diff options
Diffstat (limited to '34944.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 34944.txt | 9382 |
1 files changed, 9382 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/34944.txt b/34944.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..45fbb5f --- /dev/null +++ b/34944.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9382 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Brenda, Her School and Her Club, by Helen Leah Reed + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Brenda, Her School and Her Club + +Author: Helen Leah Reed + +Illustrator: Jessie Willcox Smith + +Release Date: January 13, 2011 [EBook #34944] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + Brenda, + + Her School and Her Club + + BY HELEN LEAH REED + + AUTHOR OF "MISS THEODORA," ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH + + + BOSTON + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY + 1900 + + _Copyright, 1900_, + BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + + _All rights reserved._ + + +[Illustration: "THE CHILD HIMSELF, SURROUNDED BY A GROUP OF CURIOUS GIRLS, CLUNG TO NORA'S HAND"] + + + + +CONTENTS + + +I. FOUR FRIENDS + +II. JULIA'S ARRIVAL + +III. THE RESCUE + +IV. A CLUB MEETING + +V. MISS CRAWDON'S SCHOOL + +VI. MISUNDERSTANDINGS + +VII. VISITING MANUEL + +VIII. PLANNING THE BAZAAR + +IX. A MYSTERIOUS MANSION + +X. A SOPHOMORE + +XI. THE COOKING CLASS + +XII. CONCERNING JULIA + +XIII. GREAT EXPECTATIONS + +XIV. THE FOOTBALL GAME + +XV. A POET AT HOME + +XVI. AN HISTORIC RAMBLE + +XVII. THE ROSAS AT HOME + +XVIII. MERRY CHRISTMAS + +XIX. NORA'S THOUGHTLESSNESS + +XX. FIDESSA AND HER MISTRESS + +XXI. MISS SOUTH AND JULIA + +XXII. BRENDA'S SECRET + +XXIII. ALMOST READY + +XXIV. AN EVENING'S FUN + +XXV. THE BAZAAR + +XXVI. GREAT EXCITEMENT + +XXVII. A MISTAKE + +XXVIII. EXPLANATIONS + +XXIX. AFTER VACATION + +XXX. BRENDA'S FOLLY + +XXXI. THE SHILOH PICNIC + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"THE CHILD HIMSELF, SURROUNDED BY A GROUP OF CURIOUS GIRLS, CLUNG TO +NORA'S HAND" + +"'OH, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT, GIRLS,--LET US WORK FOR--MANUEL!'" + +"SHE WAS ABLE TO RUSH ON AND PICK THEM UP AS THEY WERE DASHED AGAINST A +LAMP-POST" + +"NOW AS JULIA SAT THERE DRINKING TEA FROM THE QUAINTEST OF OLD-FASHIONED +CHINA CUPS" + +"'WHY, BRENDA BARLOW, WHY ARE YOU LYING IN THIS DOWNCAST POSITION?'" + + + + +BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB + + + + +I + +FOUR FRIENDS + + +"What do suppose she'll be like?" + +"How can I tell?" + +"Well, Brenda Barlow, I should think you'd have _some_ idea--your own +cousin." + +"Oh, that doesn't make any difference. I've hardly thought about her." + +"But aren't you just a little curious?" continued the questioner, a +pretty girl with dark hair. + +"No, Nora, I'm not. She's sixteen and a half--almost a year older than +we are. She's never lived in a big city, and that's enough." + +"Oh, a country girl?" + +"I don't know that she's a country girl exactly, but I just wish she +wasn't coming. She'll spoil all our fun." + +"How?" asked a third girl, seated on the bottom step. + +"Why, who ever heard of _five_ girls going about together? If three's a +crowd, five's a perfect regiment. I agree with Brenda that it's too bad +to have her come. Now when there's four of us we can pair off and have a +good time." + +The last speaker had a long thin face with a determined mouth and large +china blue eyes. She was the only one of the four whom the average +observer would not call pretty. Yet in her little circle she had her own +way more often even than Brenda, who was not only somewhat of a tyrant, +but a beauty as well. + + "Brenda and Belle + They carry a spell," + +the other girls were in the habit of singing, when the two _Bs_ had +accomplished something on which they had set their hearts. Edith, the +third of the group, in spite of her auburn hair, was the most amiable of +the four. I say "in spite" out of respect merely to the popular +prejudice. Nobody has ever proved that auburn hair really indicates +worse temper than hair of any other color. Edith almost always agreed +with any of the plans made by the others, and very often with their +opinions. Dark-haired Nora was the only one of the group who ever +ventured to dissent from the two _Bs_. Now she spoke up briskly, + +"I know that I shall like your cousin." + +"Why?" the other three exclaimed in a chorus. + +"I can't tell you _why_, only that I know I shall." + +"You're welcome to," said Brenda, tossing her head, "but I guess if you +had just begun to have your own house to yourself you wouldn't like +somebody else coming that you'd have to treat exactly like a sister." + +"Why, Brenda!" said Nora, with a look of surprise, and then the others +remembered that Nora had had a little sister near her own age whose +death was a great sorrow to her. + +"Why, Brenda!" repeated Nora, "I wish that I had a sister." + +Now Brenda Barlow was not nearly as heartless as her words implied. She +had two sisters whom she loved very dearly. But they were both much +older than Brenda, and by petting and spoiling her they had to a large +extent helped to make her selfish. One of them had now been married for +four years, and had gone to California to live and the other was in +Paris completing her art studies. When Janet married, Brenda had not +realized the change in the family. But when Agnes went to Paris, Brenda +was older, and she fully felt her own importance as "Miss Barlow." + +"It's the same as being 'Miss Barlow,'" she said to her friends, "the +servants call me so, and I've moved my things down into Janet's room. I +can invite any one I want to luncheon without asking whether Agnes has +any plans,--and I shouldn't wonder if I could have a dinner-party once +in a while--of course, not a _very_ late one, but with raw oysters to +begin with--sure--" and the other girls laughed, for they knew that +Brenda had been practising on raw oysters for a long time, and that she +felt proud of her present prowess in swallowing them without winking or +making a face. + +Mr. Barlow was generally absorbed in business affairs, and Mrs. Barlow +had so many social engagements that Brenda did as she wished in most +respects. She ordered the servants about when her mother was out, and +they were as ready to obey her as her friends were to follow her lead, +for when Brenda wanted her own way she never seemed ill-natured. She +simply insisted with a very winning smile--and nobody could refuse her. + +She had found it very pleasant to rule her little world. It was even +pleasanter than being the spoiled and petted child that she had been +when her sisters were at home. Her father and mother had never seen how +fond she was growing of her own way until they announced the coming of +her cousin Julia. + +"She is older than you, Brenda, and I hear that she is far advanced in +her studies. I dare say that she will be able to help you sometimes." + +"Oh, papa! I _hate_ to have any one help me. She'll be an awful bore, I +suppose, if she thinks she knows more than me----" + +"Grammar, Brenda," said her mother with a smile. + +"Well, then, more than _I_," repeated Brenda. + +"I'm sure she won't be a bore, Brenda, but her life has been very +different from yours. She has led a quiet life, for you know she was her +father's constant companion until he died." + +Here Mrs. Barlow sighed. Julia's mother was Mrs. Barlow's sister, and +had died when the little Julia was hardly five years old. + +"Uncle Richard was always delicate?" ventured Brenda. + +"Yes, dear, and he spent his life trying to find a place where he could +gain perfect health. Boston was too bleak for him, and that is why you +have not seen Julia since she was very little. Your uncle did not care +to undergo the fatigue of traveling East even in the summer, and he +could not bear to be parted from Julia. But she was always a sweet +little thing." + +"I hope you won't be disappointed in her," cried Brenda, half in a +temper. "I believe you are going to care for her more than you do for +me." + +"Nonsense, Brenda," exclaimed her mother in surprise. + +"Well, you can't expect me to feel the same about her,--a strange +girl--who knows more than I, and is just enough older to make every one +expect me to look up to her. Oh, dear!" + +Since Brenda had not concealed her feelings from her mother, it was +hardly to be expected that she would be less frank with her three most +intimate friends. + +After Nora and Edith had bade Brenda good-bye that afternoon when they +had talked about the unknown cousin, they walked rather slowly up the +street. + +"Do you suppose Brenda's jealous?" said Nora, in a half whisper. + +"Oh, hush," answered Edith, to whom the word jealousy meant something +dreadful. "Of course not." + +"Well, don't you think it's strange for her not to feel more pleased at +the prospect of having her cousin with her. I should think it would be +great fun to have another girl in the house." + +"Oh, well, Brenda can always have one of us. Her mother is so good about +letting her invite people--and of course she can't tell how she'll get +along with her cousin. No, I really shouldn't like it myself." + +As Nora and Edith walked away, Brenda turned to Belle, in whom she +always found a ready sympathizer. + +"You know how I feel, Belle." + +"Yes, indeed; I think it's too bad. I'm sure it will spoil half our fun. +It's horrid anyway to have some one older than yourself ordering you +round." + +"Oh, I don't suppose she'll do that exactly." + +"Well, it's just the same thing. If she's such a model, as your mother +says, she'll make you feel uncomfortable all the time. Then if she's +wearing mourning, she can't do the things that you do, and you'll have +to stay at home and be polite to her. Yes, I'm really sorry for you, +Brenda." + +With sympathy like this, Brenda began to regard herself as almost a +martyr. + +"Oh, dear," she sighed, "why couldn't she have waited until next winter? +Come, Belle," she continued, "you'll stay to dinner, won't you?" + +Belle hesitated for a moment. "I suppose I _ought_ to go home." + +"Oh, why?" + +Belle was silent. She knew that certain unfinished lessons awaited her, +and that her grandmother objected to her dining away from home, unless +she had first asked permission. She fortified herself, however, by +saying to herself, "Oh, well, mother won't care." For her mother was +what is commonly known as easy-going, and seldom interfered with her +daughter's goings and comings. + +Belle always enjoyed dining with Brenda. The dining-room was so +attractive with its great blazing fire, its heavy draperies and cheerful +oil-paintings on the wall. At home she sat down in a large, severely +furnished room, with her solemn grandmother wrapped in a white knitted +shawl at one end of the long table, her half-deaf uncle James at the +other end, and her brother Jack on the side opposite her. Her delicate +mother often dined upstairs. Uncle James usually had some story to tell +of misdeeds that he had heard some one ascribe to Jack ("and how a deaf +person can hear I don't see," Jack would say crossly to Brenda). Her +grandmother generally read Belle herself a lecture on paying proper +respect to one's elders, or some similar subject, while Belle and Jack +exchanged glances of mischievous intelligence, which often drew strong +reproofs from their grandmother, and sometimes from her mother when she +was present. + +No wonder, then, that Brenda's invitation was a strong temptation to +Belle. + +"Come, silence gives consent," laughed Brenda. Dragging Belle by the +arm, she touched the door-bell, and in a moment the two girls were +inside the house. + +"What room is Julia going to have?" asked Belle, as they ran up the +front stairs. + +"Well, you _will_ be surprised; that's one of the things that makes me +so cross. Just _think_ of it, Agnes's rooms in the L--that sweet little +studio that I wanted mamma to let me have--it's all fitted up for Julia. +Don't you call that mean?" Belle pressed her friend's hand. + +"You poor thing!" + +"Yes, it seems Agnes is sure not to come home for two years, and so +mamma thought the studio would be a good place for Julia to practice in, +and so there's a piano and--well--let's come and see. We've got time +before dinner." + +Pushing open a door on the second floor and going down a step or two, +Brenda and Belle found themselves inside a little reception-room. The +walls were a deep red, there was a cashmere rug on the polished floor, a +clock and two bronze figures on the mantelpiece. An open bookcase in one +recess, a short lounge in the other, a low wicker tea-table, and two or +three small chairs made up the furnishing. + +"This is just the same as it was," said Brenda, "and so is the +bedchamber," pointing to a door on the left of the reception-room, "but +see here!" and she turned to the right. Belle followed, and they found +themselves in a long, narrow room, with a bay window at one end and a +skylight overhead. On the walls were several large unframed sketches in +black and white, together with water colors and a number of fine +photographs and engravings in gilt or ebony frames. Against the wall +near the bay window stood a small upright piano with an elephant's cloth +scarf over the top. The groundwork of the scarf was of a deep yellow, +harmonizing with the tint of the painted walls. There were two or three +comfortable chairs covered in yellow-flowered chintz, and in the centre +an inlaid library table with a baize top and an assortment of writing +utensils. There were several rugs of a prevailing yellow tint on the +polished yellow floor, and one side of the room was occupied by rows of +low open book-shelves which held, however, only a few books. + +"I believe Julia's going to have her father's library brought here," +said Brenda, in explanation of the empty shelves. "Don't you _hate_ +book-worms?" + +"Yes," responded Belle, "but how _lovely_ this room is! What a _shame_ +that you couldn't have it yourself! Why, I thought your mother said that +they were going to leave the studio just as it was until Agnes came +home." + +"Well, so they were, but she won't be home for two years, and then +she'll probably have a studio down town, and so they've put most of her +things away and fitted up this room just for Julia. _She_ has to have +everything." + +"I know just how you feel," and Belle pressed Brenda's hand +sympathetically. "But then, your own room is lovely." + +"Oh, yes, of course; but it isn't the same thing as a studio. A studio +is so--so artistic." + +The girls were standing in the bay window, bathed in a flood of sunshine +from the setting sun. They glanced across the broad river toward the +roofs and spires of Cambridge. A tug-boat went puffing along the stream +towing a schooner loaded with lumber. + +"Oh, my, it must be late! the sun is just dropping behind those +Brookline Hills. Come up to my room." + +The room on the floor above the studio which had formerly been Janet's, +also overlooked the river. It was in the main house and its windows +looked down on the roof of the L containing the studio. In fact, the +studio to a slight extent impeded the view of the river which was +obtainable from this upper room. But the room itself was large and +cheerful, with a carpet and paper of bluish tint, a large brass bedstead +canopied with blue, comfortable lounging chairs, a dainty little sofa, +dressing-table, desk, and all kinds of pretty ornaments. A half-open +door showed the adjoining dressing-room with its long pier-glass, and a +coal fire blazed in the open grate. + +"Make yourself comfortable," said Brenda hospitably, "for if you don't +mind, I'm going to write a note that I want to send out by Thomas before +dinner. It won't take me ten minutes." + +Brenda sat down at her little desk, while Belle sank in the depths of an +easy chair near the fire. + +Just as Brenda finished her note, a white-capped maid came into the +room. + +"Oh, Jane, just give this note to Thomas, please. I want him to take it +to Mrs. Grey's and bring back my new coat. I can't go to school +to-morrow without it." + +"I don't hardly think Thomas can go, Miss Brenda." + +"Why not?" + +"Well, he's got to go to the station for your cousin." + +"My cousin?" + +"Yes, miss. A telegram came this afternoon that she'd be here at +six-thirty, and your mother left word when she went out that they +wouldn't be much later than that getting back from the train." + +"Well, I never! The idea of her coming without any one's expecting her. +Why didn't she write?" + +"I don't know, miss. I heard something about a letter that got lost, but +anyway your mother's gone to meet Miss Julia, and she left word she +thought you'd better give up going to the tableaux this evening, for she +wouldn't like you to leave your cousin alone." + +"There, Belle, that's the way it's always going to be. Everything for +'Miss Julia.' I don't care, I'm going out just the same. The idea of +losing those tableaux." + +"But, Brenda," began Belle. + +"No, it isn't any good arguing with me. I never _could_ bear to be +interfered with, and mamma knows perfectly well that I want to see 'The +Succession of the Seasons.'" + +"But it's to be repeated to-morrow evening. You know I'm going then." + +"I don't care. I hate to go the second night to anything." + +Belle did not reply, though as Jane left the room, she turned to Brenda. + +"I'd better not stay to dinner to-night." + +"Oh, do. I don't want to sit alone with Julia. I shan't know what to say +to her. No, really you can't go home." + +Then running to the stairs and calling after Jane, Brenda cried, + +"See that there's an extra place at the table for Belle." + +After this she began to open the drawers of her bureau, tossing their +contents about, and she ran in and out of her closet to bring out one +gown after another for Belle's inspection. + +"Which would you wear if you wanted to make a good impression on a new +cousin? I want to look as old as I can, and I believe I'll do up my +hair." + +"Oh, Brenda!" + +"Yes, I will. Now see, if I put a string on the band of this skirt it +will almost touch the floor. There, help me." + +When the skirt was lengthened, Brenda regarded her reflection in the +pier-glass with great satisfaction. Brushing her waving brown hair to +the top of her head, she gathered it in a soft knot, and thrust a long +gold pin through it. + +"Tell me the truth, Belle, wouldn't you think me sixteen years old--if +you didn't know," she cried to her friend, who could hardly conceal her +mirth at Brenda's changed aspect. + +"I don't--why, yes, of course," as she saw a frown stealing across +Brenda's face. + +Brenda strode around the room with all the dignity she could command, +her pretty face somewhat flushed by her exertions in giving her hair +just the right touch. As a matter of fact she looked rather odd, but +Belle did not dare tell her that her skirt hung unevenly, and that two +or three short locks of her hair stood out almost straight behind. + +"Hark, I believe they've come," Brenda exclaimed. + +Certainly there was a noise in the hall below. + +"Where's Brenda?" she heard her mother call. + +"Well, I suppose we'll have to go down," she said reluctantly to Belle, +and the two girls slowly descended the stairs. + + + + +II + +JULIA'S ARRIVAL + + +As the two girls went downstairs, Brenda politely urged Belle to go +ahead of her. She, herself, lingered a moment to look over the +balusters, and thus, when they reached the broad hall at the foot of the +stairs, she was several steps behind her friend. + +Belle, with a quick eye, before she reached the bottom of the stairs, +noticed a little group near the fireplace,--an elderly woman with a +shawl over her arm, who looked like a maid; Mrs. Barlow, holding the +hand of a slight girl in black, and last but not least, a large Irish +setter which lay at the young girl's feet. All this Belle had hardly +time to notice when the young girl rushed forward and throwing her arm +around her neck, cried, + +"Oh, Cousin Brenda, I'm so glad to see you." Belle for a moment looked +disconcerted, and Mrs. Barlow, without showing any surprise at Belle's +presence, relieved the latter by saying: + +"This isn't Brenda, Julia, but one of her friends." + +Julia, still with her hand in Belle's, smiled pleasantly. + +"I'm glad to see you," she said, and just at that moment Brenda came in +sight. + +Julia was hastening forward to greet her cousin as she had greeted her +friend, but something in Brenda's face forbade her. Brenda could not, +perhaps, have explained why she felt so annoyed at Julia's mistake. She +was not unduly vain, yet it annoyed her that her cousin had mistaken +Belle for her. For well as she liked Belle, she knew that all the other +girls considered her not especially good-looking. Though she could not, +probably would not, have put it into words, the thought flashed through +her brain that Julia was stupid to have made such a mistake. The thought +took form in a rather repelling glance as her eye met her cousin's. + +"Come, Brenda, you should not make Julia go more than half-way to meet +you," called her mother from her place near the fire. + +"No'm," replied Brenda, hardly knowing what she said, for really she +felt a little shy about the new cousin, who was more than a year her +senior. "With her hand outstretched, she stepped toward Julia, moving +with the dignity that her lengthened skirt demanded. + +"Dear me! What can it be?" she thought, as she felt something hindering +her progress. It could not be that the skirt was _too_ long. She stooped +a little to raise it from beneath her feet, and then, how mortifying! +she felt a string snap. She clutched wildly at her skirt with both +hands. But it was too late, and making the best of the situation, she +stood before her cousin in her short ruffled petticoat, instead of her +long, grown-up gown. + +"There, Brenda," cried her mother, comprehending the situation at a +glance, for this was not the first time that Brenda had tried to +lengthen her skirts. "There, Brenda, I hope you won't be as foolish as +this again. Speak to your cousin, and then go up and put on your skirt +properly." + +Poor Brenda! What a loss of dignity! She hardly knew what she said to +Julia, or what Julia said to her. She resented Belle's offer of help, +for had she not heard a decided giggle from her friend at the moment of +the catastrophe? So rushing to her room, she locked the door and did not +leave it until called to dinner. + +Now Brenda, though by no means perfect, was not ill-natured, and she +seated herself at the table with the intention of making herself +agreeable to Julia. + +But there are times when nothing seems to go exactly right, and this +evening was one of them. In the first place it disturbed Brenda to see +her father's glance of amusement as his eye fell on her new style of +hair-dressing. + +"Which is it now?" he laughed, "Marie Antoinette or Queen Elizabeth? +Dear me, Brenda, it's a long time since we've seen you masquerading in +this fashion." + +Brenda reddened. In spite of the mishap to her dress, she wished her +cousin to believe that she always wore her hair on the top of her head. +Vague hopes were floating through her mind that she could persuade her +mother to let her give up her childish pigtail altogether. + +"Why does papa always say things like that?" and she reddened still more +as Julia's eyes fell on her. She remembered, however, her duties as +assistant hostess. + +"Did you have a pleasant journey?" she asked politely. + +"Yes, indeed," answered Julia. "That is, I was just a little tired, but +it was so delightful to look out of the car window and know that I was +really in Massachusetts. It seemed too good to be true." + +Mr. Barlow looked pleased. "Ah, Julia, it gratifies me very much to have +you say this. Sometimes when people have traveled they lose their love +for their early home." + +"Yes, Uncle Robert, I've always loved to think of Boston as my real +home. Although it's so long since we lived here." + +"Why, what do you really remember of Boston?" asked Mr. Barlow. + +"Well, the State-House, Uncle Robert, and the Common--of +course--and--and Brenda." + +"Oh, you can't remember Brenda?" + +"Yes, indeed I can. She was the dearest little thing! You see when I was +five years old, Brenda seemed almost a baby--a year and a half between +two girls makes a good deal of difference,--when they're little." + +But even this last saving clause did not prevent Brenda's heart from +giving a sudden thump, especially as she caught a sympathetic glance +from Belle which seemed to say, + +"Ah, she's reminding you how much older she is than you." + +Brenda straightened herself up. She tried to think of something to say +that would show that though younger, she at least had some knowledge of +the world. + +"Can you eat raw oysters, Julia?" were the rather strange words that +came to her lips. Julia, unable naturally to follow the train of thought +leading to this question, answered brightly, + +"I've never tried. You see we don't have very good oysters in the West, +and some way I've never thought I'd like them raw." + +"Oh, if you want to seem really grown-up you'll have to eat oysters off +the shell," said Mrs. Barlow. "I believe Brenda has practised so that +she can eat them without wincing." + +Then Belle, who prided herself on her tact, hastened to change what she +knew might become a sore subject with Brenda. + +"Were there many people you knew on the train, Miss----" + +"Oh, please say Julia," broke in the young girl. "Every one always does. +No, there wasn't any one I knew in the cars between here and Chicago. If +I had not had Eliza I should have been very lonely." + +Brenda had subsided into an unwonted silence. She was wondering how she +could excuse herself to her cousin--whether her mother would really make +her give up the tableaux for that evening. She heard, without really +listening, an animated conversation between her father and Belle on the +best way of learning history. Belle believed that more could be learned +by general reading than by studying a text-book. "Belle always has so +many theories," Brenda was in the habit of saying. + +"I wish Jane would hurry with the coffee," she cried. + +"Why, Brenda," and her mother looked surprised. "You are not going to +have coffee." + +"Of course, you know you always let me have a little cup when I'm going +out." + +"But you are not going anywhere to-night. Didn't you get my message?" + +Brenda understood well enough that her mother did not wish to discuss +the question of her leaving her cousin when Julia herself was present, +yet she persisted. + +"But, mamma----" + +Mrs. Barlow shook her head. "There is nothing to be said. You know, +Brenda, when I mean a thing I mean it." + +Julia looked a trifle embarrassed, realizing that in some way she was a +hindrance to a full discussion between her aunt and cousin. + +Brenda's face was twisted into a curious scowl. She was forgetting her +duty to her cousin. + +"Oh, mamma, I've made up my mind to go." + +"No, Brenda, it is impossible. Let us hear no more about it." + +"What is it, Brenda, that you wish to do?" asked Mr. Barlow, who while +talking with Belle had only half heard the conversation between Brenda +and her mother. + +Mrs. Barlow shook her head. She did not care to enter into a discussion +before Julia likely to make the young girl feel that her arrival had +interfered with any plan of Brenda's. + +Then Belle, who realized that she was not always in favor with Mrs. +Barlow, saw her opportunity. + +"If Brenda will change with me, she can have my ticket for to-morrow +evening." + +"Why, that is very kind in you, Belle, but have you time to get ready?" + +"Oh, yes, if you'll excuse me now," and before Brenda could remonstrate, +she saw Belle receive the tickets from Mrs. Barlow's hands and heard her +hasty words of good-bye as she started home under the escort of Thomas. + +Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Barlow took any notice of the cloud on Brenda's +face. Fortunately they could not read her reflections on the duplicity +of Belle, who after pitying her so in the afternoon, had now begun to +side against her. This at least was the form which Brenda's thoughts +took. Rightly or wrongly she considered herself an ill-used young +person. + +Just then the maid entered with a letter on a salver. Mrs. Barlow +glanced at it and then laughed. + +"This explains the mystery, Julia, you wrote 'New York' instead of +'Boston,' and so your letter has been two days longer than it should +have been in reaching us." + +"Oh, did I, Aunt Anna? How stupid! Well, you have treated me much better +than my carelessness deserved." + +"Well, I'm only glad that I happened to be at home when your telegram +came. It would have been a little cheerless for you had you happened to +arrive when we were all out. But come, you must be tired." + +"Oh, not very." Then, as they left the room, Julia threw her arm around +Brenda. + +"I know that we shall be great friends." + +Already Brenda had begun to return to herself. She hoped that Julia had +not noticed her ill-temper. Perhaps after all she should like this new +cousin better than she had expected. + +"If I were you, Brenda, I'd take Julia to her room now," said Mrs. +Barlow. + +"How lovely!" exclaimed Julia, as they entered the pretty bedroom near +the studio. "Am I to have this all to myself?" + +"Yes," replied Brenda. + +"I never saw so pretty a room! How I _shall_ enjoy it! Whose used it to +be?" + +"Oh, it was Agnes's room. She had it decorated to suit her ideas. You +know she's an artist." + +"Oh, yes. How delightful to be an artist. I wish that I had some special +talent." + +"I thought you had. Some one, mamma I think, said that you were +musical." + +"So I am in a way. I've given more time to music than to anything else. +But that was chiefly to please papa." + +Here Julia sighed, while Brenda hardly knew what to say. + +"You must miss him very much," she ventured. + +"Oh, don't speak of it, Brenda. I can't bear to think that he is really +gone." And Julia's tears began to fall. + +"What shall I say?" thought Brenda, and as her words of sympathy were +beginning to take shape, her mother entered the room. Wisely enough, she +made no comment on Julia's tears, believing that they would flow less +freely if she seemed to take no notice of them. + +"I have come to see if you are perfectly comfortable. To-night Eliza +will sleep on the lounge in your room, and after this we will arrange a +bed for her in the room across the hall. In either case you will not +feel lonely." + +When Julia had thanked her aunt for her kindness, Mrs. Barlow drew +Brenda one side. + +"Now, Brenda, we must bid your cousin good-night," and then, with a +final word or two of advice to Julia, Mrs. Barlow with Brenda left the +room. + +"I'm going to bed now, mamma," said Brenda, as they reached the hall. + +"Very well, I haven't time myself to tell you that I think you have +behaved very foolishly this evening. I hope you will be more sensible +to-morrow." + +"Good-night," cried Brenda, without making any promises. + +When she was within her own room she flung herself down on her bed. + +"I know just how it will be," she said to herself. "I can never do what +I want to. It will always be 'Julia, Julia.' She isn't so bad herself, +but it's the way every one will treat me that I hate." + +With these confused words on her lips she began to get ready for bed. + + + + +III + +THE RESCUE + + +Brenda started for school a little later than usual the morning after +Julia's arrival. As she walked up Beacon Street she saw Edith and Nora +ahead of her, half-way up the slope on the sidewalk next the Common. + +"Oh, dear, they might look back," she said to herself. But they neither +looked back nor paused on their way, and Brenda was prevented from +hurrying by a line of wagons and street cars which blocked Charles +Street. She was kept standing for two or three minutes at the street +crossing, and when she continued her way Edith and Nora had turned into +the side street leading to the school. When Brenda reached the school +door, Belle was the centre of a group of girls seated on the steps. + +"Why didn't you call for me, Belle?" cried Brenda petulantly. + +"Oh, I had to do some errands on the way, and I thought, too, that you +would stay home with your cousin." + +"Well! I should say not. I shall see enough of her." + +"Tell us about her, Brenda," cried Nora who came out from the house for +a moment. "Belle says she has come. What _is_ she like?" + +"Like? Why, like any girl. There's nothing special about her. She wears +black and I think she feels kind of superior. It's going to be awfully +hard for me." + +"Yes, Brenda," said a thin-faced girl in the group back by Belle. "You +don't think any one could be superior to you, do you?" + +Brenda, with her back to the sidewalk, was ready with a sharp reply, +when a warning look from one of the girls closed her lips. + +"Why, girls," said a cheerful voice behind her, "ought you not to go +inside now? You should be in your seats by twenty minutes past nine. I +have said many times that you were not to wait for me." + +The girls all respected Miss Crawdon, and they were just a little afraid +of her. Her authority was not always agreeable, when she chose to make +them feel it. Miss Crawdon was tall and blonde, with eyes some one said +"that saw everything." These were the right kind of eyes for the +principal of a girls' school. She had a pleasant voice with a tone of +decision in it that no one dared dispute. At her words the girls seated +on the steps slowly arose, and in a very short time they were at their +desks, getting out books and preparing for the day's work. + +Brenda and Belle occupied adjacent seats. Edith and Nora were in the +same room, though a little nearer the window. They with about ten other +girls formed what might be called the middle class of a school of forty. +There were about fifteen older girls who would stay in school one or two +years longer, while Brenda and her friends had three years before them. +At least they would not "come out" for three years. + +The older girls naturally kept much to themselves. They "did up" their +hair, wore skirts almost touching the ground, and were in every way +envied by their juniors. The youngest girls of all concerned themselves +very slightly about the oldest of all. But the girls of Brenda's age +imitated in many ways the doings of these older girls, and when, as +occasionally happened, one of the graduating class invited a younger +girl to walk with her at recess, the latter for a day or two after was +treated with great deference by her companions. + +These oldest girls were not ahead of their schoolmates in all their +studies. In Latin and mathematics some of them recited with the younger +girls, or it might be fairer to say that some of the brighter young +girls were in the classes with the elder. Edith, for example, was ahead +of Brenda in mathematics, and her class almost through geometry, was +planning to go into trigonometry. + +The discipline of the school was not unduly strict, yet after the +opening, girls were not expected to speak to one another without special +permission. In this matter they were put rather on their honor, for no +special punishment was inflicted for disobedience. A word of +disapprobation was usually the most severe reproof, although, in rare +cases, girls had been kept after school. Nora, whose intentions were +always good, was, of the four friends whom we have been observing, the +most likely to break some of the unwritten laws of the school. She +always saw the funny side of things, and it was very hard for her to +keep still when she wished to share her fun with somebody else. Belle +was no more scrupulous than Nora about observing rules, but she could +whisper to her neighbor in a quiet way without attracting attention. +Edith was really a conscientious, painstaking girl. On this account some +of those who did not know her well called her a "bore." Brenda was good +or bad by fits and starts. Sometimes for a week she devoted herself to +her lessons. She would then put her finger to her lips when Nora, in +passing her desk, bent over her to tell her some bit of news. She would +pretend not to understand when Belle laid a small piece of folded paper +on her desk, and she would keep her eyes fixed on her books when any +other girl tried to distract her attention. To-day, however, it was +different. In the first place she did not know her lesson very well and +did not feel like studying. In the half-hour in which she was supposed +to be doing her Latin exercise her mind constantly wandered, and she +could not help seeing that Belle was anxious to tell her something. At +length the little wad of paper fell on her desk. + +"The tableaux were perfectly splendid! You ought to have been there." + +Brenda nodded sadly. Surely this was not kind of Belle, who knew that +only stern necessity had kept her at home. + +"I suppose the tableaux will be as good to-night," and a second note +fell on Brenda's desk, "but there won't be half as many people you know. +Everybody was there last night. Shall you take Julia?" + +Again Brenda nodded, but by this time she was growing impatient. Leaning +forward toward Belle's desk, "Keep still, can't you, Belle," she +exclaimed in a voice intended to be a whisper. Unfortunately her voice +was louder than she thought, and she was recalled to herself by Miss +Crawdon's voice, "Be careful, Brenda," and Brenda applied herself to her +books until the hour arrived for the Latin lesson. + +At recess Belle, pretending not to see Brenda, joined two of the older +girls and walked with them for the half hour, while Brenda and Nora and +Edith sat on the steps. + +"Why didn't you know your Latin lesson?" asked Brenda of Edith. "I never +knew you to stumble so, and you couldn't give a single rule." + +"Well, you know I didn't study yesterday afternoon. I meant to, but it +was too lovely to go in the house, and then last evening I went to the +tableaux. It seemed hard to have to stay home to study though I suppose +I should have. You didn't know your own lesson very well, Brenda, +although you stayed home all the evening." + +"But, you see, I had company----" + +"You'll find it hard to do your lessons if you make company of Julia. +Isn't she coming to school too?" + +"Oh, I guess so. Won't it be hateful to have her in the class above us?" + +"Perhaps she won't be. Didn't you say she hadn't been at school much?" + +"Oh, girls who have studied at home always think they know more than any +one else. Oh, there, there!" and Brenda paused in her speech as a little +child playing on the opposite sidewalk ran out into the street in front +of the very wheels of a passing wagon. For a moment all held their +breath, then Nora with a leap and a run was down the steps and in the +street. Before the child realized its own danger she had snatched it +from in front of the horses, and had dragged it to the sidewalk. The +teamster, a rather stupid-looking man, had dismounted from his place. + +"Waal, now, the child ain't hurt, I guess," he said to the girl, "I +pulled up as soon as I heard you holler, but it was such a little mite +of a thing that I couldn't hardly see it." + +"Oh, it wasn't your fault," Brenda and Edith exclaimed. "It ran out so +quickly, but if you hadn't stopped your horses, it might have been +killed." + +After assuring himself that the child was not really hurt, the teamster +went on, the child himself, surrounded by a group of curious girls, +clung closely to Nora's hand--a forlorn little thing--with bare feet and +a torn pinafore. The mud spattered over his face did not show very +distinctly on his dark skin. One small hand he had thrust into his eye, +and behind it the tears were slowly trickling down. Nora held the other +hand, and the child clung to her as if never intending to let go. + +"What's your name, little boy?" cried one of the girls. + +The child only sobbed. + +"Here, Amy, give him a piece of your banana. He looks like an Italian +fruit-seller's child. He'll eat a banana." + +But the little boy was not to be tempted. + +Just then the noon bell sounded from the schoolroom. + +"There, Nora, let him go, he'll find his way home," suggested one of the +girls. + +"Oh, no, I'm sure he's hurt. Where do you live, little boy?" + +Still no reply. The other girls went back into school, while Nora walked +irresolutely toward the door, holding the child's hand. As she stood at +the foot of the steps wondering what to do, Miss Crawdon appeared at the +door with Brenda and Edith who had hurried to tell her about the child. + +"Is the little fellow hurt?" she asked with interest. + +"Not really hurt, perhaps, but awfully frightened, and I'm sure he +doesn't live anywhere around here. I don't want to leave him when I go +into school, what _shall_ I do?" + +"Don't look so distressed, Nora," said Miss Crawdon smiling. "I'm not +sure myself what is best." Then, after a moment's reflection, "You may +send him down to the basement with the janitor, and later I will see +what can be done." + +So Nora, saying all the reassuring things that she could to the child, +left him with the janitor, Mr. Brown, although this separation was +accompanied with loud cries and shrieks on the part of the little boy. + +It was very hard for Nora and the others to remain perfectly quiet +during the hour and a half that remained of school. They were anxious to +exchange questions about the child, to speculate about his home, and I +am sure that the little boy was more in the thoughts of Brenda, Edith, +and Nora than their lessons. + +Belle had missed the excitement of the morning, for at the moment of the +accident she and the two older girls whom she had joined, were out of +sight of the school walking in another street. + +She had returned to the schoolroom hardly half a minute before the end +of recess, when there was really no time to ask a question. She did not +dare to ask a question of Brenda, who still wore an unamiable +expression. + +When half-past one came, however, Brenda and Belle forgot their little +disagreement, and hastened after Nora to learn what she was going to do +with her protege. + +"Now, I'll tell you girls, just what I'm going to do. Miss Crawdon says +it will be all right. Brenda and I are going with Mrs. Brown to see +where Manuel lives--we have found out that his name is Manuel. We can +get some luncheon here, and please, please, stop at my house, Belle, and +tell my mother, and you, Edith, at Brenda's." + +"Why don't you let Mrs. Brown go alone?" + +"Oh, it will be so much more fun to go too." + +"You can't find his house." + +"Oh, yes; it will be somewhere down Hanover Street. Mrs. Brown knows. If +we take him there, he'll lead us on. Oh, it will be great fun." + +"I don't believe your mother would like you to go without letting her +know." + +"Well, I just have to go. I'm sure she won't care." + +Though Nora was so confident, Brenda had some misgivings. She knew that +she really ought to be at home, but the temptation to go with Nora was +too strong to resist. + +So, soon after two o'clock the strange procession began its march toward +Hanover Street, Manuel walking between Nora and Brenda, while Mrs. Brown +brought up the rear. Manuel was still silent. + +"If he were a girl he'd talk more," said Nora. + +Manuel showed very little interest in the whole proceeding. In fact he +seemed so tired that Mrs. Brown would have carried him had he not +resisted her efforts to take him in her arms. + + + + +IV + +A CLUB MEETING + + +The strange procession had not gone very far when Nora heard some one +behind calling her name. It was Miss Crawdon, who, as Nora turned +around, signalled her to stop. + +"Oh, Brenda, Miss Crawdon wishes to speak to us." + +In a moment their teacher had overtaken them. + +"I must reconsider my promise to you, or at least, Nora, you partly +misunderstood what I said. It will not do at all for you to go home with +this little boy. Your mother would blame me very much." + +"Oh, Miss Crawdon," pouted Brenda. Nora, too, showed her disappointment. + +"Now, Brenda, consider what it means. In the first place it is uncertain +whether or not you could find his home. In the second place you might +have to go into some dirty street or alley. With your mother's consent I +should have nothing to say, but as it is----" + +"Well, can't we go as far as Scollay Square? We could get a car there +and go straight home." + +Miss Crawdon hesitated a moment. + +"As it happens," she replied, "I have to go in that direction myself. We +will walk together, and I will see you safely on your car. Mrs. Brown +and Manuel may lead the way." + +"Isn't he cunning!" exclaimed Brenda, as the little boy looked over his +shoulder at the girls, with one little hand doubled up against his eye, +and his other clutching Mrs. Brown's skirt. + +"I wish he would talk to us," responded Nora. "Where do you live, little +boy?" Manuel smiled knowingly. "There," he said, waving his hand +indefinitely toward the Square, across which the electric cars were +whizzing. + +"Oh, no," cried Nora, "nobody lives there; there are shops and a hotel, +and----" + +"Birdies, birdies, there," cried Manuel. + +Even Miss Crawdon smiled as Manuel ran up to a shop window, and pounded +the glass, somewhat to the dismay of the parrots exhibited there in +their cages. + +"Well, he seems to know this shop," said Mrs. Brown. "We might wait here +for a minute." + +At the other side of the shop around the corner was a doorway in which +sat a woman with a basket of fruit for sale. Manuel himself was the +first to catch sight of her, and rushing forward with a flying leap, he +almost knocked her basket over. The little boy had found his tongue, and +chattering like a magpie, he pointed toward the ladies. The woman, +rising from the step on which she had been sitting, came toward the +little group. In broken English she explained that Manuel was her +youngest boy, and that sometimes she let him go with her on her round of +fruit-selling. Lately she had had her stand near this bird store, and in +some way on this particular day, Manuel had wandered away from her. + +"You must have been worried," said Nora. + +"Oh, no," she answered philosophically; "me thought him gone home." + +Then Brenda, who had hitherto kept silent, broke in with a graphic +account of the fate Manuel had escaped through Nora's bravery. The +mother probably only half comprehending the young girl's rapid flow of +words, smiled and showed her white teeth. "T'ank you, t'ank you," she +said. "You come and see him some day," she added, in a general +invitation to the group. + +"Come, girls, we must hasten," said Miss Crawdon. "Mrs. Brown will take +down Manuel's address. Then, if your mothers are willing, you may go to +see him some day." + +Rather reluctantly Nora and Brenda bade good-bye to black-eyed Manuel +and his mother. They gave Mrs. Brown many injunctions to make no mistake +about his house and street. On Saturday they both hoped to be able to go +to see him. + +To them the whole thing presented the aspect of an adventure. + +"I never spoke to a foreigner before in Boston, did you?" said Nora, "I +mean except French teachers," she added. + +"No, not a poor