She liked the ` Laurence boy ' better than ever and took several good looks at him , so that she might describe him to the girls , for they had no brothers , very few male cousins , and boys were almost unknown creatures to them . `` Curly black hair , brown skin , big black eyes , handsome nose , fine teeth , small hands and feet , taller than I am , very polite , for a boy , and altogether jolly . Wonder how old he is ? '' It was on the tip of Jo 's tongue to ask , but she checked herself in time and , with unusual tact , tried to find out in a round-about way . `` I suppose you are going to college soon ? I see you pegging away at your books , no , I mean studying hard . '' And Jo blushed at the dreadful ` pegging ' which had escaped her . Laurie smiled but did n't seem shocked , and answered with a shrug . `` Not for a year or two . I wo n't go before seventeen , anyway . '' `` Are n't you but fifteen ? '' asked Jo , looking at the tall lad , whom she had imagined seventeen already . `` Sixteen , next month . '' `` How I wish I was going to college ! You do n't look as if you liked it . '' `` I hate it ! Nothing but grinding or skylarking . And I do n't like the way fellows do either , in this country . '' `` What do you like ? '' `` To live in Italy , and to enjoy myself in my own way . ''
XXXXX wanted very much to ask what his own way was , but his black brows looked rather threatening as he knit them , so she changed the subject by saying , as her foot kept time , `` That 's a splendid polka !
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