ause the girl in front of her didn''t apologise.
Ever since her legs became paralysed, the grown-ups would always look at her with sympathetic eyes and come up with all sorts of awkward ways to hide their pity.
They would cautiously avoid looking or mentioning her leg sticks. Even though she could see through their thoughts, she had to go along with them, like a "poor sick child".
Once, two new young maids didn''t know Charlene was nearby and started talking in the hallway.
Charlene overheard their sighs and whispers, mixed with pity and excitement. "Ay, who would have thought that a young lady with such noble birth and good luck, would become a cripple!"
When Charlene rolled her wheelchair into view, the maids were scared and fell to their knees, shaking all over, begging for her forgiveness.
But Charlene found their sincere reaction quite interesting. It even made her feel a lot lighter. Moreover, she never thought of herself as pitiful!
"But, what kind of illness would make one unable to stand up?" Edith asked.
"They say it''s meningitis," Charlene replied.
Edith knew very well that just like papa complained, she couldn''t stand staying still for a single day. Just trying to imagine herself being stuck in the same chair all day long, she couldn''t help but shiver with goosebumps.
So she shrugged sadly and said, "Then you must be really bored!"
Charlene shook her head again and said, "Honestly, it''s not too bad. Even when I could walk and run before, I rarely went out. And now I don''t have to go to the dance classes I dislike or learn the dreaded curtsy anymore."
"What do you usually do at home then?" Edith recalled what her mama did during downtime on the farm, "Spin, weave things?"
Charlene tilted her head. "You mean embroidery? I know a little, but I''m not very interested. Most of the time, I read books about chemistry. Maybe I''ve been reading too much, now my eyes can''t see things clearly, so I have to get really close to read books, let alone doing embroidery."
"Embroidery? Chemistry? These words you say, I haven''t even heard of them," Edith scratched the back of her head.
Charlene didn''t seem surprised and said, "I''m the only