"But who would bother?
They all thought me impossible.

The girls all laughed at me--my own cousins.
Sometimes people tried to help me.

They never went far enough.

They gave me up too soon." "He evidently thinks he was worth a lot of trouble," I thought irritably.

But suddenly he laughed.
"That same doctor one day spoke of me, not knowing that I was near him; or perhaps he knew and thought it would be good for me.