"Yes; lots. But I never read tales that she has said I mustn't read."

"You oughtn't to read any tale till you have asked her first if you
may."

Elisabeth's face fell. "I never thought of doing such a thing as asking
her first. Oh! Chris, you don't really think I ought to, do you? Because
she'd be sure to say no."

"That is exactly why you ought to ask." Christopher's sense of honour
was one of his strong points.

Then Elisabeth lost her temper. "That is you all over! You are the most
tiresome boy to have anything to do with! You are always bothering about
things being wrong, till you make them wrong. Now I hardly ever think of
it; but I can't go on doing things after you've said they are wrong,
because that would be wrong of me, don't you see? And yet it wasn't a
bit wrong of me before I knew. I hate you!"

"I say, Betty, I'm awfully sorry lo have riled you; but you asked me."

"I didn't ask you whether I need ask Cousin Maria, stupid! You know I
didn't. I asked you whether it was wrong to fall in love, and then you
went and dragged Cousin Maria in. I wish I'd never asked you anything; I
wish I'd never spoken to you; I wish I'd got somebody else to play with,
and then I'd never speak to you again as long as I live."

Of course it was unwise of Christopher to condemn a weakness to which
Elisabeth was prone, and to condone one to which she was not; but no man
has learned wisdom at fifteen, and but few at fifty.

"You are the most disagreeable boy I have ever met, and I wish I could
think of something to do to annoy you. I know what I'll do; I'll go by
myself and see Mrs. Bateson's pig, just to show you how I hate you."

And Elisabeth flew off in the direction of Mrs. Bateson's cottage, with
the truly feminine intention of punishing the male being who had dared
to disapprove of her, by making him disapprove of her still more. Her
programme, however, was frustrated; for Mrs. Bateson herself intervened
between Elisabeth and her unholy desires, and entertained the latter
with a plate of delicious bread-and-dripping instead. Finally, that
young lady returned to her home in a more magnanimous frame of mind; and
fell asleep that night wondering if the whole male sex were as stupid as
the particular specimen with which she had to do--a problem which has
puzzled older female brains than hers.

But poor Christopher was very unhappy. It was agony to him when his
conscience pulled him one way and Elisabeth pulled him the