Miss Patten's School 



a school where I should meet with other 

 children and receive such tuition as was 

 suitable for my tender age ; for I was but 

 six years old. If Mary had been allowed 

 her own way she would have frankly told 

 me the result of the family council, and was 

 fully prepared to dry my tears and soothe 

 my tremors. But my Mother, partly because 

 her tender heart misgave her at the pro- 

 spect of the inevitable scene of heartbreak 

 and fuss, partly because she thought to 

 make the break with my little home-world 

 easier for me, dissuaded her from her sen- 

 sible wish and drew her into the little con- 

 spiracy, the story of which I will here tell. 



One bright morning my Mother nodded 

 knowingly at me across the breakfast-table 

 and said, " Mary and I are going to drive 

 over to Henfield to see Miss Patten, and if 

 a certain young gentleman is very, very 

 good, he shall go too." 



At this distance of time I cannot remem- 

 ber what was my precise plan of mischief 

 for that day, but whatever it might have 

 been I quickly abandoned it, and had a 

 mind to be very good indeed. For the 

 memory of a former visit to Miss Patten, 

 and of her strawberry garden, and a sip of 

 cowslip wine was still fragrant with me. 

 Accordingly, about ten o'clock, Mary put 

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