"It will be the death of her," she confided to Anderson Law. "She'll break."
"No," Law returned, "she will not break. She's as firm and true as steel; she's getting ready."
"Ready for what?" Jo's voice shook.
"For life. So many, Mam'selle, simply get ready to live. Life is going to use this little Donelle."
"Men have caused a deal of trouble for women," Jo remarked irrelevantly.
"Ah! there you have us, Mam'selle. The best of us know that we're bad bunglers. Most of us, in our souls, are begging your pardon."
"Well, you're all boys, mere children." Jo was clicking her needles like mad. "Sometimes I think it would settle the whole question if we could bunch all the men in one man and give him a good spanking."
Law's eyes twinkled.
"And after that, after the spanking, Mam'selle, what would you do?"
"Give him an extra dose of jam, like as not. We're fools, every last one of us, God help us!"