“Humph!” said Aunt Rachel; “you ain’t actin’ right, accordin’ to my way of thinkin’.  Readin’, writin’ and cypherin’ was enough for girls to learn in my day.  What’s the use of stuffin’ the girl’s head full of nonsense that’ll never do her no good?  I’ve got along without it, and I ain’t quite a fool.”

But the cooper and his wife had no idea of restricting Ida’s education to the rather limited standard indicated by Rachel.  So, from the first, they sent her to a carefully selected private school, where she had the advantage of good associates, and where her progress was astonishingly rapid.

Ida early displayed a remarkable taste for drawing.  As soon as this was discovered, her adopted parents took care that she should have abundant opportunity for cultivating it.  A private master was secured, who gave her lessons twice a week, and boasted everywhere of the progress made by his charming young pupil.

“What’s the good of it?” asked Rachel.  “She’d a good deal better be learnin’ to sew and knit.”

“All in good time,” said Timothy.  “She can attend to both.”

“I never wasted my time that way,” said Rachel.  “I’d be ashamed to.”

Nothing could exceed Timothy’s gratification, when, on his birthday, Ida presented him with a beautifully drawn sketch of his wife’s placid and benevolent face.

“When did you do it, Ida?” he asked, after earnest expressions of admiration.

“I did it in odd minutes,” she answered, “when I had nothing else to do.”

“But how could you do it, without any of us knowing what you were about?”

“I had a picture before me, and you thought I was copying it, but, whenever I could do it without being noticed, I looked up at mother as she sat at her sewing, and so, after a while, I finished the picture.”

“And a fine one it is,” said the cooper, admiringly.

Mrs. Harding insisted that Ida had flattered her, but this Ida would not admit.

“I couldn’t make it look as good as you, mother,” she said.  “I tried, but somehow I didn’t succeed as I wanted to.”

“You wouldn’t have that difficulty with Aunt Rachel,” said Jack, roguishly.

Ida could not help smiling, but Rachel did not smile.

“I see,” she said, with severe resignation, “that you’ve taken to ridiculing your poor aunt again.  But it’s only what I expect.  I don’t never expect any consideration in this house.  I was born to be a martyr, and I expect I shall fulfill my destiny.  If my own relations laugh at me, of course I can’t expect anything better from other folks.  But I shan’t be long in the way.  I’ve had a cough for some time past, and I expect I’m in consumption.”

“You make too much of a little joke, Rachel,” said the cooper, soothingly.  “I’m sure Jack didn’t mean anything.”

“What I said was complimentary,” said Jack.

Rachel shook her head incredulously.