Oh , how badly I felt ! Mother and I were poor , and had to work hard , but we had feelings just like other people , and to be insulted like that before Trenham Manning ! I just burst out crying then and there , and ran away and hid . It was very silly of me , but I could n't help it . That stings me yet . If I was ever to get a chance to pay Lou Carroll out for that , I 'd take it without any compunction . '' `` Oh , but that is unchristian ! '' protested Mrs. Stapp feebly . `` Perhaps so , but it 's the way I feel . Old Parson Jones used to say that people were marbled good and bad pretty even , but that in everybody there were one or two streaks just pure wicked . I guess Lou Carroll is my wicked streak . I have n't seen or heard of her for years -- ever since she married that worthless Dency Baxter and went away . She may be dead for all I know . I do n't expect ever to have a chance to pay her out . But mark what I say , Theodosia , if I ever have , I will . '' Mrs. March snipped off her thread , as if she challenged the world . Mrs. Stapp felt uncomfortable over the unusual display of feeling she had evoked , and hastened to change the subject . In three weeks ' time Mrs. March was established in her new home , and the `` old Carroll house '' blossomed out into renewed splendour . Theodosia Stapp , who had dropped in to see it , was in a rapture of admiration . `` You have a lovely home now , Anna .
I used to think it fine enough XXXXX the Carrolls ' time , but it was n't as grand as this .
before for if in like of over since that to