The Getting of Wisdom

was good to them all in a brusque, sharp-tongued fashion; but Pin was her especial favourite and she made no secret of it. Her companion on the pl

r plump roundnesses; she lived by herself in lodging

luggage, grave doubts were expressed whether it could be got on to the back seat of the pony-carriage, to which it was conveyed by a por

employed. "I guess she'll be thanking her stars she's got rid of you;" at which La

f yourself going to boarding-

question and answer Cousin Grace laughed boisterously, Laura was gla

was still fretted about the box, which was being held on behind by the boy. An inch larger, she asserted, and it would have had to be left behind. Laura eyed its battered sides unea

e," she explained; "that

s well dressed as the rest of them," said Godmother, and heaved a doleful sigh. But

e cried. "I say! You couldn't be a qu

ly, and grew very red. "Queens need

the allusion, which referred to a former ambition o

e ponies shook and tossed their heads at the constant sawing of the bits, and Laura had to be continually ducking, to keep out of the way of the reins. She let the unfamiliar streets go past her in a kind of dream; and there w

trimmed your hat?" sh

ravely, while the colour m

ong as you wore it," went on her cousin with disconcerting cand

way. But Laura was sure that she, too disapproved; and felt more than she hear

r head, to throw it in front of the ponies and hear them trample it under their hoofs. She had never wanted the scarlet lining of the big, upturned brim; in a dislike to being conspicu

odd, unfamiliar trees grew, with branches that ran right down their trunks, and bushy leaves. The broad streets were hilly; the wind, coming in puffs, met them with clouds of gritty white dust. They had just, with bent heads, their hands at their hats, passed through one of these miniature whirlwinds, when turning a

anished as lightly as she had come, and they sat and looked about them. They were in a plainly furnished but very lofty waiting-room. There were two large windows. The venetian blinds had not been lowered, and the afternoon sun, beating in, displayed a shabby patch on the carpet. It showed up, too, a coating of dust that had gathered on the desk-like, central table. There was the faint, distinctive smell of strange furniture. But what impressed Laura most was the stillness. No street noises pierced the massy walls, but neither did the faintest echo of all that might be taking place in the great building itself reach their ears: they sat aloof, shut off, as it were, from the living world.

h-at first as a mere tapping in the distance, then rapidly gaining in weight and decision. Laura's palpitations reached their extreme limit-another

ance, in which her whole body joined, afterwards to become more erect than before. Having introduced herself to Godmother as Mrs. Gurley, the Lad

ched with grey, her upper teeth were prominent. She wore gold eyeglasses, many rings, a long gold chain, which hung from an immense cameo brooch at her throat, and a black apron with white flowers on it, one point of which was pinned to her ample bosom. The fac

at she set little value on what was being said. Awful, too, was the habit she had of suddenly lowering her head and looking at you over the tops of her glasses: when she did this, and when her teeth came down on her lip, you would have liked to shrink to

vate, and the two ladies left the room. As the door clo

"There's a Tartar for you! Don't I thank my stars it's not

n instinct that made her chary of showing fear, or pain, or grief. But her

d and water for a week, if you can't do AMAR

ously, and her eyes grew so big

ble that she would burst her bodice; and Laura blu

d a long and

," the tease had just begun afresh, when the opening of t

sit down; so the dre

here's much need to urge her to her books," Godmother interrupted herself, turning to M

w that she was clever, and loved to learn. But Mrs. Gurley smiled the

clean away: turning her head just so far that she could look down her nose at her own shoulder, she said: "Follow me!"-in a tone

in it!" she cried. "Oh, I hope they ha

one staircase, round a bend into shadows as black as if, outside, no sun were shining, and began to ascend another flight of stairs, which was the widest Laura had ever seen. The banisters were as thick as your arm, and on each side o

d please this hard-faced woman and make her like her, for the desire to please, to be liked by all the world,

e, to get nearer to the p

ce this is!" she said

co-proprietor; but it was evident that it did nothing of the sort: the latter seemed to have gone deaf and dumb

eds in this room, a washhand-stand, a chest of drawers, and a wall cupboard. But at first

she cried, "Someone mu

by such complaisance, Laura moved nimbly about the room shaking and unfolding, taking care to be back at the box to the minute so as not to keep Mrs. Gurley waiting. And her promptness was rewarded; the st

they're so pretty," she said cordially

aded looks over her glasses, looked at her from top to toe, and as though she were only now beginning to see he

els-are required-to wear white aprons when they come here!"-a break after each few words, as well as an emphatic head-shake, accentuated their se

ided themselves on, it was the good manners that had been instilled i

an before. Then, however, something

-with the tips of her fingers, Laura thought-a small, black Prayer Boo

it really doesn't matter a bit. I can go to another church quite well. I even think I'd rather. For a

the look Mrs. Gurley bent on her c

kind," she retorted. "I myself, am an Episcopalian, and I expect tho

espied an under-garment, lying wantonly across the counterpane. At this blot on the orderliness of the room she seemed to swell like a turkey-cock,

he pattern of a quilt, trying not to hear what was said. Her throat swelled, grew hard and dry with pity for the culprit. But Lilith Gordon-a girl with sandy eyebrows, a turned-up nose, a thick plait of red-gold hair, and a figure so fully developed that Laura mentally dubbed it a "lady's figure", and put its owner down for years older than herself-Lilith Gordon neither fell on her knees nor sank through the

of the people struck home with full force. The late afternoon sun was shining in, in an unfamiliar way; outside were strange streets, strange noises, a strange white dust, the expanse of a big, strange city. She

, a great bell clanged through the house, pealing on and on, long after one's ears were rasped by the din. It was followed by an exodus from the rooms round

ed and smoothed her already faultless bands of hair; then turned the handle and