"I 'm glad you like it; but don't, for mercy sake, say such things
before the other girls!" replied Fanny, wishing Polly would wear
ear-rings, as every one else did.

"Why not?" asked the country mouse of the city mouse, wondering
what harm there was in liking other people's pretty things, and
saying so. "Oh, they laugh at everything the least bit odd, and that
is n't pleasant." Fanny did n't say "countrified," but she meant it,
and Polly felt uncomfortable. So she shook out her little black silk
apron with a thoughtful face, and resolved not to allude to her own
home, if she could help it.

"I 'm so poorly, mamma says I need n't go to school regularly,
while you are here, only two or three times a week, just to keep up
my music and French. You can go too, if you like; papa said so.
Do, it 's such fun!" cried Fanny, quite surprising her friend by this
unexpected fondness for school.

"I should be afraid, if all the girls dress as finely as you do, and
know as much," said Polly, beginning to feel shy at the thought.

"La, child! you need n't mind that. I 'll take care of you, and fix you
up, so you won't look odd."

"Am I odd?" asked Polly, struck by the word and hoping it did n't
mean anything very bad.

"You are a dear, and ever so much prettier than you were last
summer, only you 've been brought up differently from us; so your
ways ain't like ours, you see," began Fanny, finding it rather hard