`` We go grubbing along day after day , without a bit of change , and very little fun . We might as well be in a treadmill . '' `` My patience , how blue we are ! '' cried Jo . `` I do n't much wonder , poor dear , for you see other girls having splendid times , while you grind , grind , year in and year out . Oh , do n't I wish I could manage things for you as I do for my heroines ! You 're pretty enough and good enough already , so I 'd have some rich relation leave you a fortune unexpectedly . Then you 'd dash out as an heiress , scorn everyone who has slighted you , go abroad , and come home my Lady Something in a blaze of splendor and elegance . '' `` People do n't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays , men have to work and women marry for money . It 's a dreadfully unjust world , '' said Meg bitterly . `` Jo and I are going to make fortunes for you all . Just wait ten years , and see if we do n't , '' said Amy , who sat in a corner making mud pies , as Hannah called her little clay models of birds , fruit , and faces . `` Ca n't wait , and I 'm afraid I have n't much faith in ink and dirt , though I 'm grateful for your good intentions . '' Meg sighed , and turned to the frostbitten garden again . Jo groaned and leaned both elbows on the table in a despondent attitude , but Amy spatted away energetically , and Beth , who sat at the other window , said , smiling , `` Two pleasant things are going to happen right away . Marmee is coming down the street , and Laurie is tramping through the garden as if he had something nice to tell . '' In they both came , Mrs. March with her usual question , `` Any letter from Father , girls ? '' and Laurie to say in his persuasive way , `` Wo n't some of you come for a drive ? I 've been working away at mathematics till my head is in a muddle , and I 'm going to freshen my wits by a brisk turn . It 's a dull day , but the air is n't bad , and I 'm going to take Brooke home , so it will be gay inside , if it is n't out .
Come , Jo , you and Beth will XXXXX , wo n't you ? ''
'm 're 've go grind sat say slighted smiling work