"I do. That's why I'm trying to advise you. I reckon it's a mighty selfish way to look at it, Mary, but you'll be a heap happier yourself to do the square thing. It gives you such a comfy sort of feeling."
"I'm perfectly comfortable now," Mary said obstinately. "I wish it had been a hose instead of a little pitcher—"
Blue Bonnet put her hand over Mary's mouth and gave her a little hug.
"You don't wish anything of the kind. You're angry. When people are angry they aren't responsible. I'm going to tell you something I did last summer to one of my very best friends when I was angry."
She told Mary of how she had almost let Kitty Clark drown in the swimming pool of the Texas stream; how Kitty had cut her head on the rock, and of the consternation that followed.
Mary listened almost unbelievingly.
"You did—that, Blue Bonnet?"
"I did, Mary, and it was a dear lesson. I've had a line on my temper ever since—sometimes it gets away, for a while, but not so often. Now come on, be a thoroughbred! Go and talk to Fraulein."
Mary shrank away protesting.
Blue Bonnet shrugged her shoulders and started to pick up the room.