"Why should it not speak, if it has a mouth, and walk, if it has feet?" asked Isabella.
"What foolish questions you ask!" exclaimed Celia, "of course it has not life."
"Oh, life,—that is it!" said Isabella. "Well, what is life?"
"Life! why it is what makes us live," answered Celia. "Of course you know what life is."
"No, I don't know," said Isabella, "but I have been thinking about it lately, while I have been sewing,—what it is."
"But you should not think, you should talk more, Isabella," said Celia.
"Mamma and I talk while we are at work, but you are always very silent."
"But you think sometimes?" asked Isabella.
"Not about such things," replied Celia. "I have to think about my work."
"But your father thinks, I suppose, when he comes home and sits in his study alone?"
"Oh, he reads when he goes into his study,—he reads books and studies them," said Celia.