The afternoon was not quite as pleasant as the morning. There was an examination in tables and arithmetical rules, in which all were utterly deficient—indeed, arithmetic was not a common acquirement in those days. None of the girls except Paulina could read intelligently, and Betty scarcely at all. There was some mortification and not a few tears over the tasks set them, and Betty declared she could not learn to read—there was no use in trying. However, by a mixture of decision and gentleness, the lessons were dragged through at last. "That was very well, my dear!" said Winifred, as Phyllis finished her recitation of the pence table, after two or three trials. "I see you have taken pains, and I doubt not the next time you will have it quite perfect." "How can you say so, Mrs. Evans?" exclaimed Paulina, who had appeared quite absorbed in the book she was reading. "Phyllis made at least three mistakes, and hesitated at all the questions. I do not see how you can call that a good lesson." Phyllis' smile vanished, and she cast an angry glance at her sister. "Just like you. Grudging a morsel of praise to any one but yourself," she muttered. "I call it a good lesson, because Phyllis has taken pains and applied herself," said Winifred. "I think you would be much better employed in doing so than in watching the lessons of others for whom you are in no way responsible. Let me request that I may have no more such interference from any of you." Paulina, returned to her book with her cheeks flushed scarlet, nor did she speak again during the whole afternoon. CHAPTER XIV. THE BANQUET. FOR some weeks all went on smoothly between Winifred and her pupils. The needlework was transferred from the morning to the afternoon, and a story or a reading was the reward of good behavior. Phyllis and Jemima, the twins, were easily made amenable to discipline. Phyllis was a lively, high-spirited girl, affectionate and truthful, taking the lead in study and play, and maintaining a complete ascendency over Jemima, who was slower and more disposed to indolence, but who followed her sister's lead in everything, good and bad. Winifred found the most difficulty in breaking up the habit of teasing both their elder and younger sisters. Paulina's airs of superior sanctity and wisdom, and Betty's passionate temper, offered a fair mark for their girlish wit. Paulina usually received their assaults in sullen silence and contempt, while a very little sufficed to throw Betty into a passion of rage, in which she was like a mad creature for a few minutes, and afterwards perfectly overwhelmed with penitence and grief. These tempests were the more dangerous as the child's health was very delicate, and she was subject to alarming swoons.