Hitherto the social circle in which they moved had been limited on the male side to Father, Mr. Evans, and Mr. Pipes, together with the milkman, the lamplighter, and a few more nodding acquaintances; and on the female to Tattie Fowler, Cook, and a long line of housemaids. The children could neither read nor write; the fact that they possessed immortal souls was practically unrevealed to them; and their religious exercises were limited to a single stereotyped prayer, imparted by Cook, and perfunctorily delivered night and morning by the children, at the bidding of the housemaid in charge, to a mysterious Power whose sole function, so far as they could gather, was to keep an eye upon them during their attendant's frequent nights-out, and to report delinquencies (by some occult means) on her return. Of the ordinary usages of polite society they knew little or nothing. To Pip and Pipette etiquette and deportment were summed up in the following nursery laws, as amended by the Kitchen:-- I. Girls, owing to some mysterious infirmity which is never apparent, and for which they are not responsible, must be helped first to everything. II. A boy must on no account punch a girl, even though she is older and bigger than himself. (For reason, see I.) III. A girl must not scratch a boy. Not that the boy matters, but it is unladylike. IV. Real men do not play with dolls. (However, you may pretend to be a doctor, and administer medicine, without loss of dignity.) V. Real ladies do not climb the trees in the garden in the Square. (But you can get over this difficulty by pretending to be a boy or a monkey for half an hour.) VI. Girls never have dirty hands--only boys. (For solution of this difficulty see note on V.) VII. You must _never_ tell tales. Girls must be specially careful about this, not because they are more prone to do so, but because boys think they are. VIII. Real men never kiss girls, but they may sometimes permit girls to kiss them. IX. You must eat up your bread-and-butter before you have any cake. (This rule holds good, they found out later, all through life.) X. Do not blow upon your tea to cool it: this is very vulgar. Pour it into your saucer instead. Clearly it was high time they went to school, and Father, who had had vague thoughts for some time about "procuring a tutor" for Pip, finally made up his mind, and despatched both children one morning in the brougham to Mr. Pocklington's. The school was a comfortable-looking building, standing inside high walls in a secluded corner of Regent's Park. On the gate shone a large brass plate bearing the inscription-- WENTWORTH HOUSE SCHOOL AND KINDERGARTEN. MR. POCKLINGTON. THE MISSES POCKLINGTON.