I had need of all my quiet and self-command. My governess
stretched out her hand, drew me to her side and kissed me;
then with the other hand went on to arrange the ruffle round
my neck, stroking it and pulling it into order, and even
taking out a little bit of a pin I wore, and putting it in
again to suit herself. It annoyed me excessively. I knew all
was right about my ruffle and pin; I never left them
carelessly arranged; no fingers but mamma's had ever dared to
meddle with them before. But Miss Pinshon arranged the ruffle
and the pin, and still holding me, looked in my face with
those eyes of hers. I began to feel that they were "heavy."
They did not waver. They did not seem to wink, like other
eyes. They bore down upon my face with a steady power, that
was not bright but ponderous. Her first question was, whether
I was a good girl?

I could not tell how to answer. My aunt answered for me, that
she believed Daisy meant to be a good girl, though she liked
to have her own way.

Miss Pinshon ordered me to bring up a chair and sit down; and
then asked if I knew anything about mathematics; told me it
was the science of quantity; remarked to my aunt that it was
the very best study for teaching children to think, and that
she always gave them a great deal of it in the first years of
their pupilage. "It puts the mind in order," the black-eyed
lady went on; "and other things come so easily after it.
Daisy, do you know what I mean by 'quantity'?"