Page:George Weston--The apple-tree girl.djvu/77

 Bartlett. And—and Neil Kennedy. And why do I like them?" she triumphantly asked herself. "I like them because they like me. There! And that's the reason I like Aunt Hepzibah. She likes me! And that's the reason I don't like Margaret. She doesn't like me! And that's the reason all the young men like Margaret. She likes them! And that's the reason nobody likes a selfish person, because a selfish person likes nobody but himself. There! So if I want people to like me I've got to like them. And if I want everybody to like me I've got to like everybody, and that's all there is to it! There!"

She jumped from her chair, filled with that warmth of victory which she had always felt at school after a particularly difficult lesson had been learned; and, putting on her hat, she almost danced down the stairs, and started out to put her theory to the test.

Down the stairs and down the hill