foreigner," responded Brenda. "Wasn't that woman +picturesque, with her shawl over her head?" + +As they drew near home both girls began to feel a little doubtful as to +the wisdom of what they had done. + +"Well, your mother never scolds," said Brenda, as she bade good-bye to +Nora at the door of the latter. + +"Why, yours doesn't either," exclaimed Nora. + +"Oh, you don't know," and Brenda shook her head. "There's Julia now----" + +"Nonsense," laughed Nora, running up the steps. "Good-bye, now. I'm +coming to see Julia this afternoon. You know I expect to like her." + +"Your lunch is waiting, Miss Brenda," said the maid as Brenda started up +the front stairs toward her room. + +"Oh, I've had my luncheon," replied Brenda. "You don't think I'd wait +until this time." + +"Brenda," called her mother from the library, "it's half-past three. +Where have you been since school?" + +"Oh, dear!" grumbled Brenda to herself. "I don't see why I have to give +an account of every step I take. I'll be down in a minute," she called +out, as she continued her way upstairs. When she descended to the +library, she hastened forward with a polite "Good-afternoon" to Julia, +who was seated before the fire with a book in her lap. + +"Julia has been reading to me," said her mother. + +"We have had a very pleasant hour," added Julia. + +"But tell me where you have been," said Brenda's mother. "You know that +it is a rule that you should come directly home----" + +Brenda tossed her head. + +"Oh, I asked Belle to come and tell you." + +"She may have left word that you were not coming, I think that Thomas +gave me some message, but let us hear where you have been." + +Mrs. Barlow spoke pleasantly, for she knew by the cloud on Brenda's face +that there might be a storm if for the present she said too much about +her absence from luncheon. + +"Yes," added Julia, "do tell us where you have been. I have an idea that +you have had an adventure." + +"How could you guess?" exclaimed Brenda, and then, with the ice broken +by these words of Julia's, she gave her mother an animated account of +Nora's bravery, Manuel's beauty and the fruit-woman's picturesqueness. + +Mrs. Barlow and Julia were interested. Brenda had a graphic way of +telling a story, and the events of the morning lost nothing by her +telling. But Mrs. Barlow shook her head when Brenda spoke of visiting +Manuel in his home. + +"It might not be at all a proper place," she said, "and besides, +Manuel's mother may not care to have strangers visit her. Poor people +sometimes are very sensitive about such things." + +Before Brenda had time to argue this point with her mother, the portiere +was pushed aside and Belle and Edith came into the room. Julia rose to +shake hands with Belle, while Edith with a very sweet smile, stepping +toward her, said: + +"I am glad to see you. I am one of 'the Four.' Brenda's told you about +us. I am Edith." + +Julia felt strongly drawn to the pleasant-faced girl. She liked her +better than Belle, although on the two occasions of their meeting the +latter had been markedly polite to her. + +"Yes, we're all here now except Nora. We ought to be ready to give her a +serenade, or something like that when she comes. She's really a kind of +a heroine, isn't she?" + +"Oh, nonsense, Edith," said Belle. "She did not actually do so very +much. Those horses were not running away, and a little paddy like that +child has as many lives as a cat." + +"He _isn't_ a paddy," interrupted Brenda, "but a Portuguese,--a dear +little Portuguese--and Nora was very brave. It's just like you, Belle, +to think that a thing isn't of any account unless you have had something +to do with it." + +Belle was silent. In the presence of a stranger she never forgot her +good manners, and Julia was still sufficiently a stranger to act as a +check on the sharp reply which otherwise might have risen to her lips. +Edith now came in as a peacemaker. + +"Well, it was great fun to have anything out of the ordinary happen at +school. You can't imagine," turning to Julia, "how stupid it is to have +things go on in the same way day after day. Last week there was a fire +alarm about two blocks away, and just think, the engines passed scarcely +five minutes after recess was over, and Miss Crawdon wouldn't let us run +out to see where the fire was." + +"Naturally not," said Mrs. Barlow, as she left the room, adding, as she +passed out, + +"By the time you are ready, Julia, the carriage will be here." + +"Yes, Aunt Anna," answered Julia, and she, too, after a few pleasant +words with Edith, excused herself with the explanation that her aunt had +promised to accompany her to do some important errands down town. + +"Come upstairs with me," said Brenda, with an air of relief, as Julia +left. "There's Nora, now, I know her ring of the bell." + +Nora soon joined the other three in Brenda's pretty bedroom. + +"Here we are, all four together again," exclaimed Brenda, as she threw +herself down on the chintz-covered sofa. "It's so much pleasanter not to +have any strangers about." + +"Do you call your cousin a stranger?" asked Nora. + +"Why, yes, any one can see that she's terribly serious, and that she +won't take a bit of interest in the things we do." + +"Aren't you going to ask her to join the Four Club?" + +"Well, then it wouldn't be a Four Club. Besides five is a horrid number. +You never can plan things together when there are five." + +"But you can't leave her out." + +"I don't see why not. She'll have other things to do in the +afternoon--like to-day. We needn't tell her about the Club at all, need +we?" + +Edith and Nora, to whom Brenda seemed to appeal, said nothing. Belle was +looking out of the window, and though she usually would have agreed with +Brenda, they had lately had so many little disagreements, that she would +not gratify her friend by assenting to her words. + +Brenda, however, perceiving that her views were not shared by the other +three girls, decided to avoid discussing Julia any further. + +"Let us come to order like a club," she exclaimed, "and decide what we +shall work for this winter." + +In the preceding spring the four friends had decided that it would be +very interesting to give their occasional meetings a club form. Instead +of passing their afternoons in mere idle talk, they would have some +object. They would all do fancy work, and perhaps have a sale in the +spring for some charity. Each of the girls had already spent all her +spare pocket-money on materials for needlework, although as yet they had +made but little headway in their work. Nor had they decided for what +object the sale should be held. + +"It's a good deal like counting your chickens before they are hatched," +Mrs. Barlow had said when Brenda consulted her on the subject. "It would +be better to wait until you have enough work for a sale, before deciding +what to do with your money." + +In her heart Mrs. Barlow doubted that the girls would make enough money +to be worth giving to any institution. She doubted even that they would +persevere in their work, and have a sale. Brenda, herself, was too apt +to begin with enthusiasm some undertaking which after a while she would +let languish until it came to nothing. In this case Brenda was indignant +at her mother's want of faith. + +"Now you know that I'm older than I used to be, and I'm perfectly in +earnest about wanting an object to work for." + +"Very well, Brenda," said Mrs. Barlow smiling, "I certainly will not +interfere, only you must give me time to think of a beneficiary for your +money." + +Now if the girls had started with a definite object to work for, their +club meetings would have lost much of their interest. As it was, more +than half their time was spent in earnest discussions of the merit of +different institutions. Edith thought that a hospital was the noblest +object of charity, although the others objected that the City or the +State usually looked after hospitals. Nora hoped their money would be +given to some orphan asylum, or a home for old persons, Belle believed +that there was nothing so worthy as the Institution for the Blind, and +Brenda changed her point of view from week to week. + +"What are we to work for _this_ week, Brenda?" asked Belle, somewhat +derisively, as she opened her sewing-bag. + +"Oh, I don't know. We're not working for anything in particular." Then, +as her eye met Nora's, a new idea came. + +"Oh, I'll tell you what, girls,--let us work for--Manuel!" + +[Illustration: "'OH, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT, GIRLS,--LET US WORK FOR--MANUEL!'"] + + + + +V + +MISS CRAWDON'S SCHOOL + + +A girl's first day at a new school is very trying to her. The scrutiny +which two or three dozen pairs of sharp young eyes give her is hard to +bear. This ordeal is often more dreaded by a girl than many of the +important events of her later years. Now Julia, although she was to go +to school in her cousin Brenda's company, looked forward to her first +day with considerable anxiety. In the first place she was naturally shy, +and in the second place she had never regularly attended school. For the +most part her lessons had been given her by her father. But at times +when they had stayed long enough in some place to make this possible, +she had had special instruction from private teachers. Her father had +been very fond of books and had bought many expressly for Julia's +benefit. She was, therefore, much better read than most girls of her +age. Her education, too, was ahead of that of the average girl of +sixteen. Of this fact Julia herself was unaware. She fancied that +because she had gone to school so little, she would be found far behind +her cousin Brenda and Brenda's friends. Before going to school she had +had an informal talk with Miss Crawdon, in which she had revealed more +to the keen mind of the latter than she had suspected. For Miss Crawdon +never wasted words, and she did not tell the young girl that in some +studies she was far ahead of many of her pupils of the same age. The +teacher's questions had been far-reaching, and she felt pleased at the +prospect of having among her pupils one evidently so fond of books as +Julia. + +The young girl, on the contrary, on the way to school with her cousin, +expressed to the latter her fear at the prospect before her. + +"Oh, you needn't worry," said Brenda, more patronizingly than she really +intended, "Miss Crawdon won't be hard with you, she knows you haven't +been at school much, and even if you have to start in one of the lower +classes, you'll probably be able to push on rather quickly." + +But even this did not reassure Julia. She was thinking less of her +standing in the classes than of the reception she should meet from the +girls. It was by no means comforting to feel the many strange eyes that +followed her as she walked up the stairs with Brenda to enter the main +schoolroom. Miss Crawdon was busy in another room, and Brenda who always +had a great many things on her mind, rushed off to speak to one of the +girls, leaving Julia alone near the door. There were perhaps a dozen +girls standing about in little groups of three or four. They did not +mean to be unkind, but when they saw Julia, they not only glanced +curiously toward her, but for the time ceased their conversation. When +they began to talk again it was not in the loud tone they had used +before, and Julia would have been less than human if she had not +received the impression that they were talking about her. Every one +knows how uncomfortable it is for a girl to feel that she is in the +presence of people who are making comments upon her. As a matter of fact +what they said to one another was almost harmless. + +"Is she Brenda Barlow's cousin?" + +"What is she in mourning for?" + +"How old is she?" + +"Do you suppose she is coming here to school?" + +This was the kind of question exchanged by the girls, with here and +there a less good-natured comment. + +"I don't call her so very pretty." + +"She doesn't look like Brenda." + +"Wouldn't you say that dress was made in the year one. I never saw such +sleeves." + +Unluckily the girl who made this last remark was standing rather nearer +Julia than she had realized. It happened that Julia herself, who usually +cared little for fashion, was sensitive about these very sleeves. They +had been made a little smaller than the prevailing mode required by a +dressmaker whom Julia had employed in a spirit of kindness without +regard to her skill. She had not remembered when dressing that this was +to be her first day at school. When she did recall this fact she had not +thought it worth while to change her gown. She flushed a little when she +overheard the criticism, and walked farther away from the groups toward +Miss Crawdon's desk. + +As she stood there looking more serious than usual, she was more than +pleased to hear Nora's well-known voice exclaiming, + +"Why, Julia, are you here all alone? Where's Brenda? Dear me, is this +really your first day of school?" + +Julia smiled. "I can't answer all your questions at once, but I _don't_ +know where Brenda is, and this _is_ to be my first day of school." + +"Is that why you look so mournful? Now we're not such a bad lot. Come, +let me introduce you to some of your companions in misery." Then before +Julia could object, she found herself receiving introductions to most of +the girls in the room, even to the very one whose criticism had annoyed +her. She was a thin girl with light hair and eyes and eyelashes. Her +chin was long and her face was somewhat freckled. + +"This is Brenda Barlow's cousin Julia," said Nora, pleasantly. + +"Yes, I thought you were Brenda's cousin," said the light-haired girl +turning toward Julia. "Brenda's been dreading your coming to school." + +Julia flushed as any girl might at a remark of this kind, even while she +realized the unkindness of the speech. + +"Nonsense, Frances," said quick-witted Nora, "I'm sure you never heard +Brenda say anything so disagreeable." + +But the light-haired girl had turned away. She was in the habit of +making thoughtless remarks without caring whom they hit. Nora gave +Julia's hand a gentle squeeze. "Brenda's just as glad as I am that +you're coming to school," she whispered to Julia. But Julia shook her +head, half sadly. She had already begun to see some of her cousin's +peculiarities. + +By this time many girls were rushing in from the dressing-rooms laughing +and chattering as if they must say as much as possible before school +began. + +A few curious eyes were turned toward Julia, but most of the girls were +so absorbed in their own affairs that they took no notice of the tall +slender stranger in her black dress. + +When Miss Crawdon returned to the room she welcomed Julia very +cordially. + +"I have arranged a seat for you here at the side near me," she said. "I +had to have an extra desk brought in as there was no vacant place. But I +dare say that you will not mind being by yourself here." + +The seat to which Miss Crawdon pointed was in a little alcove at one +side of her desk. It was so placed that it commanded a view of all the +other desks in the room, yet it was not as conspicuous from the other +desks as it seemed to poor Julia. When she took her seat she felt as if +every one was looking at her. Whereas, in fact, only the girls in the +very front rows could see her plainly. Between Miss Crawdon's desk and +the front seat there was a row of settees where those girls who formed +Miss Crawdon's special classes, sat during recitation. There were other +class-rooms in various parts of the house, but the more advanced girls +recited either to Miss Crawdon or to teachers in the small adjoining +room. + +Although Julia was less conspicuous than she imagined, it was not long +before the whole school realized that a new girl had arrived. Most of +them were too polite to show any surprise, but as each class filed +through the room on its way to the recitation-room, many curious glances +were thrown in her direction. + +Miss Crawdon had told Julia that she would require no regular work from +her that day. + +"Perhaps you would like to look over this history," she had added, +giving her a book, "and after recess, you may like to join the class. By +listening to the other classes this morning you will get an idea of the +kind of work I expect." + +So Julia divided the two hours before recess between listening to the +recitations and glancing over the history. It happened to be a history +of France, and the special chapter was one dealing with the reign of +Louis XIV. Julia paid much less attention to the book than she did to +the girls who were reciting. It was all so new to her, for it was really +true that she had never been in a school before. She admired the skill +with which Miss Crawdon asked questions, and she wondered if she would +ever be able to give replies herself, as clear as those of some of the +girls. Yet not all the girls, she observed, knew their lesson, and some +of them showed great cleverness in concealing--or trying to conceal this +ignorance from Miss Crawdon. The latter was unusually proficient in +reading girls, and she generally recognized the evasive answer that was +intended to conceal lack of knowledge. The second class of the morning +was one in English history, the period, the beginning of the reign of +Mary. Julia had been engaged with her own book, but she looked up to +hear Miss Crawdon saying, "So Mary succeeded one of the Princes murdered +in the tower, at least I understood you to say Edward V." + +"Yes," answered a voice which Julia recognized as that of Brenda's +friend Belle, "yes, she succeeded her brother, the murdered prince, who +had been beheaded by Katharine of Arragon." + +Miss Crawdon did not smile, and Belle could not see the look of surprise +on the faces of some of her classmates. But unfortunately she could see +Julia's face and the involuntary smile on the latter's lips. She turned +very red, and while Miss Crawdon proceeded to set her right, she +registered a vow of dislike against that "prig of a Julia" who evidently +knew more history than she did. Julia, too, caught the disagreeable look +that flashed from Belle's eyes, and she greatly regretted that smile. +Belle was one of those girls who seldom study a lesson thoroughly. She +always had vague general ideas of the topic under consideration, gained +by a rapid survey of the pages assigned for a lesson. When she could do +so unobserved, sometimes during recitation she would look between the +covers of her book to refresh her lagging memory. Nora and Edith and +Brenda were also in the class with her, and sometimes one or the other +of them would prompt her to save her from disgrace. Nora occasionally +had pangs of conscience, and announced that she considered looking in a +book or prompting, dishonorable. But sometimes she yielded to Belle's +signals for help over a hard place. Belle did not often signal, for she +relied as a general thing on her own fluency of language to conceal her +lack of knowledge. Miss Crawdon, however, had what Belle called an +aggravating way of making her repeat her words until her mistakes were +displayed in all their nakedness to the rest of the class. + +"It's bad enough," she said to a group surrounding her at recess. "It's +bad enough to have Miss Crawdon always down on one, but really I can't +stand it if Julia is to sit where she can watch everything I do when I'm +reciting to Miss Crawdon. I shouldn't think that you girls would like it +either," she concluded. + +"Oh, we're not afraid; we generally know our lessons," answered Frances +Pounder, the girl whose careless remark had hurt Julia's feelings +earlier in the day. + +"Well, it doesn't matter whether you know your lessons or not, you can +see for yourself that it's very funny for Miss Crawdon to put any girl +in so conspicuous a place, right beside her, almost. I hate favoritism." + +"Why, how you talk, Belle. This cousin of Brenda's hasn't been in school +a day yet, and you talk of favoritism." + +"Well, why shouldn't she have been in the history class with us? She +told me she was going to have French history with the older girls. Just +think of it, she's only a little older than we, and she's going to +recite with girls nearly eighteen." + +"She isn't so very pretty, is she?" said another girl, and so a +conversation went on which luckily Julia could not hear. She spent the +recess walking up and down with Nora, who was rapidly becoming her most +intimate friend. + + + + +VI + +MISUNDERSTANDINGS + + +Little by little Julia accustomed herself to the routine of school. At +first it was much harder for her than any one suspected. Even after she +had become fairly well acquainted with the girls in her classes, she +dreaded each recitation. It was no easy task to put her knowledge into +the definite form needed in answering questions. She had much more +general information than many of her classmates, but nearly all were +better skilled in reciting lessons. Although in history, Latin and +literature she was two classes ahead of Brenda and the three other +inseparables, she was with all but Edith in mathematics, and, rather to +Brenda's delight, a class below them in French. Julia's father had been +much less interested in modern than in ancient languages, and Julia had +had limited opportunities for learning French. Belle, on the contrary, +was a really fine French scholar. She was fonder, indeed, of introducing +French words and phrases into her conversation than should have been the +case with a girl who really understood the French language. Edith +excelled in mathematics, Nora, strange to say, Nora, who was so careless +about most of her lessons, had a real gift for English composition. +Brenda did well in all her studies "by fits and starts," as the girls +said. She had fine powers, her teachers often told her, which she seldom +exerted to the utmost. But Brenda and her friends formed only a small +part of the school, and Julia soon found that in every class she had one +or two competitors whose proficiency spurred her on. + +To be perfectly frank, however, it must be said that the majority of +Miss Crawdon's girls were not hard workers. Miss Crawdon, herself, often +felt greatly discouraged that girls with the opportunities of most of +her pupils, should appreciate these opportunities so little. With most +of them attending school was a mere duty, a way in which several months +of each year must be spent until they should "come out." Miss Crawdon +tried in vain to arouse in most of them something more like a passing +interest in their work. Occasionally she found a spark of earnestness in +one of her pupils which she was able to fan into ambition. But more +often she had to give up the attempt to induce a bright girl to become a +genuine student. There were too many distractions out of school, and +parents were apt to be slow in seconding her efforts. Miss Crawdon was +pleased, therefore, to find in Julia a girl who loved study and who was +inclined to persevere. + +One day Brenda came home from school in a state of considerable +excitement. + +"What do you think, mamma, Julia is going to study Greek! Did you ever +hear of such a thing?" + +"Why shouldn't Julia study Greek?" said her mother. "Why are you so +excited about it?" + +"Oh, it's so foolish. No girl at Miss Crawdon's ever studied Greek +before. Julia says she's going to college, _is she_? Oh, dear, I think +it's horrid." + +"Why, Brenda, really----" + +"Well, it makes me so conspicuous." + +"How can that be?" + +"Why every one will point me out and say, 'Oh it's her cousin who +studies Greek.' It sounds so strong-minded to talk of going to college. +The next thing she'll want to be a teacher." + +"It seems to me you are very unreasonable, Brenda. You ought to be glad +that your cousin is so ambitious. I only wish that you were half as fond +of study." + +"There, that's it. I knew there'd be comparisons. Oh, dear! It never was +so before Julia came." + +"Daughter," said Mr. Barlow from behind his paper. Brenda trembled, for +her father's "Daughter" was generally the introduction to a lecture. +"Daughter, I fear that you are jealous." + +Brenda shook her head. "Oh, papa!" + +"Yes, Brenda, I have noticed in several ways that you are less kind to +Julia than you should be. How does it happen that you and she never +start off to school together?" + +"Brenda is never ready when Julia is," said Mrs. Barlow. + +"Ah, Brenda, your habit of tardiness is a very bad one." + +"I'm hardly ever late at school. Belle and I get there a full minute +before the bell rings." + +"That may be, but it would be better if you and Julia started together." + +"She does not have to go alone. Nora is generally with her." + +"Ah, Brenda, the point I am trying to make is this; you do not spend +nearly as much time with your cousin as I had hoped you would, and you +are too ready to find fault with what she does!" + +"You always blame me, and you never find any fault with Julia. Why +didn't she tell me that she was going to study Greek? The girls all +asked me to-day if I knew about it, and I had to say that I hadn't heard +a word." + +"You and Belle have been very much occupied with your own affairs this +week. Julia consulted us about her plans and----" + +"Well, _is_ she going to college?" interrupted Brenda. + +"I cannot say positively," smiled Mrs. Barlow. "It rests with Julia +herself." + +"I never saw anything like it," pouted Brenda. "Julia isn't two years +older than I, and you let her do whatever she wants to. Oh, dear!" And +Brenda pushed aside the portiere and left the room. + +"That is just what I feared for Brenda," said Mr. Barlow. "Julia's +coming makes her even a little more suspicious than she was before. She +constantly has the idea that something of importance has been concealed +from her which she ought to know." + +"Yes," replied Mrs. Barlow, "I am afraid that Brenda is hopelessly +spoiled. We did not realize the danger when she was little. The other +two girls were so different." + +"It would not surprise me," responded Mr. Barlow, "if after all some +change should come to Brenda's point of view from having to consider her +cousin more or less." + +"If only she _would_ consider her," sighed Mrs. Barlow. + +If Julia felt at all slighted by Brenda, she did not say so. Indeed she +was too well occupied with her lessons and her music to be disturbed by +trivial things. What her object was in studying Greek she did not +disclose fully to any one, but she studied diligently the difficult +declensions and conjugations. The serious looking man with eyeglasses +who came to the school three times a week, was an object of much +interest to most of the girls. + +"Doesn't he look learned? Oh, Julia, I should think that you would be +frightened to death," said Edith. But Julia smiled. + +"I wish myself that Greek were just a little easier. I've got to the +verbs and it seems to me I never shall know them." + +"I don't wonder," responded Edith. "I don't see how you ever learn +it,--all those queer letters and marks and things. Well, I should feel +just as though I were standing on my head if I tried to study Greek." + +Edith had no vanity about herself, at least in the matter of lessons. +Her special talent was for drawing and mathematics but although she was +conscientious about her school work, she rarely distinguished herself in +her recitations. Like Nora, she had begun to have a great admiration for +Julia. The latter shook her head when Edith spoke of the difficulty she +had in learning Greek. + +"It's like everything else," she said, "you can learn it if you make up +your mind to try hard enough." + +"I wish that had been the way with my German, for I really did try. Papa +is disappointed, because he wanted me to speak by the time we go to +Europe again." + +"Then why don't you persevere? It would please him and it would do you +good. If I were you I would take it up now." + +"Well, perhaps I will after Christmas. Miss Crawdon won't let us make +any changes until then." + +As Edith watched Julia's diligence and perseverance she really became +ashamed of her own rather indolent way of treating her lessons. + +When Nora or Brenda came for her to go to walk early on some bright +October afternoon she was very apt to say, "Oh, I cannot go now, I must +finish studying." + +"Well, Edith, I never knew anything so funny," Brenda exclaimed one day +when she and Belle had vainly tried to persuade Edith to walk with them +over the mill-dam. "You never used to make such excuses and I consider +it a perfect waste of time myself to spend such a lovely afternoon +studying. I should think your mother'd want you to have some exercise." + +"Oh, I shall have plenty this afternoon. I am going to the gymnasium for +an hour with Julia, and that will answer for to-day. We took a walk +before school this morning." + +"You and Nora are too provoking, Edith," exclaimed Brenda rather +pettishly. "Ever since Julia came you seem to prefer spending your time +with her. You never used to be such a book-worm." + +"Well, I'm trying to make up for lost time. I wish that I could +accomplish as much as Julia." + +"Oh--Julia, Julia, I'm sick and tired of the name," exclaimed Belle. +"Why in the world does she study so much, Brenda?" + +"I'm sure I don't know." + +"You ought to--you're her cousin. I believe myself that she's going to +be a teacher." + +"Belle, it is not nice in you to say that," interposed Edith. + +"Why isn't it nice to be a teacher. I thought that you liked them more +than anything else. I am sure that Julia does." + +"I dare say she does, but it doesn't follow that she's going to be a +teacher herself." + +"Oh, anybody can tell that she's a poor relation--isn't she, Brenda? +Just see how plainly she dresses, and working so to get into college. I +think that your mother and father are very good to give her a home." + +Now all this was very presumptuous on Belle's part, but she spoke so +pleasantly and smiled so sweetly at Brenda as she talked that the +latter, though a little irritated, never thought of taking offence at +her. But Belle's words had sunk deeper even than she had intended. +Brenda had a certain kind of pride which was easily touched. She felt +that in some way it was a source of discredit to her to have a cousin +who might be a teacher. For in what other way could she interpret +Julia's intention of studying Greek. + +Julia, unconscious of Brenda's feeling, went on quietly without heeding +the disagreeable little remarks that sometimes were made in her hearing +by Brenda. Belle was as polite and agreeable toward Julia as to others +whom she liked better. For it was a kind of unspoken policy of Belle's +to be apparently friendly with all girls of whom she was likely to see +much. If accused of this failing she would not have admitted that she +was two-faced. She merely liked to be popular, and if she sometimes made +ill-natured remarks about a third person, she trusted to the discretion +of those to whom she talked. She did not realize that in time she might +come to be regarded as thoroughly insincere. She had not measured the +relative advantages of "To Be" and "To Seem." + + + + +VII + +VISITING MANUEL + + +Two or three weeks after their adventure with Manuel passed before +Brenda and Nora were able to visit him. They talked several times of +going, but something always interfered. Sometimes it was the weather, +sometimes it was another engagement, more often they could not go +because they had no one to accompany them. For it was evident that two +young girls could not go alone to the North End. At length one morning +one of the under teachers in the school offered to go with them that +very afternoon. She had overheard them at recess expressing their sorrow +that they could not go alone. + +"Really," pouted Brenda, "I think that mamma is very mean. We could go +as well as not by ourselves, and why we should have to wait for her or +some older person to go with us I cannot see." + +"Don't call your mother mean," Miss South said laughingly in passing, +and then as Brenda explained the cause of her rather undutiful +expression, she had added, "Your mother is perfectly right. It would +never do for you to go alone. But I have an errand down near Prince +Street this very day. If you get Mrs. Barlow's permission I shall be +happy to have you go with me." So it happened that one warm, sunny day +in early November, the girls and Miss South exchanged their Back Bay car +at Scollay Square for a Hanover Street electric car. It whizzed swiftly +down a street which neither Brenda nor Nora had ever seen before, filled +with gay shops whose windows were bright with millinery or jewelry--or, +I am sorry to say it--bottles of liquor, amber and red. There was more +display here than in the streets up town. + +"Sometimes," said Miss South, "I call this the Bowery of Boston. It is +the chief shopping street of the North End, and on Saturday nights the +poor people do most of their buying. I came here one evening with my +brother. It was really very amusing." + +They had been in the car but a few minutes when Miss South gave the +signal for the car to stop. + +"It will interest you," she said, "to see this quaint old street. It has +an old-time name, too--'Salem Street.'" + +Brenda and Nora glanced around them in surprise. It was a narrow street, +winding along almost in a curve. Though most of the houses were brick, a +number were of wood. Some of them had gable-roofs, and nearly all of +them looked old. Shops occupied the lower part of most of these houses, +and many of them were pawn-shops. As they entered the street it seemed +as if they could hardly pass through. Hooks and poles laden with old +clothes projected from many of these shops, and the sidewalks themselves +held numerous loungers and children. Nora looked interested, Brenda, a +trifle disgusted, as they saw a woman chattering with a hand-cart man +who sold fish. + +"Ugh, I wouldn't want to eat it," said the latter. + +"Oh, it's probably perfectly good fish," responded Miss South with a +smile. "Only it does not look quite as inviting as it would if shown on +a marble slab in an up-town fish market." + +"Are these people _dreadfully_ poor?" asked Nora. + +"No," replied Miss South. "This is the Jewish section, and most of the +men here make a pretty good living. They are peddlers, and go out into +the country selling tins or fruit, or they have little shops." + +"But these children look so poor!" + +"If you will notice more carefully you will see that their clothes are +dingy rather than poor. Nearly all wear good shoes, and there are not +many rags. Many of these Russian and Polish Jews when they first come to +Boston have very little money, and are supported by their friends. But +they soon find a chance to earn their living, and a man coming here +without a cent, in five years sometimes owns a house. I speak of this, +girls, because I have known people to think that dirt and dinginess mean +great poverty." + +Nora and Brenda made many exclamations of surprise as they looked down +some of the narrow lanes leading from Salem Street. + +"It's just like pictures of Europe, isn't it?" cried Nora; "and then +these people--and the queer signs--Oh! really I think it's _too_ +interesting for anything." + +The signboards of which Nora spoke certainly did look strange. + +Some of them had Russian names, others were in odd Hebrew characters. +Those which were English were peculiarly worded. The owner of a tiny +shop with one little window described himself as a "Wholesale and retail +dealer in dry goods," a corner groceryman called himself an "importer." +The English spelling was not always correct, and the names of the +shop-people were long and odd. + +Miss South's errand took her to a large building occupied as an +industrial school. On their way upstairs they saw some boys at work at a +printing press, and Miss South told the girls a little about the boys' +and girls' clubs, which met in this building certain evenings in the +week. Miss South wished to speak to the kindergarten teacher whose +school was on the top floor. Most of the little children had gone home +for the day, and only a few remained whose mothers were out working and +had no one with whom to leave the children. Nora and Brenda exclaimed +with delight at sight of five or six little boys and girls seated in +small chairs around a low table. Nearly all had dark hair and eyes, +although there was one little blonde girl with long, light curls. They +looked at the visitors with small wonder, for they were used to seeing +strangers. Nora at once began to play with the light-haired girl, but +Brenda, after a glance or two, preferred to look out of the window. +Unlike Nora, she was not very fond of children. They did not remain long +in the building, and were soon in the street again. + +"Just one block below," said Miss South, "is Prince Street, but before +we go there let us look at Christ Church. Do you realize that you are +under the very shadow of the spire where Paul Revere hung his lantern?" + +The girls fairly jumped with surprise. + +"Of course I knew it was somewhere down here, but I hadn't an idea it +was so near," said Brenda, while Nora began to recite, + + "Listen, my children, and you shall hear + Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." + +They had turned the corner again into Salem Street, and following Miss +South, had crossed the street. There before them loomed the gray front +of the old church with its tall spire on which they could read the +inscription: + +"The signal lanterns of Paul Revere displayed in the steeple of this +church April 18, 1775, warned the country of the march of the British +troops to Concord and Lexington." + +"This is the oldest church building in the city," said Miss South, "and +some Sunday you would find it worth while to come down here to a +service, for the interior has been restored to look just as it did in +its earliest days." + +"Oh, how Julia would enjoy that!" exclaimed Nora. "You know that she +just loves old things." + +"Yes," continued Miss South, "you must take her, too, to see Copp's Hill +Burying Ground, up this street. We haven't time to go to-day, but if you +do not make other arrangements I shall be very glad to come with you +some Sunday." + +"You're awfully good, Miss South," said Brenda. "I don't care so much +for old things myself, but still I'd like to come again." + +"I know, Brenda, you like new things--Manuel for instance. Well, you +shall see him in less than five minutes--that is, if he is at home." + +They had reached the corner of Prince Street. Like Salem Street this +too, was narrow with quaint old houses. One wooden house which looked as +if it might fall down at any minute bore a placard which warned +passers-by of possible danger. The placard stated that it had been built +in 1723. + +"In the time of George II.,--just think of it!" exclaimed Brenda, who +when she wished, could remember dates. + +"Rear of No. 11," said Miss South, and they turned down a short alley. +They had not to ask the way, however, for there, in front of the second +house, stood Manuel himself. He looked at them at first without +recognizing them, but when Nora called his name, he took his finger from +his mouth, and in a moment began to smile very broadly. But instead of +running to the girls he turned toward the house. + +"Come, come," he said, and almost at the same moment Mrs. Rosa appeared +at the door. She looked very pale and thin and she had an old black +shawl drawn over her head. Nora and Brenda now found that they had lost +their tongues. They really did not know what to say, and they were very +glad that Miss South had come with them. The alley, too, was so dirty, +so different from any place they had ever seen, that they willingly +followed Mrs. Rosa into the house when she asked them to do so. + +Mrs. Rosa talked very poor English, but Miss South was able to gather +from what she said that she had been ill for two or three weeks. She had +not been able to go to her fruit stand. Her eldest daughter had been +attending to it for her, a girl twelve years old. + +"But why isn't Manuel at school?" asked Miss South. + +"Him home for company," smiled Mrs. Rosa, showing both rows of white +teeth. + +Miss South shook her head. "He ought to go every day to the +kindergarten." + +"His shoes so bad," apologized Mrs. Rosa, and as they all looked at the +little boy they saw a red toe peeping out from one shoe. Nora nudged +Brenda--Brenda smiled assent. The nudge and the smile meant that in +Manuel they were surely going to have a field for their charitable +efforts. + +The little room in which they sat looked very poor and bare. It had no +carpet, and the table and the two or three chairs were of unpainted +wood. The most important piece of furniture was the large cook-stove. On +the mantelpiece were various dishes, several of which were broken, and +there were the remains of a meal on the table. Altogether the room did +not look very neat. Although it was not a cold day there was a large +fire burning in the stove where something rather savory was boiling in a +pot. + +While Miss South was talking the two girls realized that they had come +rather aimlessly to Mrs. Rosa's. They managed to ask her if Manuel had +run away again, and she smiled as she answered, "Every day," and shook +her head at the little boy. + +"Well, he must be careful not to run under the horses' feet," said Nora. + +"He won't find some one ready to pull him back every day," chimed in +Brenda, while Manuel and his mother both smiled, though I am sure that +the little boy hardly understood a word of what was said. + +"Oh, them 'lectrics," said Mrs. Rosa, "they're awful bad. I whip Manuel +all the time so he won't run in front of them 'lectrics." + +"Aren't you afraid whipping will make him run away more often?" asked +Miss South. But Mrs. Rosa looked as if she did not quite understand the +meaning of this question, and after a few more inquiries about the other +children who were still in school, Miss South said it was time to return +home. Before going, Nora gave Manuel a picture-book, and Brenda gave him +a top which they had bought for him. + +"Come again," called Mrs. Rosa, waving an end of her shawl at them, and +"Come again" shouted Manuel as they turned from the narrow alley into +the broader street. + +"Isn't it perfectly dreadful," exclaimed Nora, "for people to be so +poor." + +Miss South was silent for a moment. Then she responded, "There are +different kinds of poverty. Mrs. Rosa seems very poor to you, and it is +true that she has not much money, but if you were to ask her I dare say +that she would tell you that she is better off than when she lived in +the Azores," and then, as she saw that the girls were interested, Miss +South continued, "in Boston she can send her children to good schools, +knowing that when they are old enough, they will find a way to earn a +living. When she herself is out of work, or ill, she is not likely to +suffer, for there are many people and institutions in Boston looking out +for the poor." + +"But they look so awfully poor now," said Brenda. Miss South smiled. "I +would not try to make you less sympathetic, Brenda, but you must +remember that a plain uncarpeted room when properly warmed is not so +uncomfortable as it looks. The worst thing about Mrs. Rosa's way of +living is the fact that she and her children are crowded into two small +rooms. At night they bring a mattress from the little bedroom and spread +on the kitchen floor. Three of the children sleep there, while Mrs. Rosa +and the others sleep in the bedroom." + +"How can they possibly live that way!" said Nora, who, as a doctor's +daughter, had pretty definite ideas on the subject of ventilation and +hygiene. + +"It is indeed a very bad way of doing," said Miss South. "The best way +to help Mrs. Rosa would be to persuade her to take her family to some +country town where they could have plenty of light and air." + + + + +VIII + +PLANNING THE BAZAAR + + +Brenda at the dinner-table that evening had much to say about the +expedition of the afternoon. Or rather, she had much to tell about +Manuel and his cunning little ways, about his mother and the poverty of +the family and what she intended to do for them. Her mother smiled, her +father looked interested and said, + +"Well, I'm glad that you have found a use for your pocket money. I won't +begrudge it to you as long as it does not all go into Schuyler's candy." + +Julia cried, "Oh, Brenda, how I should love to have gone with you," when +Brenda spoke of the old church and the old streets. "Do tell just what +the church was like." + +But Brenda's ideas were less definite on these points. She wasn't +exactly sure what Paul Revere had done--for history was not her strong +point--and she was a little annoyed at Julia's surprise at her lack of +interest. Julia did not mean to show any surprise, but it did seem +strange to hear Brenda say rather impatiently in answer to a question +about the church, + +"Oh, well, it was a brown church,--no, I think it was gray, with a +steeple, but I didn't notice much. Nora quoted some poetry, but I was in +a hurry to go on to see Manuel, and I think that it's very tiresome to +have to dig up history and things like that out of school." + +Mr. Barlow frowned at this. "Before you go to the North End again I hope +you will have your history and your Longfellow fresh in mind. It is +rather a shame for a Boston girl to be ignorant of historic places in +her own city." + +"Julia must go with you next time," said Mrs. Barlow, wishing to divert +the conversation from Brenda's shortcomings. + +"You'll let me know, won't you," interposed Julia pleasantly, and Brenda +gave a careless "Yes" as she turned to her father and said, + +"Oh, papa, I wish that you would let me buy a carpet and a lot of things +for Manuel's mother. You have no idea how poor they seem. Do give me the +money, that's a dear. You never will miss it in the world." + +"How much, Brenda, does your modesty lead you to think you need?" asked +Mr. Barlow. + +"Oh, I don't know," answered Brenda, whose ideas of the value of money +were very vague indeed. "You might let me buy the things and have them +charged." + +"Dear me! that would be worse than giving you the money--worse for my +pocket. I suppose you'd want to do your shopping in some really +fashionable Boylston Street establishment?" + +"Now, papa, you're laughing at me!" + +"Perhaps I am," replied her father. "But really, Brenda, I don't believe +that Manuel's mother would thank you for a carpet. Didn't you say they +all lived in one room? A bare floor is easier to keep clean." + +"Oh, well, I must buy them something, and my pocket money won't go far. +Besides, I've spent all you gave me this month." + +"Well, Manuel and his mother and all those brothers and sisters have +lived in Boston very comfortably for several years without any help from +you. If you should give them a carpet they might grow discontented. The +next thing they would want might be a piano, and from what you say I +hardly think that room would hold a piano as well as the whole family +and the cook-stove." + +"Oh, papa, I believe that you are making fun of me." + +"No, indeed, I am not, but I wish you to be reasonable." + +"If there's anything in the world I hate it's that word reasonable. It +always