She did everything by fits and starts.
As Tom said, she was "always on the jump." If her dress didn't happen to be torn and her room dusty, why, she had a turn of forgetting everything.
If she didn't forget, she was always getting hurt.

If it wasn't that, she lost her temper every five minutes.

Or else she was making terrible blunders, and hurting people's feelings; something was always the matter; and some one was always on the _qui vive_, wondering what Gypsy was going to do next.
Yet, in spite of it all, the person who did not love Gypsy Breynton (provided he knew her) was not to be found in Yorkbury.

Whether there was any reason for this, you can judge for yourself as the story goes on.
After her mother had gone down, Gypsy went to work in earnest.

She picked up the beads, and put them back into the drawer which she left upon the floor.