“It is not a serious wound by any means,” said the doctor slowly; “but, of course, the wood was old and dirty, and the nail rusty, and there is always danger of blood-poisoning.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Dan, looking alarmed.

“No, that is just it,” sighed the doctor; “you don’t think.  No one in the house thinks, it seems to me.  I suppose, though, it isn’t your fault; you have no one to teach you,” and he sighed a heavy, harassed sigh.

The children’s mother had died nearly five years earlier, when Kitty was nine, and Anthony but a year old.  For a time a housekeeper had been employed to manage both children and servants; but so uncomfortable had been her rule, so un-homelike the house, so curbed and dreary the children’s lives, that when Kitty reached the mature age of thirteen her father, only too glad to banish the stranger from their midst, had given in to her pleading, and with high hopes of a home which would be happy and homelike once more, allowed her to become housekeeper and mistress of the house.

Unfortunately, though, Kitty had had no training.  Her mother had been an excellent manager; but Kitty was only a little thing when she lost her, and her life had mostly been spent, happily enough, in nursery and schoolroom.  Mrs. Trenire’s wish had been that her children should have a happy childhood, so all family troubles, all anxieties, domestic worries and details, were kept from them, and the result was that, beyond the nursery and schoolroom life, they knew nothing.  Kitty had not the least idea how rooms were cleaned, or meals provided, or anything.  Then had come the housekeeper, who for other reasons had kept the children to their own quarters.  She resented any interference or questioning, and objected to any trouble they might give her, but as long as they amused themselves and kept out of her way, they were free to do pretty much as they wished.

Under the circumstances it was not greatly to be wondered at that when Kitty took up the reins of management, life at Dr. Trenire’s was not well-ordered and free from muddle, and that the doctor himself looked worried, and sad, and careworn.

The pity of it was that Kitty did not try to learn even the very simplest things in housekeeping, and in that lay the root of the trouble and the cause of all that followed.  Though when four wild young spirits, that have been bottled up and corked down for years, suddenly find themselves free and able to do what they like when they like, without having to render an account to any one, it would be rather wonderful if they did settle down and become quite staid and steady all at once.

Kitty it was, though, who was most at fault.  She had begged to be allowed to manage the house, and, having got her wish, she just seized the advantages and revelled in the freedom, but ignored the responsibilities; and no one was more acutely aware of this fact than was Kitty herself during the next half-hour, when their father talked so gravely to them all in the schoolroom.