means that I'm not to have what I want." + +"There you are _un_-reasonable," answered Mr. Barlow. "We will talk no +more about it now, but some day perhaps your mother will go down with +you to see Manuel, and then you can both tell me whether the Rosas ought +to have a piano as well as a carpet." + +With this Brenda had to be content, but the next afternoon when the Four +Club had its regular weekly meeting she and Nora grew excited as they +described the poverty of the Rosas to the other two. + +"At any rate we can do a lot of fancy-work this winter," said Brenda, +"and I shouldn't wonder if we were to have a very successful Fair." + +"Oh, don't call it a 'Fair,'" said Belle, "that sounds so awfully +common. Bazaar, or Sale--no, Bazaar is best. Let's always speak of it as +a Bazaar." + +The others assented, for really they hardly ever dared dissent from +Belle when she laid down the law in this way. + +"Well, what else shall we call it, The Busy Bees' Bazaar?" asked Nora. + +"Oh, no, that would be dreadful! We needn't decide about the rest of the +name just yet." + +"No, I think that it would be better to wait until we have something +ready," said Edith, at which the other three looked up somewhat +surprised. They had never heard Edith make a remark that sounded so +nearly sarcastic. + +"Now, Edith, you know very well that we shall have plenty to sell. Just +think how much we'll do if we meet every week ourselves. Then every girl +in school ought to make at least one thing, and we can get any amount +from older people. Really it's the duty of older people to help us all +they can. I should think we might have four large tables just loaded +with fancy-work, besides refreshments and flowers--and--oh, dear me--I +feel quite dizzy when I think of it," cried the sanguine Brenda. + +"Aren't you going to ask Julia to join the Four Club?" queried Edith, +turning to Brenda. + +"How silly," said the latter. "Of course not. It wouldn't be a Four Club +then." + +"But don't you think it must seem a little strange to Julia. We run +upstairs past her room every Thursday, and no one asks her to come." + +"Oh, she doesn't care," interposed Belle. "I don't believe that she +cares for anything but study and music." + +"Yes," added Brenda, "it drives me half crazy to hear her piano going +half the time." + +"Ah, _that's_ what drives you crazy," said Nora, mischievously. "I +thought you had seemed a little queer lately." + +Brenda tossed her head, but before she had time to answer this, Edith +returned to the question of Julia. + +"Really and honestly, Brenda, I feel very uncomfortable about Julia. We +ought at least to invite her to join us. I dare say she wouldn't come +every week, but I _do_ think that she ought to be asked. It doesn't seem +to me polite to leave her out--or kind." + +Again Belle spoke for Brenda. "Really, Edith, you're awfully Puritanic; +that's what everybody says: you're always thinking about the wrong and +right of things." + +"Well, why shouldn't I? I'm sure we all intend to do what is right." + +"Yes, of course, in a way. But you don't have to keep thinking about it +always. People have to enjoy themselves sometimes, and if we can't enjoy +ourselves in this Four Club we might as well give it up at once." + +"Do you mean that Julia would prevent our enjoying ourselves if she +came?" Nora's voice sounded ominously severe. + +"I didn't say that, but--well what's the good of talking?" cried Belle, +who saw that she was getting into deep water. + +"Yes," chimed in Brenda, "that's what I say too." But Edith continued in +a rather grave voice, + +"Of course it's your house, Brenda, and you and Belle started the Club, +and no one can compel you to invite any one you don't want. But I'm sure +if I had my way Julia should be here this minute, and I'm not sure that +I'll stay in the Club if she isn't asked." + +"Do you mean you won't work for the Bazaar?" exclaimed Nora in surprise, +thinking of Manuel, and of the dainty needlework at which Edith was so +skilful. + +"I haven't said exactly what I'll do," replied the quiet Edith, with +more spirit than she generally displayed. "Only I can tell you that I'm +not going to see Julia left out of things the way she has been." + +"Oh, Julia's all right," said Brenda scornfully. "She doesn't know how +to do fancy-work, and she'd just feel bored if she came to the Club. If +you want a 'cause' Edith, you'd better adopt a smaller orphan than +Julia." + +"Like Manuel," said Edith, with a bright smile, for, determined though +she was when she had made up her mind about a thing, she was also a +peacemaker. Even when Brenda and Belle most annoyed her, she hesitated +to say sharp things to them, remembering that "A soft answer turneth +away wrath." + +"Yes, like Manuel," said Nora, taking up Edith's words. "I won't give +Manuel up to you, for you know that I mean to adopt him myself, but he +has a sister, or two of them for that matter, and I shouldn't wonder if +either of them would give you enough to do." + +"Oh, yes," said Brenda, "they both looked as if they needed lots of +clothes. But they have the _sweetest_ black eyes." + +"Well, then, why shouldn't we make dresses or aprons or something like +that, before we get started on our work for the Bazaar?" asked Edith. + +"Oh, how can you?" cried Belle. "Horrid calico dresses and things like +that--I should just hate them." + +"There, don't get excited," said Nora. "I've thought of that myself. But +my mother says there are plenty of Societies and Sewing Circles we can +get clothes from, if the Rosas really need clothes. She says it would be +bad to begin giving them things." + +"Well, then, what are we going to have a Bazaar for?" asked Brenda. + +"For fun," responded Belle, so promptly that Nora looked at her a little +suspiciously. + +"No," replied Nora, "not for fun, but we've got to have an object in a +Club of this kind, and besides there'll probably be other things we can +do for the Rosas." + +"Send them to the country in the summer, perhaps," said Edith. + +"There are the Country Week people," cried Belle. "They always do things +like that." + +"Let's wait until we get the money," said Brenda, grandly. "Perhaps +we'll have enough to buy them a house--or----" + +"Or a horse and carriage," laughed Edith. "Oh, Brenda, you _are_ so +unpractical." + +"There, there," said Nora, who saw another cloud rising over the horizon +of the Four Club. "Let's talk of something sensible." + +"What are you working at, Belle?" + +Belle held up a pretty piece of blue denim on which she had begun to +outline a pattern in white silk. "This is to be a sofa cushion," she +said in answer to Nora's question. "People always like to buy them, and +this shade of blue goes with almost anything." + +"Oh, it's too sweet for anything," said Nora, enthusiastically. + +"Yes, indeed," added Edith, with perfect sincerity. "You do such perfect +needlework that I really envy you." + +Both Nora and Edith were glad to praise Belle's skill, for although they +knew that they themselves had been in the right, they realized that +Belle would not feel very kindly toward them for not siding with her in +the matter of Julia. Nora, like Edith, was a peacemaker, and both wished +the afternoon to end as pleasantly as possible. + +Belle was by no means indifferent to the praise of her friends. She +really could do very fine embroidery and she took considerable pride in +her work. + +"I never _could_ have patience to do anything like that," said Nora, +whose specialty was crocheting. "I like to do something that I needn't +look at all the time. I could crochet an afghan almost in the dark." + +"Yes, but an afghan is such an endless piece of work." + +"Well, I don't suppose I'll make _many_ of them for the Bazaar." + +"I should say not," said Edith. "What are you going to do first, Brenda? +You haven't had a needle in your hand this afternoon." + +"I know it, I know it," cried Brenda, the heedless. "But I can't think +what to begin first," and she opened the bottom drawer of her bureau, +where were displayed a tangled heap of linen and floss and gold thread +and silk plush and other materials for fancy work which she had bought +at different times. There were cushion covers and doilies in which a few +stitches had been taken, only to be thrown aside for something else, and +some of them were in so soiled a condition that they were not likely to +be good for anything. + +"Oh, what a wicked waste of money, Brenda Barlow," exclaimed Nora, as +she looked at the contents of the drawer. + +"Well, at any rate it shows that I have had good intentions," said +Brenda. + + + + +IX + +A MYSTERIOUS MANSION + + +At the corner nearly opposite Miss Crawdon's school stood a large, +old-fashioned mansion of brick painted light brown. It was a detached +house almost surrounded by a high wall. In the wall was a pillared +gateway, and each pillar was surmounted by two large balls that looked +as if they had dropped from the mouth of a great cannon. Behind the +fence and close to the house were two little garden beds, and there were +three or four trees in the yard back of the house. It was said that the +mansion had once been surrounded with extensive grounds that sloped down +hill almost to the river. But new streets and houses had gradually +encroached on these grounds until hardly a trace of them remained. There +was never a sign of life seen about the old house. Windows and doors +were always closed. Even the blinds were seldom drawn up, though once in +a while at an upper window, some of the schoolgirls said that they had +seen a woman's figure seated behind the lace curtains. Occasionally, +too, on sunny days they had noticed a large, old-fashioned carriage +drive up under the porte-cochere, while an old lady very much wrapped +up, and attended evidently by a maid, entered it. In taking their walks +at recess the girls always passed this house, and, as schoolgirls, they +naturally felt much curiosity about the lady who occupied it, since she +seemed to be surrounded by an air of mystery. + +They knew, of course, her name--Madame du Launy--and some of the girls +had heard more about her from their parents. + +"My mother," said Frances Pounder, "says that my grandmother told her +that Mme. du Launy was a very beautiful girl. She married a Frenchman +whom her family despised, and she stayed in Europe until after her +father's death." + +"Was the Frenchman rich?" asked Edith, in rather an awe-stricken voice, +for the story sounded very romantic. The girls at this moment happened +to be seated on the steps leading to the school, and Frances was in her +element when she had an interested group hanging on her words. + +"Oh, dear, no, he wasn't rich at all. He was a cook, or a hair-dresser, +or something like that, only very good looking. But when Mme. du Launy's +father died, she had three little children, and her father was so +proud--he was a Holtom--he couldn't bear to think of her coming to want, +so he left her all his fortune just the same as if she hadn't married +beneath her." + +"That was right," said Nora approvingly. "I think it's ridiculous for +fathers to cut their children off with a penny, the way they used to." + +"Well," responded Frances, "I think it's a great deal more ridiculous +for people to marry beneath them." + +"Of course you'd think that, Frances," interposed Belle. + +"There, there, don't begin to quarrel, children," said Nora. "Go on with +the story, Frances. What did Mme. du Launy do when she got her money?" + +"Oh, she brought her Frenchman and her children to Boston, and she lived +at a hotel while she began to build this house. Some people went to see +her, but the Frenchman was a terribly ill-mannered little thing, and +nobody liked him because he was so familiar. Mme. du Launy and he were +hardly ever invited anywhere, and they spent most of their time driving +about in a great carriage which held the whole family, and a maid and +governess." + +"I should think they would have stopped building the house." + +"Oh, no," said Edith, "they kept on, and after a while they went to +Europe to buy things for it. They had more than a ship-load, and they +say that everything was perfectly beautiful,--foreign rugs, and +tapestry, and glass, and gilt furniture." + +"Dear me, I should love to have seen it." + +"Well, it's all there in the house now, but you'd have to be a good deal +smarter than any one I know to see it." + +"Why Frances, do you mean that no one ever goes there?" asked Julia. + +"Yes, that's just what I mean. I don't suppose any one in Boston except +the doctor, and two or three very old people, have ever been inside that +door." + +"Yes, that's true," added Edith. "I've heard my mother speak of it. Mme. +du Launy is terribly peculiar." + +"I should think she'd be lonely," said Julia. + +"I dare say she is," replied Frances, "but it's awfully selfish to shut +up a great house like that." + +"Why does she do it?" + +"Oh, I believe, when she came back from Europe the second time she set +out to give a great ball. She sent invitations to every one, no matter +whether people had called on her or not. Of course very few people went, +only her relations and a few others. This made her so angry that she +vowed she'd have nothing more to do with people in Boston. Not long +afterward her husband died, then her children died or turned out badly, +and she has just lived alone ever since." + +"It sounds rather sad," said Julia, when Frances had finished. + +"Nonsense, Julia," said Brenda, "you're so sentimental." + +"No, she isn't at all," cried Edith, "it is really sad. I wonder what +became of the children." + +Here Belle spoke up. "I've heard that the boys all died. One of them ran +away to sea and was drowned. But I believe the girl married some one her +mother didn't like, and so she disinherited her. She may be living +somewhere, but she must be an old woman herself, for my grandmother says +that Mme. du Launy is about eighty." + +As the girls looked toward the house they saw a figure standing behind +the curtains of the window over the front door. + +"There she is now," the girls cried. + +"Wouldn't you like to go inside?" said Nora to Edith. + +"I don't know that I'm really anxious to," replied the latter. + +"Oh, I am," said Nora, and a moment later she cried out to Frances, +"Frances, you are rather clever, can't you suggest some way by which I +can find my way inside that house? Wouldn't one of your great aunts give +me an introduction to Mme. du Launy? I'm just dying to see what is +inside those brick walls." + +"No," responded Frances, rather scornfully; "if they could they +wouldn't, but I'm sure they haven't kept up any acquaintance with Mme. +du Launy." + +"Well," replied Nora, "I'll find a way. Mark my words, before the +present crescent moon is old I shall have at least a speaking +acquaintance with Mme. du Launy. Poor thing, she must be very lonely." + +"I don't believe she'd appreciate your society particularly, Nora, for +one thing you're pretty young," said Edith. + +"No matter, I'm going to know her. Come, Brenda, I'll confide in you." + +So Brenda and Nora walked down the street, leaving the other girls to +wonder what they were planning. This was by no means the first time that +the girls at Miss Crawdon's school had discussed Mme. du Launy and her +affairs. Indeed, each set of girls had wondered about her and her +beautiful furniture, and her music box that played a hundred airs, and +all her foreign treasures, and her possessions lost nothing in splendor +as the girls told what they had heard about them. + +Of the four friends, Belle and Edith were most indifferent to the house +across the way. But a number of others among the schoolgirls seemed +inclined to join Nora and Brenda in whatever they were planning. One day +as they walked about at recess they saw the old lady leave the house and +enter her carriage. They were too polite to stand and gaze at her, but +some of them could not resist the temptation of staring at the carriage +as it rolled by. + +The next day Nora and Brenda were seen to be very much interested in +playing ball. They tossed it from one to the other, and occasionally as +they passed the brick mansion they let it roll within the gateway on the +gravelled walks. There were half a dozen girls walking in front of the +old house and tossing the ball. As they played, the ball rose higher and +higher. Nora and Brenda were standing almost inside the gateway, when +suddenly the ball seemed to fling itself against one of the windows, and +the crash of breaking glass was heard. Some of the girls looked +frightened and hurried across the street toward the school. Brenda too, +started to go, but Nora took her by the hand. "Remember your promise," +she said, so loudly that two of the other girls who were crossing the +street, turned about and joined them. Just at that moment the +school-bell rang, and rather reluctantly the girls turned back to +school. Nora and Brenda paid very little attention to their lessons the +rest of the morning. Some of their friends who had witnessed the +mischief done by the ball were also excited. They all more than half +expected to see Mme. du Launy's aged servant-man make his appearance to +complain of the injury done to the window. As it drew near two o'clock +and nothing of the kind had happened, they were really disappointed. + +"We're not going home with you," cried Nora, as she and Brenda and the +two other conspirators walked down the steps of the school. + +"Why not?" asked Edith from the dressing-room. + +"Oh, we have something to attend to," replied Nora. + +"Well," said Edith, "luncheon is the most important thing that I have to +attend to just now." + +"What shall I say to your mother?" asked Julia, as she saw Brenda +preparing to turn in the opposite direction from home. + +"Don't say anything, Julia. I'm not a baby to need looking after." + +Julia had no answer for this inconsiderate speech, for indeed she had +become only too well accustomed to Brenda's little rudenesses. + +"Let's wait and see what they are going to do," suggested Edith, looking +toward Nora and Brenda and the two or three others who had joined them. + +"I must go on," answered Julia. "I ought to be at----" + +"I'll wait," spoke up Belle. "Come, you can stay, Edith." + +So the two friends waited near the school while Brenda and Nora and the +others crossed the street to Mme. du Launy's mansion. They were +surprised to see them ring the bell, and after a moment, when the door +was opened, to see them step inside. + +Not many minutes later they saw the door reopen, as the girls, looking +somewhat crestfallen, turned away from the house. + +"What in the world were you up to?" called Belle, rather excitedly as +they turned homeward. + +"Wait till we get out of sight of the house," said Nora, "and I'll tell +you. It was this way, I had just made up my mind that I'd see the inside +of that house. Frances Pounder seemed so sure I couldn't. So I thought +and thought, and to-day when we were playing ball you see we broke the +window." + +"On purpose! I do believe. Why, Nora, I should think you'd be ashamed!" + +"Well, I had the money in my pocket to pay for it. That was what we went +for after school. But that queer old butler,--really I almost laughed in +his face. However, I managed to say, 'I'm extremely sorry, but I broke a +pane of glass in the window over the front door when I was playing ball +this morning.' 'We hadn't discovered it, miss,' he said, as solemn as +could be. 'Then you might go and look,' I replied, 'and if you will +please tell Mme. du Launy that I'd like to pay for it, I'll be greatly +obliged.' I thought that while he was looking at the glass and talking +to the old lady, he'd at least ask us into the reception-room, or +drawing-room. But not a bit of it. There's a little vestibule just +beyond the front door, and there he left us. He asked us to sit down, +and we did sit down on the edge of two great black settles there in the +marble vestibule. When he came back I felt sure he was going to take us +straight up to Mme. du Launy. Instead of that he merely said: 'Mme. du +Launy presents her compliments, and is greatly obliged to you for +telling her about the window. She couldn't think of letting you pay for +it, as an apology is quite enough.'" + +"And you didn't see anything in the house?" + +"No, not a thing; though as he opened the door into the hall we caught a +glimpse of a big gilded table and an enormous piece of tapestry over the +stairs. Wasn't it mean, after all our efforts?" + +"Who has won the bet, you or Frances?" asked Belle. + +"I'm not sure. I have been in the house and I haven't," replied Nora. + +"I should think you'd have been frightened to death. What would you have +done if you had seen the old lady?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure. There were so many of us we shouldn't have been +frightened," and Nora looked at Brenda and the other girl who were +vehemently describing the adventure. + + + + +X + +A SOPHOMORE + + +When Edith's brother Philip came in from College to spend Saturday and +Sunday, Edith's house was apt to be a rendezvous for the other girls. +Not that Philip was likely to waste much time with mere girls. Not he! +He was a Harvard sophomore, and realized his own importance quite as +much as the girls did. But still there was always the chance that he +would come into the room just for a minute, and tell them some of the +latest Cambridge news. He would have scorned to call it gossip. If there +was any one thing in the world he hated--so he said--it was girls' talk, +this jabbering about nothing. For his part he wouldn't waste his time +_that_ way. Yet, when he had an appreciative audience,--and girls +generally appreciated what Philip said,--he would often spend as much as +half an hour talking about the fellows--how beastly it was Jim Dashaway +couldn't row on the crew, and he would grow almost enthusiastic when +describing the tussle between Ned Brown and Stanley Hooper over the +respective merits of Boston and New York in which Hooper, the New +Yorker, was terribly beaten. + +"And upon my word," he concluded, "I wasn't sorry, for the New York set +is getting just unbearable. I wouldn't so much mind fighting Stanley +Hooper myself about New York and Boston. I guess I'd show him that New +York isn't the whole world." + +"I should say not," exclaimed Nora; but Belle, who had some New York +cousins, was silent. Brenda, however, noticing Belle's expression, and +not feeling disposed to side completely with Nora, said, + +"You're terribly narrow, Nora, to think that nobody's any good unless he +comes from Boston." + +"I didn't say so," replied Nora. + +"No, but that's what you mean, and I'm surprised, Philip Blair, that a +boy should be so awfully one-sided." + +"Well, you'd better talk, Brenda Barlow," broke in Nora again. "Just see +the way you treat Julia. If she'd been born in Boston----" + +"I don't treat her," interrupted Brenda. + +"No, that's just it, you don't treat her decently." + +"Oh, I say," said Philip, from his place in front of the mantelpiece, +"how queer girls are; do you always fight like this when you're +together?" + +"We don't fight like you boys," answered Edith, good-humoredly. "We +don't knock each other down and run the risk of breaking one another's +noses." + +Philip looked over his shoulder in the glass. There was nothing the +matter with his own shapely nose, and I doubt that he would have run any +such risk as Edith suggested. Perhaps this was the reason why Philip was +not a fighter. There was one good thing about the little disputes in +which Brenda and Belle indulged. They very seldom lasted long. In the +present instance the girls were ashamed of having shown temper before +Philip. The latter, however, did not dwell on their weakness. + +"Oh, say, did you hear about the time Will Hardon had with the Dicky, +last week?" he asked. + +Nora nodded. She, too, had a brother in College. + +"What was it?" asked Edith. "You haven't told _me_, Philip." + +"How funny you are, Edith," said Belle. "You never hear anything. Hasn't +anyone told you how the other fellows made him run blindfolded in his +shirt sleeves down Beacon Street?" + +"No, really?" + +"Of course, really!" + +"And then they led him up the steps into Mrs. Oxford's when she was +giving an afternoon tea, and when they took the bandage off his eyes +there he was in his shirt sleeves, without his hat, and his hair all +tumbled, and everybody looking at him." + +"Oh," said one girl, and "Ah," said another; and "How silly!" they all +cried together. + +"If girls amused themselves like that what fun you'd make of us!" said +the practical Nora. + +"I shouldn't think there'd be much fun in making anybody uncomfortable." + +"Oh, it gives a fellow a chance to show what kind of stuff he's made +of," explained Philip, "whether he has good manners, and whether he's +clever--and all that." + +"There must be better ways of showing bravery," said the practical +Edith. "I don't believe you know a bit more about Will Hardon's bravery +than you did before." + +"We knew something about his manners." + +"What?" + +"Why, when he saw where he was, he didn't run away, or flunk out. He +only looked a little sheepish, the other fellows said, but he just bowed +to the ladies, and saying politely that he was sorry to have disturbed +them, he walked off as nice as you please." + +"Wasn't he mad at the two fellows for taking him there?" + +"Of course not; that's a part of the thing. Why, there are fellows in +Cambridge who would go through fire and water, or stand on their heads +in front of a pulpit for the sake of getting into the Dicky. I tell you +we make some of them suffer." + +Philip said "we" with a rather important air, although he had belonged +to the illustrious organization a very short time. + +"Well, I think you're perfectly horrid," cried Brenda, "I mean the +Dicky. I've heard about the way you make people suffer, branding them +with hot cigars, and making them run barefoot winter nights, and doing +all sorts of useless things." + +"If you went to College you'd see more use in them." + +"I'm glad girls don't go to College." + +"Oh, some do!" + +"Not girls we know." + +"I'm sure I can't tell," said Philip rather crossly, "there are a lot of +girls studying in Cambridge now at the Annex, and the fellows don't like +it at all." + +"Well, I declare," exclaimed Nora, "I'd like to know what difference it +makes to them." + +"Oh, they hate to see these girls going about with books, and trying to +get into Harvard." + +"Yes, trying to break down the walls," said Nora, sarcastically. + +"Oh, see here, it would just spoil everything to have women in the +classes with us." + +"Are you afraid they'd get ahead of you?" asked Edith, gently. + +"Now, look here, Edith, I don't want you to talk that way," responded +Philip with brotherly authority. "There isn't any danger of girls +getting ahead of us." + +"Why, I heard," said Nora, "that one of the professors----" + +"Oh, yes, I've heard it too," interrupted Philip. "I've heard that some +professors say that their Annex classes do better work than ours,--but +anybody can tell that that's all rot." + +"I believe it's all perfectly true," said Nora. + +"Well, I wish myself that our English instructor hadn't such a fondness +for reading themes to us that the girls have written. He makes out that +they are better than ours, but I can't say that I see it myself." + +"Who gets the best marks?" + +"I'm sure I can't say. He gives us such beastly marks that I dare say he +makes it up with the girls. But I wouldn't let a sister of mine go to +College," he concluded inconsequently. + +"It's a good thing Edith doesn't wish to go," said Nora; adding +mischievously, "but Brenda Barlow's cousin Julia is going." + +Brenda blushed, for Julia's intention of going to College was still a +sore point with her. + +"Does Julia wear glasses, or look green? I beg your pardon, Brenda----" + +"No, she doesn't," said Nora shortly. "She's about the nicest girl I +know." + +"Oh, she is lovely," added Edith. + +"A matter of opinion," murmured Belle under her breath. + +"You don't mean to say you haven't seen her," cried Brenda in surprise. + +"No, I haven't happened to," answered Philip. + +"She's invited to my cooking party next week," said Nora. "You know that +you've accepted too, so you'll see her." + +"Oh, yes, by the way," said Philip, "what evening is it?" + +"Friday, of course," replied Nora, "so we can sit up late without +thinking about school the next day." + +"Well, you'll see me sure," said Philip. "But see here, it's five +o'clock now and I have an engagement down town." + +Philip hurried off, bowing in a very grown-up way to the group of girls. +For whatever criticisms any one might make about Philip's indolence and +disinclination to study, no one could deny that he had very good +manners. Though only about four years their senior, he seemed much older +than Brenda and her friends. Years before they had all been playmates +together, but his two years in College had taken him away from them, and +it was not often that he condescended to spend as long a time in their +presence as had been the case this afternoon. + +"Do you think that Philip looks very well, Edith," asked Belle when he +had left the room. + +"Why, of course, don't you?" replied Philip's sister. + +"It seemed to me he was just a little pale." + +"He is always pale," said Edith. + +"Do you suppose he sits up too late?" asked Brenda. + +"I'll warrant he doesn't study too much," said Belle. + +"How can you?" cried Nora. "How can you criticise Edith's brother? Don't +let her do it, Edith." + +"It doesn't trouble me," answered the placid Edith. "I know all about +Philip, and he's good enough for me." + +"That's right," said Nora. "Always stand up for your brother. But I do +think he might have better friends. He really isn't very particular." + +"Why, what do you mean?" + +"Oh, I don't know exactly, but I heard my brother talking the other day. +He says there are two or three fellows just sponging off of Philip all +the time, and Philip is too good-natured to say anything." + +"I wonder how he'll like Julia," said Edith. + +"Oh, he won't like that kind of a girl," hastily interposed Belle. "Boys +never like a girl who studies; especially one who is going to College." + +"Well, Julia is just the nicest girl _I_ know," said Nora, repeating the +words she had used to Philip. + +"And Philip is one of the nicest young men I know," said Brenda, +politely, turning to Edith. "But don't tell him I said so," she added +with a blush. + +"Oh, no, of course not," laughed Edith, as the girls separated for the +afternoon. + + + + +XI + +THE COOKING CLASS + + +Nora's cooking party was not altogether a pleasure affair. It was the +result of her father's desire that she should have some knowledge of +domestic matters before she left school. Dr. Gostar was a busy man, +having little time to spend with his children. His practice was large, +but as he gave his services as willingly to poor as to rich people, he +had not accumulated much money. Nora's home, however, was a very +pleasant one. The numerous members of the family used all the rooms with +the greatest freedom. As the four other members of the household besides +Dr. and Mrs. Gostar and Nora were boys, the furnishings of the house had +a well-worn, comfortable look. No one was kept out of any particular +room. The boys had a large play and workroom in the attic, but when they +wished to sit in the library (which other people might have called a +"drawing-room") they were not forbidden. + +Mrs. Gostar, though fond of society, was never too busy to hear what her +children had to say, to read to them or hear them tell about their +school, or to sympathize with them in any way. She had agreed with Dr. +Gostar when he had expressed a wish to have Nora learn cooking. + +"I am anxious," he had said, "that my little daughter shall know how to +cook. I have been so often in houses where wives and mothers have been +quite helpless when a cook left, that I should be very sorry to have +Nora grow up as ignorant as they. I know that a great deal of sickness +comes from eating badly prepared food." + +Nora herself had been rather pleased at the prospect of learning to +cook. But Belle thought it very vulgar, and for a time was not sure +whether or not she would join the cooking-class. + +During the first winter the girls had had lessons once a week. But +through this season of Julia's arrival in Boston, they had met to +practice cooking only once a month. The lessons always were given at +Nora's house, because, as Edith said, her cook wasn't too fashionable to +let them fuss around in the kitchen. + +The first winter they had had a teacher, but this year they were +supposed to know enough to concoct certain dishes themselves. The +cooking party took place on the third Friday of the month, and from six +to eight the girls were busy cooking. At eight o'clock any guests whom +they had invited arrived, and at nine o'clock they had a little supper. +They were not permitted to have too elaborate a bill of fare. Even as it +was, Belle's grandmother protested against what she called an +indigestible supper served at this hour. As a matter of fact it was not +apt to be indigestible. Dr. Gostar himself usually made out the list of +eatables. Light salads, simple cakes, bouillon, ices, blanc-manges, +jellies, oysters or eggs cooked in various styles, and chocolate +prepared with whipped cream, were conspicuous on the list from which he +made his selection. But the girls on any given evening were restricted +to one sweet, one solid and two kinds of cake. With the assistance of a +maid each girl in turn set the table, and sometimes, besides their young +friends, their parents were present to see what their skill and taste +had accomplished. + +"There, there, Edith, I'm sure your cake is burning," cried Nora on the +Friday evening after their talk with Philip. + +"Oh, dear, I can't do anything about it now; I've cut my fingers," and +Edith held up her hands rather plaintively. + +"Here, take my handkerchief," said Brenda; and before Edith could stop +her she was binding up the wound with a delicate lace-trimmed +handkerchief. It was Agnes's birthday present to her, sent from Paris, +and intended only for full dress occasion. + +"Why, Brenda, that lovely handkerchief!" exclaimed Belle, who was +looking on. + +"Oh, it won't hurt it. How does your finger feel, Edith?" + +"It feels all right, for it wasn't a deep cut, but with my right hand +tied up I don't believe I can lift that cake out of the oven," and Edith +looked about helplessly, for she was not used to battling with +difficulties. + +Over her dress each girl wore a long-sleeved blue-checked apron--each of +them at least except Julia. This was her first appearance at the +cooking-club, and as Brenda had forgotten to tell her about the aprons, +she was unprepared. She had on a small white apron, borrowed from Nora, +and when Edith spoke about the cake, she seized a holder, and opening +the oven door, lifted the pan out. As Edith feared, the cake was burned, +though not the whole top, but black spots here and there gave it a very +unsightly appearance, and Edith felt very much disturbed as she looked +at it. + +"How provoking! That was the only cake we were to have to-night, and +there isn't time to make another." + +"Oh, we can do something," cried Julia. "Let me help you." + +"I don't see what we can do," half moaned Edith. + +"I'll show you," cried Julia hopefully. "You have plenty of sugar and +eggs--and----" + +"But really there isn't time to make anything not to speak of baking it, +and, oh, dear, I am so unlucky!" sighed poor Edith. + +"Nonsense," said Julia. "You haven't any idea what I can do. I shall +just have to show you," and she began to break the eggs into a bowl, +beating them and stirring into them a liberal amount of sugar. "Run, +Brenda," she cried, "and bring me a sheet of that brown wrapping paper." + +Brenda obeyed, and after buttering the paper, Julia dropped her mixture +of sugar and eggs, a spoonful at a time, here and there, on the paper. + +"Oh, I know," cried Brenda. "Kisses, but I never would have thought of +it myself." + +"Well," responded Julia, "there is nothing you can bake so quickly, and +almost every one likes them. There, this first batch must be ready now," +and she opened the oven door to remove the pan with its sheet of kisses, +delicately browned and of the size and shape that a confectioner could +not surpass. Two or three other lots were baked before there were +enough. By the time they were finished Edith's finger had ceased to pain +her, and she was helping place the other eatables on the dumb-waiter. + +From the floor above there came the sound of laughter, and the voices of +the boys could be heard mingled with those of the girls as they called +to the three kitchen maidens. + +At last, with the help of Hannah, the maid, who had come down from the +floor above, all the kitchen work was declared at an end. + +"That's all," shouted Brenda, as Belle and Philip gave a final pull on +the cords of the dumb-waiter. + +A moment later Edith and Julia and Brenda entered the dining-room, with +faces perhaps a little flushed, but otherwise looking very unlike the +three cooks they had been a few minutes before. + +Under Nora's direction the dining-table had been exquisitely arranged. +There was a great glass bowl of pink roses in the centre, and the plates +and cups were of china with a wild rose border. The candles in the +silver candelabra at each end of the table had pink shades. + +"There, you go, Philip, and tell the others that supper is ready," said +Nora, glancing at the table and giving a final touch to one or two +dishes. + +With Philip leading, the guests trooped into the dining-room. "Trooped" +is perhaps too boisterous a word to apply to the procession of young +people who came into the room two at a time with a fair amount of +dignity. To Julia, in fact, they appeared to a certain extent to be +imitating the demeanor of their elders. She could not help thinking that +the manner with which Belle let herself be led to a chair was entirely +too coquettish, and only Nora seemed to be her real self in the presence +of the guests. + +But Julia was not a harsh critic, and before very long she forgot that +she had not always known these merry young people. She laughed at the +jokes made by the boys, although she did not always see the point of +them. Most of these jokes turned on something connected with college. +For every one of them was in Harvard, although some were only Freshmen. +The stories that they thought the funniest dealt with the queer things +that some of their friends had had to do when undergoing initiation into +one of the College Societies, and many of their doings seemed really +inane. + +Before they had been long in the dining-room Mrs. Gostar joined them, +and later Dr. Gostar himself appeared. The presence of these elder +people lessened the laughter only a very little, for all the young +people knew that Dr. Gostar enjoyed fun as well as they. + +"What was the catastrophe to-night?" he asked Nora, for it was a +favorite joke of his that at each meeting of the cooking-class some dish +suffered. When he had heard about the disaster to Edith's cake he +praised Julia so heartily for having come to the rescue that she blushed +deeply. Even without this success in cooking, Julia would have been +voted a great addition to the cooking-class. There was something very +pleasing in her gentle manners, and Belle, to her surprise, found +herself growing a little jealous of Brenda's cousin. Before this she had +not thought her sufficiently important to arouse jealousy. + + + + +XII + +CONCERNING JULIA + + +In the meantime the Four Club held regular meetings, and every Thursday +afternoon Julia heard Edith and Nora and Belle rushing up past her door +to Brenda's room on the floor above. Of course in a general way she knew +what was going on, for the affairs of the Four Club were no secret. Yet +although from time to time Brenda and her friends dropped a word or two +regarding their doings, they never talked very freely about the club. + +Nora and Edith were silent because they were sorry that they could not +persuade Brenda to let them invite Julia to the meetings. Brenda said +little about the club, because possibly she was ashamed of her own +indifference. As to Belle, she never had had much to say to Julia, and +in this case although she felt pleased that her influence chiefly had +kept Brenda from counting her cousin in the club group, she hardly +ventured to express this feeling in words. There might as well have been +five girls as four in the group working for the Bazaar and no one knew +this better than Brenda and Belle themselves. + +Although Julia had a pretty correct idea of what was going on, she tried +to show no feeling in the matter. Her studies, her music, and her +exercise occupied almost all her afternoons, and she reasoned with +herself that even if she had been invited, it would have been only a +waste of time for her to spend hours at fancy-work, which might +otherwise have been more profitably employed. But after a while, when +through the half-open door she heard her friends running upstairs, she +sometimes felt a thrill of disappointment that they did not care enough +for her to stop on their way to ask her to join them. Now Julia meant +always to be fair in her thoughts, as well as in her actions towards +others. So at first when she found that she was left out of the plans of +her cousin and her friends, she reasoned with herself somewhat in this +fashion. + +"Now, Julia, you know that you are a newcomer, and you cannot expect +that you will be taken in all at once, just wait." + +But after she had waited a good while, she began to feel a little hurt, +although she did her best to conceal her feeling from Nora and Edith. In +the meantime the latter two girls argued warmly with Brenda, and tried +to make her see that it was mean to keep Julia out of the Four Club. + +"Nonsense," said Belle, who happened to overhear them, "Julia herself +would say that it was awfully stupid to sit for a whole afternoon, +sewing." + +"Well, if she did not work harder than--well than Brenda does, she would +not be very much bored; besides she could look out of the window part of +the time, the view there is perfectly fine," responded the lively Nora. + +Brenda had tried to speak when Nora had made this very unflattering +allusion to her own lack of industry, and when Nora finished she said, +holding up a square of linen on which a wreath of yellow flowers was +half embroidered, + +"There, I've done all this this month." + +"That's very good for you," said Belle, patronizingly, "but I'd be +willing to bet----" + +"Don't say 'bet,'" murmured Edith. + +"I'd be willing to bet anything," continued Belle, "that you'll never +finish it." + +"Why, Belle," continued the others. + +"No, you won't," repeated Belle, "you never could, you'll get tired of +the pattern or of the color, or you will spoil it in some way, and throw +it into the fire, or worse into that bottom drawer of yours with all +those other specimens." + +Brenda, instead of growing angry at this, only laughed. + +"Well if I don't wish to finish it, I certainly won't," she replied. +"But it happens that I have made up my mind to finish it this Autumn, +before Christmas, in fact, so you can make your bet as large as you +please, and pay the money into the fund for Manuel's benefit, for I +shall win." + +The girls were all a little surprised at Brenda's reply. She was more +ready usually to answer pettishly any criticism made by Belle. + +"Very well," said Belle, "Edith and Nora are my witnesses, and we shall +watch to see when you finish that centrepiece." + +"Yes, indeed, Brenda," laughed Nora, "indeed we shall follow the career +of this wreath with great interest, and now since you seem to be in an +amiable frame of mind, let us go back to Julia. It seems terribly mean +not to ask her to join us." + +The pleasant expression on Brenda's face changed to a frown. + +"I've told you often that Julia would not enjoy working with us, and it +would just spoil everything to have her come." + +"Of course it's your house, Brenda, and you started the club, and Julia +is your cousin, so Edith and I have not the same right to say anything, +but it seems to me very unkind to leave her out." + +"There, I don't want to hear anything more about it," cried Brenda, +"haven't Belle and I both said that Julia would not enjoy herself, +sewing with us, and it would not be a 'four club,' and I don't want to +hear anything more about it." + +By this time Brenda's voice was positively snappish, and Edith looked up +in alarm. But Nora was undismayed. + +"Nonsense, Brenda," she cried, "Belle said that Julia would not enjoy +the cooking class, though I'm perfectly sure that no one there had a +better time, and the boys thought that she was splendid, didn't they, +Edith?" + +"Yes," returned Edith, "Philip was surprised; he said she was fine, he +always supposed that she was a kind of blue-stocking with glasses, +and----" + +Here Brenda interrupted, "Well, I'm sure that I never said anything like +that to him, and I shouldn't think that you would, Edith." + +"Of course, I didn't," responded Edith, indignantly, "it was something +Frances Pounder said, and well--Belle----" + +"Now, Belle, I do wish that you would not say things about my cousin," +broke in Brenda. + +"Oh," cried Belle, "you wish to have the privilege of saying everything +yourself; but you might as well let other people have a chance." + +"Philip did not mean that anybody said anything particularly +disagreeable about Julia, only he had a sort of an idea that she did not +like people, and that she would not join much in any fun that we might +plan." + +"Oh, what nonsense, Edith!" exclaimed Nora, "she likes fun as well as +any of us, only she is just a little quiet herself. She wants somebody +else to start the fun for her." + +"Well, she does not dance," said Belle, "and a girl can't have much fun +if she does not dance." + +"I know that she does not care for round dances, at least her father +would not let her learn, but I'm sure that she does the Virginia Reel as +well as anybody, and the Portland Fancy. Why she was as graceful as, as +anything the other evening," concluded Nora. + +But all the conversation at the meetings of the Four Club did not +concern Julia and her absence from the club. The girls had many other +things to discuss, and their tongues were often more active than their +needles. Sometimes as their merry voices floated down to Julia, the +young girl sighed. It is never pleasant for any one to think that she is +not wanted in any gathering of her friends, although in this special +case Julia had no great desire to devote even one of her afternoons to +needlework. Nevertheless she could not repress a sigh that she was of so +little consequence to Brenda and her friends. + +Before Thanksgiving came, the club really seemed in a fair way of +realizing its plans for a sale. Edith had finished two or three dainty +sets of doilies, for she worked out of club hours. Nora's afghan was at +least a quarter made, a great accomplishment for Nora. Belle had several +articles