A three days’ rain which set in the morning after Johnny’s first appearance as a schoolmaster, put a stop to gardening, and Jim for himself that he was not entitled to any more lessons until he had done some more work.  
This had not been Tiny’s and Johnny’s idea of the contract at all; they expected Jim to help them whenever they needed help, and intended to keep on regularly with their teaching, unless some very special engagement should prevent them. But, as they remembered when they came to talk it over, they had not made this plain to Jim, and they decided to draw up a contract, and have it ready for his signature, or rather his “mark,” if, as Johnny said rather mournfully, “it should ever clear up again.” They very much not having planted anything before the rain.
 
“It would be soaking and all the time,” mourned Johnny, “and come bouncing up the minute the sun comes out!”
 
They tried shooting some radish seed at the beds with Johnny’s pea-shooter, from an upstairs window, and had the pleasure of seeing a flock of hungry sparrows make a breakfast of the seed almost before it had touched the ground. Johnny was indignant, but Tiny said tranquilly,—
 
“I’m glad I saw that. It was in last Sunday’s lesson, you know, Johnny,—about the of the air it up. When things don’t come up in my head, now, I shall know it was because I didn’t plant them deep enough.”
 
It was after it had rained for two days and part of another, that they drew up the contract, and thus it ran,—
 
“We are going to teach James Brady all we know, that he wants to learn, and he is to come every evening, unless we ask him not to, which we shall not do except for something very particular, like a birthday party, or having folks here to tea. And he is going to help us work in our gardens, when we want help, but he is to come all the same in the evening, whether he has helped that day or not.
 
“Signed,
 
“Clementine and John Leslie
 
“James Brady.”
 
X HIS MARK
 
They admired this production so much, that they made arrangements for framing it, when Jim should have added, “his mark.” The arrangements consisted chiefly of an old slate-frame, which Tiny painted bright red, using up her entire cake of vermillion to do it, and Johnny was obliged to copy the contract in very large letters, to make it fill the frame.
 
A day of brilliant sunshine followed the three days’ rain. Johnny passed Jim’s stand on his way from school, reproached Jim for his absence, told him of the contract, and secured his promise to come that evening at a quarter past six, sharp. Tiny carefully practised a little song for which she could herself play the accompaniment, and both the children had their stock of seeds in readiness, before tea.
 
When Jim appeared, punctually at the appointed time, Mrs. Leslie came out on the porch, and wished him good evening, and she noticed with much pleasure that he had on a clean shirt, and that a fresh patch covered the knee of his trousers, where a rent had been, four days ago. His face and hands shone with scrubbing, and his hair with brushing, and he made the best bow at his command, as he came up the steps.
 
“You’ll have to come too, mamma,” said Tiny, “for we haven’t quite made up our minds where the things are to go, and we want you to help us.”
 
“I’ll bring a camp-stool, and a board for your feet, mamma dear,” chimed in Johnny, “and you can ‘sit on a cushion as grand as a queen,’ and watch us work.”
 
“But I haven’t given papa his second cup of tea yet,” Mrs. Leslie, “nor eaten my piece of cake.”
 
“You can pour out the tea, and then ask papa to please excuse you, and you can bring your cake with you,” said Johnny, , and to this Mrs. Leslie consented, although she said something about . She came out, presently, with two pieces of cake on a plate, and insisted upon Jim’s eating one of them, which he did without the slightest , and then went vigorously to work. You might have thought a large farm was being planted, if you had heard the earnest discussion, and the number and variety of seeds named, and dusk overtook them before they were half done. It was decided that Tiny’s lesson should be given first, as her bedtime came before Johnny’s did. The little song was quite new to Jim, and he could not join in it as readily as he had joined in the , but Tiny went patiently over it, again and again, until he caught the air, and knew the words of one verse, and she did not stop until they were singing together in perfect harmony.
 
Then she gave him up to Johnny, and considerately left the room. Johnny brought out the card with a flourish, saying confidently,—
 
“We’ll just run over the letters again, to make sure, and then we’ll go on to the a-b-abs. Oh, here’s the contract—you just put your mark to it there, where we’ve left a place, and then we’ll frame it and give it to you.”
 
Jim listened thoughtfully, while Johnny read him the contract, but he made no motion toward his mark to it.
 
“It don’t seem to me to be fair,” he said, “you’ll not need much work done in those little gardens, and here you’ve promised to teach me nearly every evening; I think I ought only to have a lesson when I’ve done some work.”
 
“Oh fiddlesticks!” said Johnny, impatiently, “you’ve worked like everything already, and besides, we like to teach you; papa says it’s the very best way to learn things, teaching them to somebody, so you see it’s just as good for us as it is for you. Come, put your mark there, where we left the hole for it,” and Johnny dipped the pen in the inkstand, and handed it to his pupil, who reluctantly made his mark in the “hole.”
 
 
“I’ll frame it to-morrow,” said Johnny, “Now for the letters. What’s that?” and he to V.
 
Jim pondered a moment, then,—
 
“That’s A,” he said, confidently.
 
Johnny controlled himself by a violent effort, pointe............