t asked.

"Well, we're all _somebody_, of course, in one sense. Of course we're
not _nobody_."

"I am not so sure what you think about it," said Mrs. Candy. "I think
that in your language, who isn't somebody is nobody."

"Oh, well, we're _somebody_," said Maria. "But if you could see the
splendid bunch of jewels that hung at Mrs. Laval's breast, you would
know I say the truth."

"Now we are getting at Maria's meaning," observed Clarissa.

"I have no bunch of jewels hanging at my breast," said Mrs. Englefield;
"if _that_ is what she means by 'somebody.'"

"How large a bunch was it, Maria?" her aunt asked.

"And is it certain that Maria's eyes could tell the true from the
false, in such a matter as a bunch of jewellery?" suggested Clarissa.
"They have not had a great deal of experience."

Maria fired up. "I just wish you could see them for yourself!" she
said. "False jewels, indeed! They sparkle like flashes of lightning.
All glittering and flashing, red and white. I never saw anything so
beautiful in all my life. And if you saw the rest of the dress, you
would know that they couldn't be false jewels."

"What sort of a face had she?"

"I don't know,--handsome."

"The bunch of jewels dazzled Maria's eyes," said Clarissa, sipping her
tea.

"No, not handsome, Maria," Matilda said.

"Well, not handsome exactly, but pleasant. She had curls, and lightish
hair; but her dress was so handsome, it made her look handsome. She
took a _terrible_ fancy to Matilda."

"Matilda is the youngest," said her mother.

"It was thanks to Matilda we got into the house at all; and Matilda had
the flowers. Nobody spoke of giving me any flowers."

"Well, you know you do not care for them," interposed Matilda.

"Mamma, those people are somebody--I can tell you!"

"You speak as if there were nobody else in Shadywalk, Maria, that is
anybody."

"Well, Aunt Candy, I don't know any people like these."

"Maria, you talk nonsense," said her mother.

"Mamma, it is just what Aunt Erminia would say herself, if she knew the
people."

"What makes anybody 'somebody,' I should like to know? and what do you
mean by it? Am I nobody, because I cannot wear red and white jewels at
my throat?"

"It wasn't at her throat at all, mamma; it was just here--on her waist."

"A _bouquet de corsage_," said Clarissa. "The _waist_, as you call it,
is at the belt."

"Well, I am not a mantua-maker," said Maria.

"No more than we are somebody," said