to show, and even Brenda had persevered with her centrepiece +until hardly more than a quarter of the embroidery remained unfinished. +Moreover several of the girls at school had promised to help, on +condition that nothing should be expected of them until after Christmas. + +"That will be time enough," the Four always answered, "for we shall not +have the sale until Easter week." + +The girls at school were especially interested when they heard that the +Bazaar was to be for the benefit of Manuel, not that any one of them had +a clear idea of his needs. But they felt an interest in him because they +believed that his life had been saved by one of their number. There +were, to be sure, one or two sceptics, like Frances Pounder, who said +that of course the child had been in no great danger, for in his own +part of the city children are in the habit of playing most of the time +under the very feet of the horses passing that way. "And who," the wise +Frances had added, "ever heard of a child like that having so much as a +leg broken?" + +But Frances was not infallible, and many of the girls had heard of +accidents to poor children. If they had not, the fact remained, which +Nora and Brenda and half a dozen others were ready to testify to that +Manuel had been in great danger on the memorable day of his rescue. With +his danger granted, it was plain enough that caring for him became a +duty imposed on his rescuers. + +With little opportunity to show it, Julia had as much interest in Manuel +as the other girls. Strange though it may seem, he was the first very +poor person with whom she had been brought in contact. For in the +secluded life which she had led with her father, she had not seen a +great variety of people. It is true that in traveling she had often come +across miserable looking and ill-clad women and children, and she knew +very well that there were many like them in the world. With her own +allowance she subscribed to a number of charities, but her father had +not encouraged her greatly in this kind of thing. His own ill health had +had the rather unusual effect of making him unsympathetic towards forms +of misery unlike the kind which had been sent to him. He thought, too, +that young people should be as closely sheltered as possible from the +knowledge of the dark side of life. He gave liberally to hospitals, but +poverty in itself did not appeal to him. On that account Julia was not +permitted to hear or to see much of actual poverty. + +But Julia, on the other hand, had always had the greatest desire to help +the less fortunate, and to know more about the conditions of their +lives. She was therefore greatly pleased when one day in a book-shop she +found a copy of "How The Other Half Lives." It was very suggestive to +her, and buying it she had read it at home eagerly from cover to cover. + +Now she knew that in Boston she was not likely to see any cases of +misery as extreme as those described in that famous book, and yet in the +midst of the luxury of her uncle's house she often wished that she could +do something to help the poor. But Julia, in spite of her self-reliance +in practical matters, was rather shy, and whenever she thought of +speaking to her aunt on the subject, she hesitated in fear lest she +should be thought presumptuous. Manuel and his wants, when Brenda and +Nora came home full of what they had seen at the North End, seemed to +her an opportunity. She hoped, indeed she almost expected that she would +be invited to go with them on a second visit. Her disappointment in this +matter was even greater than that which came from being left out of the +"Four Club." There were things she knew that she could have done for +Manuel and his mother, and even if Brenda and her friends were able to +provide for all his wants, there must be others in the same neighborhood +as poor as he. Yet week after week passed away, and no chance seemed to +open for her to tell Brenda what she would like to do. At school Julia +was left much to herself. The girls near her own age were so absorbed in +their own affairs that they seldom had a thought for the lonely +stranger. They had so many things to talk about in which Julia had no +part,--the dancing class, the bowling club--and a thousand and one +harmless bits of gossip harmless for the most part, though sometimes +carrying with them a little sting. When Julia sat or walked with one of +these chattering groups she felt that she was only tolerated, and she +could seldom join intelligently in what was said, and often a dropping +of the voice, or an only half-intentional glance of significance made +her feel herself in the way. To be sure there were Edith and Nora, of +the set a little younger than the girls with whom she recited. They were +undeniably her friends, and yet Brenda and Belle had a fashion of +dragging them off at recess without giving Julia an invitation to +follow, and the latter had too much sense to care to bring herself too +often within the reach of Belle's sharp tongue. So though she sat or +walked by herself, the older girls who noticed her excused themselves +with "Oh, if she cared to go with any one she would walk with Brenda and +Nora and the others of the 'Four,'" for in school, as in the club the +"Four" had come to have a special meaning. On the other hand Brenda and +Belle would usually say to the remonstrating Edith and Nora: + +"What is the use of talking, Julia is in the classes with the older +girls, and she ought to make friends with them. She really doesn't +belong with us, and there is not the least reason why we should have her +on our minds all the time." Now there is hardly any classification of +persons more definite and rigid than that which separates the girls of +one age at school from those who are a year or two older, or a year or +two younger. Nor did Julia generally repine at her own situation. She +thought it perfectly natural that the other girls should be slow in +admitting her to intimacy. If she had any feeling it was regret that her +own cousin seemed so indifferent to her. + + + + +XIII + +GREAT EXPECTATIONS + + +For a week before Thanksgiving there was great excitement among the +schoolgirls on account of the approaching football game. The "Four" were +as excited as the others, although not so many of their own particular +friends were in the Harvard team. It was to be a game with Princeton, +one of the great University matches, and for special reasons there was +the deepest interest in the match. Those girls who had brothers in +college, or even cousins or friends, held themselves with more dignity +than any of the others, and those who had relatives in the team "were +too proud for anything," as Brenda said. The game was to be played in +Holmes' Field, and tickets were not easy to get, because the seats were +far less numerous than now on the great Soldiers' Field. The girls were +making up little groups to go to the game with youths of their +acquaintance as escorts, under the chaperonage of older people. A few +who had received no invitation were especially miserable, and took no +trouble to disguise their feelings. + +Edith at this time became unusually popular, because it was known that +her mother had given her permission to arrange a large party to +accompany her to the game, and every girl was hoping for an +invitation--every girl, at least who had not been invited elsewhere to +go in some other party. + +Now Edith was of a generally generous disposition, and not inclined to +limit her favors, of whatever nature, to any particular set of girls. +For this reason she had to bear many a reproof from Belle, and even +occasionally from Brenda, both of whom were inclined to be more +exclusive. + +So it happened that the general harmony of "The Four" was somewhat +disturbed when Nora one day at recess exclaimed, + +"Who do you suppose is going with us to the game?" For of course in the +minds of the others there could be but one "game," and that the one to +which they all wished to go. + +"Why, who is it?" cried Brenda, and "Who is it?" echoed Belle. + +"I know that you can't guess." + +"Oh, don't be silly, Nora, it wouldn't be worth while to guess about +something you'll know all about so soon, except that you speak as if it +were some one we might not care to have, and if that's the case, I +declare it's too bad," said Belle. + +"If it's anything like that," broke in Brenda, rather snappishly, "I +will just tell Edith what I think." + +"_It_--_that_," cried Nora, "didn't I say that it was a person, a girl, +if I must be more definite, Ruth Roberts, if I must tell just who it +is." + +"Oh," cried Belle, and "Ah," echoed Brenda. + +"You need not look so surprised," rejoined Nora, "and if you take my +advice, you will not say anything to Edith; she ought to have her own +way in arranging her own party, and you know when she makes up her mind +it is of no use to talk to her about it." + +"Well, I don't care," rejoined Brenda, "it's hard enough to have Julia +tagging about everywhere, but why in the world we should have Ruth +Roberts, when we never see her anywhere except at school, I really +cannot understand, and I don't see how you and Nora can like it either." + +"Why Ruth Roberts is as pleasant a girl as there is in school, and yet +she would have a terribly lonely time, if it were not for Edith and +Julia; nobody else ever thinks of speaking to her." + +"Well, why should we, she lives out in Roxbury or some other outlandish +place, and she doesn't even go to our dancing school or know people that +we know. There isn't a bit of sense in knowing people that we'll never +see when we're in society," responded Belle, while Brenda echoed, "Yes, +that's what I think, too." + +Nora smiled pleasantly, and her eyes looked brighter than ever under the +rim of her brown felt hat, with its trimmings of lighter brown. Nora's +temper was not easily ruffled. Then Belle added a final word. + +"Oh, it's clear that this is all Julia's doings; ever since Ruth went +into her Latin class they have been awfully intimate. But I don't see," +turning rather snappishly towards Brenda, "why the rest of us have got +to take up Ruth Roberts just because your Cousin Julia is so devoted to +her." + +Now this was a little too much, even for Brenda, who generally did not +contradict Belle, and she answered with vigor, "Really you are growing +perfectly ridiculous, Belle; I haven't anything to do with it, but I +must say that I think that Julia has a right to choose her own friends. +Ruth Roberts is all right, and anyway I'm thankful to have Julia take a +fancy to anybody, it leaves us a great deal freer to do as we like. I +should think that you would see that yourself." + +"Oh, well," said Nora laughing, "the whole thing is not worth quarreling +about. I'm glad to hear you talk so sensibly, Brenda. If you hadn't, I +was going to tell Belle that it seems to me that Edith has a right to +ask any one she wishes. She is always very good to us all, and just +think how many tickets her father has bought for this game!" + +"Yes, I know, but still----" + +"The least said, the soonest mended," said Nora, though to tell you the +truth, the quotation did not sound especially appropriate. "The least +said, the soonest mended, and let us all go to the game with a crimson +flag in each hand to wave for the winners." + +"Crimson," cried Belle, "I am going to carry an orange scarf, and +perhaps an orange flag." + +"What for? why I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed Nora. + +"Nor I!" cried Brenda, "at a Harvard game!" + +"Isn't it a Princeton game, too," asked Belle, "two or three of the boys +I used to know in New York are in that team, one of them is a kind of +cousin of mine." + +"Oh," said Nora, "I didn't know that you thought that people had to be +so very devoted to cousins." + +Even Belle herself could not help smiling at this, which was very +appropriate, following so closely, as it did, her own remarks about +Julia. + +"You can see yourself that this is different," she answered. "I should +call it very impolite if there were no orange flags shown at the game." + +"Well, you have the most ridiculous ideas, hasn't she, Brenda?" + +Brenda nodded assent, and Nora continued, "I never knew that people had +to think that about politeness in college games; why it's a duty to do +everything you can to help your own side----" + +"I never said that Harvard was my side," interrupted Belle, "didn't I +tell you that I have a cousin on the Princeton team." + +"You'd better not say anything of that kind to Philip, or to Edith, +either, they are both perfectly devoted to Harvard, and they expect +their party to give great encouragement to the Harvard team. Why, Belle, +I cannot imagine your doing anything else." + +"I'm not a child," responded Belle very crossly, walking away from Nora +and Brenda, "I do not need to be told what to do." + +What Nora or Brenda might have answered, I cannot say, for hardly had +Belle disappeared within the house, when Edith herself appeared, with +Julia and Ruth. + +Ruth was a pretty and amiable girl, about Julia's age, and therefore a +little older than "The Four." She had been in the school for two years +before the coming of Julia, but in all that time she had had only a +speaking acquaintance with the other girls. Many of them would probably +have been surprised had any one told them that they were very selfish in +leaving their schoolmate so entirely to herself. It was not because they +did not like her. They were merely so very much wrapped up in their own +affairs, that they hardly noticed that she was often left to herself. +Ruth lived in the suburbs, and as Belle had said, outside of school the +other girls seldom saw her. At recess each little group had so many +personal things to talk about that an outsider would have been decidedly +in the way, and would, perhaps, have been a little uncomfortable in +joining them. No one gets a great deal of enjoyment from reading a +single chapter in the middle of a book, and so it is often hard to be a +mere listener when the tongues of half a dozen girls are vigorously +discussing people and events of which the listener has not the slightest +knowledge. + +Ruth herself was very independent, and as she was more interested in her +studies than many of the girls at Miss Crawdon's she had acquired the +habit of studying during recess. Since after school she spent more time +than most girls of her age in outdoor sports, it did her no great harm +to pass the half-hour of recess in this way. Ruth, as well as Julia, had +undertaken to prepare for college, and it had been a great delight to +her to have the latter placed with her in one or two special classes. +Julia's liking for her had made Edith take a little more interest in her +than would otherwise have been the case, but the ball game was the first +important event in which she was included with the others of Julia's +set. She naturally was pleased at the prospect of going with the others, +for like Julia, she had never seen a great football game. + +No one who saw the hearty way in which Nora and Brenda greeted Ruth, as +she came up with Edith and Julia, could for a moment have imagined that +she had been under discussion. The mercurial Brenda for the moment was +so annoyed by Belle's proposed championship of Princeton, that she was +unexpectedly cordial to Ruth, and almost to her own surprise found +herself urging Ruth to come to town early on the Saturday of the game, +to take luncheon with her and Julia. + +The latter expressed her thanks in a glance towards her cousin, as Ruth +accepted very gracefully, and Nora exclaimed, "What fun we are going to +have; you know we are all invited to dine at Edith's that evening. Oh +dear! I can hardly wait for Saturday." + +"I know it," replied Brenda, "it's less than a week, too, but it seems +an awfully long time." + +Then they gossiped a moment in a very harmless fashion about the +prospects of Harvard, and Edith quoted one or two things that Philip had +said, and Nora told them that her father was perfectly sure that the +crimson would win, and as they trooped into the dressing-room when the +bell rang, Belle was surprised to see Brenda leaning on Ruth's arm. + + + + +XIV + +THE FOOTBALL GAME + + +At last the wished-for Saturday arrived. It was one of those clear, +bracing days that always put every one in good-humor. Though cool, it +was not too cool for the comfort of the girls and older women who were +to sit for two or three hours in the open air. Every car running to +Cambridge carried a double load, with men and boys crowding the platform +in dangerous fashion. Carriages of every description were rushing over +the long bridge between Boston and the University City and not only were +red or orange flags to be seen waving on every side--small flags that +could be easily folded up, but occasionally some group of youths would +break out into the college cry. + +Edith and her guests drove out to Cambridge in carriages, although they +all thought that the cars would have been much more amusing. Edith, +however, had had to yield to her mother's wishes, for Mrs. Blair had a +strong objection to street cars, and Edith was forbidden to ride in any +except those of the blue line in Marlborough street. But if less +entertaining, the carriage ride was probably more comfortable than a +journey by car would have been on that day of excitement. + +Edith and Julia and Ruth and Nora rode in one carriage, while Brenda, +Belle, Frances Pounder and Mrs. Blair were in the other. As Frances was +a distant cousin of Edith's, her mother usually included her in her +invitations, although in general disposition the two girls were very +unlike. Belle and Frances were more congenial, and had the same habit of +talking superciliously about other people. Brenda and Frances were +sometimes on very good terms, and sometimes they hardly spoke to each +other for weeks. For Frances had an irritating habit of "stepping on +people's feelings" as Nora said, whether with intent or from sheer +carelessness, no one felt exactly sure. She was the least companionable +of all the girls of their acquaintance, but on account of her +relationship to Edith she often had to be with them when "The Four" or +rather three of the four would have preferred some other girl. + +When the carriages with Edith and her party reached Cambridge they drew +up before Memorial Hall as Mrs. Blair had arranged with Philip. + +"We thought," she said, "that it would be both easier and pleasanter to +leave the carriages here, and walk to the field." And the girls agreed +with her. They felt more "grown up" walking along with their escorts, +than if seated in the carriage under the eye of Mrs. Blair. Philip, of +course, was on the spot, to meet them, and one of his friends was with +him. + +"I couldn't get any more fellows," he said in an aside to his mother, +"to promise to sit with us, they'd rather be off by themselves with the +rest of the men. It really is more fun, you know." + +"Hush," whispered his mother, fearing lest some of her friends might +hear this rather ungallant speech. + +"O, of course I don't mind it much," he continued in answer to his +mother's look of reproach, "I'm willing to please Edith this once, but I +wouldn't want to have to look after a lot of girls very often." + +Then he turned around to let himself be presented to + +Ruth, whom he had not met before, and Mrs. Blair introduced his friend +Will Hardon to all the others,--except of course Edith who knew him. + +Belle looked a little disturbed when she saw that there were to be but +two students to escort them, and she forgot for the time being, that +girls of less than sixteen can hardly expect to be considered young +ladies by college undergraduates, who at the sophomore stage of +existence are more inclined to the society of women a few years their +senior. Belle knew, however, that she had the manners of an older +person, and she kept herself fairly well informed on college +matters--that is on their lighter aspect, and could talk of the sports, +and of the "Dicky," with greater ease than many girls of eighteen or +twenty. Therefore as she walked along beside Will Hardon, her tongue +rushed on at a great rate, bewildering the youth so that he had hardly a +word to reply. Brenda, walking on Will's other side listened in +admiration to Belle's fluency. Try her best Brenda never could have +imitated it herself, but it was one secret of Belle's influence over +her, this ability to talk and act like a real young lady instead of a +schoolgirl. Philip attached himself to Ruth and Julia, Edith and Nora +walked together, and Mrs. Blair and Frances Pounder brought up the rear, +"Just where I can keep my eye on you," Mrs. Blair had said laughingly to +them as they started. + +Julia was the only one of the group who had never been on the field--or +even in Cambridge before. She was astonished when she reached the field +to see the great crowd of spectators. It was a scene that she had never +imagined. Tier above tier at one side were the benches filled with men +and women, with bright flags fluttering, or rather little banners and +handkerchiefs, all eagerly looking towards the centre. Then there was +the great throng of students massed by themselves, and the crowds of +older men, all intent on the coming game. + +What cheers as the rival elevens came upon the field! For an instant the +volume of sound seemed almost as strong for Princeton as for Harvard. +From the very first moment when Princeton lined up for the kick-off +Julia's eyes eagerly followed the ball. At the beginning Princeton +seemed to lead, but when Harvard gained ten yards on two rushes by her +full-back, and her left half-back had the ball on Princeton's +thirty-yard line, the crimson scarfs fluttered very prettily. + +"Say, isn't that a fine play for Roth," cried Philip, as the Harvard +fall-back tore through Princeton's centre for four yards planting the +ball on the thirty-yard line, and then a little later after some good +play on both sides, he yelled wildly as he saw that Princeton was really +driven to the last ditch, with Harvard only one yard to gain. Both made +the try, and scored a touch-down in exactly fifteen minutes' play. Then +when Hall, on the Harvard side, a great stalwart fellow brought the ball +out, and held it for Hutton to kick on the try for goal, even Frances +Pounder lost her air of indifference, and as the ball struck the goal +post, and bounded back, she watched to see whether this was a time for +applause, and finally condescended to clap her hands. The score now +stood Harvard 4, Princeton 0, and Philip and Will excusing themselves +for a few minutes leaped down to talk matters over with their classmates +standing below at the end of the benches. As the game continued Roth +distinguished himself still further. He scored another touch-down for +Harvard from which a goal was kicked, making the score 10 to 0. + +"It's almost too one-sided," said Julia, "and I can't exactly understand +it, for the Princeton men seem to be playing well, and really if you +look at them, they are larger than most of the Harvard players,--_that_ +ought to count in a game like this." + +"Well the game isn't over yet, and there may be some surprises before it +is through." + +But just here Philip and his friend returned, and when Belle asked what +the other men thought of the Princeton prospects, "Oh, they haven't a +leg to stand on," said Philip, "at least that's what every one says, and +you can see for yourself now, they can't hold out against our men." + +"I'm thankful for one thing," said Mrs. Blair, leaning towards her son, +"there haven't been any serious accidents yet, although I am always +expecting something dreadful to happen." + +Hardly had she spoken, when two or three ladies in the neighborhood +screamed. Princeton had just secured the ball, when one of her men who +had fallen with half a dozen others on top of him, seemed unable to +rise. He had in fact to be carried from the field, and though the girls +afterward learned that he had only broken his collar bone, like so many +other spectators, for the time being they were decidedly alarmed at his +condition. After this Princeton had a little better luck. Harvard tried +for a goal from the thirty-five-yard line, but missed. Then the ball was +Princeton's on her twenty-five-yard line, and after several rushes with +small gains, the ball was passed back to Princeton's full-back for a +kick. The ball went high in the air, and the Princeton's ends got down +the field in beautiful shape. A Harvard half-back muffed the ball, and +it was Princeton's on Harvard's twenty-yard line. Just here, Belle, +emboldened by the turn of events managed to take a large orange and +black scarf from her pocket. As yet she had not dared to wave it, though +if you stop to think, had she been truly sympathetic, she ought to have +had courage to show her colors even when her chosen side was losing +ground. + +Now in spite of the improvement in Princeton's play, the score had not +changed, though Princeton had the ball on Harvard's ten-yard line when +two minutes later the first half ended. + +In the second half of the game there was more excitement than in the +first. Roth, who had been the hero of the afternoon in Harvard eyes, was +carried off, and two or three Princeton men were disabled. Harvard, +contrary to what had been expected was apparently playing the fiercer +game. The yell of the Harvard sympathizers grew louder and louder. + +In two downs Princeton had gained four yards. Then when the ball was +passed to Dinsmore the noted Princeton half-back, Douglass, the popular +Harvard quarter-back tore through the centre, and downed Dinsmore with +the loss of five yards, making it Harvard's ball on Princeton's +twenty-two yard line. + +The wildest hurrahing--a perfect pandemonium--now arose from the Harvard +bleachers. For the crimson was within striking distance of a touch-down, +and the orange had begun to droop. The girls in Edith's party, even +those not wholly familiar with the game in its finer points, were +thoroughly worked up. Some of the rough play worried Edith, and she +buried her face in her hands with a shudder when Jefferson, the Harvard +centre was carried from the field apparently senseless. + +"Don't be a goose, Edith," whispered Nora, "you know that it can't be +anything very dreadful, or they wouldn't go on playing." + +"Oh, yes, they would," murmured Edith. "They'd do anything in a football +game, they haven't a bit of feeling." But she lifted her head, and was +repaid by seeing Hutton kick a goal from the field thus sending the +score up to fifteen. This especially pleased her, because Hutton's +little sister, who had a high opinion of her brother's prowess, was a +great pet of hers. + +"Don't you feel much as the Roman women used to feel at the Coliseum +games?" Julia contrived to say to Ruth in one of the intervals of play. + +"It's almost as savage a sport as some of those gladiator affairs," +replied Ruth, "but I don't believe that the gladiators were more +uncivilized-looking than these players. Did you ever see such hair?" + +The next moment the girls were all attention. For although the Harvard +score never went beyond that fifteen, the game was an absorbing one for +the followers of both colors. + +Princeton's battering-ram proved effective more than once, and every one +could see that in the matter of strength her men were ahead of the +Harvard team. But in activity Harvard was undeniably the superior, and +at last when the game was called, the score still stood 16 to 0 in favor +of the crimson. + +Then what a scene! Men almost fell on one another's necks in their +delight. The team was surrounded by a dense throng, and the 'rah, 'rah, +'rah was fairly deafening. The friends of the vanquished hurried away +from the field, and only a few of the younger and more enthusiastic +lingered about in little knots to argue the situation, and prophesy a +victory for their own men at the next intercollegiate match. + +"Oh, don't let's go off right away," cried Brenda, as she saw Edith +turning in the direction of the exit from the field. + +"No, we might as well wait until Philip comes back; he and Will couldn't +resist going over there on the field to talk things over with some of +their friends," said Mrs. Blair, "and I told them that I felt sure that +you would excuse them." + +"Why, of course," added Julia, and Ruth followed with a polite, "Yes, +indeed." But Belle, looking a little discontented, said nothing. "What +is the good," she was saying to herself, "of having two young men in +your party, if they never stay with you, when so many of the other girls +are at the game with only their fathers, or elderly relatives." + +If she had thought carefully, she would have realized that the two boys +had really sacrificed not a little fun to act as escorts to "a parcel of +girls," as some of their student friends put it. Really they had been +very polite, they had hardly laughed at the mistakes made by the girls +in the use of terms during the game, and they had been more than willing +to explain the fine points of the play. When they were with the girls, +it was not Belle whom they thought the most about, but on Philip's part, +it was Julia, and on Will's, Ruth with her bright face, and vivacious +manner. + +"Did you see papa?" cried Nora, "he was tossing his hat in the air, like +a boy. I tried to make him look at us, but he would not do so. I suppose +it was harder for him to recognize us than for me to distinguish him." + +"No, I didn't see your father," replied Edith, "but I did see your +brother Clifford. He, however, never looked our way for a second. He had +his hat on the back of his head, and he and two or three other men +seemed beside themselves." + +"Oh, yes, I suppose he and his friends are dreadfully pleased. You know +that Jefferson is a great friend of theirs." + +"But he was hurt." + +"Oh, that's nothing! As long as he wasn't killed it's all the more glory +for him. He and Clifford are room-mates, and they are devoted to each +other." + +Then as the crowds from the benches swept past the girls, they saw many +friends and acquaintances, and Belle's injured pride was salved by the +return of Philip and Will just as two or three girls whom she especially +disliked walked past escorted only by an uncle. + +How pleasant the walk back to the Square through the college grounds +was, with a few minutes in Philip's room, not long enough for the cup of +tea which he wished to offer, but long enough to make them all +enthusiastic to accept his invitation to come out to Cambridge some +other afternoon and examine his trophies. Really there seemed to be few +ornaments on the walls that were not connected in some way with college +sports--flags, medals, certificates of membership in this society or +that, photographs of the crew, of the teams,--but some time you may hear +more about the room, and so I will leave my description of it until +then. + +To Julia the whole day had been more than delightful, she enjoyed every +moment of it, and she began to feel so at home with Edith's friends, +that not even Belle could rival her in quickness of repartee. Frances +Pounder looked at her in astonishment, when some of her own little +snubbing remarks fell one side without any effect. Ruth Roberts, too, +proved herself a great acquisition to the party, especially at the +dinner at Edith's. For Mrs. Blair gave an elaborate dinner to the group +that had attended the game, increased by the addition of two friends of +Philip's; and even if, as the worldly wise Frances Pounder suggested, +the whole affair had been arranged to prevent Philip and his friends +from joining the boisterous crowd of students in their Cambridge +celebration of the victory, Philip certainly had occasion to +congratulate himself on possessing a mother who would take so much +trouble for her children. So Brenda ate raw oysters, and Belle +entertained Will Hardon with an account of her last visit to New York, +and Nora endeavored to eat and talk at the same time, and Edith smiled +placidly on her friends while trying to remove the sting from some of +Frances Pounder's sharp remarks, and Julia forgot her shyness, and Ruth +Roberts impressed Mrs. Blair as a particularly intelligent girl, and all +the boys, as well as the girls, said that they had never had a +pleasanter afternoon. So who can say that the game had not proved itself +a great success in more ways than one? + + + + +XV + +A POET AT HOME + + +One day Julia had an adventure--not "a wildly exciting one," as some of +the girls liked to describe what had happened to them, but one that she +was always to remember with pleasure. It was a windy day in early +January, and there was a fine glaze on the ground from a storm of the +day before. As she was slipping along down Beacon street, on her way +home from school, it was all that she could do to hold her footing. One +hand was kept in constant use holding down the brim of her hat which +seemed inclined to blow away. Luckily she had no books to carry, and so +when suddenly she saw some sheets of letter paper whirling past her, she +was able to rush on and pick them up as they were dashed against a +lamp-post. Another moment, and they would have been driven by another +gust of wind down a short street leading to the river. + +[Illustration: "SHE WAS ABLE TO RUSH ON AND PICK THEM UP AS THEY WERE DASHED AGAINST A LAMP-POST"] + +When she had the papers safely in her possession, Julia naturally looked +around to see to whom they belonged. The owner was not far away, for +just a few steps behind her was an old gentleman, not very tall, dressed +all in black with a high silk hat. Under his arm he carried a book, and +as he held out his hand towards her Julia had no doubt that he was the +owner of the wandering manuscript. + +"Thank you, my child," he said, as she held the sheets towards him. +"Another gust, and I should have had to compose a new poem to take the +place of the one that was so ready to--go to press against that +lamp-post. + +"There, that was not a very brilliant pun, was it?" he asked, for Julia +now was walking along by his side. + +"Why, sir," she had begun to say, looking up in his face. Then suddenly +she gave a start. Surely she had seen that face before! But where? Yet +almost in a shorter time than I have taken to tell it, she recognized +the owner of the papers. He was certainly no other than Dr. Oliver +Wendell Holmes, the famous Autocrat of the Breakfast table, several of +whose poems she knew almost by heart. All her old shyness came back to +her, she did not exactly dare to say that she recognized him, and all +she could think of was another question in relation to the manuscript. +"Were--were they some of your own poems?" she managed to stammer, "it +would have been dreadful if they had been lost." + +"Not half as dreadful," he replied smiling, "as if they had been written +by some one else. As a matter of fact these were sent me by an unfledged +poet who wished me to tell him whether he would stand a chance of +getting them into a publisher's hands. He told me to take great care of +them as he had no copy. I read his note at my publisher's just now, and +I felt bound to carry the manuscript home. But I'm not sure that it +would not have been a good thing to lose a sheet or two to teach him a +lesson. He should not send a thing to a stranger without making a copy." + +The poet of course did not speak to Julia in precisely these words, but +this was the drift of what he said, and it was in about this form that +she repeated it to her aunt and Brenda at the luncheon table. + +"What else did he say?" her aunt had asked, with great interest. + +"Oh, he thanked me again for picking up the papers, complimented me for +being so sure-footed on such a slippery sidewalk, and what do you think, +Aunt Anna, when he heard that I had not long been in Boston, he asked me +to call some afternoon to see him. He is always at home after four. I +walked along until he reached his door step. Do you know that he lives +very near here. I was _so_ surprised to find it out. Have you ever been +there, Brenda?" + +"No," said Brenda, shaking her head, "I did not exactly notice whom you +were talking about." + +"Why, Dr. Holmes," replied Julia. + +"Oh," said Brenda, with a stare that seemed to imply that this name did +not mean much to her. + +"Why, you know, Brenda, Oliver Wendell Holmes?" prompted her mother, and +still Brenda looked rather blank. + +"Brenda," said Mrs. Barlow, "I am surprised. Surely you remember how +pleased you were with 'The Last Leaf' when I had you learn it last +summer, and you _must_ remember that I told you that the poet who wrote +it lives in Boston." + +"I dare say," answered Brenda carelessly, "but I had forgotten. I don't +see why Julia should be so excited about meeting a poet. There must be +ever so many of them everywhere." + +"Ah! Brenda," responded her mother, "I do wish that you would take more +interest in the affairs of your own city. Here is Julia who has been in +Boston but a short time, and I am sure that she knows more about our +famous men and women than you who have lived here all your life." + +For a wonder Brenda did not laugh at what her mother said, nor take +offence. + +"I never shall be a book-worm," she said very good-naturedly. "I am +willing to leave all that to Julia." + +So when Julia asked her one afternoon, if she would not like to go with +her to call on Dr. Holmes, she declined with thanks, and left Julia free +to invite Edith. + +As the two friends walked up the short flight of stone steps to the +front door, their hearts sank a little. To make a call on a poet was +really a rather formidable thing, and they pressed each other's hands as +they heard the maid opening the door to admit them. + +"Just wait here for a moment," said the maid, after they had enquired +for the master of the house, and she showed them into a small room at +the left of the entrance. It seemed to be merely a reception-room, but +it was very pretty with its white woodwork and large-flowered yellow +paper. There was a carved table in the centre with writing materials and +ink-stand, and little other furniture besides a few handsome chairs. +Tall bookcases matching the woodwork occupied the recesses, and they +were filled with books in substantial bindings. + +In a moment the maid had returned and asked them to follow her. At the +head of the broad stairs they saw the poet himself standing to meet them +with outstretched hand. When Julia mentioned Edith's name, "Ah," he +said, "that is a good old Boston name, and if I mistake not, I used to +know your grandfather," and then when Edith had satisfied him on this +point he turned to Julia, and in a bantering way spoke of the service +she had done him that windy day. Then he made them sit down beside him, +one on each side, while he occupied a large leather armchair drawn up +before his open fire, and asked them one or two questions about their +studies and their taste in literature. As he talked, Julia's eyes +wandered to the bronze figure of Father Time on the mantelpiece, and +then to the little revolving bookcase on which she could not help +noticing a number of volumes of Dr. Holmes' own works. The old gentleman +following her glance, said: + +"They make a pretty fair showing for one man, but my publishers are +getting ready to bring out a complete edition of my works, and that, +well that makes me realize my age." After a moment, as if reflecting, he +asked quickly, "Does either of you write poetry?" + +"Oh, no, sir," answered Edith quickly, "we couldn't." + +"Why, it isn't so very hard," he said, "at least I should judge not by +the numbers of copies of verses that are sent to me to examine. Poetry +deals with common human emotion, and almost any one with a fair +vocabulary thinks that he can express himself in verse. But nearly +everything worth saying has been said. Words and expressions seem very +felicitous to the writer, but he cannot expect other persons to see his +work as he sees it." + +"It depends, I suppose," said Edith shyly, "on whose work it is." + +"I am afraid," replied the poet, "that there is no absolute standard for +verse-makers. It has always seemed to me that the writer of verse is +almost in the position of a man who makes a mold for a plaster cast or +something of that kind. Whatever liquid mixture he puts into that mold +will surely fit it. So the verse is the mold into which the poet puts +his thought, and from his point of view it is sure to fit." + +Though Edith may not have grasped the full force of the poet's meaning, +Julia was sure that she understood him. + +"Do you really have a great deal of poetry sent you to read?" she asked. + +"Every mail," he answered, "brings me letters from strangers,--from +every corner of the globe. Some contain poems in my honor, as specimens +of what the poet can do. Others are accompanied by long manuscripts on +which my opinion is asked. I am chary now about expressing any opinion, +for publishers have a way of quoting very unfairly in their +advertisements. If I write 'your book would be very charming were it not +so carelessly written,' the publisher quotes merely 'very charming,' and +prints this in large type." + +Both girls smiled at the expression of droll sorrow that came over the +poet's face as he spoke. + +"And I am so very unfortunate myself," he added, "when I try to get an +autograph of any consequence. Now I sent Gladstone a copy of a work on +trees in which I thought he would be interested. He returned the +compliment with a copy of one of his books. But--" here he paused, "he +wrote his thanks on a postcard!" Again the girls laughed. "Dear me!" he +concluded, "this cannot interest young creatures like you; do you care +for poetry?" + +"Oh, yes indeed we do," cried Julia, "and we just love your poetry." + +"Well, well," said the poet, with a twinkle in his eye, "perhaps you +would like to hear me read something?" + +The beaming faces that met his glance were a sufficient answer, and +taking a volume from the table, he began in a voice that was a trifle +husky, though full of expression, + + "This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign, + Sails the unshadowed main,-- + The venturous bark that flings + On the sweet summer wind its venturous wings + In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings, + And coral reefs lie bare, + Where the cold sea maids raise to sun their streaming hair." + +When he had finished the stanza, he looked up enquiringly. + +"The Chambered Nautilus," murmured Julia. + +"Ah, you know it then?" said the poet. + +"Oh, yes, I love it," she answered. + +Then with a smile of appreciation, adjusting his glasses, Dr. Holmes +read to the end of the poem in his wonderfully musical voice. When it +was finished, the girls would have liked to ask for more, but the poet +rose to replace the volume. "Come," he said, "you have listened to the +poem which of all I have written I like the best, now I wish to show you +my favorite view." Following him to the deep bay-window, they looked out +across the river. It was much the same view to which Julia was +accustomed in her uncle's house, and yet it was looking at the river +with new eyes to have the poet pointing out all the towns, seven or +eight in number which he could see from that window. Somerville, +Medford, Belmont, Arlington, Charlestown, Brookline, and one or two +others, perhaps, besides Cambridge with its spires and chimneys. + +"In winter," said Dr. Holmes, "there is not much to see besides the +tug-boats and the gulls. But in the early spring it is a delight to me +to watch the crews rowing by, and an occasional pleasure-boat, ah! I +remember"--but what it was he did not say, for as Edith turned her eyes +toward an oil painting on the wall near by he said, "Of course you know +who that is; of course you recognize the famous Dorothy Q. Now look at +the portrait closely, and tell me what you think of that cheek. Could +you imagine any one so cruel as to have struck a sword into it? Yet +there, if your eyes are sharp enough, you will see where a British +soldier of the Revolution thrust this rapier." + +When both girls admitted that they could not see the scar, "That only +shows," he said, "how clever the man was who made the repairs." + +Before they turned from the window he made them notice the tall factory +chimneys on the other side of the river which he called his +thermometers, because according to the direction in which the smoke +curled upwards, he was able to tell how the wind blew, and decide in +what direction he should walk. + +"Remember," he said, "when you reach my age always to walk with your +back to the wind," and at this the girls smiled, they feeling that it +would be many years before they should need to follow this advice. Yet +during their call how many things they had to see and to remember! He +let each of them hold for a moment the gold pen with which he had +written Elsie Venner and the Autocrat papers, and Julia turned over the +leaves of the large Bible and the Concordance on the top of his writing +table. Dr. Holmes called their attention to the beautiful landscape +hanging on one wall done in fine needlework by the hands of his +accomplished daughter-in-law, and he told them a story or two connected +with another picture in the room. Julia, as she looked about, thought +that she had seldom seen a prettier room than this with its cheerful +rugs, massive furniture, and fine pictures, all so simple and yet so +dignified. When the poet pointed out the great pile of letters lying on +his desk, he told them that this was about the number that he received +every day. + +"But you don't answer them all," exclaimed Edith almost breathlessly. + +"No, indeed," and he laughed, "my secretary goes through them every +morning, and decides which ought to be given me to read, and then--well +if it is anything very personal I try to answer it myself. Often, +however, I let her write the answer, while I simply add the signature." + +Edith gave Julia a little nudge; they were both at the age when the +possession of an autograph of a famous man is something to be ardently +desired. But neither of them had quite dared to ask Doctor Holmes for +his. It is possible that he saw the little nudge, or perhaps he read the +eager expression on their faces, for almost before they realized it he +had placed in the hand of each of them a small volume in a white cover, +and bidding them open their books he said, "Well, I must put something +on that bare fly-leaf." + +So seating himself at his table with a quill pen in his hand, he wrote +slowly and evidently with some effort, the name of each of them, +followed by the words "With the regards of Oliver Wendell Holmes," and +then the year, and the day of the month. As he handed them the books, he +opened the door, and with a word or two more of half bantering thanks to +Julia for her assistance on that windy day, he bowed them down the +stairs. + +So impressed were they by the visit that they had little to say until +they reached home, where they found Mrs. Barlow a very sympathetic +listener. Brenda, who happened to be at home looked with interest at the +little volumes of selections from Doctor Holmes' writings with their +valuable autographs, and