Laura. Oh no, indeed! I do not like to sit still from morning till night any better than you do; and mother would not let me if I did. I have taken a long, brisk walk every day.
Fanny. What, alone? I hate walking alone.
Laura. Not alone, very often; sister Helen sometimes walks over the bridge into the country with me, and we get wild flowers, and she explains all about them; that we call going botanizing, and it makes the walks much more pleasant. It really made me stare when she pulled a common head of clover to pieces and showed me how curiously it is made up of ever so many florets, as she calls them; and even the dandelion is very queer.
Susan. And did you go botanizing in the rain too?
Laura. No; of course we could not stir out then.
Susan. Then I rather think you found the last three days as dull as any of us.
Fanny. Not she, Susan. No doubt it was very pleasant to sit perched up at the window all day, for the passers to admire her industry.
Laura. O, Fanny, how can you be so uncharitable! if you had not been at the window so much yourself you would not have seen me.
Fanny. But I was not making a display of myself, with a book or a needle forever in my hand.
Laura. No, Fanny; if you had been occupied, however, you would not have been making such unkind remarks about your neighbors, would you? Did you not observe that my mother sat at the window with me? The reason was, we cannot see to work in any other part of the room when it is cloudy. You know our little breakfast-room has only one window.