Don't you know that that dear baby is very, very sick, and
that probably its sad little mother has brought it here to have its
picture taken, so that if it should be called away from her, she might
have something to gaze at that looked like her precious little one?
And that poor crippled boy! He has a lovely face, with its large,
patient eyes and sensitive mouth. How much better he is to look at
than that young woman you admire so much, whose beauty does not come
from her soul at all, and will disappear as soon as her rosy cheeks
fade and her hair grows gray! Now, that sweet old lady over there is
just a picture of goodness; and her dear old eyes have a look of love
in them that is more beautiful than any shimmer or shine you could show
me in those of your friend Miss Peacock."
"Why do you call her 'Miss Peacock'? You don't know her, do you?"
queried Marjorie.
"No, I don't know her in one sense, but in another I do. She is vain
and proud, and the reason I called her Miss Peacock was because of the
way in which she struts back and forth before that pier-glass,--just
like the silly bird itself. But I should not have called her names.
It was not a kind thing to do, even though she _is_ so foolish; and I
beg her pardon and yours, little daughter."
Marjorie did not ask why her mother apologized to her. She had a dim
sort of an idea that it was because she had set her an example that she
would be sorry to have her follow.
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