Flora cracked a smile, but buried her face in her arms before it could get any wider. She couldn't deny that becoming a woman was exciting, but what else of womanhood had she not yet learned about? She'd always expected to get a bigger bosom and wider hips so she could fit into all the fashions all the debutantes loved, but she'd thought that was the most of it! Now she was fourteen, still looking as much a girl as she looked last year, but now she bled.

"I am terribly sincere," she complained insincerely, her face still buried in her arms.

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