“But she didn’t, mamma,” said Dotty, casting down her eyes.
“Excuse me, dear, but you said you ‘just knew’ she did.”
“I meant—I—just thought.”
“Ah, indeed! You only thought?”
“Yes’m.”
“And just because you thought, although you couldn’t know, you called Lina an ‘awful, wicked, horrid girl.’”
“I truly s’posed she was, mamma,” said Dotty, with her finger in her mouth.
“Your ‘truly s’poses’ are very cruel things, Dotty. What is going to be done with that little fiery tongue of yours?”
Dotty touched the tip of it, and felt very much as if she would like to pull it out by the roots.