"Oh!" exclaimed Linnet, "is that it?"
"Just it," said Miss Prudence, smiling, "and some day I will go over with you each study by itself and show you how it will educate you and help you the better to do something he asks you to do."
"Oh, how splendid!" cried Linnet. "Before I go to school, so the books won't seem hard and dry?"
"Yes, any day that you will come to me. Marjorie may come too, even though she loves to study."
"I wonder if you can find any good in Natural Philosophy," muttered Linnet, "and in doing the examples in it. And in remembering the signs of the Zodiac! Mr. Holmes makes us learn everything; he won't let us skip."
"He is a fine teacher, and you might have had, if you had been so minded, a good preparation for your city school."
"I haven't," said Linnet. "If it were not for seeing the girls and learning how to be like city girls, I would rather stay home."
"Perhaps that knowledge would not improve you. What then?"
"Why, Miss Prudence!" exclaimed Marjorie, "don't you think we country girls are away behind the age?"
"In the matter of dates! But you need not be. With such a teacher as you have you ought to do as well as any city girl of your age. And there's always a course of reading by yourself."