"And so the launching is to come off next Thursday. What shall you wear?"
"I'm sure I haven't thought," said Mara.
"Well, I shall try and finish my blue merino for the occasion. What fun it will be! I never was on a ship when it was launched, and I think it will be something perfectly splendid!"
"But doesn't it sometimes seem sad to think that after all this Moses will leave us to be gone so long?"
"What do I care?" said Sally, tossing back her long hair as she brushed it, and then stopping to examine one of her eyelashes.
"Sally dear, you often speak in that way," said Mara, "but really and seriously, you do yourself great injustice. You could not certainly have been going on as you have these six months past with a man you did not care for."
"Well, I do care for him, 'sort o','" said Sally; "but is that any reason I should break my heart for his going?—that's too much for any man."
"But, Sally, you must know that Moses loves you."
"I'm not so sure," said Sally, freakishly tossing her head and laughing.
"If he did not," said Mara, "why has he sought you so much, and taken every opportunity to be with you? I'm sure I've been left here alone hour after hour, when my only comfort was that it was because my two best friends loved each other, as I know they must some time love some one better than they do me."