"It is because you did not think about it that I love you, Susie."
"I will try and be better," said Susie humbly.
Straight across the room she caught sight of a reflection in the glass, and she sat suddenly more upright and gazed at it. It reminded her of that reflection in the train; but this mouth was smiling, not set into sulky lines—these eyes were not full of angry tears!
"Oh, I am perfectly certain I can be good," cried Susie eagerly.
The reflection in the glass seemed to hesitate; the sparkling eyes fell, and Susie's face went down upon her knees.
She groaned in despair.
"It seems as if I couldn't help it," she said. "I am always perfectly certain."
"And I am perfectly certain that I hear your breakfast on the stairs," said Mrs. Beauchamp, "and that is the important thing."
She raised Susie's crimson face, and smoothed the rebellious hair, and patted the pillow into a comfortable shape. Every good nurse knows that tears and protestations must wait their time, and that little patients cannot be allowed the luxury of repentance!
Susie would have liked to pour out volumes of self-reproach and ease her burdened heart, so it was perhaps one little step in the right direction when she resolutely closed her lips and welcomed Amy and the breakfast with a smile.