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 to 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 . Betty was kind enough to say that I had taught her everything she knew . But what had she not taught me ? If there were a debt between us , it was on my side . Sara was fairly well satisfied . It was not my fault that Betty was not better looking , she said . I had certainly done everything for her mind and character that could be done . Sara 's manner implied that these unimportant details did not count for much , balanced against the lack of a pink-and-white skin and dimpled elbows ; but she was generous enough not to blame me .
`` When Betty is twenty-five , '' I said patiently -- I had grown used to speaking patiently to Sara -- `` she will be a magnificent woman -- far handsomer XXXXX you ever were , Sara , in your pinkest and whitest prime .
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