Of course, Polly, Molly will be thrown with them a great deal,
much more than with you; and, so long as they are her cousins, she
will probably be fond of them. But, after all these years, can't
you trust Molly's friendship enough to believe that it won't make
any difference in her feeling to you, but that she can love and
care for you all, at the same time?"
"Sometimes I think she can, and sometimes I think she can't,'"
said Polly slowly. "Once in a while, when we have had a 'scrap,'
as Alan calls it, I think she doesn't care a bit about me."
"Whose fault is it, when you quarrel?" asked Mrs. Adams, smoothing
the short curls. "I don't think it is all Molly's fault, any more
than it is all yours. If my small daughter wants her friends to
care for her, she must govern that temper and study self-control."
"I know that, mamma," broke in Polly impetuously; "but you don't
have any idea how hard 'tis, nor how sorry I am after it is over."
"It is just because I do know it so well, my dear, that I keep
saying this to you; for I hope I can save you from a part, at
least, of the pain I have suffered in just this same way. I have
been through it all, Polly, and I know that every time you give up
to your temper, it is just so much easier to do it again; and if
you were to go on long enough, in time you would get to where it
would be impossible to stop yourself, and you would do something
that might be a sorrow to you, through all your life.
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