Mousey started at the sound of the lisping voice, and turning quickly, saw two little dots of about three years old at the top of the stairs peeping through the banisters.
"Go back to the nursery directly," Mrs. Downing told them; "I will come to you when school hours are over."
The curly heads disappeared obediently, and there was a sound of retreating footsteps.
"Those are my children," Mrs. Downing explained, with a smile lighting up her grave face. "They are twins—almost babies still."
She pushed open the baize-covered door, and led Mousey into a large room, in which about a dozen girls were chatting and laughing. A sudden hush fell upon the little assembly as Mrs. Downing introduced the new pupil. One of the girls volunteered to show her where to hang her hat and jacket in a small adjoining room; and after that Mrs. Downing's sister entered the schoolroom, and Mousey was given into her charge. Miss Longley was very much like Mrs. Downing, but fairer and smaller. She told the little girl where to sit, and the bell ringing at that moment for the commencement of the morning's duties, the other girls hastened to take their places, and the work of the day began.
It was rather a trying experience for Mousey when Miss Longley questioned her as to her knowledge of different subjects, and she was obliged to confess that she knew but little of geography and English history, and that grammar was a mystery to her.
"Never mind," Miss Longley said kindly, "you read and write very well, and spell fairly correctly—a good groundwork to build upon."
Mousey gave a sigh of relief; but she was not sorry when twelve o'clock came, and work was over for the morning. Outside the house, much to her astonishment, she found John Monday waiting for her. She was anything but pleased, for she saw a couple of her school-fellows looking at him, and evidently laughing at his shabby, ungainly appearance. As usual, he was dressed in a slovenly manner, and wore his cap stuck on the back of his head in what he doubtless considered a jaunty fashion, with a clump of red hair showing above his forehead.
"Mr. Harding sent me because he thought you might not know the way home," he informed her. "Well, how did you get on?"
"Pretty well," she answered evasively. "It was all strange, of course."