call it the limit, but I suppose she simply _has_ to do it.
Mrs. James said Lesbia was fearfully slighted. (She lives next door to
the Hiltons so she knows all about them.) They go out to the theatre and
leave that poor girl to put all the children to bed, and----" But at
this point Lesbia jumped up quietly and stole away. She did not want to
overhear any more. Indeed she felt she had already heard far too much. A
serpent had crept into her paradise. She was angry with that traitor
Mrs. James for gossiping, but she began to wonder whether after all what
Marion said was not perfectly true. It had never struck her before to
view things from that angle. These were indeed new ideas! The remarks
about her dependence on her stepbrother slid from her very lightly. As
yet Lesbia was an utter baby in money matters. Paul and Minnie did not
discuss their affairs in her presence, and her views were little more
advanced than those of Steve and Julie, whose creed was that Daddy
picked up pennies in the City and kept them in the big safe at his
office. What really rankled was that Marion pitied her for taking out
the children. She admired Marion immensely. There had been other friends
in her school horizon, but her drifting devotion, which inclined for a
time towards Phillis Marsh or Calla Wilkins, had lately centred on
Marion. She wanted to stand well in her opinion. It had not occurred to
her to compare herself with a nursemaid, for she loved the children and
enjoyed taking them for walks, but now Marion had done so.

"I won't wheel that perambulator out again--ever!" she decided
impulsively. "If I met Marion, and she looked sorry for me, I'd never
get over it."

By this time Aldora was hunting for her and calling her name noisily, so
she took up her strap of books and walked home, feeling as if her
standards had suddenly and unexpectedly been turned upside down.

We have said before that Lesbia had a very sensitive disposition, so
ultra-sensitive indeed that it sometimes eclipsed the more sensible
portion of her. Instead of being glad that she was a much appreciated
member of the Hilton household she began to wonder whether she was being
put upon and slighted. All sorts of silly little incidents corroborating
such a view came crowding into her memory. If we have a strong bias
towards an opinion it is generally easy to prove our own argument by
entirely ignoring the other side of the question. Minnie's many
kindnesses were for the