“Yes, to—to teach me decimal fractions.” Bella brought out the words a little shamefaced. Then, hurriedly, as if to forestall misapprehension: “Oh, I _said_ I knew it wasn’t much of an attraction for her—of course, it must be perfectly horrid to have a girl like me in the arithmetic class. But, after all”—Bella paused, and then, with the air of a discoverer of one of the deeper mysteries of nature—“after all, Miss MacIver _likes_ hammering those disgusting rules into girls. What she hates is to think there’s a girl going round without those rules somewhere inside her. So I just told her that wherever she was going she wouldn’t find anybody who knew as little about fractions as I did. I was certain I told her, perfectly certain, that she could show me all about ’em if only she wasn’t going away. One thing was sure as a gun—I was never going to let anybody else teach me! She said something about that. It was the first time she spoke, and she stood like this, with her flannel petticoat in one hand, and a bottle in the other. But I just said: ‘Seven people have tried it already, and _you_ know if they succeeded. There’s only one person in the world that can make me understand those disgusting rules.’ And I went quite close to her, and I said: ‘Miss MacIver, cross my heart and hope I may die, if ever I let anybody else _speak_ to me about fractions!’ So we agreed it was her duty to stay. But now the awful thing is I’ve _got_ to do these sickening sums! Isn’t it terrible what a lot of trouble you can make for yourself, just all in a minute?” “Well, I hope you’ll stick to your part of the bargain, Bella,” said the big girl, smiling. “Got to—got to!” said the luckless one, flourishing her pencil over the biggest of the dragons. “If I don’t she’ll go away and starve with the rest of the MacIvers; or drink up all those medicine bottles, and die in a wink—like that!” “Look here, shall I just see if you’re going the right way about it?” “Oh, _thank_ you,”—Bella relinquished the slate with alacrity—“only be careful not to rub out my dragons. They keep my mind off the MacIvers.” And that was how the friendship began. CHAPTER IV Nathaniel Mar made the mistake of thinking that you can put off to a given date impressing your good judgment on those who share your life. Trenn and Harry had an affection for their father—that he without difficulty inspired—but in their heart of hearts they were a little ashamed of their love for him, as a species of weakness. They frankly despised his _laissez-aller_ way of life, and looked upon him as a warning. Their mother had seen to that.