free life they lived at Fieldside, happy
in the companionship of all the pleasant outdoor things, and dependent
on no one but themselves for amusement. But it was not all freedom.
Aunt Katharine made rules, and the children knew that these must be
obeyed, and were never relaxed unless for some very good reason. One of
these rules applied to the number of pets, which had once threatened to
become overwhelming. Cats especially began to swarm in such multitudes
in the garden and house, that Aunt Katharine was obliged to take severe
measures to reduce them. That done, she made a rule. Madam, the
favourite old cat, was to be kept, but all her kittens, except one out
of each family, must for the future be drowned. It was a dreadful blow
to Maisie in particular, who, being a girl, was not obliged to smother
her feelings; and now, here was another of these miserable occasions--
the white and grey kittens must be sent out of the world almost as soon
as they had entered it!

All the while she was having her frock changed and her hair brushed
before tea, she turned the matter over in her mind. Could she possibly
prevail on Aunt Katharine to spare the kittens this once. It seemed odd
that Aunt Katharine, who was so kind to every one, could bear to let
such poor little helpless things be killed. Maisie supposed it must be
one of those many, many things she had been told she should understand
when she was older. Dennis always said it did not hurt them, but though
she looked up to him a good deal, she did not feel at all sure that he
was right in this case. At any rate, if it did not hurt the kittens, it
must be most painful for Madam to lose two of her children in such a
dreadful way.

Full of those thoughts, she went down to the schoolroom, where Aunt
Katharine always joined the children at tea-time. She f