"Because they have no business to do wrong." "And if others are angry with us, what should we do?" "Give them as good as they bring." Matilda began now to despair of the much-vaunted morals of Mr. Pim's pupils; but, to give them a fair trial, she turned to the New Testament, and questioned them about a story that their master allowed they knew perfectly well. "When the Apostle had neither silver nor gold, what did he give to the lame man?" "Halfpence." The explanation on the subject of halfpence led to a commentary on the story of the poor widow, and her gift to the treasury. "Now, little boy," said Matilda to one of the youngest, who had been playing stealthily with the end of her fur tippet, "what was the widow's mite? What is a mite?" "A flea." "He knows most about the Old Testament," observed his master, anxious to shift his ground again. "Yes," replied Matilda, "he told me about Esau and Jacob, and the mess of pottage. What is a mess, children?" "Ashes,"--"Dirt,"--"Rubbish,"--cried they. "And what is pottage?" "Sheep's head and taters." Matilda thought she would try them with the Commandments. "Is it right to covet?" "Yes." "Why so?" "Because it makes us comfortable to have things." As a last experiment, she turned back to the first page of the Bible, and found they could tell that the world was made in six days; upon hearing which Mr. Pim began to rally his spirits. "What were the two great lights which were made to rule the day and the night?" "Dungeness and the North Foreland." Matilda rose, and the schoolmaster put the class to flight in a trice, with a box on the ear to one, a shake to a second, and a kick to a third. Matilda's remonstrances were lost amidst the tumult of shrieks and yells which now arose. At the first moment that Pim could spare from correcting his pupils, he informed the lady that they had got on badly lately from the impossibility of getting the parents to send them regularly. When there was any work in hand, someway up the beach---- "Towards Birling Gap," suggested Matilda. "But that sort of work is done in the night, is it not?" "Yes; but the little things have enough to do the next day in making a clearance; and, at such times, up they start, and away, the first minute I turn my back." "You turn your back to go after the same business, I am afraid, Mr. Pim. If you like whistling among the cliffs, and driving bargains in the clefts better than keeping to your desk, how can you expect the children not to take the liberty of indulging the same taste when you give them opportunity?"