Rather it came about, if my sister and I are considered the centre of the ring, because we had suffered the several grades of fortune.

In our best days no little girls had to stoop to us; in our humbler days we were not so proud that we had to condescend to our chance neighbors.

The granddaughters of Raphael the Russian, in retaining their breeding and manners, retained a few of their more exalted friends, and became a link between them and those whom they later adopted through force of propinquity.
We were human little girls, so our amusements mimicked the life about us.

We played house, we played soldiers, we played Gentiles, we celebrated weddings and funerals.

We copied the life about us literally.