said, "Well, you might have taken me, too." + +"Why, Brenda, I am sure that I asked you," said Julia, "but you declared +that you would not speak to a poet for anything in the world." + +They all laughed at this, a proceeding which this time did not annoy +Brenda. + +Mrs. Barlow admired the little books. + +"But I hope that you did not stay too long," she said gently, "for I +have been told that Doctor Holmes has a way of sending off a guest who +tires him, by bringing out one of these little gift books." + +"Oh, I don't think we tired him," said Julia; "at any rate he was too +polite to show it, but I'm glad that we have the books." + + + + +XVI + +AN HISTORIC RAMBLE + + +On a bright, sunny morning just before the beginning of the Christmas +holidays, Miss South asked Julia if she would care to go within a day or +two to visit some of the historic spots at the North End. + +"It is not quite as good a season," the teacher had added, "as in the +early autumn or spring, but I have learned that it is never well to put +off indefinitely what can be as well done at once. Something may happen +to prevent our going later, and so if you can go with me this week I +shall be very glad." + +"Oh, thank you, Miss South," replied Julia, "I should love to go, and +any day this week would do." + +"And I may go, too, mayn't I?" cried Nora, who happened to be standing +by. + +"Why, certainly," replied Miss South, "the more, the better; I should be +pleased to have all 'The Four' go." + +As it happened, however, on the afternoon selected for the excursion, +only Julia and Nora really cared to go. Brenda and Belle had some +special appointment which nothing would induce them to break, and Edith +expressed decided objections against going again into that dirty part of +the town. + +Even a Boston December can offer many a balmy day, and one could not +wish a pleasanter afternoon than that which Julia and Nora had for their +visit to the North End under the guidance of Miss South. + +She made Faneuil Hall the beginning of the trip, and if I had time I +should like to repeat what she told them about this famous building and +its donor, old Peter Faneuil, the descendant of the Huguenots. + +Nora was very much impressed by hearing that the first public meeting in +the building which Peter Faneuil had given to his native town was that +which assembled to hear Master Lovejoy of the Latin School pronounce a +funeral eulogy over the donor of the hall. + +For his death happened less than six months after the town had formally +accepted his gift in 1742. + +"You must remember," said Miss South, "that fire, and other causes have +led to many changes in the old building, both inside and out, and yet it +may still be considered the most interesting building in the country +historically, or at least of equal interest with Independence Hall in +Philadelphia." + +As they walked about and looked at the portraits of Washington, and +Hancock, and Adams, and Warren and the other great men considered worth +a place in this famous hall, Miss South told them of a political meeting +which she had once attended there, and how interesting it had been to +look down from the galleries upon the mass of men standing on the floor +below. For no seats are ever placed in this part of the hall, and with +an exciting cause, or a noted speaker to attract, the sight of this +crowd of men close pressed together is well worth seeing. + +"There is one time in particular," said Julia, "when I should have loved +to look in on the people in the hall." + +"When was that?" asked Miss South. + +"Why, during the Siege of Boston," she answered, "when the British +turned it into a play-house, and all the British officers in town were +attending 'The Blockade of Boston.'" + +"Why, how can you remember?" exclaimed Nora. + +"I don't know," said Julia; "I've always remembered it since I read it +in some history that just in the midst of the play the audience rose in +great excitement at the report 'The Yankees are attacking our works at +Charlestown.'" + +"Yes, that was the beginning of the end for the British in Boston," said +Miss South. "We are going to see other things to remind us of them this +afternoon. But now we must hasten on, for the afternoon will hardly be +long enough for all that we wish to see." + +Then after a short walk, she said, "I am taking you a little out of your +way to show you one or two spots that you might overlook yourself. Now +just here at this corner of Washington and Union streets, where we +stand, Benjamin Franklin passed much of his boyhood. Some persons +believe that his birthplace was here. But I am more inclined to accept +the Milk street location than this. Yet, here, almost where we stand, +his father hung out the Blue Ball sign for his tallow candle business, +and here, too, he lived with his wife and thirteen children. + +"Not far away," she continued as they walked along, "was the Green +Dragon Tavern where John Adams, and Revere, and Otis and the other Sons +of Liberty used to hold their meetings, and this--let us stand here for +a moment--is the site of the home of Joseph Warren. Here, where this +hotel stands in Hanover street, he lived and practised his profession of +physician, and in this old house I suppose, the news was brought to his +children of his death at Bunker Hill." + +To save their strength Miss South now signalled a passing street car, +and in a very few minutes they were taken to the corner of Prince +street. On the way Miss South had said that she wished to show them +North Square, and when they left the car, one turn from the main +thoroughfare brought them within sight of this noted locality. + +The little corner shops, of which there were many in sight had signs +worded in Italian, and some of the shop windows displayed all kinds of +foreign-looking pastry and confections--less tempting, however, in +appearance than the fresh green vegetables shown in the windows and +doorways of other shops. The dark-browed men and women who passed spoke +to each other in Italian, and some of the women wore short skirts and +bright kerchiefs which made their whole costume seem thoroughly foreign. + +"Down this Garden Court street," said Miss South, just before they +reached the square, "used to stand the house of Sir Harry Frankland." + +"Oh, yes," cried Nora, "there's _one_ thing that I remember, the story +of Agnes Surriage. I've read the novel." + +"Well, Agnes used to live here," said Miss South, "at least in this +neighborhood. No trace of the old mansion remains, although when built +it was the finest house in town, three stories high, with inlaid floor, +carved mantels, and other decorations that even to-day we should +probably admire. Many other houses in this neighborhood are old, and I +have a friend who can tell almost their precise age by studying the +style of the bricks and mortar, but the only one of great historic +interest is that little old wooden house," and she pointed to one on the +western side of the square. + +"It does not look so very old," said Julia. + +"No, because it has been clapboarded after the modern fashion. Aside +from that, however, you can see that its overhanging upper story makes +it unlike any house built in modern times. Here Paul Revere lived for +many years, and his birthplace is near-by. I hope that in time it may be +bought by some patriotic person, to be preserved as long as it will +stand. At present it is a tenement house, and liable to destruction by +fire at any moment through the carelessness of its occupants. Now we +must hurry on, but I wish that you could come to the square some time on +a holiday, when it is a centre for all the picturesque Italians of whom +there are so many now in this part of the city." + +As they turned about under Miss South's guidance, she pointed out other +old houses--(one with the date 1724 above it) almost tumbling down,--and +she told them a little about the habits of the people living in the +narrow streets and alleys which they passed. + +"On the whole these people are much better off than ever they were in +their own country. They have political liberty, and their children have +the chance of acquiring a good education. In that school over there they +are taught to speak English, and they do learn it in a very thorough +manner. The older people are slow in learning our language, and even +slower in acquiring our habits. They are so anxious to make money that +they live crowded together in a very unwholesome fashion. Sometimes a +whole family and one or two boarders will live in the same small room, +and the children will go without proper food or clothes while the father +is saving money enough to invest in a house or shop which he wishes to +own." + +"Cannot this be prevented?" asked Julia. + +"Only by teaching young and old better habits. That is the effort which +all the charity workers in this neighborhood make. The kindergartens, +and industrial schools, and all the other organizations are gradually +accomplishing this. But it is hard work. I should like to tell you more +about their difficulties, but now I suppose we must pay more attention +to history." + +While Miss South had been talking she had led them up a narrow street +which in snowy weather must have lived up to its name "Snowhill street." +At the top of the hill after a turn or two they came upon an old +burying-ground. + +"Copp's Hill," said Julia. + +"Why of course," responded Nora. + +"I brought you here to-day," said Miss South, "because I knew that the +gates would be open. One cannot always get in during the winter months +except by special arrangement. But in summer the old graveyard is like a +park, and the little children from all parts of the North End come here +to play, and mothers with their babies are thankful enough for a seat +under the trees where they can feel the cool breeze from the harbor." + +"How quaint it is!" said Julia, looking down the narrow street, just as +they entered the gate. "Why there is Christ Church, isn't it?" + +"How did you know it?" asked Nora, "I thought that you had never been +here before." + +"Well, I haven't, but there are ever so many photographs, showing just +this view. What is that queer little house, Miss South?" + +"I am glad that you asked, although I should not have forgotten to point +it out. That is a real Revolutionary relic, General Gage's headquarters +during part of the British occupation; it is one of the most interesting +houses left standing." + +Now turning their steps away from the quaint, hilly street, they were +within the enclosure of the graveyard. It would take long to tell all +that they saw. There was the old gravestone which the British had made a +target, and marked with their bullets. There were some stones with +nothing but the name and date, and neither very legible, others with +rough carvings of cherubs' heads, or the angel of death, while some of +the vaults at the side had heraldic carvings, the arms of old Tory +families. + +Miss South told them of the days when this graveyard had been neglected, +and when the gravestones had toppled over, and had been carried off by +any one who wished them. Some had been found by the present custodian of +the ground in use as covers for drains, others as chimney tops, and some +in old cellars and basements. There were famous names on some of the +stones, and strange verses on others. + +Julia copied an inscription or two, such as, + + "A sister of Sarah Lucas lyeth here, + Whom I did love most dear; + And now her soul hath took its flight, + And bid her spightful foes good-night." + +and this + + "Death with his dart hath pierced my heart, + While I was in my prime; + When this you see grieve not for me + 'Twas God's appointed time." + +She had heard before of the Mather tomb, and looked with great interest +on the brown slab enclosed with an iron railing, under which rested the +noted Puritan preacher. + +Yet while Julia took interest in the stones and inscriptions, Nora was +better pleased with the lovely view of the water to be seen from the +summit. + +"It was there in the channel," said Miss South, "that the men-of-war lay +when Paul Revere started out on that wonderful ride, and not so far from +the spot where the receiving ship 'Wabash' now lies at the Navy Yard, +the British landed in Charlestown on their way to Bunker Hill." + +"Oh, yes," said Julia, who had put aside her pencil and notebook, "I can +understand now what a fine view the people of Boston must have had of +the battle when they crowded to the graveyard and the roofs." + +"Yes, there was almost a clear view then," said Miss South, "and it must +have been a very exciting day for the watchers on the Boston side of the +water." + + "They were making for the steeple,--the old sexton and his people; + The pigeons circled round us as we climbed the creaking stair, + Just across the narrow river--oh so close it made us shiver! + Stood a fortress on the hilltop that but yesterday was bare. + + "Not slow our eyes to find it--well we knew who stood behind it, + Though the earthwork hid them from us, and the stubborn walls were + dumb. + Here were sister, wife and mother, looking wild upon each other, + And their lips were white with terror, as they said 'The Hour is + Come!'" + +"Bravo!" cried the others as Nora finished this quotation from Holmes' +well-known poem. "If there were time," added Miss South, "we might ask +Nora, or perhaps you Julia, to cap these stanzas with some other +historical poem. + +"The North End would be well worth another visit," continued Miss South, +as they turned away. "I hope that some time you will both come to a +service in the old church, and if you choose the first Sunday of the +month, you will be able to see the fine communion service presented by +George the Second, and you will find the high backed pews and the +frescoes on the wall the same as they were a hundred and twenty-five +years ago." + +"What lots of little children there are playing about," cried Nora; "I +should think that they would be run over a dozen times a day, for there +are certainly more in the middle of the street than on the sidewalks. +Why see there, why just look, it really is----" + +"Manuel," broke in Julia, as Nora rushed forward and took the little +fellow by the hand--"why how are you, Manuel?" + +"My mother sick," he replied, smiling at Nora whom evidently he +remembered very well. + +"Oh, couldn't we just go to see him, I mean his mother," cried Nora. + +"But if she is sick--" replied Miss South with hesitation. + +"Let us wait here at the corner--this is the very corner," pleaded Nora, +"and you can see whether there would be any harm in our going there; +Julia wants to see the house, and perhaps Mrs. Rosa only has a cold." + +As this seemed to be a sensible suggestion, Miss South with Manuel by +the hand went down the little street where the Rosas were living. + + + + +XVII + +THE ROSAS AT HOME + + +In a few moments Miss South returned. + +"I do not think," she said, "that there would be the least harm in your +going with me to the house. I know, Nora, that your mother would not +object, and Julia, you can use your own judgment. I am sure that there +is no contagious disease in the neighborhood, and----" + +"Oh," interrupted Julia, "do let me go back with you. I have never been +in a tenement house and I am so anxious to see one. My aunt would not +have the least objection, and you know that Brenda has been there." + +So in less time than it takes me to tell of it they were actually at the +door of the house where the Rosas lived. Fortunately their rooms were +now on the first floor, and as the door was open as well as the window, +there was good ventilation. Had this not been the case they must have +been half suffocated by the heat from the stove which was glowing hot. +Mrs. Rosa was seated in a high backed wooden rocking-chair, but she rose +to her feet as she saw Miss South and the two girls approaching. To do +this was evidently a great effort for her, and after she had said a word +or two of welcome in broken English, she sank back half exhausted. + +She had strength, however, to speak to her elder daughter, who had not +turned when they entered, and at her bidding Angelina had looked up from +the depths of the mysterious mixture which she was stirring in an iron +kettle, and coming forward offered her hand to the three newcomers. Two +younger girls in rather untidy dresses, with half the buttons off their +shoes looked on a little timidly, and no one but Manuel seemed perfectly +at ease. + +"It's rather hard, isn't it," said Miss South pleasantly, "to take care +of so many children, Mrs. Rosa?" + +"Oh, yes, Miss South," she replied, "they gets hungry every day, and +always wants so much to eat." Even the lively Nora did not smile at +this, although she afterwards said that she wondered if their mother +expected the children to want only one meal a week. + +"But you're not able to work now; you can't go out to your fruit stand, +can you?" continued Miss South. + +"Oh, no indeed, no indeed," shaking her head. "I'm awful weak." + +"Then how have you been paying your rent?" + +"Well, the good minister, he help me; he pay it just now, and John he +have a license for papers, and he sell quite a good many every day after +school--and, oh well, we get along." Mrs. Rosa had a very pleasant +expression, and as she talked she looked almost handsome. Her black +stuff dress, worn without a collar, made her pale face seem more haggard +than usual, yet it beamed with gratitude as she told how kind one and +another had been since her illness had become so serious. + +"Where does she sleep?" asked Julia in a half whisper to Nora. + +"Why, in that little room where you see the door open. I remember they +told us when we were here before, that she and the girls sleep there, +while the boys have a mattress to themselves on the kitchen floor. They +bring it out every night." + +"How dreadful!" was all that Julia had time to say, for she saw +Angelina's sharp eyes turned towards her, and feared that already she +had been impolite in talking thus in an aside to Nora. + +The latter, while Miss South was talking with Mrs. Rosa about her recent +symptoms, tried to draw Manuel into conversation, but, as before, only a +word or two at a time could be drawn from him, although his expression +was still as seraphic as ever, even when Nora was half teasing him. + +Yet, after all, they had been in the dingy room but a very short time +when Miss South reminded them that it was growing dark, and that Mrs. +Gostar and Mrs. Barlow would both disapprove their being out much later. +As they rode up Hanover street in the car both girls noticed that Miss +South was unusually quiet. At last Julia broke the silence. + +"I'm sure that you are thinking about Mrs. Rosa," she said softly. + +"Yes," answered Miss South, "I see that something must be done to help +her, but I am not sure just what it should be. Possibly she cannot +recover, or perhaps if she had a good doctor he might advise--but still, +she is almost too poor to take advantage of any advice." + +"Yes," said Nora, "suppose a doctor should advise her to go to Colorado, +or California; why he might as well talk about the moon." + +"I know it," murmured Julia, "and yet people are sometimes very kind to +the poor." + +"Yes, at Christmas especially," rejoined Nora with a laugh. "Did you +hear one of the little girls when I asked her what she had Thanksgiving +say, 'Two turkeys, one Baptist and one 'Piscopal.'" + +Julia looked a little shocked at this, but Miss South only smiled. "I am +afraid that loaves and fishes count for a great deal with these people +when they come to select a church. They have discovered that they can +get more from the Protestants than from their own church, and if they +have some little disagreement with a priest, they take advantage of this +to put themselves under the wing of the Bethel, or of Christ Church. +Both have a great many Portuguese in attendance, and I ought not to be +too censorious, for some of them undoubtedly are perfectly sincere." + +"How does it happen, Miss South, that you know so much about these poor +North End people?" asked Julia. "There, I did not mean to be +inquisitive, but it seems wonderful that you should understand them so +well." + +"To tell you the reason fully," replied she, "would be a long story, but +just now it may be enough to say that I have had a little mission class +down there but a block or two from Mrs. Rosa's for several years. In +this way, spending one evening among them, as well as Sunday afternoon, +I have come to understand the characteristics of these foreigners." + +"Have you known Mrs. Rosa all this time?" asked Nora. + +"Oh, no indeed, I never had seen her until after you rescued Manuel. But +since then I have called at the house two or three times and I have +grown to like Mrs. Rosa very well. She has more influence over her +children than many other foreign mothers of my acquaintance. But here we +are at Scollay Square, and as it is only five o'clock, would not you +enjoy walking down over Beacon Hill instead of taking another car?" + +"Yes, indeed," both girls exclaimed, and pleased enough they were with +their choice. For as they wound in and out through some of the +picturesque streets of the West End, Miss South almost made the old +streets alive again with the people of the past. As they passed the head +of Hancock street back of the State House, + +"Down there," she said, "was the Sumner homestead, where Charles Sumner +lived for many years." Then as they continued down Mt. Vernon street, +toward Louisbourg Square, she told them that here was once the estate of +Rev. William Blackstone. + +"Historians," she added, "believe that the spring of fresh water whose +discovery by Blackstone led Winthrop's party to prefer Boston to +Charlestown, was probably not far from the centre of the grassplot in +the square. But we must walk quickly," she concluded, as they turned to +a side street that led them to the familiar Beacon street. + +"I have come over here to call your attention to this curved front of +cream white at the middle of the slope. You have passed it hundreds of +times, Nora, but I wonder if you have ever realized that it was for many +years the home of William Hickling Prescott, the historian, and that +here he wrote many of his finest works." + +Nora was ashamed to admit that she hardly remembered what Prescott had +written. But Julia, whose historical reading had been unusually deep for +one of her years, was delighted to see the home of the author of +"Ferdinand and Isabella." If there had been no old landmarks to look at +they all would have enjoyed the walk to the utmost. Few streets in the +world are more beautiful than Beacon street, at dusk or after the lamps +are lighted. Those who walk westward at this time of day have the Common +and the Garden on one side, the dignified old houses on the other, and +winding far in front of them the long street with its long lines of +lamps, while far off in the west the heights of Brookline whose brightly +lit houses and twinkling street lamps suggest a huge castle as the end +of the journey. Home for Julia and Nora, however, lay far this side of +Brookline, and it was not long before they had to bid Miss South +good-bye, with many thanks for her kindness. + +Nora at dinner that evening was full of the experiences of the +afternoon, and her mother and father and the younger boys were not only +interested, but had various suggestions to make as to the most helpful +things to do for the Rosas. I won't say that the boys were always +practical, for with their minds full of the approaching Christmas they +could think of little that was really worth while doing except giving +the family an elaborately decorated Christmas tree. + +Dr. Gostar promised to find out whether Mrs. Rosa was having the proper +kind of medical treatment, and Mrs. Gostar said that she would try to +talk with Miss South and learn whether there was any special thing that +she could do. + +"The Christmas tree is not a very bad suggestion," said their mother +consolingly to the boys when she saw that they were disappointed that +their father treated this as a matter of slight importance. + +"Why I think that it would be just lovely to give them a tree," added +Nora, "if, if, that is, you know that we must not forget Brenda." + +"Of course not," replied her mother, "but Brenda does not own the Rosas, +in fact I should be inclined to think that she had forgotten them +lately." + +"Oh, she has made up her mind that she is going to accomplish something +wonderful for them by means of the Easter Bazaar, and----" + +"In the meantime she would leave them to starve." + +"Oh, papa, you are laughing at me; Miss South says that there is no +danger of any one's starving in Boston." + +"All the same you cannot expect me to encourage a dog-in-the-manger +disposition in Brenda, and you have so good an adviser in Miss South +that I am willing to help you to carry out any plans which she starts." + +Dr. Gostar was so far right in his estimate of Brenda that he would have +felt more than justified in what he had said to Nora had he looked in at +the Barlows at dinner-time. For he might then have seen that Brenda was +very much disturbed, and from her lips he would have heard some very +cross words. + +"Really, Julia, I think that it was awfully unkind in you and Nora to go +to see the Rosas without me; you know that I wanted to see them, and you +never gave me the least idea that you were going." + +"But I am sure that Miss South invited you to go to the North End with +us." + +"Well, you never said a word about the Rosas, and you know that I do not +care at all about old streets and houses, and besides, I could not have +gone this afternoon, so that you might have waited." + +"How unreasonable you are, Brenda, and inconsiderate towards Julia," +interposed her mother. "Really I had begun to hope that you were +improving, and here you are, crosser than ever." + +"Yes, Brenda, don't let me hear you talk in that way again," added her +father. + +"Well, I don't think it's fair for Julia and Miss South and Nora to keep +making plans for the Rosas when I was the one who first wanted to do +something for them; you remember, papa, that I asked you to buy a carpet +for them, and I have been thinking so much about that Bazaar, but now it +won't be a bit of good if everything is going to be done for them at +Christmas." + +"Nonsense, Brenda, you can have a share in Julia's Christmas tree, and I +cannot feel that your interest in them has continued very strong. It +seems to me that you have been more interested in the Bazaar than in the +Rosas, and that now you should be willing to let others make plans for +them." + +During all the discussion Julia had had little to say, but she resolved +at the earliest opportunity to ask Miss South to tell Brenda the exact +condition of the Rosas. + + + + +XVIII + +MERRY CHRISTMAS + + +When Miss South heard of Brenda's feeling on the subject of the Rosas +she hastened to invite her to assist in the Christmas tree enterprise +"not so much with money, Brenda," she said, "as with your taste. I know +that you and Belle can make several of the decorations for the tree. +Money to spend for the things has been given me by a friend, and we +shall have more than enough." + +With this suggestion Brenda was not at all displeased, for she had spent +more than double her liberal allowance of Christmas money on gifts for +her friends. A foolish habit of exchanging presents had grown up at +school, and each girl tried to return the presents of the season before +with something handsomer than the giver had bestowed on her. In this way +those who had to consider money were called mean if they did not give a +handsome present to all those whom they knew, that is those girls with +whom they had anything more than a speaking acquaintance. The ever +extravagant Brenda had reached almost the end of the list of those whom +she wished to remember with Christmas gifts, and had had to go to her +father for more money, which he gave her only on condition that she +should deduct it from her allowance of the next two months. It was +probably this knowledge that she could do little for the Christmas tree +for the Rosas which had led her at first to express herself rather +ill-naturedly to Julia on the subject. + +Mr. Barlow always protested a little against Brenda's present-giving +habit. He said that it was very foolish to give a silver pin-tray to a +girl who perhaps already had a half-dozen similar articles, which she +would probably return with a silver scent bottle, of which Brenda +already had more than she could use in a lifetime. "It would be much +more sensible if each of you would go out and buy the thing which you +wish the most for yourself and let others do the same. I have an idea +that your wants would be less numerous and less costly if you felt that +you were spending your own money for yourself." + +"Oh! papa." + +"Yes, I mean it. If you were in the habit of buying more books, it would +not be so bad, there would be little danger of your having too many, and +one book, if a duplicate, could be properly exchanged for another. But +you buy such foolish things for one another, and the chief aim of each +girl seems to be to outdo every other girl." + +"Oh, papa, I'm sure we all make out lists of what we want the most, and +we always try to please one another, indeed we always do, and one can't +be mean; I'm sure you wouldn't want any one to call me mean." + +"Now, Brenda, of course not; but there are different kinds of meanness, +and I wonder how many of you girls at Miss Crawdon's ever stop to think +how many little comforts your Christmas presents would buy for the needy +men and women who have so little to brighten their lives. No, Brenda, I +do not begrudge you the money that I give you, but I often do object to +your way of spending it--sometimes," he hastened to add, as he saw the +frown gathering on Brenda's face. + +But, after all, it would take too long to tell you how thoroughly in +earnest Julia and the others were in their efforts to make the Christmas +tree a success. The tree, to be sure, was the least part of it. For Mrs. +Rosa's small kitchen was not adapted to a very large one, and Miss South +decided that it would be rather foolish to put too much money into a +thing of that kind. The decorations were inexpensive, or homemade, and +the presents were useful rather than ornamental. Of course there were +toys and colored picture-books for Manuel and the smaller girls, and +bags of candy and oranges for each of the family, and candles enough on +the tree to make a cheerful illumination for five or ten minutes while +Miss South and Philip stood near by with pails of water ready to use in +case a spark of fire should fall where it was not expected. But after +all, things went off very well, and when the Four, or rather the +Five--for Julia, of course, was included--drove down to see the +distribution of the presents, they had hardly standing-room in the +little kitchen. Julia and Miss South had done the most of the +purchasing, and the things that they had thought of were innumerable. I +need not tell you what they all were, but there was a new rug to go in +front of the stove, and there were two wadded quilts for each of the +family beds, there was a new gown for Mrs. Rosa, and mittens and shoes +for all the children, and--but it is better for you to imagine it all, +only remembering that when a family is absolutely destitute, a great +deal of money may be spent without making a great show. The Christmas +dinner had been sent by the Baptist Church, and on Christmas evening the +children were to go to a festival at the Episcopal Church where they +expected to receive some other presents. For even Miss South had not yet +had enough influence to get the Rosas to devote themselves to one +church. They still continued to think that to attend two Protestant +churches showed a praiseworthy excess of virtue. + +But whatever the trouble and expense had been, the beaming faces of Mrs. +Rosa and the children were sufficient compensation for Miss South and +her pupils. Even Belle had no fault to find with the tree, or the Rosas +or with anything connected with the celebration. + +But for Julia one of the pleasantest results of the Christmas tree was +the intimacy which grew up between her and Miss South, a rather unusual +friendship to have arisen between a girl of sixteen and a woman ten +years older. + +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow were pleased with the animation which Julia had +shown in this work for the Christmas tree, and they had no objection to +the intimacy with Miss South, since Miss Crawdon had assured them that +they knew her to be a young woman of unusually fine character. Just +after Christmas Miss South went up to the country for a week or two of +perfect rest, and Julia for the first time since she came to Boston +found herself entering into a round of gaiety. Dancing parties were +given almost every evening by some one of the schoolgirls, and no one +thought of inviting Brenda without asking Julia, too. It is true that +Julia did not care very much for round dances, but she had come to see +that it was almost a duty to enter more heartily into the amusements of +her schoolmates. So, putting aside--so far as she could--her natural +diffidence--she almost always accompanied Brenda, and though she could +not take part in round dances, she seldom had to sit alone. There was +always some other girl who did not dance, or who had not been asked for +the dance, and not infrequently some awkward boy who preferred sitting +it out to dancing. On some occasions, even when there had been but two +or three square dances in which Julia could take part, she had reported +to her uncle and aunt at breakfast the next morning that she had enjoyed +herself very much. + +"A contented mind is a continual feast," said Belle, sarcastically, when +she heard Julia telling some one how much she had enjoyed a certain +evening. "Why, I do not think that Julia was on the floor twice. +Whenever I saw her she was talking to wall flowers, or small boys who +ought to have been at home or in bed." By "small boy," Belle meant any +one who was not yet in college, for she herself was hardly polite to any +one younger than a sophomore, and she wondered that any hostess to whose +house she was invited should think of having any one there younger than +this. But the best-intentioned hostess sometimes had young cousins or +nephews whom she wished to invite, and the two or three years' +difference in age between a sophomore and a boy still in the preparatory +school did not count for much in her eyes, however it may have been +regarded by some of the girls of Belle's age. + +Yet in spite of Belle's unfavorable criticisms, Julia was gradually +winning her way to considerable popularity, and this without any effort +on her own part. She was especially polite to elderly ladies, not from +any motive, but because this seemed the proper thing, and her natural +kindliness of heart led her to look after any other girl who seemed +neglected or lonely. As to the boys--well, while no one could tell +exactly how it was, she had a way of drawing them out and making even +those who hated parties, admit to her that if more girls were like her +they wouldn't mind going out. "But most girls, you know, just order us +boys about so, and we have to dance whether we want to or not, or they +call us all kinds of things behind our backs," one of them said to Julia +one evening. + +"Why, how do you know?" she had asked. + +"Oh, our sisters tell us; why haven't you any brothers yourself?" + +"No," said Julia, laughing at his earnestness, "nor any sisters either." + +"Oh, well, you know lots of girls, and you must have heard them talk. I +can tell you after I have heard my sisters and their friends talking +people over, I think that I will never go to a party again." + +"Then why do you?" + +"Oh, you have to; some way, the other fellows all kind of make fun of +you if you don't, and then your family all get at you, and it's all an +awful bore. But when I find a girl like you who don't mind sitting still +and talking, I don't have quite so bad a time." Then remembering that a +little more politeness was due even to a girl who didn't pretend to be +fond of dancing, he added, "Wouldn't you like to try this Portland +Fancy? I can generally get through that all right, and I don't mind +dancing with you," and though the compliment in the last part of his +speech was a little dubious, Julia accepted, to the amazement of some of +the other girls, who would have felt themselves very much lowered if +obliged to dance with a schoolboy. + +After all the gaiety of Christmas week it wasn't the easiest thing in +the world for the girls to settle down to work at school. There were so +many things to talk over, there was so much to think about. Christmas +day itself had been very pleasant for Julia, though it had been kept by +her uncle and aunt strictly as a family festival. She and Brenda were +the youngest of the group gathered at the table, for Brenda's elder +sister was still in Europe, and the other cousins invited to the dinner +were all older than Julia and Brenda. The presents were given +unostentatiously at breakfast before the arrival of any outside of the +household, and Julia was touched to find that she had been remembered +not only by the relatives whom she had seen, but by the absent cousins +in Europe who had known her only when she was a very little girl. Brenda +in her turn was extremely surprised by the handsome gifts which Julia +gave to her and to her father and mother. There was the beautiful +bracelet which she had been longing for as she had seen it in a Winter +street window, with the tiny watch set near the clasp, while for her +father and mother was a large paper edition of Thackeray, finely +illustrated and elegantly bound. Brenda was too heedless of money +herself to stop to count the cost of these gifts, and yet she realized +that they must be expensive, and while thanking Julia with the greatest +warmth, she wondered how in the world she had been able to afford them. + +Her father had laughed as usual at what he called her "silverware," and +had asked her again as he had always asked her since she had acquired +the habit of present exchanging, as he called it. + +"Now, wouldn't it really be more fun to have all your own money again, +Brenda, so that you could start out, and buy for yourself the things +that you like the most instead of all these odds and ends." + +"Oh, papa," Brenda had replied, as she always did, "I just love these +things, and I have more presents than almost any girl I know; they say +that I really am the most popular." + +"Yes," he rejoined, "because you make the most presents. However," as he +saw a cloud settling on her face, "I will not say anything if you are +happy. Only remember that you won't have any allowance again until the +first of March." + +But an empty pocketbook did not seem the worst thing in the world to +Brenda with her happy-go-lucky disposition, and on the Monday after New +Year's, when they were all back in school she was the merriest of the +crowd. + + + + +XIX + +NORA'S THOUGHTLESSNESS + + +It is never the easiest thing in the world to settle down to work after +the holidays, and even Julia for a day or two found herself a little +dreamy, with her thoughts constantly going back to the many pleasant +things of that Christmas week. But it was not as hard for her as for her +cousins to resume the regular routine. She had a more definite aim than +they, with the prospect of college examinations not so very far away. +Brenda had not yet made up her mind to give her approval to her cousin's +studying Greek, and she did not take the trouble to contradict Belle and +Frances Pounder when they said that it must be a very disagreeable thing +to have a cousin who intended to be a teacher. It is true that neither +Belle nor Frances was thoroughly informed as to Julia's intentions, but +they never needed very definite facts on which to base their theories. +Consequently when they were at a loss for a subject of conversation, +they were in the habit of discussing Julia's peculiarities. Other +persons did not find Julia peculiar. To older people she seemed an +especially well-mannered girl, with a delightful vein of thoughtfulness +that was not too often met in young girls. She had become also a decided +favorite with the brothers of her school friends to an extent that +sometimes seemed surprising. For Julia was not an extremely pretty girl, +and she was not half so well informed on sports and games as were the +girls who had lived all their lives in Boston. But she had a way of +listening attentively to whatever any boy happened to be saying to her, +and the questions that she asked always showed an unusual degree of +attention--an attention that any one could see was not a mere pretence. +Philip Blair had already begun to confide to her a larger share of his +college woes than he would have confided to his placid sister Edith. For +Edith had an uncomfortable habit of forgetting just what was to be kept +secret, and though Philip had no very dark secrets, there were still +little things that he preferred not to have told. Julia was also very +ready to help Nora's younger brothers in their lessons, and as Harry +Gostar said, "There isn't another girl Nora knows that could help a +fellow with his Greek exercises, and even if she hasn't studied Greek +any longer than I have, she has learned more than enough to show me +where I make mistakes in these beastly old conjugations." + +There was probably some jealousy in the feeling of Frances and Belle +toward Julia, but jealousy was not a strong motive with Brenda. In her +case there had been little more than pettishness in her first attitude +towards her cousin--the pettishness of a spoiled child. Yet this +pettishness, which left to itself would have seemed of little +account,--hardly worth noticing, when fanned by Belle and Frances took +on the aspect of jealousy. In consequence of this feeling Julia had been +made at times very uncomfortable, though no one had ever known her to +say a word to Brenda in resentment. + +Sometimes she found it very hard not to say a word when she heard the +Four rushing upstairs on the afternoons of the club meetings. Strange +though it may seem, no invitation had yet been given her to assist in +the work for the Bazaar, even although all the other girls realized that +the success of the Rosas' Christmas tree had been largely due to her. +Perhaps it was just as well that Julia had no opportunity to inspect the +things that were preparing for the Bazaar. For even after these many +weeks of work there was hardly a single finished article. Belle's +centrepiece was so elaborate that a whole afternoon showed hardly more +than a single finished leaf, or one exquisitely wrought blossom. + +"If any one would pay you for your time, Belle," Nora said mischievously +one day, "we should have money enough to send one of the Rosa children +to Europe." + +"You'd better talk, Nora," Belle replied, "your afghan isn't half done +either, and an afghan does not begin to be as fussy as a centrepiece, +and it isn't even artistic, or----" + +"Oh, well," Nora replied, "this is not the only thing that I have done; +I keep it to work on here, but I have finished a small shawl at home, +and a pair of baby's shoes, and I am going to do any number of things +besides." + +"Ah," said Belle, tossing her head, "you won't find me working myself to +death over a Bazaar. I think one afternoon a week is a great deal to +give to any poor family, for that is what it amounts to, and you know +that I don't care much about those Rosas, anyway." + +"Oh, Belle!" cried Edith, looking shocked. + +"No, indeed, I don't, and I am sure that Brenda does not care half as +much as she pretends. Why, Edith, as for that you yourself never go down +to the North End to see them." + +"I can't; my mother won't let me go into dirty streets or into tenement +houses." + +"Oh! if you cared very much, you'd find some way to go there +occasionally. You could drive." + +Edith looked so uncomfortable at this suggestion, that Nora, on whom +usually fell the duty of taking up the cudgels, exclaimed, + +"You know that Edith was very generous at Christmas, and that she is +ready to do ever so much more for the Rosas, and it isn't a bit fair to +speak in that way." + +Belle discreetly said nothing further, for she had learned that when +Nora assumed this positive tone, Brenda was apt to go over on her side, +and then Belle herself would be so in the minority as to be obliged to +seem an unpopular person, and if there was one thing in the world that +she dreaded, it was to be considered unpopular. So trimming her sails +she said, "Why, how silly you are, Nora, you know that I was only in +fun. Of course we all are interested in the Rosas, and I only wish that +I could do two or three centrepieces for the Bazaar. But I am always so +busy at this season----" + +"You busy, Belle," cried Nora. "Who ever heard of such a thing. You are +just the idlest person I know." + +"Indeed I am not," was the answer. "I have to do all the errands for the +family, and half my clothes are made in the house, and we always have +such stupid seamstresses, that----" + +"I should say so, Belle; I do think that you have had some of the +ugliest clothes, lately, that I have seen this winter," interrupted +Nora, rather unceremoniously. Belle reddened very deeply at this speech, +for as a matter of fact she was extremely sensitive on the subject of +her clothes. Unlike Brenda or Edith, she never had the privilege of +going to a fine costumer; nor could she even employ the dressmaker who +made some of the gowns worn by others of her set of friends. The +circumstances in her family were such that she could not gratify her +taste in dress. She must wear this thing or that thing that her +grandmother had selected, or must have something of her mother's altered +to the present fashion for girls. However skilful the alterations, she +felt as if she were in some way disgraced. Now to tell the truth Belle +herself had so much natural taste that only a very severe critic could +see anything to criticise in her dress, and a sensible person watching +the two girls would have said that it was much better for a young girl +to be brought up with the somewhat economical habits that had to be +Belle's than to have the rather too elegant clothes, and the many +changes of costume which Mrs. Blair seemed to prefer for Edith. But +girls will be girls, and Belle's great grievance was that when fawn +brown for example, was the fashionable spring shade, she had to wear a +gown of stone grey, because somewhere in the cedar chests in her +grandmother's attic there was a stone grey thibet, ample enough to cut +over into a spring gown for her. As to hats, neither her mother nor her +grandmother approved of her having her hats trimmed at a milliner's. In +consequence, after her mother had put on a hat a simple trimming such as +she approved herself, Belle would spend her first spare afternoon in +ripping it all off, in order to retrim it. Indeed she usually spent not +one afternoon but several in this