Page:Wiggin--Marm Lisa.djvu/105

Rh "Edith says I will hardly know her," said Rhoda.

"It is true. The new physician is a genius, and physically and outwardly she has changed more in the last three months than in the preceding year.  She dresses herself neatly now, braids her own hair, and ties her ribbons prettily.  Edith has kept up her gymnastics, and even taught her to row and play nine-pins.  For the first time in my life, Rhoda, I can fully understand a mother’s passion for a crippled, or a blind, or a defective child.  I suppose it was only Lisa’s desperate need that drew us to her at first.  We all loved and pitied her, even at the very height of her affliction; but now she fascinates me.  I know no greater pleasure than the daily miracle of her growth.  She is to me the sister I never had, the child I never shall have.  When we think of our success with this experiment, we must try to keep our faith in human nature, even under the trying ordeal of the twins."

"My faith in human nature is absolutely intact," answered Rhoda; "the trouble is that the Warrior and the Cyclone are not altogether human. Atlantic is the cold-