"Because sometimes in this life we're given things that we don't deserve - that we haven't done anything to merit, so to speak. We don't have to give those up if they come our way. And remember this: plenty of people are better off than you. Inequality is written into the way the world works, no matter how hard we try to correct it." Miss Hardy paused. "You may be fortunate in one respect and less fortunate in another. Nobody's guaranteed happiness across the board. Fate has her own ideas of equality."