“Don’t you dare nickname your sister,” cried Mrs. Bates, shrilly.  “You stop your impudence and mind your father.”

“Ma, you leave this to me,” said Adam Bates, thickly.  Then he glared at Kate as he arose, stretching himself to full height.  “You’ve signed a contract for a school?” he demanded.

“I have,” said Kate.

“Why didn’t you wait until you got home and talked it over with us?” he questioned.

“I went to you to talk over the subject to going,” said Kate.  “You would not even allow me to speak.  How was I to know that you would have the slightest interest in what school I took, or where.”

“When did you sign this contract?” he continued.

“Yesterday afternoon, in Hartley,” said Kate.

“Aha!  Then I did miss a letter from my pocket.  When did you get to be a thief?” he demanded.

“Oh, Father!” cried Kate.  “It was my letter.  I could see my name on the envelope.  I asked you for it, before I took it.”

“From behind my back, like the sneak-thief you are.  You are not fit to teach in a school where half the scholars are the children of your brothers and sisters, and you are not fit to live with honest people.  Pack your things and be off!”

“Now?  This afternoon?” asked Kate.

“This minute!” he cried.

“All right.  You will be surprised at how quickly I can go,” said Kate.

She set down the telescope and gathered a straw sunshade and an apron from the hooks at the end of the room, opened the dish cupboard, and took out a mug decorated with the pinkest of wild roses and the reddest and fattest of robins, bearing the inscription in gold, “For a Good Girl” on a banner in its beak.  Kate smiled at it grimly as she took the telescope and ran upstairs.  It was the work of only a few minutes to gather her books and clothing and pack the big telescope, then she went down the front stairs and left the house by the front door carrying in her hand everything she possessed on earth.  As she went down the walk Nancy Ellen sprang up and ran to her while Robert Gray followed.

“You’ll have to talk to me on the road,” said Kate.  “I am forbidden the house which also means the grounds, I suppose.”

She walked across the road, set the telescope on the grass under a big elm tree, and sat down beside it.

“I find I am rather tired,” she said.  “Will you share the sofa with me?”

Nancy Ellen lifted her pink skirt and sat beside Kate.  Robert Gray stood looking down at them.

“What in the world is the matter?” asked Nancy Ellen.

“You know, of course, that Father signed a contract for me to teach the home school this winter,” explained Kate.  “Well, I am of age, and he had no authority from me, so his contract isn’t legal.  None of you would lift a finger to help me get away to Normal, how was I to know that you would take any interest in finding me a school while I was gone?  I thought it was all up to me, so I applied for the school in Walden, got it, and signed the contract to teach it.  It is a better school, at higher wages.  I thought you would teach here —­ I can’t break my contract.  Father is furious and has ordered me out of the house.  So there you are, or rather here I am.”