ng. And why
she wants to come to a place like this and fool with fifty-odd children
and get no pay for it is beyond my understanding. It's her business,
however, not mine, and I'm glad she's coming."

"I do declare!" And Mrs. Blamire clapped her hands like she was getting
religion. "My, but I'm glad! Miss Katherine Trent coming here! And next
week, you say? I do declare!" And her gladness sounded in her voice. It
was a different kind from Miss Bray's. Even in the dark I could tell,
for hers was thankfulness for the children. Miss Bray was glad for
herself.

That was almost a year ago, and now my hair has come out and curls worse
than ever. It's very thick, and it's brown--light brown.

I'm always intending to stand still in front of the glass long enough to
see what I do look like, but I'm always in such a hurry I don't have
time. I know my eyes are blue, for Miss Katherine said this morning they
got bigger and bluer every day, and if I didn't eat more I'd be nothing
but eyes. If you don't like a thing, can you eat it? You cannot. That
is, in summer you can't. In winter it's a little easier.

I never have understood how Miss Katherine could have come to an Orphan
Asylum to live and to eat Orphan Asylum meals when she could have eaten
the best in Yorkburg. And Yorkburg's best is the best on earth.
Everybody says that who's tried other places, even Miss Webb, who gets
right impatient with Yorkburg's slowness and enjoyment of itself.

And Miss Katherine is living here from pure choice. That's what she is
doing, and she's made living creatures of us, just like God did when He
breathed on Adam and woke him up.

At the hospital she used to ask me all about the Asylum, and, never
guessing why, I told her all I knew, except about Miss Bray. Miss
Katherine had known the Asylum all her life, but had only been in it
twice--just passing it by, not thinking. When I got better and could
talk as much as I pleased, she wanted to know how many of us there were,
what we did, and how we did it: what we ate, and what kind of
underclothes we wore in winter, and how many times a week we bathed all
over; when we got up, and what we studied, and how long we sewed each
day, and how long we played, and when we went to bed--and all sorts of
other things. I wondered why she wanted to know, and when I found out I
could have laid right down and died from pure gladness. I didn't,
though.

Once I asked her what made her do it, and she laughed