human
It is very interesting to meet you. I have often heard papa speak of you and your mother and father.
gpt
Why, of course you have, laughed Marjorie, wondering in her simple way whether all New York girls of fifteen were as
human
as Elsie.
gpt
I don't believe though that you have thought half as much about me as I have about you. You see, it's different in Arizona. There aren't very many people, and they all live a long way from each other. Ever since I can remember I have longed for a girl friend. But with you it must be very different, going to school and living in a big city. I suppose you have lots of friends.
human
Oh, yes, I have a good many, said Elsie, with her little society air.
gpt
I am not very fond of them all, though; some girls are so stupid.
human
I hope you will like me, said Marjorie, a little wistfully.
gpt
We ought to be even more than friends because we are cousins, and I have always thought that a cousin must be the next best thing to a sister. Don't you often long for a sister?
human
Why no, I don't, Elsie admitted.
gpt
Indeed, I am not sure that I should care for one at all. I think being an only child is very pleasant, though of course having an older brother would have its advantages. He would introduce one to his friends and bring them to the house. Are you fond of boys?
human
Oh, yes, I like them very well, but I have never known many. In fact, I haven't known many people of any kind except Indians and Mexicans.
gpt
Indians and Mexicans! repeated Elsie in a tone of dismay.
human
How perfectly awful! You don't mean that you make friends of those dreadful people we saw on the train coming home from California, do you?
gpt
They are not all dreadful creatures, said Marjorie, flushing.
human
They are not quite like white people, of course, but some of them are very good. I know a Mexican boy who is just as bright and clever as he can be. His father is going to send him to college next year. Then there is Juanita; she has lived with us for years, and we are all very fond of her.
gpt
Oh, I didn't know you were talking about servants, said Elsie.
human
I thought you meant friends. Hadn't you any real friends?
gpt
Not the kind of friends you mean. I had Father and Mother and Aunt Jessie, but until last August when Undine came, I had never spoken to a white girl of my own age.
human
Undine, what a queer name. Is she a Mexican or an Indian?
gpt
She isn't either, said Marjorie, laughing,