She had drawn back at the first reason; but the bluntness of the first
must have conveyed a sense of honesty in the second, for like the child
who has been told something nice, a smile was faintly suggested beneath
the tears.

"Would you like to hear my favorite quotation from Scripture?" Kate
wanted to know.

At thought of Katie's having a favorite quotation the smile grew a little
more defined.

"My favorite quotation is this: 'Take no thought for the morrow.' Perhaps
it ends in a way that spoils it; I would never read the rest of it,
fearing it would ruin itself, but taking just so much and no more--and it
certainly is your privilege to do that if you wish--if all of a thing is
good for you, part of it must be somewhat good--it does make the most
comfortable philosophy of life I know of. It's a great solace to me. Now
when I am seventy, I don't doubt I will have lost my teeth. Losing one's
teeth is such a distressing thing that I could sit here and weep bitterly
for mine were it not for the sustaining power of my favorite quotation.
Why don't you adopt it for your favorite, too? And, taking no thought for
the morrow, is there any reason in the world why you shouldn't go out now
and have a beautiful drive? Going for a drive doesn't commit one to any
philosophy of life, or line of action, does it? And whatever you do,
don't ever refuse nice things because you can't see the reason for
people's doing them. I shudder to think how much--or better, how little
fun I would have had in life had I first been compelled to satisfy myself
I was entitled to it. We're entitled to nothing--most of us; that's all
the more reason for taking all we can get. But come now! Here are some
fresh things--yours seem a bit dusty."