oon, and said--"The lecture."

I jumped up, and so did Henrietta.

"It's not for girls," said Rupert; "women are not expected to do
things when there's danger."

"_We_ take care of _them_" said I, wondering if my mouth looked like
Rupert's when I spoke, and whether my manner impressed Henrietta as
much as his impressed me. She sat down again and only said, "I stayed
in all Friday afternoon, and worked in bed on Saturday morning to
finish your net."

"Come along," said Rupert. "You know I'm very much obliged to you for
the net; it's a splendid one."

"I'll bring a camp-stool if there's not room on the bench," said
Henrietta cheerfully.

"People never take camp-stools to lectures," said Rupert, and when we
got to the cucumber frame we found that the old plank, which he had
raised on inverted flower-pots, would have held a much larger audience
than he had invited. Opposite to it was a rhubarb-pot, with the round
top of a barrel resting on it. On this stood a glass of water. A
delightful idea thrilled through me, suggested by an imperfect
remembrance of a lecture on chemistry which I had attended.

"Will there be experiments?" I whispered.

"I think not," Henrietta replied. "There are glasses of water at the
missionary meetings, and there are no experiments."

Meanwhile Rupert had been turning over the leaves of the yellow
leather book. To say the truth, I think he was rather nervous; but if
we have a virtue among us it is that of courage; and after dropping
the book twice, and drinking all the water at a draught, he found his
place, and began.

"_How to act in an emergency_."

"What's an emergency?" I asked. I was very proud of being taught by
Rupert, and anxious to understand everything as we went along.

"You shouldn't interrupt," said Rupert, frowning. I am inclined now to
think that he could not answer my question off-hand; for though he
looked cross then, after referring to the book he answered me: "It's a
fire, or drowning, or an apoplectic fit, or anything of that sort."
After which explanation, he hurried on. If what he said next came out
of his own head, or whether he had learned it by heart, I never knew.

"There is no stronger sign of good-breeding than presence of mind in
an--"

"--apoplectic fit," I suggested. I was giving the keenest attention,
and Rupert had hesitated, the wind having blown over a leaf too many
of the yellow leather book.

"An _emergency_," he shouted, when he had found h