Page:Wiggin--Marm Lisa.djvu/92

80 doing well enough as she is? I’m sure you’ve had a wonderful influence over her.’

"Nothing could induce me to lose sight of her entirely," said Mistress Mary, "but we feel now that she is ready to take the next step. She needs a skilled physician who is master both of body and mind, as well as a teacher who is capable of following out his principles.  I will see to all that, if you will only give me the privilege."

Mrs. Grubb sank down in the rocking-chair in despair. "Don’t I need some consideration as well as that little imbecile? Am I, with my ambitions and aspirations, to be for ever hampered by these three nightmares of children?  Oh, if I could once get an astral body, I would stay in it, you may be sure!"

"You do not absolutely need Lisa yourself," argued Mary. "It is the twins to whom she has been indispensable. Provide for them in some way, and she is freed from a responsibility for which she is not, and never was, fit.  It is a miracle that some tragedy has not come out of this daily companionship of three such passionate, irresponsible creatures."

"Some tragedy will come out of it yet,"