"I am Esther myself! nobody else has any right
to be it. I have practised it, and I know how to do it; and I
am Esther myself. Nobody else has any right to be Esther!"
Daisy stood by in dismay. She did not know what comfort to
bring to this distress.
"I won't play at all!" said Nora. "If I can't be Esther I
won't be anything. You have all the good things, Daisy! you
have all the prettiest pictures; and I might have had just
this one. Just Esther. I just wanted to be Esther! It's mean."
"Why, you've been plenty of things I think," said Jane
Linwood, coming near this corner of gloom.
"I haven't! I have been that hateful prince in the tower and
Cinderella's ugly sister — only hateful things."
"But you were Little Red Riding-Hood."
"Red Riding-Hood!" exclaimed Nora, in unspeakable disdain.
"Red Riding-Hood was nothing at all but a red cloak! and Daisy
wore feathers, and had the dog —"
And the vision of Queen Esther's jewels and satin gown and
mantle here overcame Nora's dignity if not her wrath; she
began to cry.
"But won't you come and be one of the queen's maids? _They_ will
be very nicely dressed too," Daisy ventured, gently.
"No! — I won't be anybody's maid, I tell you," sobbed the
disconsolate child.
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