She glanced at him seriously, then leaned her puckered brow on her hands and began to read.

Once or twice she stole a look at him, as though asking him, "Is it what I think?" "I understand," she said, flushing a little.

"What is this word?" he said, pointing to the n that stood for _never_.

"It means _never_," she said; "but that's not true!" He quickly rubbed out what he had written, gave her the chalk, and stood up.

She wrote, _t, i, c, n, a, d_.