We ran nearly all the way home, laughing inside with the secret joy. There are so many things you do not have the opportunity to do and know when you die young. I never had a beau. I never was in love. I regretted this very much at first, but now the disappointment has faded.
Time passes and things that once mattered no longer seem important.
I was fortunate to find a position at Moore House, a girl without family, who possessed little more than the tortoise-shell comb I won for being the first in my form to learn the catechism. When I came here, this big house overpowered me. The furniture was exquisitely carved and inlaid, and I polished it until the air smelled of warm bee's wax. The oil paintings on the walls, turned dark with age, showed men and women from long ago people with stern looks and strange, antique clothing. The portraits frightened me a little bit, to be completely honest.