“I know what literally rolling in gold means, but I don’t know what you mean.”
“Don’t bully her, Janet,” said Allen; “we are not so stupid, are we, Jessie? Come and show me the walnut-tree you were telling me about.”
“What’s the matter, Janet?” said her mother, coming in a moment or two after, and finding her staring blankly out of the window, where the two had made their exit.
“O mother, Jessie has been talking such gossip, and Allen likes it, and won’t have it stopped! I can’t think what makes Allen and Bobus both so foolish whenever she is here.”
“She is a very pretty creature,” said Carey, smiling a little.
“Pretty!” repeated Janet. “What has that to do with it?”
“A great deal, as you will have to find out in the course of your life, my dear.”
“I thought only foolish people cared about beauty.”
“It is very convenient for us to think so,” said Carey, smiling.
“But mother—surely everybody cares for you just as much or more than if you were a great handsome, stupid creature! How I hate that word handsome!”