300 
JACK SHORT AGAIN. 
was at the cost of some little trouble to her¬ 
self. Moreover, she became more faithful 
in the performance of her tasks ; practised 
her hour faithfully upon her lessons, instead 
of wasting it in trifling as she and Matilda 
had been accustomed to do unless some¬ 
body were present to watch them, and took 
much pains with her other lessons, especially 
her drawing, in which even her mother al¬ 
lowed that she made great improvement, 
adding, lest Miss Taylor should be too much 
elated, that it was not to be wondered at, as 
they had before had the best of instruction. 
Meantime Richard had commenced with 
his pupil, Jack Short, whose improvement 
had been rapid enough to satisfy even him¬ 
self, and quite amazed his young teacher. 
He found that Jack understood pretty well 
the first four rules of arithmetic, and had 
learned the tables, but not very thoroughly. 
He was always looking back at the multi- 
plication-table every time he was at a loss; 
and Richard represented to him the pro¬ 
priety of learning it more perfectly. Jack 
demurred. He wanted to get on, he said ; 
and what was the use of taking pains to 