operation, and even ventured to lay +out her own pocket money in little ornaments or in ribbons that she +thought would add to the appearance of the hat. In the same way she was +able too to make slight alterations in the appearance of her gowns, and +sometimes the changes were improvements. At other times what she had +considered a genuine addition to the style of her garment or hat to +other eyes seemed only queer, or in schoolgirl parlance "weird." + +When therefore Nora said that she had considered Belle's clothes of the +present winter the ugliest she had seen, she touched a tender cord. In +the first place Belle had had a strong dislike for the coat and hat +which her mother and grandmother had selected for her, and in the second +place she thought that she had improved the appearance of her costume as +a whole by entirely altering the style of her winter hat. For she had +twisted the front to the back, had added a deep blue bow to the +trimming, and she believed that altogether she had accomplished wonders. + +At Nora's speech the tears came to her eyes, and the heedless Brenda, +who was not herself always careful of the feelings broke forth +indignantly, + +"I do think, Nora, that you might be careful what you say; you know that +Belle dresses as well as she can, and I think that she always looks +well. I wish that I could trim hats." + +"Oh, Brenda, it is a good thing that you can't, for if you could you +never would have a thing to wear; you can do fancy work, but you haven't +a thing finished yet for the Bazaar." + +While Nora was talking Belle had been folding up her work, and in a +moment more she was putting on her hat and coat. + +"You are not going now?" cried Brenda. "Oh, don't go; you're not mad at +Nora, are you?" + +"Oh, no," answered Belle with the air of injured innocence. "Oh, no, but +I think that I ought to be going. I did not mean to stay the whole +afternoon." + +"Oh, don't go," urged Edith; "if you'll wait half an hour I will go with +you, but I must finish this piece of drawn work." + +But Belle continued to put on her outer wraps, and in a few minutes had +bidden the others good-bye. As a matter of fact Belle was deeply +offended, and she knew that if she had stayed much longer with her +friends she would have been driven to express herself strongly. Now a +general quarrel was a thing to be dreaded, and she knew that it would be +unwise to risk it. Belle was certainly a sensible girl, and what she now +did was really the best thing under the circumstances. + +Left to themselves the three other girls let their tongues move very +freely. It was something new for the rather loquacious Belle to go off +without a word, as if in some way she had been vanquished. It was the +very best thing that she could have done for herself. + +"Really, Nora, I don't see how you could speak in that way to Belle. I +am sure that she feels very badly," began Edith. + +"Well, she is awfully conceited about her clothes, and sometimes she +does look so queer." + +"But you shouldn't say so to her face----" + +"Better to her face than behind her back." + +"I don't know," rejoined Edith, "there are some things that it is just +as well not to say at all. Belle has a right to wear whatever kind of +hats she likes." + +"Oh, Edith," responded Nora, "you are altogether too fair. I am tired of +having Belle find fault with every one else as if she were just perfect +herself. For my own part, I----" + +"Well, Nora," said Brenda, "you ought not to say anything to Belle when +she is in my house. I happen to know that she is very sensitive about +her clothes. In the first place her mother will never let her have what +she wants----" + +"No, it's her grandmother," interrupted Edith. "She really does have a +hard time, and it isn't fair to criticise her." + +"No," added Brenda, "it is not." + +"Well, Brenda," said Nora, "you ought not to say anything. You make +Belle awfully mad sometimes by what you say. I heard you telling her the +other day that you should think that she'd just hate that winter coat +that she has been wearing, the fur is so very unbecoming, and you asked +her why she didn't have a chinchilla collar and muff. She won't quarrel +with you, because there are so many little things that you can do for +her." + +"There, there," cried Edith who saw that neither Brenda nor Nora was in +an amiable frame of mind. "Don't let us bicker. Any one would think that +we were all enemies instead of the inseparable four." + +"Oh, Edith, we can't all be as amiable as you," responded Nora. "But +really I am a little sorry that I offended Belle, for I know that she +has a rather hard time at home, but I do wish that she would not put on +such superior airs, and I do wish that she would not wear her hats hind +side before. Sometimes I almost hate to go out with her." + +"Why, Nora, I never heard of such a thing. I did not know that you +attached the least importance to appearances. Besides I thought that you +always wanted to make every one comfortable in her feelings. It seems +strange that you should have been so awfully thoughtless towards Belle." + +"I dare say that you are perfectly correct," responded Nora; "you +usually are, Edith Blair. And I haven't a doubt that I shall go down on +my knees to-morrow at recess, and apologize to Belle and to every one +else whom I have ever offended. But I say that we have had enough of +this exchange of compliments for to-day. Let us put up our work, and +talk about something else. Why, see here, Belle has left her centrepiece +behind her." + +"Oh, give it to me," cried Brenda; "I will put it away," and she took it +from Nora's hands. + +"We shouldn't have had this fuss, should we," said Edith, "if Julia had +been working with us?" + +"You don't call this a fuss," rejoined Nora, "only a slight +misunderstanding." + +Now in spite of her outspokenness Nora was really a very fair minded +young person, or perhaps I ought to say because of it. Those who express +themselves very plainly often hurt the feelings of their friends, and +not all of them have the courage to admit that they have been wrong. It +does require some courage to go to a girl who is in the habit of +justifying all her own words and deeds to tell her that you yourself +have been wrong. Yet this was just what Nora did a day or two later when +she began to reflect on the criticisms she had made in the matter of +Belle's clothes. She was surprised herself at the graciousness with +which Belle received her apology. But this was one of the cases--rather +exceptional to be sure,--in which Nora was decidedly in the wrong. +Belle, therefore, could afford to be magnanimous. After this Nora was +much more careful about criticising any one, for it was her general aim +in life to follow as closely as she could the Golden Rule. + + + + +XX + +FIDESSA AND HER MISTRESS + + +On the very afternoon when Nora and Belle had their falling out, Julia, +after finishing her practising, had gone for a walk. It was a bright, +clear day, and she wished that she had some other girl to walk with her. +For when by herself she never ventured beyond the entrance to the park, +although if her cousin or one of her school friends could go with her, +her aunt had no objection to her walking in the park itself. One of the +disadvantages of her friendship with Ruth Roberts lay in the fact that +they could seldom be together in the afternoons. Their homes were too +far apart. Sometimes on Saturday Julia would go to Roxbury to spend the +half day with Ruth, and on other Saturdays Ruth would come in town to +stay with Julia. It was hard to tell which was the pleasanter thing to +do. At Roxbury, there were Ruth's ponies to drive, and in snowy weather +a chance to coast down a quiet side street. Out of town there are many +more chances for fun for girls past sixteen than can possibly be found +in town or the city. When Ruth visited Julia the two usually went to a +concert accompanied by Mrs. Barlow, or when she could not go, by one of +their teachers. Of late Julia had been in the habit of inviting Miss +South to go with them. Brenda never went to these concerts. She was not +fond of music, and she did not pretend to be. The only matinee that she +cared for was the theatre, and as her parent were decidedly opposed to +her going often to the play, she could not indulge herself half as much +as she wished. + +On this particular afternoon Julia felt especially lonely. Doubtless no +small part of her loneliness came from the fact that she was perfectly +well aware of the presence of the "Four" in the house, and though she +had tried not even to say to herself that she felt slighted, she would +have been less than human not to feel that her cousin had slighted her +in not asking her to the club. "To look up and not down, to look out and +not in," had been one of the lessons which her father had been most +careful to teach her. It was therefore not very often that she let her +thoughts dwell too long on her own affairs. But on this particular day +she felt a little low-spirited and inclined to regard herself as rather +ill-used. Without realizing it she had walked some distance into the +park, and pausing to admire a bit of distant view that she was able to +get from a slightly elevated point, she lingered a moment or two longer +to decide whether it was an animal or a child that she heard crying +behind a small clump of bushes near by. When she found that there was no +other way of satisfying herself, she walked up to the bushes, and there, +standing forlornly on three legs, was a tiny Italian greyhound. + +"Why, you poor little thing!" she cried, "what is the matter?" and as +she spoke she took the little creature in her arms. + +"Is your leg broken, or sprained, or what?" she continued, though of +course she did not expect any reply from the dog. The greyhound showed +great joy at the sound of a friendly voice, and looked up in Julia's +face with an expression of confidence and gratitude. + +"Come, I am going to put you down on the ground for a minute to see +whether you are hurt, or only pretending." So, suiting the action to the +word, she stood the little dog on its feet. As if understanding her +purpose, the little creature limped in front of her for a few steps, but +the limp was so slight as to assure Julia that no serious accident had +befallen the leg, which the dog still seemed inclined to hold off the +ground. + +"Now let me see if your collar tells who your owner is," added Julia, +and she bent down towards the dog. There to her surprise, she read in +clear letters, "Fidessa, Madame du Launy." Now immediately Julia decided +that the owner of the dog must be the mistress of the large house near +the school, about which her friends were so curious. In an instant, too, +she remembered that she had seen this little animal, or one very like +it, taking its exercise in front of the great, mysterious house. Julia +had always been fond of dogs, and the little trembling creature appealed +strongly to her. For a moment she almost wished that there were no name +on the collar, so that she might have kept it with her for a day or two +while finding the owner. "O, if only it had no owner, what joy!" she +thought, as she gazed into its dark eyes, "to keep it for myself!" + +As things were, however, she felt that she ought to try to return it as +soon as possible, and taking the little Fidessa in her arms, she +retraced her steps to the other side of the city where Madame du Launy +lived. + +As she stood in front of the house which Nora and Brenda had tried so +unsuccessfully to enter a few weeks before, the old timidity which at +one time had been the trial of her life returned to her. Nevertheless, +she rang the bell bravely, and was welcomed almost with open arms by the +serious-faced servant who opened the door. He had seen Fidessa +instantly, and if he had not, the little creature would have made +herself quickly known. When Julia released her, she jumped about in the +greatest excitement, whirling around in a circle and then rushing ahead +up the stairs. All trace of the lameness seemed to be gone, greatly to +Julia's surprise. + +While Fidessa was running ahead, the man, asking Julia to follow him, +had shown her into a large room, rather dimly lighted. At first she +thought that she was alone, but far at the other end of the apartment +she saw a slight figure arise from the depths of a large armchair, as +the man said solemnly, "Madame du Launy, here is a young lady who has +found Fidessa." At that moment the truant dog bounded into the room, and +leaping up towards the old lady almost knocked her over. At the same +moment a plain, elderly woman entered behind Fidessa, and Julia could +see as she stood in the doorway that her eyes were rather red around the +edges as if she had been weeping. + +"Draw up a blind, or two, James," said Madame du Launy, querulously, "we +are not at a funeral. Come nearer, my dear, I am sure that I am very +much obliged to you for your trouble. Where did you find my poor little +dog?" By this time, the "poor little dog" was seated calmly on a cushion +with its slender front legs crossed as if it had never given any one a +moment's uneasiness. As Julia looked at the lady who had addressed her, +she saw that she was, or had been tall. Her figure, though somewhat +bent, gave the impression of stateliness. This aspect was increased by +the large towering structure which she wore on her head, whether to be +called cap, or turban, it was hard to tell with its folds of black silk, +its border of white lace and with two or three jeweled pins sticking in +it. + +In answer to Madame du Launy's question, Julia described finding the +little dog in the park, and her fear at first lest it had hurt its leg. + +"That is an old trick of Fidessa," said her mistress smiling, "when she +is at all unhappy she limps about on three legs as if really lame. She +does not know her way about the city, and she is never supposed to go +anywhere without her leash. As nearly as I can understand from Jane, +Fidessa went out for a drive to-day under her care. When Jane left the +carriage to call on a friend of hers, who lives near the park, she +forgot all about my dog. Fidessa probably jumped out of the carriage to +take a walk herself. But I must say that it seems most extraordinary +that no one saw her, neither the coachman, the footman nor Jane. When +the carriage started home none of them took the trouble to look under +the rugs to see if she was there." Here Jane began to sniffle a little. +"Well," continued Madame du Launy, "it is a great wonder that she was +not stolen or run over, poor little thing! It's no thanks to you, Jane," +and she looked daggers at the unfortunate maid. "It is a wonder, too, +that none of you could find Fidessa. For I don't believe that the little +thing was actually hiding, and you all three have come back with the +report that it was impossible to find her." + +While Madame du Launy was speaking Julia said to herself that she would +be very sorry to bring on herself a scolding from so sharp-voiced an old +lady, and she could not help feeling sorry for Jane, even though the +latter had probably been careless. + +But now, with a sudden change of manner, Madame du Launy turned toward +the young girl. "There is no reason, however, why you should suffer for +Jane's misdeeds. + +"Jane, ring the bell," she cried, and then in what seemed an incredibly +short time, a man entered with a butler's tray, which he placed on a +table in front of Madame du Launy, while the latter invited Julia to +come nearer and take a cup of tea. + +Now as Julia sat there drinking tea from the quaintest of old-fashioned +china cups, and eating slices of thin bread and butter, and cakes that +almost melted in her mouth, she could not help wondering what her +friends and her cousin would say to see her actually seated in the house +which most of them considered absolutely impossible to enter. In spite +of the fact that the curtains at one or two windows had been raised a +little the room was still rather dark, and as she glanced about, Julia +could see the pictures and furniture rather indistinctly. She noticed, +however, that one wall was quite covered with large pieces of tapestry +representing medieval battle scenes, and that on the opposite wall on +either side of a long mirror there hung a number of family portraits. +One of these in a heavily gilded oval frame represented a young girl of +perhaps eighteen years, whose features, for some reason or other, seemed +strangely familiar; in fact there was something in the bright and +earnest face that drew Julia's eyes so constantly towards it that she +began to fear lest Madame du Launy would think it strange that she +should pay such close attention to it. + +[Illustration: "NOW AS JULIA SAT THERE DRINKING TEA FROM THE QUAINTEST OF OLD-FASHIONED CHINA CUPS"] + +It seemed a remarkable thing to Julia that she should find herself +drinking tea under the roof of the mysterious house about which the +schoolgirls had shown so much curiosity. It seemed even stranger that +Madame du Launy should prove to be altogether less of an ogre than she +had been represented. Although a trembling hand and a rather weak voice +betrayed her age, she talked brightly of various things, asking Julia +about her school, and her studies, and drawing the young girl out to +talk about the western country in which she had spent so much time. On +one subject, however, the old lady was silent. She said nothing in +praise of Boston, either ancient or modern. She never alluded to a +single individual as "my friend" or "my neighbor." She spoke only of +things, and for the most part of things that had no connection with New +England. Her questions about the school were evidently prompted by +politeness in accordance with the general rule that one should show an +interest in whatever probably interests the one with whom she is +talking. + +Jane who stood not far from her mistress' chair, and James who kept his +post near the drawing-room door, looked in amazement on Madame du Launy +and her young guest. In all their remembrance,--and both had lived in +the house more than twenty-five years--they had never seen a young girl +in conversation with their mistress. Indeed, they had seen very few +guests in that gloomy old drawing-room, and certainly they had never +known any one else to be asked to drink tea. It was as pleasant as it +was novel to Madame du Launy to have Julia sitting with her, and as for +Fidessa, she altogether forgot the strict discipline under which she had +been reared, and instead of sitting calmly on her cushion, she jumped up +in Julia's lap, and from time to time planted a cold, moist little kiss +on her cheek. When at last Julia rose to go she had made a much longer +visit than she should have made in view of the fact that the end of the +afternoon was near at hand, and that she had some distance to go to +reach her uncle's house. When, however, she rose to go, Madame du Launy +begged her to wait a moment. "I have ordered my carriage," she added, +"for it is altogether too late for you to go home alone. Let me thank +you very much for your kindness to my little Fidessa, for it would have +been a very serious loss for me, had she fallen into the wrong hands." +Then when she saw James returning to announce that the carriage was +ready, she added, "and if you will come again some afternoon, and spare +an hour or so for me, you will add more than you can imagine to relieve +my very monotonous life." Thus Julia as she bade the old lady good-bye +felt that she had made a new friend, and in a very unexpected way. The +carriage in which she rode home, though old-fashioned in shape, was +delightfully comfortable, and when she descended from it at her uncle's +door, still another surprise awaited her. The footman placed in her hand +a little box "with Madame du Launy's compliments," he said. This when +she opened proved to contain a delicately chased little envelope opener, +shaped like a tiny scimitar. "Really," she thought, "I have had a most +exciting adventure. Better than I deserve, for it was only this +afternoon that I was feeling so cross and so disheartened because the +Four would not include me in the club. But if I had been with them this +afternoon I could not have had this adventure." + +"Well, I certainly _should_ call it an adventure," said Mr. Barlow that +evening, when she told him her experience with Mme. du Launy. "Why, even +I, in all my years of residence here, have never had a glimpse of the +old lady. I have sometimes thought it a pity that she should lead so +solitary a life, but it's her own choice. They say she has a regular +hermit disposition. How did it strike you, Julia?" + +"Not that way, uncle, at all, not at all, though she seemed very sad." + +"Perhaps she's repenting for the way she has neglected her +grandchildren," interposed Brenda. + +"Are you sure that there are any grandchildren?" enquired Mrs. Barlow. + +"Why, yes, of course, at least I suppose so," answered + +Brenda. + +Mr. Barlow laughed, "I am afraid that you cannot make out a very strong +case of cruelty to children unless you can prove the existence of the +children." + +"Oh, well," interposed Mrs. Barlow, to prevent that ruffling of Brenda's +feelings which was sure to follow when she felt that some one was +laughing at her, "There is not much doubt that there are one or two +grandchildren for whom Madame du Launy ought to do something. I forget +what I have heard about it myself, but I could make enquiries." + +"Oh, Julia will soon be able to tell us more about Madame du Launy and +her grandchildren than anybody else ever dreamed of," said Brenda, a +little spitefully, as she left the room. + +"Poor Brenda," murmured Mr. Barlow, "will she ever overcome that spirit +of jealousy?" + + + + +XXI + +MISS SOUTH AND JULIA + + +"You can say what you like," said Belle to Brenda when the latter told +her of Julia's adventure with the dog, "but I think that it was +downright mean in her to go to Madame du Launy's in that sneaking kind +of way." + +"Why, Belle, it wasn't sneaking. What was she to do with the little dog? +She couldn't leave it on the street." + +"Well, she knew how anxious we all were to see the inside of that house, +and the least that she could do was to invite some of us to go with +her." + +"Oh, Belle, if you are not the most unreasonable girl in the world," +exclaimed Nora, who had heard the latter part of this speech. "You +couldn't expect her to invite one of us Four, when at that very moment +we were having our meeting; and it's you who won't let the rest of us +invite her to sew with us. For my part, I am glad that Julia has got +ahead of us." + +Here Brenda spoke up in a tone rather more judicial than she was +accustomed to employ. "I think that you are wrong, too, Belle; I don't +believe that Julia had ever given Madame du Launy a thought before, and +I'm almost sure that she didn't expect to be invited into the house when +she took the little dog home." + +"Oh, she knew what she was doing," replied Belle; "you can't make me +believe anything else, and I only hope she'll invite you to go there +with her some day. You must be sure to let me know if she does." + +"Oh, of course," responded Brenda carelessly, "but then I am not so +anxious myself to see Madame du Launy, I never did care so very much for +old ladies." + +"It isn't Madame du Launy," interposed Belle, "it's the house. Didn't +Julia tell you that it was perfectly beautiful?" + +"I don't know that she said so very much about it. She hasn't said much +to me. You'd better ask her yourself, if you wish to know all about it," +said Brenda in reply, while Nora added a little mischievously, "Yes, +here she comes, with Edith and Ruth." + +But Belle with a scornful "No thank you," passed on into the house. + +As a matter of fact Brenda was just a little envious of what to her +seemed Julia's good fortune in this particular instance; but her +cousin's charm of disposition and manner had already begun to have an +effect on her, and she was also weary of hearing Belle so constantly +find fault with her. After all blood is thicker than water, and Brenda +had a little more than her share of true family pride. By noon, however, +her annoyance with Belle had disappeared, and she listened eagerly to +some plans which Belle was arranging for the afternoon. + +It happened that very day that Miss South and Julia were to make one of +their journeys to the North End, and on the way Julia very naturally +told her teacher of her visit to Madame du Launy. The latter listened +with great interest, but made rather less comment than Julia had +expected. Yet she asked one or two questions that surprised Julia. "Did +you like the picture of the young girl over the drawing-room +mantelpiece?" + +"Why, is there one there, did I speak of it?" said Julia. + +Miss South, Julia could not help noticing it, really blushed as she +replied, + +"Well, you may not have mentioned it, but I had heard----" + +"Oh, yes," interrupted Julia, without waiting for her to finish. "Oh, +yes, I do remember; a young girl with long, fair curls. I sat just where +my eye fell on it, and I could not help thinking that it was rather a +sad picture, at least the girl had a sad expression, and it seemed too, +as if I had seen some one who looked very much like her. Why, have you +ever seen that portrait, Miss South?" + +"Oh, no," answered Miss South. "Oh, no, but I have heard of it, and--" +but she did not finish the sentence, and altogether she seemed to be in +a rather silent mood, although she encouraged Julia to talk freely about +Madame du Launy. + +"Madame du Launy must be dreadfully lonely," said Julia, "living alone +in that great house. I believe it is true as the girls at school say +that no one ever goes to see her." + +"Not to see a great many people does not always mean loneliness," +replied Miss South. "You know that I have not a great many acquaintances +in Boston, but still I am never lonely. Of course," she continued, "I +have you girls, but that is not the same thing as having friends of my +own age to exchange visits with me." + +"Yes," responded Julia sympathetically, "and since I have known so much +about you I have often thought that it must be very hard to be alone +this way in a large city. Of course you have your brother to think +about--but he is so far away, out there on the railroad in Texas,--why +you are worse off than I am, for I have my uncle and aunt--and Brenda--" +she ended with a smile. + +"As I have said, Julia," continued Miss South, "I am not so very lonely, +although I have not a single relation in Boston, at least not one to +whom I can turn; yes, I might as well say, not one." + +"How did you ever happen to come here, then?" asked Julia. + +"Oh, I had just finished my normal course in New York, when I met Miss +Crawdon one summer. She needed an assistant, and made me a very good +offer. Besides I had always wished to come to Boston, and as long as +Louis and I had to be separated, it seemed to me that I might as well be +here as anywhere else. I should have liked to go to Texas with Louis, +but his work keeps him so much on the railroad that we should not have +been much good to each other. Of course when he is a railway president +we shall live together--but he is only twenty-two now, and it is foolish +to think of that at present." + +For the first time since the beginning of her acquaintance with Miss +South, Julia felt decidedly anxious to ask questions about her early +life. Perhaps Miss South had an insight into her mind. At any rate she +said, in a half tone of apology, "Since you are interested, Julia, I +will tell you a little about myself. When my brother was ten years old, +and I fourteen, our father died. Our mother had died several years +before. The little bit of money which our father left was hardly enough +to support us until we were educated. Fortunately he had a friend, a +lawyer, who looked after it very carefully, and although he had to spend +most of the capital for us as well as the interest, we were both able to +live comfortably, though in a very economical way, until I was eighteen. +At this time we had but a few hundred dollars left, and Louis was glad +enough to take a situation in a railroad office offered to him by the +efforts of the same kind friend. He was soon earning his board, and +every year he has had an increase of salary, with a steady promotion. I +went first to the State University in the state where I had grown up and +was able to afford myself a good normal course. Since I came to Boston I +have been able to save a little from my salary. You can see, then, that +I am not very badly off--only I do wish sometimes that I had a few +relations." + +"Haven't you any, really?" asked Julia. + +"None--at least practically none near enough to take any interest in me. +You see my mother was an only child, at least her brother and sister +died young, and so was my father. Besides he was an Englishman, and what +distant cousins of his there are, live in England." + +Julia would have liked to ask more, but just at that moment a little +figure darted into view, and flung himself upon her. It was Manuel, in +all the glory of a new pair of trousers, new at least to him, though +even an eye inexperienced in tailoring could see that they had been cut +down from garments originally made for a much larger person. But to him +they were absolutely the finest pair of trousers that he had ever seen, +because they were the first that he had ever worn. After this there was +no danger that any one could imagine that he was his own little sister, +a mortifying mistake that strangers were in the habit of making. + +Miss South and Julia followed him down the crooked street, which their +several visits had made very familiar to them, and stood behind him as +he pushed open the narrow door. At the very first glance into the room, +Miss South, who was ahead, felt a little disheartened. Everything was in +disorder, although she had been making such efforts this winter to get +Mrs. Rosa to see the necessity for cleanliness and neatness. But when +she and Julia went inside she felt that perhaps she had been a little +too severe in her judgment. Mrs. Rosa lay back in her chair looking +sicker and weaker than they had ever seen her, and though she put out +her hand in greeting, she seemed unable to rise. + +"How is this?" exclaimed Miss South. + +"Oh, miss, I believe I'm real sick," was the reply; "I haven't eaten +nothing for such a long time. I can't eat nothing, and I can't hardly +raise my voice to the children. Here you, Manuel, don't eat that bread +and molasses before the ladies." + +Then Mrs. Rosa lay back in her chair in a fit of violent coughing +brought on by her efforts to be polite and parental at the same time. + +"Aren't you almost ready to go to the hospital, now, Mrs. Rosa?" +enquired Miss South, sympathetically. "I think that it is altogether too +hard for you to try to stay here to manage these children and take care +of yourself." + +Mrs. Rosa shook her head. "Not the hospital, miss; I should die, I'm +sure, if I should go there." + +"But you can't stay here, if you grow worse, and indeed, I am sure that +you cannot get any better, if you stay here. Then your children would be +much worse off than they would be if you should be parted from them for +a little while. The doctors at the hospital might make you perfectly +well." Mrs. Rosa shook her head feebly, and Miss South felt decidedly +discouraged. Even when Julia added her voice in a gentle persuasive way, +Mrs. Rosa refused to be convinced. No, she would stay where she was for +a while. By and by perhaps she would go somewhere, but she could not +tell; she couldn't leave the children, and the nurse had told her that +she could not take them with her to the hospital. + +"Well, wouldn't you go to the country if we could find a place for you +there?" asked Julia gently; "perhaps we could find a house where you and +the children all could go, for you can't get well if you stay here." + +At this suggestion, Mrs. Rosa's face brightened a trifle, but from her +reply it was hard to tell whether she would be perfectly willing to +leave her own unwholesome abode, even for the country. + +"You ought to make Angelina keep this room cleaner," said Miss South. + +"Oh, I can't make Angelina do nothing," she answered; "Angelina is so +lazy I don't know what to do with her. She just reads library books all +the time." + +Again Mrs. Rosa leaned back in a fit of coughing, and Miss South and +Julia, after leaving one or two little delicacies that they had brought +her, went away less cheerful than they had been. + +"It's rather dreadful, isn't it?" said Julia. + +"Yes," replied Miss South, "especially as it would not require a great +deal of effort or money to make that family perfectly comfortable." + +"How much?" asked Julia. + +Miss South laughed. "You are very practical," she said. "Perhaps I ought +to have said that it is effort in the right direction that is needed +rather than money." + +"Nobody can do very much, I am afraid," said Julia, "while Mrs. Rosa is +so obstinate. It seems as if some one ought to have the right to oblige +her to move." + +"Well, personal liberty is one of the privileges that foreigners living +in this country appreciate the most. Yet Mrs. Rosa ought not to feel +that she can do just as she likes, since she is living on charity +altogether now." + +"I was wondering--" began Julia. + +"Yes," continued Miss South, "her church pays half her rent, and +provides her coal; the Provident Association supplies her with +groceries. Some of her Portuguese neighbors help her with food from +their own table, and one or two charitable people give shoes and old +clothes to the children. The dispensary doctor treats her without +charge, and she has the occasional services of a district nurse. If +Angelina would only follow out some of the directions left by the nurse, +the whole family would be much more comfortable." + +"I had no idea," said Julia, "that so much would be done for one poor +family; and you haven't spoken of what you do yourself, Miss South." + +"Oh, my part is very small; I just keep a general oversight, and by +calling on Mrs. Rosa once or twice a week, I try to see that things run +smoothly." + +"There isn't so very much, then, for Brenda and the other girls to do. +You know that they are working for a sale from which they hope to raise +a lot of money for Manuel and his family." + +"Yes, I have heard about it," replied Miss South, "and I should be the +last one to discourage them in their efforts; but I am sure that if Mrs. +Rosa had been depending on their help she would have suffered this +winter. They are too spasmodic." + +"What do you think then that there will be for them to do with the money +they raise at the Bazaar, for I am sure that they have large +expectations?" + +"Oh, there are many practical things. This matter of moving the family +to the country, for example. To accomplish this will take more money +than you might think, and I do not myself know any charitable agency +with money to expend in this way." + +"But do you think that you can move them?" + +"Why not? It may be hard, but if Mrs. Rosa should find it impossible to +get help from the people who have been helping her, she may be glad to +fall in with our plan." + +"Well, it's all very interesting," said Julia, "and it may be that I can +help you in some way. Of course I do not wish to interfere with Brenda's +plans, and I shall have to find out what she intends to do. If I were +going to have anything to do with the Bazaar directly, it would be +different." + +"Haven't you been admitted yet into the sacred circle of 'The Four'?" +said Miss South, smiling. "I thought that you would have been before +this." + +"No," replied Julia a little sadly. "No, I suppose that they think that +I should not have so very much time for fancy work, and I dare say it is +better that I should spend what spare hours I have in some other way, +but still----" + +"But still," said Miss South, finishing out her sentence, "but still it +isn't altogether agreeable to be left out." + +"No," answered Julia, "it isn't." + +While they were talking they had been riding up Hanover street, and +leaving the car in Washington street, they did two or three errands in +one of the large shops. + +"Shall we walk home now, or ride?" enquired Miss South. + +"Oh, I would much rather walk," answered Julia, "if it is all the same +to you;" and so they walked on through Winter street, intending to cross +the Common. Leading off Winter street there is a side street on which is +the back entrance of the music hall. Now just as they reached the corner +of this street, they saw two girls near the theatre door, walking in +their direction. + +"Why, how much that looks--why it is Brenda," exclaimed Julia, "and that +is Belle with her," she continued in surprise; "I wonder what they are +doing down here." + +Even as she spoke, the two figures at which she had been looking a +moment before disappeared within a doorway. + +"Would you like to meet them and ask them to walk home with us?" +enquired Miss South. + +"Why, I don't know," replied Julia. "I am afraid that they may not wish +to come with us; it almost seems as if they are hiding from us. You saw +them, didn't you, that first time, Miss South?" + +"Yes, indeed, I recognized them both, but isn't it unusual for them to +be down town alone?" + +"It's against the rules for Brenda, I know, at least I have heard my +aunt say that she did not care to have her go down town without her. I +imagine that probably they have some one with them. Brenda is rather +careful about disobeying, as a general thing." + +"Oh, then it's probably all right," said Miss South, "and we might as +well go on." + + + + +XXII + +BRENDA'S SECRET + + +Julia had not been long in the house after her walk with Miss South, +when she heard her aunt at her door. In reply to her "Are you here, +Julia?" the young girl ran forward, with a "Yes, indeed, auntie, come +right in." + +"Why, how pretty your room looks," exclaimed Mrs. Barlow; "I had almost +forgotten that it could be so pleasant." + +"That sounds as if you had not been up here for some time, and indeed I +was thinking myself only this morning that you had rather neglected me +lately--at least in the matter of visiting me." + +"I know it, dear child, but you know that I have been very busy this +winter. There are many things to occupy me, and the Boston season is so +short. We haven't had one of our pleasant chats here for several weeks. +But I hope that you are perfectly comfortable. I am sure that you would +tell me if you should need anything that I had overlooked." + +"Nothing has ever been overlooked, Aunt Anna, that could add in any way +to my comfort." + +"Then you are perfectly contented. Sometimes I fancy that I see an +expression on your face that seems to indicate--well, not discontent, +but something of the kind, as if you were a little unhappy." + +"Oh, no indeed, Aunt Anna. You are all too kind, and I enjoy every +moment in Boston. Of course I miss poor papa, but he had expected to +leave me for so long a time, that I was prepared, and he himself always +said that he wished me to think of him as only gone away for a time, yet +of course I miss him. But then you and Uncle Thomas have been everything +to me, and so thoughtful. I can't imagine a more delightful room than +this with the view of the river, and these dainty, artistic things about +me, and my own piano and books. You have no idea how I have enjoyed it." + +"Well, I am glad that it all pleases you, for perhaps we could not have +done as well for you if Agnes had been at home. You know that this was +her studio, and no other room in the house is so large and cheerful. Now +it has always seemed hard that you could not have kept Eliza with you +this winter; she had been a part of your old life, and you would have +been much happier with some one to talk with about it." + +"Of course I should have been glad to have had her with me, but I +couldn't insist on her staying when her brother needed her so much after +the death of his wife. I had such an amusing letter from one of her +little nieces the other day, thanking me for lending them their Aunt +Eliza, and saying that they did not know when they could return her." + +"Then she can't come to spend the summer at Stormbridge?" + +"I do not exactly know, for Eliza has not written to me herself; but I +half believe that it is better for me to do without a maid; I feel ever +so much more independent, although naturally I _do_ miss Eliza." + +Mrs. Barlow smiled at the philosophic tone which + +Julia had assumed, for she had quietly made her own observations on the +state of Julia's mind when at the very beginning of her stay in Boston +Eliza had been called away. + +"Another year you may need somebody, even if you cannot have Eliza. The +older a girl grows the more stitches there are to be taken for her, and +next season you will have less time than at present to do things for +yourself." + +"But I like this feeling of independence, or rather I like to feel that +I have to depend almost entirely on myself; I am just so much more of a +person than I should be if I had Eliza to wait on me constantly, as I +used to." + +"A certain amount of independence in a young girl is a good thing," +replied Mrs. Barlow, "and I am glad that yours takes a somewhat +different form from Brenda's. I wonder, for example, where she is this +afternoon. She had an appointment at her dressmaker's, but when I went +there to make a suggestion or two about her new coat, they told me that +she had not been there, and here it is near dinner-time with no sign of +Brenda. Probably she is with Belle or some of the girls, but still I do +not like her going off in this way." + +While Mrs. Barlow was speaking Julia hoped that she would not ask her if +she had seen Brenda, and fortunately she did not do so. To be sure, +Julia had nothing special to tell, and indeed had not her aunt spoken of +the broken appointment at the dressmaker's, she might have mentioned the +glimpse of Brenda that she had had down town, but now she began to +suspect that something was wrong, at least it was strange that Brenda +should have deceived her mother about the dressmaking appointment. The +dressmaker's rooms were not down town, so that it was not this +appointment that had taken her to the neighborhood of Winter street. + +"But where have you been, yourself, this afternoon, Julia?" asked Mrs. +Barlow; and Julia told her of her visit to the Rosas, and of the plans +that Miss South had suggested for raising them out of their present +trouble. "I am afraid that Brenda won't agree with her," she said, "for +she has the idea that the one thing needful is to give Mrs. Rosa a large +sum of money to spend just as she likes." + +"Brenda isn't very practical," replied Mrs. Barlow. "I only wish that +she had your common sense; or if she were more like Agnes, it would be +better, for although Agnes is an artist, she is decidedly practical." + +"Oh, Brenda is so much younger," said Julia apologetically. + +"Yes, I know it, that is undoubtedly one reason for her heedlessness, +but it sometimes seems as if her wilfulness increases every day. I am +afraid, too, that she has not always been considerate of you; I have +been wishing to speak of this for a long time, though it is not an easy +thing to do. It would pain me very much to have you feel that any of +us--even Brenda had been inhospitable." + +"Oh, no indeed, Aunt Anna, I am not likely to think anything of that +kind. I make allowances for Brenda, and I honestly think that she is +getting to like me better." + +"There ought not to be any question of that kind. If it were not for +Belle, Brenda would be inclined to throw herself more upon you, but I am +sure that Belle keeps her stirred up all the time. But there--I ought +not to talk so much about this, at least to you, only I have thought +that I ought to tell you that your uncle and I have feared that you have +had several experiences this winter that were not altogether pleasant, +and I should fail in my duty if I did not express our appreciation of +your patience." + +Then rising from her chair, Mrs. Barlow leaned over Julia, and kissed +her on the forehead, saying as she turned to leave the room, "We have +barely time now to get ready for dinner." + +Just as Julia opened her door to go down to the library where she +usually talked with her uncle for a few minutes before dinner, she saw +Brenda rushing upstairs to the floor above. + +"Where's Brenda?" asked Mr. Barlow, as they took their places at the +table. There was a note of severity in his voice, that Mrs. Barlow and +Julia detected at once. + +"Why, she has been out all the afternoon," replied the former; "but I +have sent word for her to hasten downstairs." + +At this moment the delinquent entered the dining-room, and took her +place at the table. Although she had changed her street dress, she had +apparently dressed in a great hurry, and her hair looked almost +disheveled, as she had evidently not had time to rearrange it. + +Hardly responding to the greetings of her parents and cousin, Brenda +began to talk very rapidly about--well about the subject to which many +of us turn when we are embarrassed,--the weather. + +"Yes," said her father, in a kind of general response to her very vague +remarks. "Yes, I will admit that it has been a fine day, almost the +first really springlike day that we have had, that it is a delightful +day to have been out in the open air, but all this does not prevent my +asking you why you should be so late to dinner; you know my rule, and +that I shall have to punish you in some very decided way if this happens +again." + +"For once Brenda has no excuse ready," added Mrs. Barlow; "now _I_ am +anxious to know where you have been this afternoon?" + +Brenda turned very red before replying, "Oh, Belle and I have been +together." + +"I dare say," said Mr. Barlow, "but that does not tell us where you have +been?" + +"Any one would think," cried Brenda, almost in tears, "that I was a girl +of ten years of age. I do not know any one who has to account for +everything she does; there is not a girl at school who is watched in +this way." + +"Sometimes I think that it would be better if you were under closer +guardianship. Some one has been telling me that you need it." + +Brenda flashed a glance at Julia as if she might be the informant, and +Julia rejoiced that she had not even mentioned having seen Brenda down +town. + +"You were not at the dressmaker's this afternoon," said Mrs. Barlow +reproachfully. + +"I hope that you were not on the bridge, looking at the crews," said Mr. +Barlow. + +"No," said Brenda quickly, "I was not. Why did you think of that?" + +"Because some one has been telling me that a number of foolish girls are +in the habit of going where the Harvard Bridge is building on fine +afternoons, just as the class crews are out exercising, and that some of +these girls always wave their handkerchiefs, and even cheer, as their +favorites come near--and more than this some one has told me that you +are often to be seen among these girls; now, Brenda, I tell you frankly +that this won't do." + +"Oh, papa, you are so particular; a great many