"FOUR girls? Oh, yes, Sara Ray. Felicity mentioned her. What
is she like? Where does she live?"

"Just down the hill. You can't see the house for the spruce
bush. Sara is a nice girl. She's only eleven, and her mother is
dreadfully strict. She never allows Sara to read a single story.
JUST you fancy! Sara's conscience is always troubling her for
doing things she's sure her mother won't approve, but it never
prevents her from doing them. It only spoils her fun. Uncle
Roger says that a mother who won't let you do anything, and a
conscience that won't let you enjoy anything is an awful
combination, and he doesn't wonder Sara is pale and thin and
nervous. But, between you and me, I believe the real reason is
that her mother doesn't give her half enough to eat. Not that
she's mean, you know--but she thinks it isn't healthy for
children to eat much, or anything but certain things. Isn't it
fortunate we weren't born into that sort of a family?"

"I think it's awfully lucky we were all born into the same
family," Felix remarked.

"Isn't it? I've often thought so. And I've often thought what a
dreadful thing it would have been if Grandfather and Grandmother
King had never got married to each other. I don't suppose there
would have been a single one of us children here at all; or if we
were, we would be part somebody else and that would be almost as
bad. When I think it all over I can't feel too thankful that
Grandfather and Grandmother King happened to marry each other,
when there were so many other people they might have married."