She had fine , almond-shaped , hazel eyes , the smallest and most shapely hands and feet I ever saw , and two enormous braids of thick , nut-brown hair . For Jack 's sake I decided to bring his daughter up properly . Sara could n't do it , and did n't try . I saw that , if somebody did n't take Betty in hand , wisely and firmly , she would certainly be ruined . There seemed to be nobody except myself at all interested in the matter , so I determined to see what an old bachelor could do as regards bringing up a girl in the way she should go . I might have been her father ; as it was , her father had been my best friend . Who had a better right to watch over his daughter ? I determined to be a father to Betty , and do all for her that the most devoted parent could do . It was , self-evidently , my duty . I told Sara I was going to take Betty in hand . Sara sighed one of the plaintive little sighs which I had once thought so charming , but now , to my surprise , found faintly irritating , and said that she would be very much obliged if I would . `` I feel that I am not able to cope with the problem of Betty 's education , Stephen , '' she admitted , `` Betty is a strange child ... all Churchill . Her poor father indulged her in everything , and she has a will of her own , I assure you . I have really no control over her , whatever . She does as she pleases , and is ruining her complexion by running and galloping out of doors the whole time . Not that she had much complexion to start with . The Churchills never had , you know . '' ... Sara cast a complacent glance at her delicately tinted reflection in the mirror ... `` I tried to make Betty wear a sunbonnet this summer , but I might as well have talked to the wind . '' A vision of Betty in a sunbonnet presented itself to my mind , and afforded me so much amusement that I was grateful to Sara for having furnished it . I rewarded her with a compliment .
`` It is XXXXX be regretted that Betty has not inherited her mother 's charming color , '' I said , `` but we must do the best we can for her under her limitations .
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