The motive here, as in all Mrs. Allingham's subjects, is of the simplest kind. The young girl reads from nursery rhymes that time-honoured one of "Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Baker's Man." It is apparently her younger brother's first introduction to the bye-play of patting, which should accompany its recitation, for the child regards the performance with some doubt, and has to be trained by the nurse as to how its hands should be manœuvred. The drawing is full of details, such as the workbox, scissors, thimble, primroses, and anemones in the bowl, the china in the cupboard, and the coloured engraving on the wall, which, as we have seen in the case of other painters who have practised it, opens up in fuller maturity a power of painting which is never possible to those who have neglected such an education. [Illustration: 26. LESSONS _From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. C. P. Johnson._ Painted 1885.] The relations between the teacher and the taught appear to be somewhat strained this summer morning, for the little girl in pink is evidently at fault with her lessons, and the boy, while presumably figuring up a sum on his slate, has his eyes and ears open for a break in the silence which fills the room for the moment. However, in a short time it will be halcyon weather for all the actors, for the sun is streaming in at the window, the roses show that it is high summer, and a day on which the sternest teacher could not condemn the most intractable child to lengthy indoor imprisonment. This drawing is of the same importance as regards size as "The Children's Tea," and is full of charm in every part. [Illustration: 27. BUBBLES _From the Water-colour in the possession of Mr. H. B. Beaumont._ Painted 1886.] Lessons are over, a stool has been brought from the schoolroom, the kitchen has been invaded, and the dish of soapsuds having been placed upon it the fun has begun. Who, that has enjoyed it, will forget the acrid taste of the long new churchwarden (where do the children of the present day find such pipes if they ever condescend to the fascinating game of bubble-blowing?) that one naturally sucked away at long before the watery compound was ready, the still more pungent taste of the household soap, the delight of seeing the first iridescent globe detach itself from the pipe and float upwards on the still air, or of raising a hundred globules by blowing directly into the basin, as the smocked youngster is doing here. Such joys countervailed the smarts which befell one's eyes when the burst bubble scattered its fragments into them, or when the suds came to an end, not through their dissipation into air, but over one's clothes. [Illustration: 28. ON THE SANDS--SANDOWN, ISLE OF WIGHT _From the Water-colour in the possession of Mrs. Francis Black._ Painted about 1886.]