CHAPTER II. 
WHY A BOY CANNOT FLY . 
T HE reading hour had become quite a delightful 
one to the children, and Miss Harson hoped to 
instruct them as much in this way as in any other. 
Not that she was in the habit of reading to them from 
school-books, or talking of things that fun-loving 
children would call “ dry but most children are 
daily puzzled by things which no one ever thinks 
of explaining to them, and the young governess en- 
couraged her pupils to ask her questions, and was apt 
to tell them some story at this time that made the 
matter very clear to them, or to lead them on to 
think out for themselves the very things they wanted 
to know. 
All children are interested in natural history when 
it is made sufficiently attractive, and Malcolm’s 
morning exploit seemed to be the best possible intro- 
duction to the study of birds and their ways. 
At length they were fairly settled, after tea, in the 
cheerful room, with its bright, open fire and deep 
window-seats cushioned with red, in which the chil- 
16 
