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 any right to cut those buttons off and sew on others without saying a word to you, or asking whether you wanted me to or not?"

I thought for a minute. "Well," I said, "of course it would seem sort of meddlesome, and I don't suppose I'd like it, not to be consulted at all."

"And how would I know that you wanted it done, if you didn't ask me to do it?"

"You could ask me," I said.

"But don't you think that, if you wanted it done, and knew that I could do it, and would be glad to,—don't you think that it would be worth the courtesy of asking me?"

"You're right," I said, "I hadn't thought about it that way. You really wouldn't know whether I wanted it done or not unless I asked you to, even though it looked to you as if it ought to be attended to. I might want to keep those buttons on for sentimental reasons, even if they did cut."

"That's so," said Bess, "and I sometimes think that there are people who want to keep their sickness for sentimental reasons too; so they will have something to talk about,—or because