hey found that they
were able to overcome with ease boys whom they had formerly considered
their superiors in strength.

In the meantime Mr. Hardy had succeeded in obtaining the services of a
young Spanish lady, who had come to England to learn the language, as
governess; and of an evening the whole family worked at Spanish, and
made such progress that they were soon able to establish the rule that
no other language should be spoken at meal-times. The girls here soon
surpassed their brothers, as they had the advantage of morning lessons
in the language, besides which young children can always pick up a
language sooner than their elders; and they had many a hearty laugh at
the ridiculous mistakes Charley and Hubert made in their efforts to get
through a long sentence. In six months, however, all could speak with
tolerable fluency.

Maud and Ethel were as amused and as diligent at learning household work
as their brothers were in their departments, and might have been seen
every afternoon in the kitchen, in their little white pinafores, engaged
in learning the mysteries of cooking.

One day, after they had been so engaged for about four months, Mrs.
Hardy said at breakfast: 'I am going to try an experiment. I have given
the cook leave to go out for the day. Mr. and Mrs. Partridge are coming
to dinner, and I intend handing over the kitchen to the girls, and
letting them make their first essay. We are going to have soup, a leg of
mutton with potatoes and spinach, a dish of fried cutlets, and a cabinet
pudding. I shall tell Sarah to lift any saucepan you may want on or off
the fire, but all the rest I shall leave in your hands. The boys will
dine with us. The hour will be half-past five, punctually.'

The little girls' eyes flashed with pleasure, and they quite coloured up
at the thought of the importance and difficulty of the task before them.
At lunch the boys pretended to eat an extra quantity, saying that they
felt very doubtful about their dinner. In the afternoon Mrs. Hardy felt
strongly tempted to go into the kitchen to see how things were getting
on; but she restrained herself, resolving to let Maud and Ethel have
entirely their own way.

The dinner was a great success, although the soup was rather hot, from
Ethel, in her anxiety, having let too much pepper slip in; and the
cabinet pudding came up all over the dish, instead of preserving its
shape, it having stuck to the mould, and Maud having shaken it so
viol