Do you realize when all's said and done, they've asked nothing more of you than simply to put on cap and bells and play the jester awhile for that girl's benefit ?" "I don't care," retorted Mary.

"I'm not proud, and I can stand the motley as long as it brings in the ducats.

It isn't the career I had planned, but--" She broke off abruptly, and began hunting for her spool of thread which had rolled off into the grass.

When she found it she stitched away in silence as if she had forgotten her unfinished sentence.
"What career _did_ you have planned, little sister ?" asked Jack, gently, when the silence had lasted a long time.

She looked up with a start as if her thoughts had been far away, then said with a deprecatory smile, "I hardly know myself, Jack.