corner. Remember that you are a stranger in the place, and they take more notice of what you do, so you must be careful. Now let 's have our conjugations. Give me the verb 'to be,' potential mood, past perfect tense."
| "I might have been | "We might have been |
| Thou mightst have been | You might have been |
| He might have been | They might have been." |
"Give me an example, please."
"I might have been glad
Thou mightst have been glad
He, she, or it might have been glad."
"'He' or 'she' might have been glad because they are masculine and feminine, but could 'it' have been glad?" asked Miss Dearborn, who was very fond of splitting hairs.
"Why not?" asked Rebecca.
"Because 'it' is neuter gender."
"Could n't we say, 'The kitten might have been glad if it had known it was not going to be drowned'?"
"Ye—es," Miss Dearborn answered hesitatingly, never very sure of herself under Rebecca's fire; "but though we often speak of a baby, a chicken, or a kitten as 'it,' they are really masculine or feminine gender, not neuter."
Rebecca reflected a long moment and then asked, "Is a hollyhock neuter?"
