"I remember," said Mrs. Stoddart, "being once nearly bored to extinction, not by an illness, but by my convalescence after it."
"I have no time to be bored," said Annette, "even if there is no mantis and no lizard. Since I have been better so many things come crowding into my mind, that though I lie still all day I hardly have time to think of them all. The day is never long enough for me."
There was a short silence.
"I often wonder," said Annette slowly, "about you."
"About me?"
"Yes. Why you do everything for me as if I were your own child, and most of all why you never ask me any questions—why you never even hint to me that it is my duty to tell you about myself."
Mrs. Stoddart's eyes dropped. Her heart began to beat violently.
"When you took charge of me you knew nothing of me except evil."
"I knew the one thing needful."