Cordelia's only answer was a noncommittal smile which Jessie failed to
understand. This thought, however, suddenly impressed Cordelia:

"Now it is too short for Susie, and the hem is not one bit too wide, so
I could not let it down. What if Hannah Straight Tree is so cross she
will not let Dolly wear it? And there is no other little home sister
just the size of Dolly that could wear it, and is coming Christmas. Just
like Hannah will not take it and will keep on hating me forever and
ever, so I cannot do her good."

Whether this foreboding was fulfilled, or otherwise, will be explained
in Hannah's letter to the King's Daughter in the Far East, who had sent
the little Bible and the loving message to the King's Daughter in the
Far West:

"_Dear Helen Merriam_: Now I shall write you a letter,
for Cordelia Running Bird cannot, for she says it,
would be bragging. It is all about Christmas, and our
big and little sisters. Cordelia's big sister is now in
heaven, and Cordelia wrote good-by to you from Annie.
My big sister is now in the First Reader, but she cannot
help it, for my mother died, and so Lucinda had to stay
at home and keep Dolly, and that is my little sister.

"And it was about Susie--that is Cordelia's little sister--
that I got so mean and jealous, for she had a nice
Christmas things--two kinds--and Dolly would not have
one kind, and she would look so horrid. So I called
Cordelia Running Bird proud, vain, cross, mean. And