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It’s so delicious to have an excuse for eating out of doors, and besides, she loved having to arrange things; she always felt she could do it so much better than anybody else.
Jose loved giving orders to the servants, and they loved obeying her. She always made them feel they were taking part in some drama. “Tell mother and Miss Laura to come here at once.”
These sentences show both a similarity and difference between Laura and Jose. In the first, Laura has left the house, toast in hand, to supervise the workmen putting up the marquee. As the artistic child, Laura enjoys arranging things. She does not arrange the workmen, however. She asks what they would do and makes suggestions. In the second quote, Jose has been working with her sister Meg and servant Hans to rearrange the furniture in the drawing room. Jose enjoys giving orders to the servants. Rather than arranging things, Jose arranges people, treating them like things. She orders Hans to fetch Mrs. Sheridan and Laura. And in her command, she also orders her mother and sister “to come at once.”
"Hallo!" He was half-way upstairs, but when he turned round and saw Laura he suddenly puffed out his cheeks and goggled his eyes at her. “My word, Laura! You do look stunning," said Laurie. "What an absolutely topping hat!"
Laura said faintly "Is it?" and smiled up at Laurie, and didn't tell him after all.
After Laura has had her mother and Jose call her idea of canceling the party “absurd,” she decides to ask Laurie’s opinion. Laura feels closest to Laurie emotionally. She values his opinion as if it were her own. She decides that if he sides with their mother and sister, then theirs is the right decision. However, before she can explain the situation and ask his opinion, Laurie compliments Laura on how she looks in her new hat. He reinforces the superficial attention to Laura’s appearance that Mrs. Sheridan used earlier to distract Laura from the accident. His words also encourage her pride. Laura does not need to ask Laurie’s opinion. She knows that Laurie will side with her mother and sister. From this point until after the party, Laura gives no further thought to the accident.
