is a mystery in it that nobody has ever solved, not even the greatest
scientists and philosophers, although, like all scientists and
philosophers, they think they have gone a long way toward explaining
something they don't understand by calling it a long name. The long name
is "personality," and what it means nobody knows, but it is perhaps the
very most important thing in the world for all that. And yet we know
only one or two things about it. We know that anybody's personality is
made up of the sum total of all the actions and thoughts and desires of
his life. And we know that though there aren't any words or any figures
in any language to set down that sum total accurately, still it is one
of the first things that everybody knows about anybody else. And that is
really all we know!

So I can't tell you why Elizabeth Ann did not go back and cry and sob
and say she couldn't and she wouldn't and she couldn't, as she would
certainly have done at Aunt Harriet's. You remember that I could not
even tell you why it was that, as the little fatherless and motherless
girl lay in bed looking at Aunt Abigail's old face, she should feel so
comforted and protected that she must needs break out crying. No, all I
can say is that it was because Aunt Abigail was Aunt Abigail. But
perhaps it may occur to you that it's rather a good idea to keep a sharp
eye on your "personality," whatever that is! It might be very handy, you
know, to have a personality like Cousin Ann's which sent Elizabeth Ann's
feet down the path; or perhaps you would prefer one like Aunt Abigail's.
Well, take your choice.

You must not, of course, think for a moment that Elizabeth Ann had the
slightest INTENTION of obeying Cousin Ann. No indeed! Nothing was
farther from her mind as her feet carried her along the path and into
the road. In her mind was nothing but rebellion and fear and anger and