She doesn't bother me a bit." "No; I know she doesn't," replied Aunt Hannah, with a curious inflection.

"But don't you see, William, that all this isn't going to quite do?
Billy's too young--and too old." "Come, come, Aunt Hannah, is that exactly logical ?" "It's true, at least." "But, after all, where's the harm?
Don't you think that you are just a little bit too--fastidious?
Billy's nothing but a care-free child." "It's the 'free' part that I object to, William.

She has taken every one of you into intimate companionship--even Pete and Dong Ling." "Pete and Dong Ling!" "Yes." Mrs.Stetson's chin came up, and her nostrils dilated a little.
"Billy went to Pete the other day to have him button her shirt-waist up in the back; and yesterday I found her down-stairs in the kitchen instructing Dong Ling how to make chocolate fudge!" William fell back in his chair.
"Well, well," he muttered, "well, well! She is a child, and no mistake!" He paused, his brows drawn into a troubled frown.

"But, Aunt Hannah, what CAN I do?
Of course you could talk to her, but--I don't seem to quite like that idea." "My grief and conscience--no, no! That isn't what is needed at all.
It would only serve to make her self-conscious; and that's her one salvation now--that she isn't self-conscious.

You see, it's only the fault of her environment and training, after all.