They were assigned their characters; Laura took the rôle of mother, giving the girls' parts to Alene and Ivy.
"I ask for beauty, for an eye
Bright as the stars in yonder sky;
For tresses on the air to fling
And put to shame the raven's wing;
Cheeks where the lily and the rose
Are blended in a sweet repose;
For pearly teeth and coral lip,
Tempting the honey bee to sip,
And for a fairy foot as light
As is a young gazelle's in flight,
And then a small, white, tapering hand—
I'd reign, a beauty, in the land!"
This was Alene's verse, but Ivy read it over and over instead of her own, and the oftener she read, the more discontented she grew.
"Why should Alene wish for 'a fairy foot, as light as is the young gazelle's in flight' when she has one already—two of 'em for that matter?" she thought. "The other wish is fine, I know—'a noble gift,' the mother says, but I don't care, I can't do justice to it as I could to the other! Of course, I don't care much for the 'eye, bright as the stars,' and all that rubbish, but I can imagine being light and gay and dancing!"
Although Ivy learned her part she went through it at rehearsal in such a spiritless way that Laura could not have failed to remark it if she were not occupied with so many other things.
When Alene's turn came and she stepped forward rather timidly to recite, Ivy listened eagerly to her rendition. It proved to be letter-perfect but expressionless. Ivy was justified in thinking that she herself could have done much better.
"She says it just in the way you might wish for a piece of plum cake or another gum-drop," she mused bitterly.
No one suspected her dissatisfaction except Hugh, who someway understood all the moods of the frail little sister whom he worshiped.
In her sick spells, dating from a fall five years before, no one could move her so tenderly, nor place her in so comfortable a position as this sturdy lad of fifteen.
He resented Ivy's affliction even more than she did herself.