ne.

"Oh, I'll go," he said, condescendingly. And so it came to pass that
when the ponies, Jack and Jill, came round, the children were both
waiting in the hall, fully prepared for the drive. As she drew on her
driving gloves, Aunt Katharine gave a glance at them to see that they
were warmly wrapped up, for it was a fresh day in early spring.

"Jump in, children, and let Mary tuck you well up; it's rather cold,"
she said.--"Give me the reins, Tom. All right."

Then came a dash down the short avenue, with Tom running before to open
the gate, and then they were in the village street, where Jack and Jill
always thought it right to plunge and shy a little. From their seat at
the back Dennis and Maisie nodded at their various acquaintances as they
passed, for they knew nearly every one. There was Mrs Gill at the
post-office, standing at her open door; there was Mr Couples, who kept
the shop; and there was Dr Price just mounting his horse, with his two
terriers, Snip and Snap, eager to follow. Above this little cluster of
houses stood the church and the vicarage close together, on a gently
rising hill; and the rest of the village, including two or three large
farms, was scattered about here and there, with wide spaces between.

"Why are you going to Mrs Broadbent's, Aunt Katharine?" asked Dennis, as
they turned sharply to the right.

"Because I want to ask her to let me have a setting of Minorcas,"
replied his aunt, "and no one else keeps them."

"And we might ask her, you know," said Maisie, "whether she'd like one
of the kittens. I should _think_ that would be a good home, shouldn't
you?"

"P'raps she doesn't like cats," said Dennis carelessly. "We've got
three weeks, so it really doesn't matter much yet."

The Broadbents' square white house now came in sight. It had a trim
garden, a tennis ground, and a summer-house, and was completely screened
from the farm-buildings by a gloomy row of fir-trees. The children did
not as a rule care to pay visits to Mrs Broadbent, for there were no
animals or interesting things about; but to-day Maisie asked leave to go
in, for she had the kittens on her mind, and felt she must not lose a
chance.

Mrs Broadbent was a thin little widow, who wore smart caps, and had a
general air of fashion about her person. She was sharp and clever, well
up to the business of managing her large farm, and familiar with every
detail of it. Unfortunately she considered this a thing to be