"I am only just a lady," the lady said, patting Bessie Bell's little
tiny hand. And it was easy to see that, in Bessie Bell's mind, though
Only-Just-Ladies were kind and sweet, Mamas were far greater and more
important beings.
One night, when Sister Helen Vincula had put Bessie Bell to bed in the
small bed that was not a crib-bed, though like that she had slept in
before she had come to the high mountain, Bessie Bell still lay wide
awake.
Her blue eyes were wide open and both of her pink little hands were
above her head on the pillow. She was thinking, and thinking, and she
forgot that she was thinking her thinking aloud, and she said:
"Alice has a mama. Robbie has a mama. Katie has a mama. Where is
Bessie Bell's mama? Never mind: Bessie Bell will find a mama."
Then Sister Helen Vincula, who was wide awake, too, said:
"Ah me, ah me."