“Well，littlegirl，whatisit？“repliedhermother，inwhoseeyesthestatelyyoungladystillremained`thebaby’。
“Ourdrawingclassbreaksupnextweek，andbeforethegirlsseparateforthesummer，Iwanttoaskthemouthereforaday。
Theyarewildtoseetheriver，sketchthebrokenbridge，andcopysomeofthethingstheyadmireinmybook。Theyhavebeenverykindtomeinmanyways，andIamgrateful，fortheyareallrichandIknowIampoor，yettheynevermadeanydifference。“
“Whyshouldthey？“AndMrs。Marchputthequestionwithwhatthegirlscalledher`MariaTheresaair’。
“YouknowaswellasIthatitdoesmakeadifferencewithnearlyeveryone，sodon’truffleuplikeadear，motherlyhen，whenyourchickensgetpeckedbysmarterbirds。Theuglyducklingturnedoutaswan，youknow。“AndAmysmiledwithoutbitterness，forshepossessedahappytemperandhopefulspirit。