“If I can.  But, Beth, I don’t give up yet.  I’m going to believe that it is a sick fancy, and not let you think it’s true.” said Jo, trying to speak cheerfully.

Beth lay a minute thinking, and then said in her quiet way, “I don’t know how to express myself, and shouldn’t try to anyone but you, because I can’t speak out except to my Jo.  I only mean to say that I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long.  I’m not like the rest of you.  I never made any plans about what I’d do when I grew up.  I never thought of being married, as you all did.  I couldn’t seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there.  I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all.  I’m not afraid, but it seems as if I should be homesick for you even in heaven.”

Jo could not speak, and for several minutes there was no sound but the sigh of the wind and the lapping of the tide.  A white-winged gull flew by, with the flash of sunshine on its silvery breast.  Beth watched it till it vanished, and her eyes were full of sadness.  A little gray-coated sand bird came tripping over the beach ‘peeping’ softly to itself, as if enjoying the sun and sea.  It came quite close to Beth, and looked at her with a friendly eye and sat upon a warm stone, dressing its wet feathers, quite at home.  Beth smiled and felt comforted, for the tiny thing seemed to offer its small friendship and remind her that a pleasant world was still to be enjoyed.

“Dear little bird!  See, Jo, how tame it is.  I like peeps better than the gulls.  They are not so wild and handsome, but they seem happy, confiding little things.  I used to call them my birds last summer, and Mother said they reminded her of me —­busy, quaker-colored creatures, always near the shore, and always chirping that contented little song of theirs.  You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.  Meg is the turtledove, and Amy is like the lark she writes about, trying to get up among the clouds, but always dropping down into its nest again.  Dear little girl!  She’s so ambitious, but her heart is good and tender, and no matter how high she flies, she never will forget home.  I hope I shall see her again, but she seems so far away.”

“She is coming in the spring, and I mean that you shall be all ready to see and enjoy her.  I’m going to have you well and rosy by that time,” began Jo, feeling that of all the changes in Beth, the talking change was the greatest, for it seemed to cost no effort now, and she thought aloud in a way quite unlike bashful Beth.

“Jo, dear, don’t hope any more.  It won’t do any good.  I’m sure of that.  We won’t be miserable, but enjoy being together while we wait.  We’ll have happy times, for I don’t suffer much, and I think the tide will go out easily, if you help me.”