"Dancin' round a pole! Round that ole
girl?"
"But she's so pretty."
"No, she isn't," said William firmly, "she jus' isn't. Not _much_! I
don' like her narsy shiny hair an' I don' like her narsy blue clothes,
an' I don' like her narsy face, an' I don' like her narsy white shoes,
nor her narsy necklaces, nor her narsy squeaky voice----"
He paused.
Bettine drew a deep breath.
"Go on some more," she said. "I _like_ listening to you."
"Do _you_ like her?" said William.
"No. She's awful _greedy_. Did you know she was awful _greedy_?"
"I can _b'lieve_ it," said William. "I can b'lieve _anything_ of
anyone wot talks in that squeaky voice."
"Jus' watch her when she's eatin' cakes--she goes on eatin' and eatin'
and eatin'."
"She'll bust an' die one day then," prophesied William solemnly, "an'
_I_ shan't be sorry."
"But she'll look ever so beautiful when she's a May Queen."
"You'd look nicer," said William.
Bettine's small pale face flamed.
"Oh _no_," she said.
"Would you like to be a May Queen?"
"Oh, _yes_," she said.
"Um," said William, and returned to the discomfiture of Evangeline
Fish by his steady concentrated scowl.
The next day he had the opportunity of watching her eating cakes. They
met at the birthday party of a mutual classmate, and Evangeline Fish
took her stand by the table and consumed cakes with a perseverance and
determination worthy of a nobler cause.
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