“Did you tell him my father said that?” he demanded.

“No.  I had more sense left than that,” said Kate.  “I only said all his boys felt like that.  Then I pulled the table after me to block the door, and smashed half the dishes and he slipped in the fried potatoes and went down with a crash —­”

“Bloody Murder!” cried young Adam, aghast.

“Me, too!” said Kate.  “I’ll never step in that house again while he lives.  I’ve spilled the beans, now.”

“That you have,” said Adam, slacking his horse to glance back.  “He is standing in the middle of the road shaking his fist after you.”

“Can you see Nancy Ellen?” asked Kate.

“No.  She must have climbed the garden fence and hidden behind the privet bush.”

“Well, she better make it a good long hide, until he has had plenty of time to cool off.  He’d have killed me if he had caught me, after he fell —­ and wasted all those potatoes already cooked ——­”

Kate laughed a dry hysterical laugh, but the boy sat white-faced and awed.

“Never mind,” said Kate, seeing how frightened he was.  “When he has had plenty of time he’ll cool off; but he’ll never get over it.  I hope he doesn’t beat Mother, because I was born.”

“Oh, drat such a man!” said young Adam.  “I hope something worse that this happens to him.  If ever I see Father begin to be the least bit like him as he grows older I shall ——­”

“Well, what shall you do?” asked Kate, as he paused.

“Tell Ma!” cried young Adam, emphatically.

Kate leaned her face in her hands and laughed.  When she could speak she said:  “Do you know, Adam, I think that would be the very best thing you could do.”

“Why, of course!” said Adam.

They drove swiftly and reached Walden before ten o’clock.  There they inquired their way to the home of the Trustee, but Kate said nothing about giving up the school.  She merely made a few inquiries, asked for the key of the schoolhouse, and about boarding places.  She was directed to four among which she might choose.

“Where would you advise me to go?” she asked the Trustee.

“Well, now, folks differ,” said he.  “All those folks is neighbours of mine and some might like one, and some might like another, best.  I could say this:  I think Means would be the cheapest, Knowls the dearest, but the last teacher was a good one, an’ she seemed well satisfied with the Widder Holt.”

“I see,” said Kate, smiling.

Then she and young Adam investigated the schoolhouse and found it far better than any either of them had ever been inside.  It promised every comfort and convenience, compared with schools to which they had been accustomed, so they returned the keys, inquired about the cleaning of the building, and started out to find a boarding place.  First they went to the cheapest, but it could be seen at a glance that it was too cheap, so they eliminated that.  Then they went to the most expensive, but it was obvious from the house and grounds that board there would be more than Kate would want to pay.