is a lot of life that is wrong, and any day horrid, hurting things may pop up, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to sit down and make a bosom friend of dolefulness.  Some of the things you can shake your fist at, and some turn your back on, and some you have to face; but no matter what happens you can buck up and begin again if you get knocked out or hit in the back.  And that’s what I hope I will have sense enough to do—­get up and get a move on when things go wrong.

So far nothing has gone wrong in Twickenham.  Everybody has been lovely to me, and all sorts of ages have been to see me and asked me to their homes, and if they know my name is not really and truly Kitty Canary they never say so or mention my family, which is very nice of them, for I am sure they must talk of who I am and where I came from, that being the first thing done here when a stranger arrives.  The reason I think they haven’t let me off among themselves is that one of Miss Susanna’s boarders started to say something to me on the subject one day and I told her I was a very plain person, almost common, and she could tell any one she chose.  She has never mentioned the subject since.  Just Kitty Canary is all I am going to be this summer, and if anybody doesn’t care for me as Kitty Canary I don’t care for them to care for me as Katherine Bird.  So endeth that.

CHAPTER IV

I have seen him every day since I came—­seen my station help in time of need—­and I must say he bears bravely the dispensations of a female person.  He is not dejected, and he still seems to find life worth living; and if he weeps in secret, he shows no sign in public of regrets; neither does he hide himself from the gaze of others, but is always to be seen when one goes down-town or to the homes of other people.  I don’t know how we happen to meet so often, but I never go out that he doesn’t appear; and though he does not come in at Rose Hill, he comes to the gate, and I am afraid we stand at it a little longer than is necessary, especially if Elizabeth Hamilton Carter is sitting on the porch.

I wonder why Satan walks right into me every time I see that piece of pretty pink-and-whiteness!  He has never taken possession of me in that way before; but something about her just starts him off, and before I know it I am doing what I wouldn’t think of doing if she were not around.  She is perfectly furious with me, and I must say her manners, if they are Southern, could be improved.  At best she is not much of a talker, I have been told; but since I arrived her little mouth has been shut so tight that I wonder how she breathes; and if she has spoken a dozen words to me since the night I came, they were too between-the-teethy for me to hear.  I didn’t want her beau, and I wouldn’t have dreamed of noticing him if I had known how she felt about him; but after she tried the freezing act on me I didn’t tell Satan to get behind me, as I suppose I should