'"
"If I had known
If thou hadst known
If he had known
If we had known
If you had known
If they had known"
"Oh, it is the saddest tense," sighed Rebecca with a little
a little break in her voice; "nothing but ifs-, ifs, ifs! And it
makes you feel that if they only had known, things might have
been better!"
Miss Dearborn had not thought of it before, but on reflection she
believed the subjective mood was a "sad" one and "if" rather a
sorry "part of speech."
"Give me some examples of the subjective, Rebecca, and that will
do for this afternoon," she said.
"If I had not eaten salt mackerel for breakfast I should not have
been thirsty," said Rebecca with an April smile, as she closed
her grammar. "If thou hadst love me truly thou wouldst not have
stood me up in the corner. If Samuel had not loved wickedness he
would not have followed me to the water pail."
"And if Rebecca had loved the rules of the school she would have
controlled her thirst," finished Miss Dearborn with a kiss, and
the two parted friends.
IV
THE SAVING OF THE COLORS
EVEN when Rebecca had left school, having attained the great age
of seventeen and therefore able to look back over a past
incredibly long and full, she still reckoned time not by years,
but by certain important occurrences.
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