Meantime the solitary girl in the snowy pasture continued her walk.

"I can wish I had not told Cordelia Running Bird that I would not sleep
with anyone but her," said Hannah. "I am glad she is not in the middle
dormitory now."

"They put her in our dormitory so that she can go and tell the teachers
if a little girl is sick, or cries," remarked the prudent little girl,
who had arrived upon the scene with several other children. "The
teachers say she wakes up easy, and is braver in the dark than any other
girl."

"Ee! Cordelia Running Bird is a dress pattern for the other girls--I
mean a pattern!" Hannah cried. "Cordelia is the bravest, and she has a
white memory, so she has the longest piece. Cordelia is polite. She
keeps her clothes so clean and does not tear them, so the missionary
ladies send her prettier things, for the teachers write she is so nice.
The visitors always talk about Cordelia Running Bird very lots. They do
not think the girls are listening, but they are."

"They should not listen. That is stealing talk, the white mother says,"
replied the prudent little girl. "We like Cordelia Running Bird, for
she does not scold us little girls and tell us we are in the way, as you
do," was the bold defense. "We shall choose Susie in the games."

"If the little girls choose Susie, the large and middle-sized girls can
pull their hairs when they are combing them," was the appalling threat
from Hannah Straight Tree. "If they tell the teachers we can say their
hairs were snarly and we could not help it."