Isabelle flushed with mortification.
"You are witty enough, young woman. But I mean real humor, not the rattle of dry peas in the pod that goes for humor at a dinner party. Do you know why I keep Sam about the place,—that fat lazy beggar who takes half an hour to fetch an armful of wood? Because he knows how to laugh. He is a splendid teacher of mirth. When I hear him laugh down in the cellar, I always open the door and try to get the whole of it. It shakes my stomach sympathetically. The old cuss knows it, too, which is a pity! … Well, young mademoiselle over there is play-acting to herself; she thinks she will be a grand lady like mamma. God knows what she will find more interesting before she reaches the bottom of the box. Don't worry! And did you ever think where they catch the tricks, these kids? If you went into it, you could trace every one down to some suggestion; it wouldn't take you long to account for that high and mighty air in your child that you don't fancy. If you don't want her to pick up undesirable packages, see that they aren't handed out to her."
"But she has had the best—"
"Yes, of course. Lord! the best! Americans are mad for the best. Which means the highest priced. I've no doubt, Mrs. Lane, you have given Molly all the disadvantages…. Did you ever sit down for five minutes and ask yourself seriously what is the best, humanly speaking, for that child? What things are best any way? … Do you want her to end where you are at your age?"
Isabelle shook her head sadly:—
"No,—not that!"
"Cultivate the garden, then…. Or, to change the figure, see what is handed out to her…. For every thought and feeling in your body, every act of your will, makes its trace upon her,—upon countless others, but upon her first because she is nearest."
Molly, having closed her book and said good-evening to the little patient, came up to her mother.
"It is time, I think, mamma, for me to go home to dress for dinner." She looked at the little watch pinned to her dress. Renault and Isabelle laughed heartily.
"What pebble that you tossed into the pool produced that ripple, do you think?" the doctor quizzed, twirling Molly about by her neck, much to her discomfort.