tion, rapidly developed from the
usual little girls' scrimmages into regular stand-up fights.

One day Beth pulled Bernadine's hair passionately, and Bernadine
retaliated by clawing Beth's face, and then howled as a further relief
to her feelings. Mrs. Caldwell rushed to see what accident had
happened to the dear child, and Harriet came to see the sport.

"Mamma, Beth pulled my hair," Bernadine whined.

Mrs. Caldwell immediately thumped Beth, who seldom said a word in her
own defence. Harriet was neutral till her mistress had disappeared,
and then she supported Beth.

"Just you wait till after dinner," she said. "Come into the kitchen
when your ma's asleep, and fight it out. Don't you be put upon by
tell-pie-tits."

"What's the use of my going into the kitchen?" Beth rejoined;
"Bernadine doesn't fight fair. She's a horrid, low little coward."

"Am I!" Bernadine howled. "Just you wait till after dinner! I'm as
brave as you are, and as strong, though you _are_ the biggest." Which
was true. Bernadine was sallow, thin, wiry, and muscular; Beth was
soft, and round, and white. She had height, age, and weight on her
side; Bernadine had strength, agility, and cunning.

"Phew--w--w!" Beth jeered, mimicking her whine. "You'd 'tell mamma' if
you got a scratch."

"I won't, Beth, if you'll fight," Bernadine protested.

"We'll see after dinner," Harriet put in significantly, and then
returned to her work.

After the four o'clock dinner, during the dark winter months, Mrs.
Caldwell dozed for half-an-hour in her chair by the fire. This was the
children's opportunity. They were supposed to sit still and amuse
themselves quietly while their mother slept; and, until she slept,
they would sit motionless, watching her, the greater their anxiety to
get away the more absolute their silence. Mrs. Caldwell looked as if
she were being mesmerised to sleep by the two pairs of bright eyes so
resolutely and patiently fixed upon her. The moment her breathing
showed she was sound asleep, the children stole to the kitchen,
shutting the doors after them softly, and instantly set to work.

It was a gruesome sight, those two children, with teeth set and
clenched fists, battering each other in deadly earnest, but with no
noise save the fizzle of feet on the brick floor, an occasional thump
up against a piece of furniture, or the thud when they fell. They were
afraid to utter a sound lest Aunt Victoria, up in her room, should
hear them, and co