Awwww, that was such an adorable story! ^_^ I could totally see Basil helping Olivia out with something like schoolwork, complete with positive feedback. (In fact, I often have the same thing happen in my GMD fanfics! Great minds think alike, I suppose. ) As always, your stories with Basil & Olivia never fail to make me smile!

And I totally understand where Olivia's coming from on the whole "math woes" issue.  I had no trouble with Algebra 1 in high school, but Algebra 2...yeesh, what a nightmare! Thankfully, I had my folks & teacher to help me out, so I could pass the class!

The funny thing is, I see Olivia as being a very bright & intelligent mouseling, but even I think she's a wee bit young to learn algebra just yet...Or was teaching kids advanced subjects often done in the Victorian era?

Also, I find it kinda interesting that you mention Olivia's age as 10, since that's the age I portray her at in a number of my fanfics--albeit those that take place at or (within a year) after the time of the original GMD film.  In fact, according to the GMD Disney Classics storybook, Olivia was turning 10 years old on the eve of Queen Mousetoria's Diamond Jubilee.  That's where I got that idea. Everyone else seems to want to portray her at age 8 or lower.

Oh, & one other thing: I really like the symbolic use of colors you applied to the story.

And that's it for now! Keep up the wonderful work, as always!

P.S.: I would have liked to see the full unpublished story that this ficlet was a part of.

P.S.S.: I'm feeling kinda low, 'cause I haven't been receiving a lot of comments from people on my fanworks & original stuff in the past several months...& I always do like to hear from people.  Would you be willing to comment or critique on my stuff?  (Well, the ones you haven't already commented on--& that's quite a lot! ) Your feedback would be highly, HIGHLY appreciated!