"She has the greatest stock of general information," she confided, whisperingly. "She astonishes me sometimes. She does, indeed."
The two ladies shook their heads.
"I don't approve of children knowing too much," the one with the black eyes cried.
"And novels!" the other breathed, evidently appalled.
After they were gone my mother took the book out of my hand, and read a page or two of it in a frightened way. She smoothed my hair, and looked at me anxiously.
"Why do you like this book, Rhoda?" she asked.
"Because it's about a little girl, mother," I answered.
I crept a little closer to her.
"She hadn't any mother," I explained, eagerly. "And a man gave her a beautiful doll, and one night, just think, he put a gold coin in her shoe! She was so surprised! Oh, mother, how I wish I could have been there! I do! I do!"
"Is that all, Rhoda?"