"Multiplication's my vexation,
Division is as bad."

Colin went off to school "the day after to-morrow," as he had said.
The house seemed very quiet without him, and everybody felt sorry he
had gone. The day after he left Miss Pinkerton came back, and the
little girls' lessons began.

"How do you like her?" said Rosy to Beata the first morning.

"I think she is kind," said Bee, but that was all she said.

It was true that Miss Pinkerton meant to be kind, but she did not
manage to gain the children's hearts, and Bee soon came to understand
why Rosy called her "pretending." She was so afraid of vexing anybody
that she had got into the habit of agreeing with every one without
really thinking over what they meant, and she was so afraid also of
being blamed for Rosy's tempers that she would give in to her in any
way. So Rosy did not respect her, and was sometimes really rude to
her.

"Miss Pink," she said one morning a few days after lessons had begun
again, "I don't want to learn any more arithmetic."

"No, my dear?" said Miss Pink, mildly. "But what will you do when you
are grown-up if you cannot count--everybody needs to know how to
count, or else they can't manage their money."

"I don't want to know how to manage my money," replied Rosy, "somebody
must do it for me. I won't learn any more arithmetic, Miss Pink."