I was very young when my father died; and afterwards, when my mother died, I was very young to be left all alone, and to go out to work and earn my living.
And now I am very young, I know.

But then I am eighteen." "Are you eighteen ?" asked Mrs.Bell.
"Yes," said Mary Erskine, "I was eighteen the day before yesterday." "It is a lonesome place,--out beyond Kater's Corner," said Mrs.Bell, after another pause.
"Yes," said Mary Erskine, "but I am not afraid of lonesomeness.

I never cared about seeing a great many people." "And you will have to work very hard," continued Mrs.Bell.
"I know that," replied Mary; "but then I am not afraid of work any more than I am of lonesomeness.

I began to work when I was five years old, and I have worked ever since,--and I like it." "Then, besides," said Mrs.Bell, "I don't know what I shall do with _my_ Mary when you have gone away.

You have had the care of her ever since she was born." Mary Erskine did not reply to this.