She would rebel at last and -- how had Tom phrased it -- oh , yes , assert her independence . She owed it to Tom ; It had been his wish -- and he was dead -- and she would do her best to fulfil it . `` I sha n't get a bonnet , '' thought Mary Isabel determinedly . `` Tom would n't have liked me in a bonnet . From this out I 'm just going to do exactly as Tom would have liked me to do , no matter how afraid I am of Louisa . And , oh , I am horribly afraid of her . '' Mary Isabel was every whit as much afraid the next morning after breakfast but she did not look it , by reason of the flush on her cheeks and the glint in her brown eyes . She had put Tom 's letter in the bosom of her dress and she pressed her fingertips on it that the crackle might give her courage . `` Louisa , '' she said firmly , `` I am going to town with you . '' `` Nonsense , '' said Louisa shortly . `` You may call it nonsense if you like , but I am going , '' said Mary Isabel unquailingly . `` I have made up my mind on that point , Louisa , and nothing you can say will alter it . '' Louisa looked amazed . Never before had Mary Isabel set her decrees at naught . `` Are you crazy , Mary Isabel ? '' she demanded . `` No , I am not crazy . But I am going to town and I am going to get a silver-grey silk for myself and a new hat . I will not wear a bonnet and you need never mention it to me again , Louisa . '' `` If you are going to town I shall stay home , '' said Louisa in a cold , ominous tone that almost made Mary Isabel quake .
If it had not been for that reassuring crackle of Tom 's letter I fear Mary Isabel would have given XXXXX .
From as at before for if in of on out