Part 2

“Shure,” said Hannah, as light broke in upon her mind, “I never knew that was what they called it before.”

“Is Ben-ja-min at home?”

“Yes, sir. He was out playin' in the yard a minute ago. I guess you can see him from the winder.”

So saying she stepped forward, and looking out, all at once gave a shrill scream, and rushed from the room, leaving her employer in his bolt-upright attitude gazing after her with as much astonishment as he was capable of.

The cause of her sudden exit was revealed on looking out of the window.

Master Benjamin, or Ben, as he was called everywhere except in his own family, had got possession of the black kitten, and appeared to be submerging her in the hogshead of rainwater.

“O, you wicked, cruel boy, to drown poor Kitty!” exclaimed the indignant Hannah, rushing into the yard and endeavoring to snatch her feline favorite--an attempt which Ben stoutly resisted.

Doubtless the poor kitten would have fared badly between the two, had not the window opened, and the deliberate voice of his father, called out in tones which Ben saw fit to heed.

“What?”

“Come into my presence immejiately, and learn to answer me with more respect.”

Ben came in looking half defiant.

His father, whose perpendicularity made him look like a sitting grenadier, commenced the examination thus:--

“I wish you to inform me what you was a doing of when I spoke to you.”

It will be observed that the Squire's dignified utterances were sometimes a little at variance with the rule of the best modern grammarians.

“I was trying to prevent Hannah from taking the kitten,” said Ben.

“What was you a doing of before Hannah went out?”

“Playing with Kitty.”

“Why were you standing near the hogshead, Benjamin?”

“Why,” said Ben, ingenuously, “the hogshead happened to be near me--that was all.”

“Were you not trying to drown the kitten?”

“O, I wouldn't drown her for anything,” said Ben with an injured expression, mentally adding, “short of a three-cent piece.”

“Then, to repeat my interrogatory, what was you a doing of with the kitten in the hogshead?”

“I was teaching her to swim,” said Ben, looking out of the corner of his eye at his father, to see what impression this explanation made upon him.

“And what advantageous result do you think would be brought about by teaching of the kitten to swim, Benjamin?” persisted his father.

“Advantageous result!” repeated Ben, demurely, pretending not to understand.

“Certingly.”

“What does that mean?”

“Do you not study your dictionary at school, Benjamin?”