"Very well," said Mrs. Rush. "You will have me all right by and by. I see I must be on my guard with such very particular young ladies."
"Don't you like to be coryected, Mrs. Yush?" asked Bessie.
"Certainly; when I am wrong, I always wish to be put right; and I shall speak of your log-cabin library in any way you please; for you have surely earned the right to say how it shall be."
"Tom says Maggie and Bessie deserve more credit than Gracie and I," said Lily, "because they really earned the money, and Gracie and I had it without taking any trouble about it."
"But you have denied yourselves in order to give it," said Mrs. Rush, "and I think you ought not to be without your share of credit."
"What does 'credit' mean?" asked Bessie.
"Oh!" said Maggie, before any one else could speak, "it means to think yourself very great, and to have a fuss made about you. I am sure we did not do it for that; did we, Bessie?"
"I know Tom did not mean that," said Lily. "He thinks you're very nice."
"And I think Maggie makes a mistake, and does not quite understand the meaning of the word 'credit,'" said Mrs. Rush. "To give a person credit for any action, dear Maggie, is only to give him the praise that is due to him. There is no need to think that people are making a fuss about you because they do this."
"I can't help it, Mrs. Rush," said Maggie. "I always do feel great when people praise me, and nurse says it is not good for me."