`` No , '' I said obligingly . `` I wo n't . I should never dream of cooping a wild little thing , like you , up in a boarding-school . You 'd fret your heart out like a caged skylark . '' `` I know you and I are going to get along together splendidly , Stephen , '' said Betty , rubbing her brown cheek chummily against my shoulder . `` You are so good at understanding . Very few people are . Even dad darling did n't understand . He let me do just as I wanted to , just because I wanted to , not because he really understood that I could n't be tame and play with dolls . I hate dolls ! Real live babies are jolly ; but dogs and horses are ever so much nicer than dolls . '' `` But you must have lessons , Betty . I shall select your teachers and superintend your studies , and I shall expect you to do me credit along that line , as well as along all others . '' `` I 'll try , honest and true , Stephen , '' declared Betty . And she kept her word . At first I looked upon Betty 's education as a duty ; in a very short time it had become a pleasure ... the deepest and most abiding interest of my life . As I had premised , Betty was good material , and responded to my training with gratifying plasticity . Day by day , week by week , month by month , her character and temperament unfolded naturally under my watchful eye . It was like beholding the gradual development of some rare flower in one 's garden . A little checking and pruning here , a careful training of shoot and tendril there , and , lo , the reward of grace and symmetry !
Betty grew up as I would have wished Jack Churchill 's girl XXXXX grow -- spirited and proud , with the fine spirit and gracious pride of pure womanhood , loyal and loving , with the loyalty and love of a frank and unspoiled nature ; true to her heart 's core , hating falsehood and sham -- as crystal-clear a mirror of maidenhood as ever man looked into and saw himself reflected back in such a halo as made him ashamed of not being more worthy of it .
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