“Teeth will not spoil on you if you brush ’em every time you eat.”
“Hare is a woman’s glory if it is comed. If not it is a site.”
“Aint and haint is not nice. Same with yep and nope.”
“Slang and swear words is not nice.”
“Never never never bite your nales. Ladies hands is always clene.”
There were many others, all showing that the child was struggling hard to reach her physical and moral ideals.
“Betsy mine, I’m astonished at the amount of things you have learned; and the best of it is that you are using your knowledge. Why, I’m proud of you.”
And now the long days of romping with Van were over. Betsy took her lunch, and did not reach home until half-past three. Always the little Prince was on the lookout for her return. He knew when the very minute came for her to turn in at the park gates, and would bark frantically until he was let out. Then a wild rush, and before she was past the lodge-gate, he would be leaping upon her. A frolic and a ramble would follow, and after that Betsy must study a little before dinner.
With the flying days one had only to look at Betsy to see her grow. She held her own at school, for her independent way of holding herself aloof kept her from exposing her speech and actions to criticism. Gradually she assimilated the gentle breeding of the better class of girls in the school. There was a fine instinct in her that kept her ideals in the right path. In her classes, although at first her expressions were not always couched in elegance, her understanding of things was clear. She loved her books to their very bindings. To get at them she would almost neglect her play with Van. Her standing in her classes gradually caused the girls to respect her, but although her little heart craved a closer intimacy with some of them, she could not bring herself to break the bond of reserve which her loveless childhood had woven about her. So, while her comrades came to her for help in their lessons, they went off with their arms twined about each other, leaving her wondering. With Aunt Kate she would talk eagerly and intelligently, but at the touch of a caressing arm, there would come in Betsy’s eyes that startled glance of the wild thing,—the instinctive drawing back; and then a pounding of the heart that did not yet dare to own its hidden wells of affection.
With Van, however, she felt this reserve drop away entirely. The little fellow gave his affection so freely, and demanded hers so insistently, that refusal would have been impossible. He expected love, and it was his. Aunt Kate watched this with a growing yearning in her motherly heart, and caught glimpses now and then of the wonderful blossom that might some day unfold from the stubborn little calyx.