`` Nor send me to a boarding-school , '' pursued Betty . `` Mother 's always threatening to send me to one . I suppose she would have done it before this , only she knew I 'd run away . You wo n't send me to a boarding-school , will you , Stephen ? Because I wo n't go . '' `` 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 ; XXXXX a very short time it had become a pleasure ... the deepest and most abiding interest of my life .
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