“You are the finest, noblest, most generous girl,” she went on brokenly.
“No, I’m not,” said Mary. “It’s easy to do things for people we love and easier still when we have the money to do it with. If I hadn’t been so fond of you, Molly, and had been obliged to deny myself besides, that would have been generosity. This is only a pleasure. A sort of self-gratification, because I’ve adopted you, you see, as my little sister.”
Molly lay quietly for a while with her cheek pressed against Mary’s hand.
“Are you thinking it over?” asked Mary at last, patting her cheek.
“I’m thinking how happy I am,” answered Molly.
“As soon as you are well, then,” went on Mary, rising to go, “you must have an interview with Judith and settle the whole thing.”
Molly smiled up at her friend and squeezed her hand.
There are times when two friends need not speak to express what they think.
“Even if I never win the three golden apples,” she reflected after Mary had gone, “I have won three friends that are as true as gold.”