“Has she always been ill since you knew her?” asked Laura.
“Yes; a terrible cold left her with weakness of the lungs, and the doctors feared consumption, but thought that she might possibly outgrow it entirely if she lived in a milder climate; so Mrs. Howard left home and everybody she cared for, and brought Elsie to Santa Barbara. Papa has taken an interest in her from the first, and as far as we girls are concerned, it was love at first sight. You never knew anybody like Elsie!”
“Is she pretty?”
“Pretty!” cried Polly, “she is like an angel in a picture-book!”
“Interesting?”
“Interesting!” said Bell, in a tone that showed the word to be too feeble for the subject; “Elsie is more interesting than all the other girls in the other world put together!”
“Popular?”
“Popular!” exclaimed Margery, taking her turn in the oral examination, “I don’t know whether anybody can be popular who is always in bed; but if it’s popular to be adored by every man, woman, child, and animal that comes anywhere near her, why then Elsie is popular.”
“And is she a favourite with boys as well as girls?”
“Favourite!” said Bell. “Why, they think that she is simply perfect! Of course she has scarcely been able to sit up a week at a time for a year, and naturally she has not seen many people; but, if you want a boy’s opinion, just ask Philip or Geoffrey. I assure you, Laura, after you have known Elsie a while, and have seen the impression she makes upon everybody, you will want to go to bed and see if you can do likewise.”