girls think that it is +perfectly proper to go there, and no one ever says a word about it. I +wonder who told you; some old maid, I am certain of that." + +"No, indeed, no old maid, but a young man, and a student, too. He felt +very sorry that you should be seen there; he says that there is always a +great mixture of people in the crowds on the bridge, and that it must be +far from an agreeable place for a young lady, besides not being a proper +one." + +"Well I only wish that I could tell who that young man is," cried +Brenda. "I should call him a perfect goose." + +"He is far from that," responded Mr. Barlow; "and I ought to say that I +agree with him thoroughly. I only wish that I had heard about this +before, and now I hope that you will understand, Brenda, that you are +forbidden to go near the Harvard Bridge in the afternoon." + +"Not to the bridge at all!" cried Brenda, in a most doleful voice. "Why, +I can't see the harm." + +"Well, I can, and that is enough." + +"You can go to the races themselves, Brenda, when they actually come +off," interposed Mrs. Barlow, "but if you think it over, you will see +good reasons for not hanging about the bridge, as a boy might, merely to +see the crews pass." + +Brenda made no attempt at further argument, and one result of the little +discussion that there had been about the bridge and the crews was to +divert her father and mother from asking further questions about the way +in which she had spent this particular afternoon. She was rather +relieved when the evening passed without Julia's referring to having +seen her down town. She was almost sure that Julia and Miss South had +recognized her, and Belle and she were in dread lest in this way her +father and mother should learn that she and her rather mischievous +friend had gone alone to a matinee. + +For this was now Brenda's secret,--she had not only gone down town +alone, but she had gone to the Music Hall without an older person +accompanying her. With parents as indulgent as hers there seemed no need +for her to try to secure forbidden pleasures. Nor would she probably +have done this but for Belle. It had been the study of Belle's life to +get what she wished in a clandestine way. Her stern old grandmother was +constantly forbidding her to do this thing or that, and her commands +were often really unreasonable. No one was quicker to detect this than +Belle herself, and it was on this ground that she often excused her own +disobedience. "Why even mamma does not expect me to mind everything that +grandmamma says," and as her mother was rather timid, as well as +half-ill all the time, she gave her self-possessed daughter very few +commands of her own. + +"I don't believe that I should be so ready to disobey mamma," Belle +would say to Brenda when the latter on occasions remonstrated with her, +"but with grandmamma it is different, for I do not consider that she has +any right to lay down the law as she does." + +Nevertheless when Brenda and Belle sat in the front row in the large +Music Hall--for Brenda had bought expensive seats--both girls felt that +old Mrs. Gregg was pretty nearly right in saying that places of +amusement were not proper for a young girl. They had both been at +similar performances before, but always some older person had selected +the entertainment. This one, which they themselves had chosen from the +glaring posters decorating the bill-boards of the city, and from the +conversation of the Harvard freshman of their acquaintance was +altogether different from anything that they had seen. It was advertised +as an exhibition of ventriloquists, but it had a general air of +vulgarity that was extremely displeasing to them. Brenda wished more +than once that she had not joined Belle in this adventure. She did not +like the loud jokes, and the scant costumes of the performers, and she +hoped that there was no one in the audience who would recognize her. Of +course there were times when she laughed at the funny things on the +stage--for who could help it--but many of the jokes and the incidents at +which the rest of the audience laughed the loudest fell rather flat on +the ears of the two young girls. This was as it should be, for neither +of the two was anything worse than heedless and a little too fond of +having her own way. In Belle this wilfulness took the form of a +willingness to use subterfuge, both in word or deed to gain her own way. +Brenda did not follow her very closely in this direction, although there +was danger that her conscience would be dulled, before she realized it, +under Belle's influence. Brenda indeed felt so uncomfortable during the +performance, that if she could have done so without observation, she +would have left the hall. But she did not quite dare to go out in the +face of the great audience, and besides when she made the suggestion to +Belle, the latter would not hear of her going. "No, indeed," she had +said, "why should we go. You are a regular baby, Brenda; it isn't so +very bad, only a little vulgar, and just see what crowds of people there +are here, and some of them seem just as good as we are, and you know I +read you that newspaper clipping that said that this was one of the +successes of the year. You and I are not used to this kind of thing, but +dear me! we can't expect to stay children all our lives." So Brenda sat +there with an uneasy conscience, wondering what her mother would say, or +her father--or Julia who never by any chance did anything that she ought +not to do. + +Stolen sweets are apt to taste a little bitter, and when the performance +was over, Brenda and Belle went out with the crowd. On the way out rough +people, or people whom Belle called "rough," pushed against them, while +one or two rude boys made saucy remarks to the young girls who seemed +conscious of being in the wrong place. It wasn't at all an agreeable +experience, especially as they were both wondering if any of their +friends were likely to see them. + +Then there was that chance glimpse of Julia and Miss South, and the +rather silly action on the part of Brenda and Belle of hiding in the +doorway. Really they needed all the consolation they could get from +their visit to the confectioner's around the corner. There they drank +great glasses of chocolate, sipping the whipped cream at the top, as if +they were young ladies of twenty loitering in the shops after the +symphony. As they stirred the chocolate with their long spoons, and +lingered on the settee at the end of the shop to watch the lively young +men and women who were constantly coming in and out to buy bonbons, or +to get refreshment, they forgot all that had been disagreeable at the +music hall, and for the time being imagined that they were young ladies +themselves. Yet when Brenda reached home with hardly time to dress for +dinner, conscience began to prick again. + + + + +XXIII + +ALMOST READY + + +Now however slowly time appears to pass, the end of any period of +waiting is sure to come, and its last days or hours generally seem to +melt away. Thus, when The Four realized that less than two weeks lay +between a certain April afternoon when they met to sew, and the day +appointed for the opening of the Bazaar, they began to feel a little +nervous. "I wish that we hadn't set any particular day," exclaimed +Brenda, "we might just have waited until we were all ready, and then +we----" + +"Oh, Brenda, how unpractical you are," cried Edith, "that would have +been perfectly ridiculous. You know that we have to advertise a little, +and engage music and people to help us, and make all kinds of +arrangements." + +"Oh, I dare say," responded the unpractical Brenda, "but still it takes +all the fun out of it to think that we must be ready by a particular +day; I feel exactly as if some one were driving me on, and you know that +is not pleasant." + +"Oh, nonsense," interposed Nora, with a smile. "Just think how long we +were working without any special object. I am sure that we had all the +time we wished, and we had hardly a thing to show for it. For my own +part I shall be awfully glad to have the Bazaar over with. The weather +is altogether too fine to waste indoors on fancy work, but until we have +that money for Manuel I suppose that none of us will feel free to do as +she likes in the afternoons. There are so many things to attend to that +I don't see how we are ever to get ready even in two weeks." + +Now the plans for the Bazaar had received much attention from the older +persons in the families of the young workers, and the encouragement that +they had had from their elders was now their chief incentive. Edith's +mother had offered them the use of a large drawing-room in her house +which was just adapted to an affair of this kind. It was a long room +with hard wood floor, intended really for dancing. Its walls, paneled +with mirrors, would reflect the tables of fancy work in such a way, as +to make it seem "as if we had twice as much as we really have," said +Brenda. As to other things there was a great deal to be decided. Brenda +and Belle wished a small orchestra engaged to play during the evening of +the Bazaar, and furnish music for dancing at the close of the sale. +Edith and Nora were afraid that this would eat up too much of their +profits, but Brenda was very decided in her views. "You can't expect +that we are not to have any fun out of it ourselves, after all the +trouble we've had, and I know that there is going to be plenty of money +for the Rosas. We shall make lots out of the flower table; we have +quantities of plants and cut flowers promised us from the greenhouses of +our friends--just quantities, and then the refreshment table, and--well +you know yourselves that we shall have more than we can sell." + +"What good will that do?" enquired the practical Nora. "We can't make +much out of things that we can't sell." + +"Oh, I mean sell in the regular way; of course we'll have an auction, +and get ever so much in that way. I shouldn't wonder if we should have +more than $500 to give to Mrs. Rosa." + +"Don't count your chickens too soon, Brenda," said Belle; "suppose it +should rain on the day of the sale, or suppose,----" + +"Oh, how tiresome you are!" cried the sanguine Brenda, "you are just as +bad as the others, and it's quite as much your Bazaar as mine, and if it +doesn't succeed, you'll be just as much to blame." + +The fretful note in Brenda's voice warned her friends that she was +taking things too deeply to heart. + +"Why, Brenda, no one is probably going to be to blame, for the Bazaar +will be a great success," interposed the peace-loving Edith. "All we +have to do now is to try our very best to make it go off as well as +possible." + +Now the Bazaar was to be the Wednesday of the week following Easter, and +this year Easter fell almost in the middle of April. During the last +days of school preceding the Easter vacation the four did much +canvassing among their friends to see whether all the articles promised +were finished. Of course there were several disappointments. Some girls +who had promised special things either had not finished them or had +forgotten all about them. On the other hand, there were some who had not +only done much more than they had promised themselves, but had collected +many pretty, and even valuable articles from their friends. All the +school girls near the age of the four were invited to assist at the +tables. The four resolved themselves into an executive committee, adding +to their number Julia, and Frances and one or two others. Each of these +girls was to have special charge of a table or department, and she in +turn was to call on others to assist her. + +Julia had invited Ruth Roberts as her chief assistant, rather to the +distaste of Frances, who thought that this was going too far out of +their set. + +"What do we know about Ruth Roberts?" she had said in a contemptuous +way; "nobody ever heard of her, I am sure, until she came here to +school." + +"We have nothing to do with that," replied Nora, to whom the remark +happened to be made. "I dare say that there are a great many good people +in the world of whom we have never heard; I know all that I need to +about Ruth Roberts, that she has good manners and a pleasant +disposition, and an agreeable family. I know, for I have visited +them----" Then, throwing a little emphasis into her voice, she +concluded, "Really, Frances, you are growing very tiresome, and if I +were you I should try to be less narrow-minded. Any one to hear you +talk, would think that no one in the world is worth considering who does +not happen to live in certain streets in your neighborhood." + +"Perhaps that is what I do think," answered Frances. "We can't make +intimate friends of every one in the world, and we might as well have +nothing to do with those who are not in our own set. I hate these people +who are always trying to push in." + +"If you mean Ruth, you are entirely wrong. She is the last girl in the +world likely to try to push in. She thinks quite as well of herself as +you do of yourself, and I dare say that she had some ancestors, even if +they were not governors of Massachusetts." + +Now despite the fact that this speech, when quoted, sounds rather +acrimonious, Frances took no offence at it. She could not afford to +quarrel with so popular a girl as Nora, and besides she knew that the +Gostars had a good claim to the same kind of pride of descent that she +had herself. So, although both girls turned away from each other with an +annoyed expression on their faces, their next meeting was perfectly +amicable. + +When Nora repeated this conversation to her mother, Mrs. Gostar smiled. + +"If I were you, Nora, I would not take anything that Frances says too +seriously. She has been brought up rather unfortunately." + +"But it is so tiresome to have her going around most of the time with +her head in the air, saying, 'Oh, I cannot do this, or I cannot do that, +because I am a Pounder.'" + +Mrs. Gostar laughed at this speech, and the gesture and tossing back of +the head with which Nora emphasized it. + +"Frances hardly says that, does she?" she enquired. + +"Yes, she does, she really does--sometimes," replied Nora, "and I am +sure that she feels like saying it all the time. Of course we all know +that there have been two governors, and one or two generals, and other +people like that in her family somewhere in the dim past. I am sure that +we have heard enough about it. But there is nothing very great about +Frances' own family so far as I have ever heard, and some one told me +that her father could not even get his degree at college. If they hadn't +so much money----" + +"There, there," interrupted her mother, "aren't you growing uncharitable +yourself? It is really true that Frances had ancestors who were of great +service to the country, and her family has had position for a long time, +and all the advantages of education. But among your schoolmates and hers +there are probably other girls of good descent, who have had advantages +hardly inferior to those that Frances has enjoyed. They may have names +that are not so well known, and yet their ancestors may have been almost +as useful in building up this country as those of Frances." + +"Well," said Nora, "I don't value people for their ancestors, but for +what they are themselves." + +"That is the right spirit, and yet neither you nor I should blame +Frances for having pride in what her ancestors have done. It is well to +remember such things, if remembering them makes one more ambitious or +more helpful to those around him. But when this pride in his own people +leads one to belittle all others whose part in making history may have +been almost as important, if less conspicuous--then I would rather see a +girl or a boy without family pride. In connection with this, let me tell +you a story. Years ago a murder was committed by a member of a good, old +family, and sometime afterwards a lady who bore the same name, though +she was not closely related to the murderer, was out shopping. It seemed +to her a certain clerk was not sufficiently deferential, and so to +reprove him, she said, in a rather haughty tone, 'Perhaps you do not +know who I am.' 'No, madame, I do not,' was his reply. 'I am a +_Blenkinsop_,' she responded, thinking probably that this would +overwhelm him. 'Indeed,' he answered, 'you surprise me. I thought that +all the Blenkinsops had been hanged.' So you see that it does not always +do to boast of one's family name. Of course this does not apply to +Frances, and I should be sorry if either she or you should forget all +the good things which her ancestors did for the commonwealth. Yet it +would be a great deal better to forget it than to have the remembrance +of the distinction of your ancestors so elate you as to make you +contemptuous of your schoolmates." + +"I know that, mother dear," replied Nora, "and I believe that some day I +may be able to have a little talk with Frances, and perhaps I can get +her to see things as I do." + +"You might tell her," responded Mrs. Gostar, with a smile, "about the +Virginia lady of whom I was reading the other day. Her little niece was +remarking with pride that her grandfather had been the son of a baronet, +and that in consequence she had a right to feel superior to many of her +neighbors. 'Yes,' responded the aunt, 'he was the son of a baronet, who +was the son of a manufacturer, who was the son of an apothecary's +apprentice.' 'Oh, dear,' sighed the niece, 'is it really true? Am I +descended from an apothecary's apprentice? I thought that all my +ancestors were gentlemen.' + +"'I haven't finished,' returned the aunt. 'The apprentice was the +grandson of a baronet, who in turn was said to trace his descent from a +king of England.' The aunt smiled at the expression of relief on her +niece's face on hearing this, as she said, 'I always knew that we were +of good family.' My own moral," concluded Mrs. Gostar, "would be the +same as that which the aunt tried to impress on her niece. We all can +trace our descent through a variety of families, and while we can often +find ancestors to boast of, as often we find others who are what Frances +might call 'very plain people.'" + +Nora realized that she was fortunate in having a mother who was always +ready to advise her in the small matters that seem so important to +schoolgirls, as well as in those larger things that really are of +consequence. Without encouraging anything approaching gossip or +tale-bearing Mrs. Gostar always permitted Nora to talk very freely on +all the subjects that interested her, and the confidence between mother +and daughter was almost ideal. Mrs. Blair and Mrs. Barlow were also +ready to advise their daughters, although they both were a little more +occupied with society than Mrs. Gostar and had less time at home. The +wilful Brenda, too, was more apt to seek her mother's advice after she +had done a certain thing than to ask it in advance. Yet although her +doings were sometimes a little annoying to others, she always admitted +to herself that she could depend on her mother's sympathy. Edith, with a +rather phlegmatic disposition, seldom did anything wrong. She had been +brought up rather strictly in accordance with prescribed rules, and she +was always confident that whatever her mother had arranged or advised +was exactly right. Belle alone, of the Four, was unfortunate in her home +surroundings. Her mother, a nervous invalid, had permitted Belle's +grandmother to rule the household with a rod of iron, and knowing that +the old lady was often unjust the former did not reprove Belle +sufficiently when she broke some of her grandmother's rules. Belle in +this way came to be a law to herself. She obeyed her grandmother when +there was no escape for it, but oftener she took the chance of +disregarding her authority, saying to herself,--or even to others--"If +mamma could do as she liked, she would let me do this." It was not +always a legitimate excuse, although the conditions in her family +enabled many of her acquaintances to make excuses for Belle. + +As to Frances, those who knew her best, realized that her family pride +had been nurtured at home, and that her unfortunate way of looking at +things was not wholly her own fault. + +Yet that Nora had been able to influence her somewhat was proved by a +slight change in Frances' demeanor towards others. The latter was even +known one day to offer to go out to Ruth Roberts' house to help her +finish a piece of work for the Bazaar. In those last days, too, before +the Easter vacation there seemed to be an unusual unity among the +schoolgirls. Even those in the older classes, who seldom interested +themselves in the "small fry," as they called the Four and their +contemporaries, came forward with many contributions for the Bazaar. + +"Dear me!" moaned Brenda one day, "I am afraid that we won't have people +enough to sell all these things to, and a while ago I was afraid that we +shouldn't have things enough to sell to all those who might come to our +Bazaar." + +"That shows," said Miss South, who had come up behind Brenda while she +was talking, "that it is never worth while to borrow trouble about +anything." + +"That is true," interposed the placid Edith, to whom Brenda had been +talking. "For my own part, I am never surprised or disappointed about +anything, for I never expect too much beforehand. I find that I can +always put up with things when they come." + +"Then you are really a philosopher, Edith," said Miss South, "some +persons take almost a lifetime to learn this simple lesson, and indeed +some persons never learn it at all." + +As the preparations for the Bazaar advanced it was very pleasant for +Julia to find herself counted in among the band of workers. + +It is true that she often had to take a sharp word from Brenda, or a +cold glance from Belle, but these things did not disturb her. + +She had become accustomed to her cousin's little ways, and she realized +that her "bark was worse than her bite," as Nora was in the habit of +saying. + +There was one thing about which Brenda was very decided, and that was +that no older person, that is no parent or teacher, was to have any part +in managing the Bazaar. + +"We want all the credit ourselves, and I think it will be a fine thing +to show how much we can do all by ourselves." If she could have had her +own way, I believe that she would have refused the offer of Edith's +mother to provide a room for the Bazaar, and she would have been quite +willing to pay for a hotel drawing-room from her own allowance--although +to do so would have run her several months in debt. But this was +evidently so unwise a plan, that she contented herself with simply +broaching it to her friends. "The idea!" had been their criticism, "of +throwing money away like that when we can have such a beautiful room for +nothing." + +"It certainly would be foolish," said Belle, "and besides my mother +would not think a hotel a proper place for girls like us to hold a +bazaar; it would be different if we were in society, or if some older +women were managing it." + +"Oh, I suppose you are right," Brenda acknowledged with a sigh, "but I +should be ever so much better pleased with a hotel. It would seem so +much more as if we were grown up. I hope that this won't seem like a +children's party. You know that Edith always had her birthday parties in +that room." + +"Yes, but she'll have her coming out party, there, too, I heard her +mother say so the other day, and really I think that it is very, very +kind in her to offer the room, because there will be strangers coming +and going all day long through the house." So Brenda had to profess +herself grateful for the room, and was obliged to turn in other +directions for an outlet for the energy which she was anxious to show in +managing the Bazaar. + + + + +XXIV + +AN EVENING'S FUN + + +Mrs. Blair had said that all the preparations for the Bazaar must be +completed on Tuesday, the day before it was to open. She knew the ways +of girls too well to think that it would be safe to have anything left +for Wednesday morning. The flower table, of course had to be arranged on +that day, and some things for the refreshment table. But so definite had +she been in expressing her wishes, that the girls felt that it was due +her for lending her house to pay all deference to what she said. On the +Monday therefore after Easter they went to work with a will to gather in +the promised contributions. There were naturally some disappointments, +but on the whole the fancy articles bestowed upon them were numerous and +beautiful, and many were the "ohs and ahs" from the Four and their +assistants, when on Tuesday they fell to the task of opening the parcels +and arranging their contents on the tables. Tuesday was rainy, and at +dusk gave little promise of a bright sky for the following day. Brenda +was in a tremor of excitement. "Oh, dear, how dreadful if to-morrow +should be stormy! I am sure it will be, and what _shall_ we do?" with +great emphasis on the "shall." + +"Full many a cloudy morning turns out a sunny day," sang Nora, while +Edith patted Brenda on the back and said, "Well, we can't do anything to +change the weather, and we might as well hope for the best. I know that +a lot of people will come even if it rains, and perhaps they'll be good +and buy three times as much as they would in fine weather." + +Just then Julia came in with the evening paper in her hand. "See, or +rather hear the news. Old Probability says, 'clear and fair Wednesday.' +Mrs. Blair sent this paper up from the library to cheer you. There was a +large patch of blue in the west when the sun went down----" + +"The sun!" exclaimed the others derisively. + +"In the place where the sun should have gone down," she responded with a +smile. "Why, how well the rooms look! there won't be a thing for the +boys to do this evening." + +For Philip and Will Hardon and one or two others were to come in the +evening to see what they could do to help, and in view of their coming +Mrs. Blair had invited the girls to stay to dinner. + +"Oh, no, there really isn't a thing for them to do, but perhaps when +they see how hard we have worked they will make up their minds to spend +any amount of money to-morrow. I think it's a rather good idea to have +them come to-night, so that they can make a lot of other boys come +to-morrow." + +"Boys are not so fond of spending money at fairs, I can tell you that," +said Nora, rather decidedly, "and besides most of them are so much in +debt that they haven't anything to spend." + +"Oh, well, Philip's friends are not like that," said Belle, rather +sharply. "I know several who have more money than they know what to do +with. Some juniors that I know--New York fellows, are coming to-morrow +and they will spend a lot of money." + +"Gracious!" exclaimed Brenda, "I hope that we have things that will suit +them. It seems to me that most of these things are for girls to use." + +"Oh, they can buy things for their sisters and cousins; besides, boys +like pincushions and picture frames and sofa pillows. Oh, I am sure that +we shall have no trouble getting them to buy all that they can afford," +replied Belle positively. + +As a matter of fact when the boys after dinner were ushered into the +pretty little ballroom, where the tables laden with fancy goods stood, +they expressed great interest in all that they saw, and began to make +bids for the things which seemed to them best worth having. + +"Look out," cried Nora, "or we may take you at your word, Will Hardon, +and make you pay one hundred dollars for that crimson pillow that you +admire so." + +"Well, why not?" he enquired, "as long as it is to be in a good cause." + +"Oh, no," interrupted the practical Edith, "that would not really be +fair. Besides, I am sure that we ought not to sell anything until +to-morrow; everybody ought to have an equal chance at the beginning." + +"Oh, how silly you are, Edith," broke in Brenda; "as if all the people +who come to the Bazaar could be here at the same minute. If any one +wants to bid on anything to-night I say that it is perfectly fair." +After much discussion, it was at last decided that any one who had a +great preference for any special thing might write his name on a piece +of paper and have it pinned to the object with the limit of price that +he was willing to pay. + +"Then you must be willing," said Brenda, "to let us sell the things you +have chosen, if some fussy old person comes along and wishes any of +these reserved things, and refuses to be contented with anything else." + +"But in that case what are _we_ to do?" cried two or three of the boys +in chorus. + +"Oh, there will be plenty of things that will suit you just as well, if +you only make up your minds to it." + +"Perhaps you'll want me to buy a blue sofa pillow or some other Yale +thing," sighed Will Hardon. + +"Perhaps I shall be driven to take this," moaned Philip, holding up a +large doll dressed in the long embroidered robes of a baby. + +All the girls laughed except Edith, who seldom saw the funny side of +things as quickly as the others. + +"Well, you can see yourselves, boys," she said, in a determined tone, +"that you ought to be glad to buy whatever is left over,--for you +probably won't get in until toward evening. You can always find some one +to give the things to that you buy." + +"This doll?" asked Philip, holding it rather clumsily on his arm. + +"Why, of course," said Edith, "we know several children who would be +delighted with it at Christmas." + +"No, thank you, sister Edith," responded Philip, "I'm not going to spend +my hard earned allowance in presents for children; if you make me buy +this doll, out it goes to a certain room in one of the college buildings +to become a cherished decoration, and," waving the doll dramatically in +the air, "I shall defy any proctor or college authority to tear it away +from me." + +"Then I hope he may get it," murmured Will Hardon to Ruth Roberts; "I +can't imagine anything that would amuse the fellows more; we'd have to +hold open house for a week or two--a regular reception. But you know I'm +in earnest about that pillow," he added, for he knew, and Ruth knew that +he knew that the down pillow with its rich crimson cover embroidered +with a large "H." was the work of her skilful fingers. + +Ruth and Will had met several times since the ball game, and although +the Four had not yet discovered it, these two young persons had begun to +take considerable interest in each other. + +"You wouldn't pay a hundred dollars for it?" queried Ruth. + +"If I couldn't get it in any other way, of course I would, and besides +it would be worth much more to me." + +This was not entirely an idle boast, this readiness to spend a large sum +of money for a small thing--on the part of Will, as Philip and some of +his classmates might have testified. Although very quiet in his way of +living, and in his general conversation, he had a larger income than +many in his set. His own tastes were simple, and though he naturally +spent more than the average undergraduate, in accordance with the habit +of the set to which he belonged, he still had enough to spend on others, +and more than one of his less fortunate classmates had reason to thank +him for what he had done for him. No one knew of his liberality except +those whom he helped, for he had not the least wish to pose as a +benefactor. + +Now Ruth, while pleased at his wish for the cushion had no idea that he +would, if necessary, pay a hundred dollars for it. + +"If you really wish to have it, I'll try to secure it for you," she +said. "I am sure there won't be any trouble, although I suppose that it +can't be laid aside to-night, as long as Edith feels as she does." + +"Very well," answered Will, "I'll trust to you, for I really do want it +very much." + +"Come," cried Brenda, rushing up to them, "you are not doing a thing, +you two." + +"Well, the rest of you seemed so busy that we thought we should only be +in the way," said Will with the glibness that is almost second nature +with youths of his age, "but we're ready to work now," and they went +across the room to the surprise table where half a dozen of their +friends were busy. The "surprise table" had been an idea of Belle's, and +was a rather agreeable change from the usual grab-bag. All kinds of +little things--toys, novelties, like those used as German favors, small +books and photographs, were neatly done up in bright tissue paper +wrappings, and tied with silk ribbons. They were heaped on a large +table, and purchasers were permitted to buy each little package at their +own price, provided at least, according to a sign placed above the +table, that no bid should be for less than fifteen cents. Nora was to +have charge of this table, and she expected to have a great deal of fun +out of the misfits between the purchasers and the parcels. + +Altogether the preparations for the Bazaar had moved along much more +smoothly than any one had expected. It is true that the various mothers +of the girls comprising "The Four" had said that they would be glad +enough when it was all over, because for a fortnight it had been +impossible to get the girls to think of anything else. Yet each of these +mothers saw a compensation for the excitement of this last week or two +in the fact that her daughter had shown more perseverance than she had +given her credit for. Mrs. Barlow was especially pleased with the good +spirit that her niece Julia had shown, for it would have been so easy +and natural for her at the last to display a little pettishness in the +way of a refusal to have anything to do with the Bazaar in view of the +fact that she had not been invited to join "The Four" at their weekly +meetings for work. + +But Julia was not one to show this kind of resentment, and since she had +become interested in Manuel she was only too glad to help the Bazaar +that was to benefit him. At her aunt's suggestion she had made it her +special duty to collect flowers and plants for the flower table, and +armed with notes of introduction from Mrs. Barlow she had gone to many a +supposedly close person to ask for some small contribution to the flower +table. Her success had been altogether remarkable, and in addition to +the cut flowers that were to arrive on Wednesday, a great many beautiful +potted plants and vines had been sent in from various conservatories for +general decorations. + +The only real work for the boys who had come to assist, consisted in +moving some of these heavy plants about to places between the mirrors, +or near the flower table where they would be most effective. The work +did not, of course, proceed very rapidly, for every one in the group of +fifteen or more had to give an opinion on everything, and a unanimous +opinion as to what looked best in any particular case was naturally +impossible. + +The large room was so handsome as to require comparatively little +decoration. The long mirrors with which every side was paneled formed a +complete decoration in themselves, and added to the general +effectiveness, as Brenda said by making the tables "look double." + +Now if the boys did not find a great deal of work to do they were very +outspoken in their admiration for all that had been accomplished by the +girls. + +"Well, if other people will only be as much impressed as you are, and +will open their purses accordingly, we shall have nothing to complain +of," said Nora, "and I hope that you will all come back and buy +everything that is left over by to-morrow evening." + +"Can't we have first choice of anything?" queried Tom Hurst, a mischief +loving friend of Philip's whom some of the girls distrusted a little. + +"No," answered Nora, sternly, "you must not be so selfish. There may be +old ladies who will want----" + +"Do you suppose that any old lady will want that tobacco pouch?" asked +Tom, with a most innocent expression on his face. + +"She might," answered Nora, with a very dignified manner. "She might if +she had a son who was fond of smoking, at any rate she ought to have +first choice." + +"Well, then," replied Tom, "I don't believe that I shall return, for I +am not sure that I ought to patronize an institution that encourages old +ladies to buy tobacco pouches." + +"They're more harmless for old ladies than for Harvard undergraduates," +said another of the girls seriously, whereat two or three of the boys +pulled cigarette cases out of their pockets, and said, "Wouldn't you +rather have us use tobacco pouches than smoke these unwholesome +cigarettes?" + +"You shouldn't use tobacco at all," cried Edith in a plaintive tone, "at +your age, Philip, you know how mamma feels about it." + +"Don't be a goose, Edith," retorted Philip, "unless you want us to stay +away to-morrow. Anyway it's time we started for Cambridge, we're not +used to late hours." At this the rest of the boys laughed rather more +loudly than the occasion seemed to warrant, but with a return of good +manners they bade the girls good-bye, and promised Mrs. Blair, who had +returned to the room that they would certainly drop in some time on +Wednesday. + +"Don't forget your promise to me," said Will Hardon in an undertone as +he shook hands with Ruth, and Ruth promised not to forget. Ruth and one +other girl were to spend the night with Julia and Brenda, so as to be +ready early in the morning, and the rest of the assistants started off +in a large group attended by one of Mrs. Blair's servants, for none of +them had very far to walk. + +"It certainly does look as if it might clear up," said Belle to Nora, as +they walked along. + +"Yes, indeed," answered Nora, "there are as many as twenty stars to be +seen, and that is almost a sure sign. Some people believe that it will +be fine the next day if you can count nine stars the night before." + + + + +XXV + +THE BAZAAR + + +The sun, after all, did shine on Wednesday morning, and The Four and +their assistants arrived bright and early at Mrs. Blair's. + +By ten o'clock everything was in order for patrons, and really the +arrangement of the tables reflected great credit on the young girls. The +table of fancy handiwork was loaded with beautiful articles. There was +Nora's afghan with its rich, warm stripes, there was Belle's fine +embroidery,--centre piece, doilies, and other dainty bits chiefly for +the dining-room. I cannot truly say that Brenda, though giving +liberally, had contributed very much that was made by her own hands, and +I have an idea that if the bottom drawer of her bureau had been +examined, it would have been found to contain the majority of the +unfinished things over which at one time or another she had been so +enthusiastic. Not even her zeal for the Bazaar had enabled her to +disentangle that confusion of odds and ends. + +Some of the older girls at school had contributed beautiful things. One +had copied an old French miniature and had had it framed in gilt. +Another had painted a set of tiny chocolate cups. There were some +exquisite picture frames covered in old brocade brought over from Europe +by another girl, and still a third had sent some wood carvings done in a +peculiar style which she had learned at Venice. An uncle of Edith's who +was a publisher, had sent a number of finely bound books. Then there +were many smaller and less expensive things, so that it seemed as if +every taste must be suited. + +"Oh, how lovely," exclaimed Ruth as she stood for a moment beside the +flower table which Edith, Julia and Ruth had spent an hour or more in +decorating. + +"Where did you get those beautiful orchids?" asked Edith. + +"Why Edith Blair," answered Julia, "I should think that you ought to +recognize your own possessions. Your mother sent these in from your +greenhouse in Brookline." + +Edith laughed good-humoredly. "I thought that they had a kind of +familiar look, but then other people have orchids, too." + +"Well other people _have_ been generous, as well as your mother. I have +quantities of violets besides these on the tables, and the most +beautiful roses, and see this dozen of maiden hair fern in little pots. +Almost every plant has been engaged by some of the girls at the tables. +They are to be left with me until evening." + +"What will you do with things that are left over?" + +"Oh, I have been told to do with them as I like, and probably they will +be sent to the Children's Hospital. Shouldn't you think that a good +idea, Edith?" + +"Oh, yes, the very best in the world; it would be fun to go up on the +same day and see what the children say to them." + +"Yes, provided we really do have anything left over. Of course it would +be better if we could sell everything in the room." + +"Yes, of course, when you can leave do come over to my table for a +minute; I want to ask your opinion about arranging something. It's +awfully hard to combine the colors, and in some way Frances and I never +agree exactly about things, though I try to see things as she does," and +Edith walked off, sighing a little over her weight of responsibility, +for she had complete charge of the fancy-work table with Frances Pounder +as chief assistant. Other girls from their group of friends were to +relieve them at intervals during the day, but the responsibility of +seeing that there were always two attendants at the table fell entirely +on Edith. + +Belle had complete charge of the refreshment room, which was a small +room off the dancing hall where the other tables were set. Brenda and +she had chosen this department, but the latter had declined any +responsibility. "I wish to be free to move anywhere; I just hate having +to stay in one spot, so ask as many others as you wish, Belle." Thus +Belle had surrounded herself with half a dozen of the younger girls, and +she was able to assume an air of authority over them that would have +been impossible with the girls of her own age. + +There were three or four little round tables in this room beside the +larger one covered with boxes and baskets of bonbons. At the little +tables the girls were to serve ices to all who wished them. + +"Dear me," fretted Belle as she and Brenda stood surveying the room. +"Dear me! I wish that we had a larger room. This is going to be awfully +crowded if we have many people, and there will surely be a crowd before +evening. I don't see what we shall do." + +"Can't they take turns?" asked one of the younger girls, who happened to +be standing near. "We could not have more than a dozen at a time, I +should think." + +"Oh, you don't know anything about it, Annie Bell," exclaimed Belle in a +tone that brought tears to the eyes of the younger girl. "Of course I +don't expect that every one who comes to the Bazaar will rush in here +the first thing, but we ought to have had a larger room. I'm almost +sorry that I said that I would take charge of this part of the Bazaar. +It's going to be a great deal more fun outside." + +"Ah, well!" replied Brenda, consolingly, "you won't have to stay in here +all the time, the girls can look after things, and besides I am not +going to be away all the time." + +"Oh, no," said Belle, "if I undertake a thing I always calculate to +carry it through. Some one has to be here at the money table all the +time, or else things will get dreadfully mixed up." + +"Well, I'm sorry that you feel so," said Brenda. "But as long as there +is no one here now I will go off for a while and see how Nora is getting +on at the surprise table." + +As Brenda went off, Belle sat down at the little table which answered +for cashier's desk. She had already taken in two dollars for bonbons, +although as yet the Bazaar had had but a few patrons. Toward noon about +forty altogether had visited the Bazaar. Among these were several +elderly ladies and gentlemen, and a number of nurses with children who +patronized chiefly the surprise table and the refreshment room, and +Belle had her hands full making change, and correcting the errors of her +young assistants with whom arithmetic was evidently not a strong point. + +At about one o'clock the attendants at the Bazaar began to go down to +the dining-room where Mrs. Blair had had a luncheon spread for them. + +"How's business?" asked Belle of Nora, as they sat there over their +salad and cocoa. + +"Oh, fine," replied the latter, expressively, if inelegantly. "I've +taken nearly twenty dollars, and the table looks as if hardly a thing +had been touched. Julia and Ruth have done a great deal better, of +course, and I wouldn't dare say how much Edith and Frances have made. +They sold that set of chocolate cups for twenty dollars to old Mrs. +Bean." + +"That was more than they were worth," interrupted Belle. + +"Oh, I don't know, they _were_ LOVELY, there was ever so much work on +them." + +"Well, I suppose at a Bazaar, a thing is worth what any one is willing +to pay for it, but still, even if I could afford it, I would not pay +twenty dollars for those cups. I didn't like the shape." + +"You're too fussy, Belle, about little things; I've heard ever so many +other persons admiring those cups, and Mrs. Bean thought that they were +beautiful." + +"Well, what else have they sold?" + +"I can hardly tell, I've been so busy myself, but the table begins to +look just a little bare, at least in spots, and I know that even Frances +thinks that they have done very well. You know it's a great deal for her +to be contented with anything." + +"Well, I wish I could get some one to change with me this afternoon, I'm +awfully tired of that little refreshment room. It will be more fun in +the evening, but----" + +"You ought to make Brenda take charge for an hour or two." + +"Who in the world could ever make Brenda do anything?" + +"I know she's a kind of a will-o'-the-wisp, and she feels as if she were +managing everything and everybody here, but then that does not hurt us +and it pleases her." + +Here Belle remembered that it was always her custom to stand up for +Brenda, and in the fashion which is always rather annoying to the person +who has not intended any offence, she said, "Why of course we all +understand Brenda, and for my part I think that she is exactly right. Of +course, she was the one who planned this whole thing, and except for her +no one would have tried to do a thing for the Rosas." + +Nora did not think it worth while to reply that she had not been the one +to make any criticism of Brenda. Instead she contented herself with +saying, mischievously, "Well, you know that it was I who discovered +Manuel, and if we had not had an object we should not have had a +Bazaar." Belle had nothing to say to this, and indeed there was no +chance, for two or three of the younger girls came down with a rush, +thus reminding Nora and Belle that they ought to go upstairs again to +their duties. + +By the middle of the afternoon the Bazaar was a scene of the greatest +activity, every one was there, young and old, and the fancy-work table +had really begun to look bare. One of Nora's brothers had to be sent +down town for a fresh supply of novelties for the surprise table, as not +only the children but their parents found great amusement in opening +those bright-colored packages. Belle and some of the older girls +regretted that there was nothing to raffle. + +"Don't you honestly think that it is much more exciting to get a thing +in that way than to buy it just as you would in a shop?" asked Edith, +who had been influenced by Belle