Sarah, Mary very soon discovered, believed in nothing, and knew
everything. This horrible combination, naturally, affected Mary, who
believed in everything and knew nothing.
"Why should we obey our mothers?" said Sarah. "We're as good as they
are."
"Oh, _no_," said Mary, in a voice shocked to a strangled whisper.
Nevertheless, she began, a little, to despise her confused parents.
There came a day when Mary told a very large lie indeed; she said that
she had brushed her teeth when she had not, and she told this lie quite
unprompted by Sarah. She was more and more miserable as the days passed.
No one knew exactly the things that the two little girls did when they
were alone on an afternoon in Sarah's room. Sarah sent Hortense about
her business, and then set herself to the subdual of Mary's mind and
character. There would be moments like this, Sarah would turn off the
electric light, and the room would be lit only by the dim shining of the
evening sky.
"Now, Mary, you go over to that corner--that dark one--and wait there
till I tell you to come out. I'll go outside the room, and then you'll
see what will happen.
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