"I was thinking whether Clarissa would be dressed a great deal better than we are."
"And what if she is?"
"Nothing. I was thinking. That's all."
"I don't think it signifies," said Matilda.
"Oh! Matilda has found her tongue! I was waiting to see when she would speak," cried Anne. "What don't signify, little one?"
"It don't signify, I think, whether any one is dressed better than another; anybody—Clarissa or anybody else."
"Well, you are mistaken then," said Anne; "for it does signify. All the world knows it; and what is more, all the world feels it."
"I don't think I do," said Matilda.
"Your time has not come."
"Your time had come, though, before you were as old as she," said her mother; "and Maria's and Letty's."