I have to believe that." "Yes, you can't help believing that," said the Princess.
"Then can't you see why you'll be likely to show Laddie the way to find trouble, instead of sunshine ?" "I can see," said the Princess.
"Oh Princess, you won't do it, will you ?" I cried.
"Don't you think such a big man as Laddie can take care of himself ?" she asked, and the dancing lights that had begun to fade came back.
"Over there," she pointed through our woods toward the southwest, "lives a man you know.

What do his neighbours call him ?" "Stiff-necked Johnny," I answered promptly.
"And the man who lives next him ?" "Pinch-fist Williams." Her finger veered to another neighbour's.
"The girls of that house ?" "Giggle-head Smithsons." "What about the man who lives over there ?" "He beats his wife." "And the house beyond ?" "Mother whispers about them.

I don't know." "And the woman on the hill ?" "She doesn't do anything but gussip and make every one trouble." "Exactly!" said the Princess.

"Yet most of these people come to your house, and your family goes to theirs.

Do you suppose people they know nothing about are so much worse than these others ?" "If your father will take it back about God, and your mother will let people in--my mother and father both wanted to be friends, you know." "That I can't possibly do," she said, "but maybe I could change their feelings toward me." "Do it!" I cried.