Belle could not remember.
"Suppose three little girls are going to have a tea-party, you and Bessie and Carrie, and three more, Maggie and Gracie and Lily, come and ask to be invited. If you say yes, then how many little girls would there be at the party?"
"Six," answered Belle promptly; and Carrie said, "But maybe we would be dis'bliging, and say no, and then we would be only three;" at which the other children laughed, and so did Miss Ashton; but Belle never forgot again that three and three made six.
They learned none the slower for this pleasant, take-it-home-to-one's-self kind of teaching, you may be sure; and, as the weeks went by, there was not one of the little class whose friends did not find her greatly improved.
CHAPTER IV.
SCHOOLMATES.
At twelve o'clock Miss Ashton dismissed her class, and the large girls in the other room had a recess; but Maggie and Bessie did not go home immediately, for Maggie had a music-lesson to take for half an hour, and her sister waited for her. During this time, she had leave to amuse herself as she pleased; for Mrs. and Miss Ashton soon found she was a child who could be trusted, and that there was no need to watch her lest she should get into mischief.
Sometimes, if the day were fine and mild, Miss Ashton would put on her wrappings, and let her run in the queer old garden, and make acquaintance with the pigeons and peacocks who lived there. Sometimes she would look at a picture-book, or at some shells Miss Ashton would lend her, or draw on her own slate; and sometimes she would be carried off by some of the larger girls, with whom she soon became a great pet, and who found much amusement in her wise, ladylike little ways and droll sayings. But her great enjoyment was to stand at the windows of the back schoolroom, which looked out over the garden and vacant lots, and watch the boys at their play.
During school-hours, the doors between the rooms were sometimes open, sometimes shut, as was most convenient; and Maggie was always very glad when the latter was the case, for that pair of black eyes continued to be a great disturbance to her even after she had learned to know and like their owner. This was Miss Kate Maynard—a bright, merry, mischievous girl, full of fun and spirits, which she did not always keep in proper check, so that, though she was a generous, kind-hearted girl, she was often bringing herself and others into trouble. More than one lesson had not yet taught her that—
"Evil is wrought by want of thought,
As well as by want of heart."