"'If no one ever marries me I sha'n't mind very much;
I shall buy a squirrel in a cage and a little rabbit hutch.
I shall have a cottage in a wood, and a pony all my own,
And a little lamb quite clean and tame that I can take to town.
And when I'm getting really old--at twenty-eight or nine--
I shall buy a little orphan girl and bring her up as mine."
She smiled as she finished her quotation, and then suddenly sobered as she said:
"I'm twenty-seven already!"
"Who wrote that?" asked Mrs. Ward.
"Alma-Tadema."