asked Bab , prudently . `` Oh , I 'll leave it on the window-sill , or put it inside the door as I go back . I 'll be real careful , and just as soon as I earn enough , I 'll buy you a new one and take the old one . Will you ? '' `` Yes ; but I 'll tell you a nicer way to do . Do n't put the book on the window , 'cause teacher will see you ; or inside the door , 'cause some one may steal it . You put it in my cubby-house , right at the corner of the wall nearest the big maple . You 'll find a cunning place between the roots that stick up under the flat stone . That 's my closet , and I keep things there . It 's the best cubby of all , and we take turns to have it . '' `` I 'll find it , and that 'll be a first-rate place , '' said Ben , much gratified . `` I could put my reading-book in sometimes , if you 'd like it . There 's lots of pretty stories in it and pictures , '' proposed Betty , rather timidly ; for she wanted to share the benevolent project , but had little to offer , not being as good a scholar as Bab . `` I 'd like a ` rithmetic better . I read tip-top , but I ai n't much on ` rithmetic ; so , if you can spare yours , I might take a look at it . Now I 'm goin ' to earn wages , I ought to know about addin ' 'em up , and so on , '' said Ben , with the air of a Vanderbilt oppressed with the care of millions . `` I 'll teach you that . Betty does n't know much about sums . But she spells splendidly , and is always at the head of her class . Teacher is real proud of her , 'cause she never misses , and spells hard , fussy words , like chi-rog-ra-phy and bron-chi-tis as easy as any thing . ''
Bab quite beamed with sisterly pride , and Betty smoothed down her apron with modest satisfaction , for XXXXX seldom praised her , and she liked it very much .
Bab Teacher Vanderbilt addin bron-chi-tis cubby cubby-house reading-book right window-sill