There is one of the sweetest old ladies there that I ever met--the perfection of old-time courtliness with all the motherishness of a German woman.

She was very kind to me, and, as she had no daughter of her own, I think she treated me as if I was one.

At least, I can imagine how one would feel to her, and what a woman like that could make of any girl.

You laugh, Mr.Hathaway, you don't understand--but you don't know what an advantage it would be to a girl to have a mother like that, and know that she could fall back on her and hold her own against anybody.
She's equipped from the start, instead of being handicapped.

It's all very well to talk about the value of money.