Читать книгу Betty Wales, Junior. A Story for Girls онлайн

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“What a good idea!” said Mary admiringly. “I’m afraid I didn’t take a serious enough view of my responsibilities last spring. But then the eighth cousin was perfectly hopeless and it was a mercy to everybody concerned that she failed. She was the kind of person that would rather risk making a bad break than leave anything out. In her English exam. they asked her what a leviathan was,—it’s mentioned in ‘Paradise Lost,’ you know,—and she said ‘a country near Thrace.’ I think myself that was her finish. It doesn’t do to be so positive unless you know you’re in the right.”

“I don’t believe it’s ever best to be positive,” said Betty sadly. “I was so positive that I wanted a single room, and now I’ve got one, and I’m missing Helen Chase Adams already.”

“Oh, you’ll like it when you’re settled,” Mary reassured her, glancing around the room. “Why do you have all the chiffonier drawers open at once?”

“They stick,” explained Betty savagely, “every blessed one of them. I’ve got them all open now except the bottom one, but it took me almost an hour, and I’m not going to risk having to do it all over again. And almost every one of the hooks in the closet is broken, so I can’t hang up my dresses; and look at the spots on that wall!”