She came over and sat on the edge of the bed, and taking one of my hands
in hers, kept smoothing it while she talked. "It means this, dear," she
said, "that you are getting to be quite grown up, and that the time has
come for you to put away rough, hoidenish ways, and to begin to be
gentle and dignified, like the true lady that we all know you are at
heart. You see we are accustomed to your ways, and while we may tease
and scold one another here at home, we also make allowances for the
different ones as an outsider would never do, because we love one
another--see? Mrs. Erveng and Hilliard simply know you as a tall girl
who looks quite a young lady, and naturally they are surprised when you
act like a tomboy. You know, Betty, you are nearly as tall as Nora; now
just imagine her sliding down the banisters, wrestling with the boys,
climbing the fence in the yard, hanging to the tops of the doors, and
making the horrible faces that you do!"
But my imagination couldn't picture such an impossibility as Nora and I
acting alike. "I couldn't--I _couldn't_ be like Nora," I declared,
sitting up in bed. "I know she's got nice manners and all that,"--I had
never really thought so till that evening,--"but, oh! I _couldn't_ be as
prim and--and--proper as she is--" Here my voice began to shake, and I
got so sorry for myself that the tears came.
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