ng so
many different things. I suppose it was just because He was the Lord.
That's what Aunt Kate said when I asked her. But I shall be glad to go
to school, Mr. Jerry, because then I'll know some children. You know
in Mifflin I played almost all the time with children, Gladys and Mary
Mallow and Lucy Norris and Harry Mann and lots of others, but here I
don't seem to know anyone but grown-ups. They're very nice grown-ups.
I just love you, Mr. Jerry, and your Aunt Mary and the enchanted
princess! Do you think you'll ever be able to break the spell of that
wicked witch Independence?" anxiously. "You know I don't think she's
just happy. Aunt Kate doesn't either. She thinks it's red corpuscles
but I really believe it's that Independence. We must do something, Mr.
Jerry. And I love Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan and Mrs. Schuneman and
Grandma Johnson and everybody else. Isn't a heart the biggest thing?
Mine has room for Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and all
the other pets I ever had or ever will have and for all the people that
were made. It's--it's--" she frowned--"very elastic, isn't it? You
have an elastic one, too, Mr. Jerry, or you'd never have taken in
George Washington and Solomon and Jimmie Bronson. You're a bachelor,
aren't you?"

Mr. Jerry looked quite dazed as he attempted to keep up with Mary
Rose's subjects. He sighed as he acknowledged that he was a bachelor.

"Is it because when you look at a girl you see how much she costs?"
Mary Rose had worried over that. "Because really Miss Thorley doesn't
cost so much. She told Aunt Kate she didn't. She said appearances
were deceitful and the most costly looking girls were often the
cheapest. Of course, you needn't tell me if you don't want to,"
remembering, alas, too late, that Miss Thorley had told her that one
should not ask personal questions. She drew a deep sigh. "I'm so
full, just so plumb full of questions I've got to spill some of them
out once in a while."

"To be sure you have!" Mr. Jerry was the most understanding person.
"When I was your age I was nothing but a walking question."

"Weren't you?" admiringly. "And did people answer your questions?
They usually say to me, 'Run along, child, I'm busy' or 'Never mind
that now, you'll know soon enough.' It's a very, very puzzling world,
isn't it, with so many things you don't understand. That's another
reason I'm so glad to go to school. The day after the day after the
da