She was finding a species of salve for her own disappointment in this irritant applied to another.

"What does make you wear that hair ring ?" said she.
"It was a present," replied Annie humbly, but she for the first time looked a little disturbed.

That mourning emblem with her father's and mother's, and a departed sister's hair in a neat little twist under a small crystal, grated upon her incessantly.

It struck her as a species of ghastly sentiment, which at once distressed, and impelled her to hysterical mirth.
"A present," repeated Margaret.

"If anybody gave me such a present as that, I would never wear it.