"I've just had a fright," said Mrs. Borden, coming up to her sister's room. "A man has been here inquiring about school children and I _did_ stretch the truth a little. You see, now children have to go to school until they are fourteen. I simply can't let Marilla go. I didn't adopt her nor consider her in any sense my own. A child like that isn't worth more than her board and clothes. What good would she be to us if we had to get her off at nine in the morning, and then have only an hour in the afternoon. The twins _must_ be taken out, and there's so much running up and down. She's a nice honest, truthful child and a born nurse girl. But if I had to send her to school, I'd trot her off to the Home."