to try to coax Mrs. Blair to change her +opinion in the matter of raffles. But Mrs. Blair was firm, and she gave +her reasons so clearly that not only her daughter, but all the others +interested in the Bazaar, except Belle, seemed convinced. + +"I haven't said," she had been careful in explaining, "that raffles are +wrong, only very often they lead to things that are not exactly right. +It is hard to make the average person see why it is perfectly right to +buy shares in a handsome doll-house, and wrong to invest in a lottery +ticket." + +"Oh, every one understands about lottery tickets." + +"Well, that may be true, lotteries are against the law in this part of +the country, and yet a raffle at a bazaar or other charitable affair is +to my mind always objectionable. Some persons take their disappointment +very much to heart, and----" + +"But, mamma, do you not call people very silly who take a little thing +like that to heart?" + +"I may call them silly and yet I cannot justify myself in causing them +this discomfort, if a raffle should be held in my house. Without going +into all the principles involved, Edith, I am sure that you can see that +I have good reasons for feeling unwilling to have any raffles at the +Bazaar." + +So Edith and the others had acquiesced, with only a slight feeling of +rebellion when one or two particularly handsome things were contributed +to the Bazaar, which seemed almost too expensive to sell to a single +purchaser. + +A strong reason given by Mrs. Blair against raffles had been her +objection to having people urged to buy shares, and she had cautioned +the girls to be careful not to try to influence their friends when +looking at things on the tables to buy against their will. On the whole +did any action of this kind seem necessary, since almost every one who +attended the Bazaar came as a purchaser, and as there was only one +fancy-goods table, there was no rivalry among the sellers. Some of the +larger and more expensive things did not sell very readily, and Brenda +was in a twitter--at least that was what Nora called it--about the fate +of these things. There was one especially valuable thing, or valuable +from the point of view of The Four, a water color contributed by an +artist friend of Mrs. Barlow's. He was a well-known artist, and his work +was in demand, and down town the picture would have brought a large +price. The girls in making the price of articles for the sale, had been +uncertain what to do about this, and after long consultation with the +older persons interested, had decided on one hundred dollars. + +The artist himself had acquiesced in this, for they had thought it +polite to refer the matter finally to him. Every one had prophesied that +the picture would sell at once, yet for some reason or other, by the +middle of the afternoon it was still unsold. By four o'clock it seemed +as if all Miss Crawdon's school had emptied itself into the pretty hall, +and about this time Brenda began to yield to a little temptation. + +"What are you and Belle so mysterious about?" asked Nora, as she saw the +two busily talking in a corner, and evidently rather afraid of being +interrupted. + +"Oh, nothing, only a little business," Brenda had replied, and then she +and Belle had resumed their conversation which seemed to partake of the +nature of calculation, with frequent references to a little notebook. +After this Nora could not help noticing that Brenda devoted her +attention to the older schoolgirls, and the college boys who in the +latter part of the afternoon had begun to arrive in considerable +numbers. + +"What in the world are you doing?" she asked again and again, as Belle +darted by as if searching for some special person, or Brenda stalked up +and down studying her notebook. + +Toward four o'clock there was considerable bustle at the entrance to the +room, and Mrs. Blair's waitress, who had been standing in the hall, came +forward with a message for Julia. At least she went up to the flower +booth, and after speaking to Julia the latter hurried forward to the +door where stood an old lady leaning on the arm of a tall serving man. +"Who is it?" "Isn't she fine looking?" "Oh, no, I think her rather +queer; who ever saw a turban like that?" were a few of the remarks that +flew around the room, as Julia and the old lady with her attendant +walked over toward the group of easy-chairs which Mrs. Blair had +thoughtfully provided in one corner. + +"Why, it's Madame Du Launy," cried Nora, who was really the first to +recognize the occupant of the mysterious house near the school, and soon +the news spread, until there was hardly a person in the room who had not +heard it. Every one, naturally enough, was too polite to show her +curiosity, although it must be admitted that a few of the bolder +wandered nearer to the seated group than was actually necessary in order +to get a good view of the old lady, or to overhear a part of what she +and Julia had to say to each other. At Julia's request the waitress had +found Mrs. Blair, and after making the necessary introduction, Julia had +led Madame Du Launy, accompanied by Mrs. Blair, to the flower table. No +one who had ever heard Madame Du Launy called miserly, could have +believed this true while watching her progress from table to table at +the Bazaar. Though every one knew that she had her own little +conservatory, she bought plants and cut flowers with great liberality, +and while she always asked the price of each thing, she never demurred +at the stated sum. + +When Madame Du Launy and her little party approached the fancy-work +table, Frances fairly bristled with importance, and displayed her goods, +as if conferring the greatest favor. In spite of this rather forbidding +manner on the part of the young saleswoman, Madame Du Launy proved a +good patron. She bought one set of Edith's doilies, as well as several +smaller things, and then her eye fell on the water color, which, to +display it the better, had been hung on the wall back of the table. + +"Is that for sale?" she asked rather abruptly. + +"Why, no, or rather, yes," replied Frances with a certain hesitation. + +"At least it has been for sale," she added. + +"Is it sold?" asked Mrs. Blair in some surprise; "a short time ago, I +understood that you had not found a purchaser." + +Frances reddened a little under Mrs. Blair's rather searching glance, +and reddened still more deeply as Mrs. Blair continued, "Has any one +bought it within the last half hour?" + +"Why, no," said Frances, "not exactly, although--" + +During this conversation, an expression of annoyance had come over +Madame Du Launy's face. Apparently she was accustomed to having whatever +she expressed a desire to buy, and this reluctance on the part of +Frances was far from agreeable to her. It was hardly less distasteful to +Mrs. Blair. + +"I should think, Frances, that as valuable a thing as this would either +be for sale, or if sold would have had a purchaser, whom you could +mention." + +"I wish that Belle were here," murmured Frances rather helplessly. + +"Why I thought that you and Edith had complete charge here," remarked +Mrs. Blair. + +"Well, so we had, but Edith is resting now, and----" + +"It is of no consequence, Mrs. Blair, there are other pictures elsewhere +that will probably suit me as well, only I imagined that the young +ladies wished to sell this one," interposed Madame Du Launy haughtily, +and holding her head rather high, she started in the direction of the +surprise table. Now just at this moment Miss South, who had been amusing +herself with some of Nora's funny little surprise packages, turned away +from this table to meet Julia who was walking a step or two behind +Madame Du Launy and Mrs. Blair. She had removed her hat, and her wavy, +brown hair, was dressed rather low on each side of her forehead, +somewhat as we have seen it in the portraits of a generation or two ago. +She smiled brightly as her eye met Julia's, and then she looked toward +Mrs. Blair and Madame Du Launy, whom evidently she had not noticed +before. For as her eye fell on the latter she gave a start of surprise. +At the same time the latter, with a gasp, leaned heavily on the arm of +her attendant, and would have fallen had he not led her quickly to a +chair. + + + + +XXVI + +GREAT EXCITEMENT + + +For several moments all was confusion. While trying not to show an +inconsiderate curiosity, the girls behind the tables could not help +leaving their places, though they stood at a fair distance from the spot +where Julia and Miss South and two or three older women were trying to +do what they could to revive Madame Du Launy. Although she had not +actually fainted, she was certainly not herself, and for several minutes +she leaned back in her chair with her eyes half-closed. Yet although she +looked pale and almost pitiful with the lines of age clearly showing in +her face, she would not accept help from any one, not even the glass of +water which they offered her. At last, after a time that seemed longer +than it really was to those who stood by, she opened her eyes, and +without a word to those standing near, motioned to her man. + +"My carriage, at once," was all she said, then motioning to him again +she took his arm, as she rose from her seat. Turning for a moment toward +Julia who had extended her hand, "Good-bye, dear," she murmured as she +started to walk with stately step across the room. + +The whole thing had been so strange--Madame Du Launy's fainting-spell, +and her peculiar manner on coming to herself, that those who stood near +instead of making any comments only gazed after the old lady in +surprise. In the midst of the excitement Miss South, too, had slipped +away, and on making enquiries about her Julia was told that she had gone +home. + +Yet although at the very moment of this strange occurrence no one had +had much to say, when the girls gathered in little groups aside, their +tongues swung back and forward with great energy. + +"What in the world could have caused it?" was asked on every hand, and +many were the guesses and speculations as to what had caused the little +scene. + +"Oh, old ladies ought not to try to go to festive places like this," +said one of the girls glancing around the long room with its walls +paneled with mirrors, its decorations of vines, and plants, and bright +streamers. + +"Especially old ladies who have hardly set foot in the house of any one +else for fifty years, more or less," added another. + +"Well, even then I don't see what made her faint," said Nora, who +happened to have heard the last remark. "There wasn't anything +particularly exciting going on here." + +"Oh," replied Belle, "it had something to do with Miss South. I stood +where I could see Madame Du Launy's face, and when she fainted she had +just met Miss South's eye, and didn't you notice, Miss South looked as +if she would like to faint herself!" + +"How ridiculous!" said a girl who had newly joined the group, "you +always see more than any one else does, Belle." + +"What if I do? I am just as often right, and you can see for yourself +that Miss South is not here now. I noticed that she hurried away as soon +as she could." + +"What if she did?" cried Nora; "I do think, Belle, that you are +sometimes perfectly ridiculous. Any number of people are not here now, +who were in the room half an hour ago." + +"Oh, you know what I mean, Nora; mark my words there is something queer +about the whole thing." + +"How in the world, I wonder, did Madame Du Launy happen to know about +the Bazaar?" asked Frances Pounder. + +"Why, Frances Pounder, where have you been?" cried Nora. + +"Why, yes, Frances Pounder, where have you been?" echoed Belle. "Haven't +you heard of the tremendous intimacy that has sprung up between Julia +and Madame Du Launy since she rescued her little Fidessa from the park +police? It really is a wonderful story, and we all expect Julia to be +the old lady's heir." + +"Come, come," interrupted Nora, "we can't afford to waste our time +gossiping; we should be thankful that Madame Du Launy ventured to come +here at all, for she bought any number of things, and paid good prices, +and now if we do not return to our tables, we may lose all the patronage +of the other old ladies who are wandering about." + +So two by two the little crowd dispersed. Some of the girls went behind +the tables, while others hovered about, picking and choosing what they +should buy according to their purses or their taste. + +But to tell all the happenings of that afternoon and evening would take +a longer time than can be spared to it now. In the evening not only the +fathers and uncles of many of the girls came upon the scene, but Philip +and his friends appeared to form a small army of purchasers. The latter +were not on the whole inclined to buy very expensive things, though they +patronized the refreshment table so steadily that Belle had to beg one +of the New York boys to become assistant cashier. They also almost swept +the flower booth clean of cut flowers and plants, to the loss of the +little patients in the children's hospital, who might otherwise have +been benefited, had any flowers been left over. Yet although I say that +they did not buy a great deal I must not be misunderstood. They did +carry off all kinds of little things that they thought would raise a +laugh in their college rooms. Philip, for example, bought a work-basket, +lined with pink and white silk, grumbling as he did so that this was the +nearest approach he could find to crimson. Besides that he paid a good +price for the doll which he had admired, and which Nora had +mischievously reserved for him by pinning to it a card bearing his name. +He also bought a small hammock of twisted ribbons, in which he said he +intended to suspend the doll in a conspicuous place over his +mantelpiece. + +Tom Hurst had to buy two or three tobacco pouches, and in addition he +chose a rattle, the covering of which Nora had knitted and decorated +with bells. + + "Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw," + +quoted Nora, as he carried away his purchase, at the same time +presenting him with a wisp of straws from a broom, which she had tied +together with a piece of crimson ribbon. "To be forever cherished," +responded Tom, as he walked off with his trophies, in a tone that made +the usually unsentimental Nora blush. + +As to Will Hardon, he lost no time in going to the table over which +Frances and Edith presided to enquire for a sofa pillow which had been +reserved for him. + +"Reserved!" cried Edith in a tone of surprise, for Ruth had taken her +into the secret. "I thought it was understood that nothing could be +reserved here----" + +Will's face fell, for he was very much in earnest. + +"Oh, now Miss Blair," he said, "you surely were not in earnest last +evening; you know that I had made up my mind to that pillow." + +"Wouldn't something else do just as well?" she asked, "this centrepiece +for example, _I_ worked this," with an emphasis on the pronoun. + +"Why, it's very pretty," said poor Will, "only I shouldn't know what to +do with it, but I'd like it very much, really I would," he hastened to +add, as Edith looked a little serious. + +"Well, I'm sorry," she responded, "that you fix your affection on such +impossible things; now this centrepiece is also disposed of. Mrs. Barlow +has bought it, and will take it home this evening." + +"Also," exclaimed Will, "you said 'also,' do you mean that the sofa +pillow is really gone?" + +Edith could not help smiling at his expression of disappointment. + +"Here comes Ruth," she said, "ask her;" and Ruth, with her hands full of +flowers which she was carrying across the room to Mrs. Pounder, paused +for a moment. + +"Why, you look as if you were quarreling," she said to Edith, "you +and--Mr. Hardon; can't I be umpire?" + +"Why, yes," replied Will, "that was just what we wish, for you are the +only one who really understands the merits of the case. You remember +that cushion?" + +Ruth looked sufficiently conscious to make further reply unnecessary. + +"Of course you _do_ remember it," continued Will, "and you know that you +more than half promised to save it for me. Now nobody here at this table +seems able to tell me about it, at least Miss Blair isn't, and she ought +to, if any one could, tell me just where it is." + +"I am not sure," responded Edith, "that you have really put the question +to me. At any rate I am positive that I have not made any statement +about it." + +"But you told me to refer to Miss Roberts, and I thought that that meant +that you knew nothing about it." + +"Well, honestly, I can't tell you about the cushion," said Ruth; "if any +one offered more than one hundred dollars, which I think was your limit, +I suppose that it has been sold." + +"You think that I did not mean what I said," cried Will. + +"Oh, no, indeed, but if any one offered more----" + +All this time Edith had been standing with one hand behind her back, and +at the last minute she raised her arm, and disclosed the cushion, which +a minute before she had brought from its hiding-place beneath the table. + +"There, that is mine," exclaimed the young man, "let me have it." + +"Well, I declare!" cried Edith, as in surprise, "this card really does +bear your name, and so I suppose that I must give you the cushion." + +Will leaned forward eagerly. "Yes, it is mine, but," as he glanced at +the card, "the price is not right. It is only one-tenth what I expected +to pay." + +"Why! would you really have paid one hundred dollars for it?" asked +Ruth. + +"Why not?" he asked. + +"Oh, it is so much more than it is worth," she replied. "Even for the +Rosas we could not have permitted it." + +"Well," he answered, as he handed out the crisp ten dollar bill, which +paid the price marked on the pillow, "well, I must make it up to the +Rosas in some other way." Then turning toward Edith, "thank you, Miss +Blair, for waiting on me, although you did give me a bad quarter of a +minute, when you made me believe that I might have missed the purchase +which I came expressly to make." So with a pleasant smile, carrying the +pretty cushion on one arm, he walked across the room with Ruth. + +Belle, as she watched them, could not help thinking how well they looked +together, even though for the moment she felt a little jealousy of +Ruth's growing popularity. Neither the evening before, nor during the +whole progress of the Bazaar, had Belle received any special attention +from even one of "the boys" as Philip and his friends were called +collectively. Ruth, to be sure, was nearly a year and a half older than +"The Four," and it was more natural that she should receive a little +more attention of the kind that young ladies receive. But Belle thought +that she herself felt as old as she should ever feel, and now since she +wore her hair done up, and had skirts that almost touched, she did not +see why she should not be treated just as if she were "grown up." To +suit her ideas, therefore, of the deportment of a young lady, she had +begun to assume a very coquettish manner. But this, instead of producing +the desired effect--that of gaining for her great admiration, only +amused the boys, and led them to make fun of her when by themselves. +Edith through Philip, and Nora through her brother, had some knowledge +of this fact. But Brenda regarded Belle with more or less awe, and +considered her an exceedingly worldly-wise person. When, therefore, +Belle proposed to her that instead of selling the water-color painting +of which I have spoken, at a fixed price, they should vote it to the +most popular young man of their acquaintance, Brenda acquiesced. + +"You see it will be this way," said Belle, "we can get people to vote by +taking shares." + +"How much will the shares be?" + +"Oh, a dollar, and we can easily sell a hundred and fifty dollars worth. +I am sure that is a great deal better than letting the picture go for +one hundred dollars." + +"But isn't that the same as a raffle?" + +"No, stupid, of course not." + +"For you know that Mrs. Blair has forbidden us to have any raffles." + +"Yes, I know about that rule, and a very silly rule it is, too," replied +Belle, "but this isn't at all the same thing as a raffle. People just +pay for the privilege of voting, and don't expect any gain for +themselves, as they would in a lottery or raffle. It's a good thing, +too, for the person they vote for, it's doing him good, and no one can +disapprove of a plan to help other people," said Belle with an +unselfishness of sentiment that could not have been looked for in her. + +"Oh, no," said Brenda, hesitatingly, "I suppose not." + +"All the same," Belle had continued, "I think that we had better not say +anything to Edith and Nora about it, they might interfere in some way, +and besides I am sure that they both have enough to do looking after +their own tables." + +"Well, but how can we get any votes if we do not say anything to +anybody?" enquired Brenda. + +"Oh, of course we must take Frances into our confidence. She is at the +table where the picture is. There won't be much danger of its selling at +once for one hundred dollars, and we can trust Frances to head any one +off who pretends to wish to buy it." + +So it was as a result of this plan of Belle's that Frances had prevented +a sale of the picture to Madame du Launy. For at that time Brenda and +Belle had a number of names on their books, enough in fact to represent +one half the valuation of the picture. Each girl who voted was bound to +secrecy, for Belle realized (though she had put it in a different light +to Brenda) that she was violating the spirit, if not the letter of Mrs. +Blair's command. Nevertheless the very fact that the carrying out of +this plan involved a certain amount of mystery, gave the whole thing +more zest than it would otherwise have had for the two. + +Strangely enough, however, after the first fifty votes had been cast, +with a great scattering as to the most popular youth, the two girls +found it hard to get more names. The evening, indeed, was half over +before the list had increased to sixty votes. + +About this time an awkward thing happened. Running upstairs from the +dining-room, Belle had dropped the neat little book in which she kept +record of her votes, and when one of the maids handed it to Mrs. Blair, +great was her surprise to find on the fly-leaf the sentence "voting +contest for the picture." + +"Whose handwriting is this?" she asked Edith, "and what does this all +mean; surely none of you is carrying on a raffle." + +"It's Belle's writing," answered Edith a little reluctantly, for she saw +that her mother was angry. "But I do not know what it means." + +Well after this, of course Belle was summoned to talk with Mrs. Blair, +and though she reiterated that she had only desired to make as much +money as she could for the Bazaar, Mrs. Blair insisted that Belle should +give her all that she had already received to return to those who had +subscribed or voted. Brenda, too, came in for a good share of reproof, +and the whole thing was very humiliating to the two girls, who found +themselves so clearly in the wrong. Beyond obliging them to conform, +however, to her views of what was proper, Mrs. Blair had no intention of +making them unduly uncomfortable. + +"Think no more about it," she said, "only remember that you have +prevented the sale of the picture, for I saw to-day that Madame Du Launy +was very anxious to buy it." + +After hearing this Brenda and Belle, although mortified, decided to make +the best of the rest of the evening. They merely explained to some of +the voters who asked them, that it had been decided to give up this plan +for disposing of the picture, and that the money would be returned. + +The episode of Madame Du Launy in the afternoon, and this little +unpleasant incident of the evening were the only things to make this +Bazaar seem very different from other Bazaars. + +You know what they are all like, and that each fair or sale or Bazaar +depends for its charm on the unity with which the workers carry things +on, and the extent to which their friends patronize it, and I will say +for "The Four" that they were much more in harmony through this whole +affair than often they had been in the past, and that their +friends--especially their young friends--did even more than had been +expected of them to help swell the fund for the Rosas. + +Brenda had been anxious to have one or two of this interesting family on +the spot to work on the sympathies of the patrons of the Bazaar. She had +thought that it would be delightful to have Angelina wait on the +refreshment table, and she did not see why Manuel might not have been +present all the time. "In some kind of fancy costume, of course, for I +know that his own clothes would not be exactly clean and whole." + +But Mrs. Blair had objected to the presence of the Rosas whether in +fancy dress, or in their usual garb, and Mrs. Barlow had succeeded in +making Brenda see that it would not be the best thing in the world for +the Rosa children to be introduced to what must seem to them a scene of +great luxury in a Back Bay house, even though it might be explained to +them that part of the gorgeousness was due to a desire to help them--the +special gorgeousness, I mean, of the Bazaar. + +"Who in the world is to take care of all the money?" asked Nora, as she +looked at the large tin box almost running over with silver and bills +taken in as receipts at the various tables. + +"Oh, Mrs. Blair is to put it in her safe to-night, and to-morrow it will +be exchanged at the bank for large bills!" answered Brenda. + +"And then----?" + +"And then we must have a committee meeting to decide what is to be done +with it. When it was last counted there were nearly three hundred +dollars, and there has been something added to it since." + +"Why, how perfectly splendid!" cried Nora; "why we should be able to do +almost anything we wish to do for the Rosas; why, it is a regular +fortune!" for Nora had ideas almost as vague as Brenda of the value of +money. + +"Oh, yes, we've done very well, but I am glad that it is all over; the +Bazaar has been fun, but it is kind of a relief not to have it on my +mind any more." + +"Oh, Brenda, it hasn't worried you much, you took things very easy until +the last day or two." + +"Well, that's just it; I've felt so busy to-day, that I would like to +rest for a week." + +"But you haven't been half as busy as Julia, she has hardly left her +post all day, and I think that she looks pretty tired." + +"Dear me," said Brenda crossly, "if she had not wished to serve at the +flower booth, we could have found some other girl to do it. Oh, Julia," +she cried as her cousin drew near her, "are you coming home in the +carriage with me?" + +"Why, yes, if you wish it." + +"Well, it has just taken papa and mamma home, and when it comes back, I +shall be ready." + +The pretty dancing-hall now presented a thoroughly disordered +appearance. It was strewn with wrapping papers that had been pushed from +behind the tables, or had been thrown there by careless persons who had +tossed down the coverings of their surprise packages. There were also a +number of faded flowers lying about, and the tables themselves were in +confused heaps. For, of course, not everything had sold, and the +"remains" as one of the boys called what was left, had to stay on the +tables until the morning. + +When Brenda and Julia were finally ready to go home, they were almost +the last to leave. Even the Cambridge boys had said "good-bye" and Ruth +and Frances had started for home. + +"Thank you very much, Mrs. Blair, for letting us come here," said +Brenda, as they left the room. For Brenda seldom forgot her good manners +where older people were concerned, even though she was sometimes +inclined to be pettish toward her younger friends. + +"Why, what is that?" she enquired, as Julia had a large package lifted +into the carriage. + +"It's that water-color that was on Edith's table." + +"Why, what are you taking it home for?" + +"I have bought it," replied Julia quietly, "and I am going to give it to +Aunt Anna." + +Brenda was almost too much surprised to speak, for this was the picture +which she and Belle had tried to raffle. + +"But you did not pay one hundred dollars for it?" + +"Why not?" said Julia with a smile, as they reached their door. + + + + +XXVII + +A MISTAKE + + +Brenda, herself, was too sleepy that night when she reached home, to +express her surprise at Julia's having bought the picture. Yet she +certainly wondered that the cousin whom she had hitherto regarded as +bound down to economy, should have been able to spend so large a sum for +a single purchase. Julia on her part was not surprised at her cousin's +indifference, for Brenda had a way of seeming curious or especially +interested only in relation to things that immediately concerned her. +When they had separated, and Julia was alone in her own room, she had +opportunity for the first time since the morning for thinking over all +the events of the day. Her place at the Bazaar had been a very pleasant +one, and while she had not had much to do with any of the girls except +Ruth, her attention had been constantly occupied in disposing of her +flowers. Philip and his friends had been especially good patrons, and +the former had taken the chances that came to him of going up to the +table and talking to Julia on one thing and another, not always +connected with the Bazaar or with the Rosas. In spite of a certain +amount of conceit--and what young sophomore is without this +quality--Philip was really a very agreeable fellow, and in Julia he had +some one ready to listen to him more attentively than was Edith's habit, +or indeed that of the other girls. For Belle, for example, although she +liked what she called "attention" from the boys of her set, wished to +have the conversation turn entirely upon herself and her own affairs, +and she always showed impatience when the person with whom she was +talking turned to any other subject. Now Philip--though in this he was +not so very different from other young men--liked to have some one to +talk to who would listen sympathetically to his tales of college +triumphs, or grievances, and occasionally give him a word of advice. In +Julia he found not only an attentive listener, but an intelligent +adviser. So although the Bazaar was not just the place for confidences, +he had been able to have several pleasant little snatches of +conversation with Julia. She had enjoyed these little fragmentary talks +as much as Philip had, and they both had had much amusement from his +rather clumsy attempts to help her in arranging bouquets for her +customers. + +Julia, therefore, had many pleasant things to recall connected with the +Bazaar, and not the least pleasant was the fact that she had been able +to contribute a good deal toward helping the Rosas. + +The one strange feature of the whole affair had been the sudden +departure of Madame Du Launy. "And why," mused Julia, "did Miss South go +away without bidding me good-bye? I know that she meant to stay until +evening. Well, perhaps it will all be explained. Though certainly now I +cannot understand it all. Perhaps to-morrow--" and here Julia fell +asleep with the question still unsettled. + +Early the next morning--as soon at least as she had had her breakfast, +Julia started off to find Miss South, but the maid at her boarding-house +said that she had gone out and probably would not be back before +evening; with this she had to be content, although in addition to +general enquiries about the strange event of the day before, she wished +to talk over with Miss South some of the plans which they had been +discussing for the assistance of the Rosa family. They had been finally +successful in getting Mrs. Rosa to promise to go to the country for the +summer, if for no longer a time. They had found a house in Shiloh, a +small village with elevated land not so very far from Boston, and they +were sure that a residence there would benefit the sick woman. A man +whom Miss South knew, who had been at one time given up by the doctors +as in hopeless consumption, had moved to this village, and after a year +had been pronounced almost well. He had opened a little shop there, his +children had found employment for their spare hours, and the family had +at last started on the high road to prosperity. This was a great change +for them, for during their father's illness in town, they had often had +to have charitable relief. Miss South's plan for Mrs. Rosa included a +certain amount of work for the family. A farmer had been found who +promised to employ the oldest boy, and a woman who took summer boarders +said that she could pay Angelina two dollars a week, to help in her +kitchen, if she could sleep at home. The house which they had selected +had a small piece of land where it was hoped that Mrs. Rosa could raise +some vegetables. + +To accomplish what they wished, considerable money was needed, and they +had enlisted Brenda's interest to so great an extent that she professed +herself perfectly willing to have the money raised at the Bazaar used to +rent and equip the house, and pay the many little expenses that would be +caused by the enterprise. "As Brenda really has been interested in +Manuel, it would be hardly fair to leave her out of this plan, +although," said Julia, "although we might get on without her help." + +"Oh, dear, no," Miss South had said, "it would never in the world do to +overlook Brenda. She is an impulsive little thing, and although Mrs. +Rosa and the children might have fared badly this winter, had they had +no one but Brenda to depend on, still it is a great advance for Brenda +to be interested in some one besides herself, and it is excellent +discipline for her to have a certain share in carrying out this plan. It +is not altogether a matter of money." + +Now, Brenda, of course, in deciding to favor the plan proposed by Miss +South was not acting entirely for herself. Edith, Nora, and Belle were +as much concerned as she, and Nora in fact, as the rescuer of Manuel, +was more interested than any of the others. Belle, the only one who +might have been expected to oppose Miss South's plan, really had no +objection to it. Her one thought in the whole matter had been to get as +much pleasure and glory as possible out of the Bazaar itself. Edith, +while practical about some things,--needlework for example, and +lessons,--seldom put her mind on money matters, and Nora was as heedless +about this as about other things. Brenda was almost as heedless, and yet +The Four had thought it perfectly proper that she should be treasurer of +their little fund. + +So it happened that on the very morning when Julia was trying to find +Miss South, Brenda had received from Mrs. Blair's hands four crisp one +hundred dollar notes. This was a little more than had been taken at the +Bazaar. But in getting the loose bills and cheques changed into more +compact form, Mrs. Blair had added enough to make the sum an even four +hundred dollars. + +The other three girls were with Brenda as she received the money from +Mrs. Blair, and immediately they sat down to count up the expenses that +must be paid from their receipts. Rather to Mrs. Blair's surprise these +expenses mounted up to more than one hundred dollars, and she scolded +The Four a little for having engaged an expensive orchestra for the +music of the preceding evening, when music was not really needed at all. +The ices and other things furnished the refreshment room made another +large item in the bills, although there had been some profit from this +department. + +"I will take one of your one hundred dollar bills, and with it pay the +expenses," said Mrs. Blair, "and I would advise you to take care of the +three hundred dollars, for after all it is not a large sum to be used +toward the support of a sick woman and five children." + +"Of course we'll take care of it, at least Brenda will," cried Nora, as +Brenda folded the money away carefully in her purse, and placed the +purse in a small leather bag. Then they went home with Brenda, and they +saw her lock the bag into her top bureau drawer. + +After this they sat for a while as girls will, idly talking about the +affairs of the day, while Mrs. Barlow's French maid bustled about, +laying away some new waists and skirts of Brenda's that had just come +home from the dressmaker's. + +"Look," at last cried Brenda, jumping up from her seat impetuously, +"look, Marie, did you ever see so much money," and opening the drawer +and the purse she brandished the three hundred dollar bills before the +eyes of the young Frenchwoman. + +"Oh, my! Mees," cried Marie, "three dollars, that is not so very much!" + +"Three dollars!" shouted Brenda, "three hundred dollars, what you call +twelve hundred francs." + +"Oh, my!" exclaimed Marie, her eyes almost jumping out of her head, "oh, +my! I never did see so much money, let me look." So they let her touch +the bills, and they laughed at the comments she made, and especially +when she cried, "Louis would marry me if that money was mine." + +"I thought he was going to anyway," said Belle, "you have always said +that you were engaged." + +"Oh, yes," she replied. "Oh, yes, sometime, perhaps, but it takes much +money to get married. If I have to wait too long, perhaps Louis will +find another girl with more money. But no matter." And she went out of +the room looking much less cheerful than before she had seen the money. + +"How mercenary!" said Belle as she disappeared, for Belle always had a +word large enough to fit every happening. + +"Well, it must be hard not to have any money but just what you earn +every week," interposed Edith sympathetically. + +"Oh it's better not to have much money than to have a man think only of +that in marrying you," responded Belle in her most worldly-wise voice. + +"Come, I think that we are talking of things that we know nothing +about," said Nora, "but if I were you, Brenda, I would not let every one +in the house know where that money is." + +"Nonsense, I always carry the key with me, and anyway it won't be here +long," answered Brenda. + +"No matter, if I were you I would give it to Mr. Barlow to take down +town." + +"Yes, you ought to," added Edith. + +"Oh, what fusses you are!" cried Brenda, "any one would think that I was +a two-year-old baby." + +Just then there was a tap at the door. + +"May I come in?" said a voice, which they at once recognized as Julia's. + +"Yes, indeed," cried Nora and Edith, and the former flung the door wide +open and greeted Julia with a kiss. + +"Where have you been, but of course you have been to see Miss South. It +was so funny that she did not stay last evening. What was the reason?" + +"Well I did not find her; she was not expected home to-day," answered +Julia. + +"How queer!" + +"Why, to tell you the truth, I was a little surprised myself, for we had +an appointment together this morning, although if we had not had one, I +should have gone up there to find out if she was ill yesterday." + +"Oh, tell me," enquired Edith, "have you heard anything about Madame Du +Launy? Mamma said that she would send there to enquire this morning, but +I have not been home since she sent." + +"Yes," said Julia, "I did make enquiries at the house, and was told that +she was feeling pretty well to-day, but that she could not see anybody." + +"Not even you!" exclaimed Belle, a little sarcastically. + +"Not even me," replied Julia pleasantly. "I suppose for one thing that +the Bazaar yesterday tired her. They tell me that it is the first time +in twenty years that she has been inside of any house in Boston besides +her own." + +"I wonder if that is true," said Edith, reflectively. + +"Yes, I believe that it is," answered Julia. "Madame Du Launy said +almost as much to me, although I must admit that she never talks very +much about that kind of thing. As often as I have seen her this spring, +she has never said a word to me on the subject of Boston people and +their attitude to her,--or her attitude to them--" she hastened to add. + +"You talk like a book, Julia," said Brenda, who had complained once or +twice that Julia talked too precisely, "like a school-teacher," she +generally said, when she spoke on the subject to Belle. + +Julia laughed good-naturedly. Brenda's little arrows did less harm now +than in the earlier part of the season. + +"So long as I make myself clear, it is all right, isn't it?" she asked. + +"Oh, of course," answered Brenda, "but you and Belle always do use such +alarmingly correct expressions." + +"Brenda," called Mrs. Barlow from the floor below. The girls exchanged +glances. There was something ominous in the tone, and even the dilatory +Brenda decided that it would be best to respond as quickly as possible +to the summons. + +Thereupon the other girls rose to go. In fact, the morning was almost +over, and during the two or three hours which The Four had spent +together they had talked about everything connected with the Bazaar +until there was little more for them to say. The late hours which they +had been keeping were telling upon them all, and if any one of them had +been asked to tell what she felt the most need of at that particular +moment, she would probably have said, "A good nap." + +Julia, however, was the only one to say frankly that she felt sleepy, +and she excused herself as the others went downstairs, while they bade +her good-bye at the door of her own room. She had been there but a few +minutes seated in a wicker easy-chair before the long window which +afforded a beautiful view of the river, when the door was hastily flung +open, and in a second Brenda stood before her. + +"I think that you are just as mean as you can be, Julia Bourne," she +cried angrily. "It does seem as if I ought not to have spies in my own +house watching everything that I do and carrying tales just as if I were +a baby." + +"Why, what do you mean, Brenda?" asked Julia in genuine astonishment. + +"You know very well what I mean. You and Miss South, you saw me with +Belle the other afternoon; oh, it wasn't so long ago that you could +forget it, you saw us down there by the Music Hall and you told mamma +that we had been there. Anyway, I do not see whose business it is. We +are old enough to go about by ourselves, but I think that you are just +as mean as you can be," and with this final outburst Brenda flung +herself from the room without giving Julia time to reply. + +The latter for a moment sat in her chair completely puzzled. Then she +remembered the day on which she and Miss South returning from the North +End had seen Belle and Brenda in Winter Street. The two girls had +disappeared so quickly that she did not suppose at the time that they +had seen her. Now, however, it seemed that they had been merely in +hiding. But of one thing she was sure, she had never spoken of the +encounter to her aunt, and all this torrent of anger on Brenda's part +was wholly uncalled for. It did seem too bad that Brenda should have +taken this tone just as she had begun to hope that she and her cousin +were to understand each other. On the other hand the case was not very +serious, since to Brenda in a calmer mood it would be very easy to give +an explanation. Yet if it were not for her uncle and aunt, who were +always considerate, Julia now felt that it would be hard for her to +continue under the same roof with Brenda. Julia herself, had always been +closely observant of the golden rule. Nor was her piety of the kind that +was displayed only on occasions. She had been most regular in her +attendance at Sabbath-school, and she and Nora and Edith never thought +of letting rain, or heat, or any other thing prevent their attendance at +the morning service as well. But besides these outward observances she +kept the spirit of the teachings of her Church, or tried to keep them in +her daily life. Neither Brenda, therefore, nor any one else could accuse +her of hypocrisy. She believed strongly in the soft answer that turneth +away wrath, and yet no one could say that behind any one else's back she +indulged in harsh criticism. + +At luncheon Brenda did not come to the table, and a question or two from +Mrs. Barlow brought out the fact that Brenda had vented on her cousin +part of the annoyance that she had felt at her mother's reproof. + +"Of course I shall make it clear to Brenda that I did not get my +information from you. Indeed I do not see how she could have thought so. +I certainly intimated that I had had my information from some one who +had seen her in the hall. In going there with Belle, Brenda broke two +well-understood rules of mine. In the first place she is not allowed to +go down town except with some older person. It the second place I +disapprove of young girls going to matinees of any kind, and the +performance they went to see was not at all a proper one for them. I +know that I had previously declined to take them. Brenda knew my opinion +of this particular performance, and two friends of mine who saw her and +Belle there were exceedingly surprised that I had permitted them to go +alone. They spoke of the matter incidentally to me, and in that way I +learned of Brenda's disobedience. But I am sorry that Brenda should have +troubled you about the affair, for I know that when she is angry she can +say very disagreeable things." + +"It is not of very much consequence, Aunt Anna," replied Julia, "as long +as it is a thing that can be straightened out. If I really had seen +Brenda at the Hall, I might have mentioned the fact without realizing +that it could make her so angry, but when she understands about this I +am sure that we shall be as good friends as ever." + +"I hope so," responded Mrs. Barlow. + + + + +XXVIII + +EXPLANATIONS + + +Now it happened that on Thursday afternoon Julia went to Nora's and +stayed all night. The next morning the two went out to Roxbury to fulfil +a promise to Ruth to pass a day and night with her. Thus it happened +that Julia and Brenda did not see each other until Saturday evening. +They then met in the presence of an elderly friend of Mrs. Barlow's who +had come to stay over Sunday with the family, and so Brenda had no +opportunity of making an apology--if she intended to make one for her +language of the subject of the matinee. For Mrs. Barlow, of course, had +explained her error to Brenda, and though the latter had not expressed +great contrition, her mother knew that in the end she would do what was +right. Luckily Julia herself was not one to feel resentment, for Sunday +passed without her hearing a word on the subject from Brenda. + +After the second service on Sunday, Miss South joined Julia just outside +the church door. "I am very glad to see you," she said, "for I was +greatly disappointed in missing you the other day. I have many things to +tell you, if you will walk with me for half an hour." + +This Julia was pleased to do, for it was a beautiful afternoon, and +moreover, she was anxious to hear why Miss South had gone away so +suddenly from Edith's, on the afternoon of the Bazaar. + +"I must begin at the beginning, Julia," said Miss South, "for you are +old enough to hear a rather romantic story at first hand, which +otherwise you might hear in an incorrect form." + +"I won't say that I have been curious, Miss South," replied Julia, +"although I have thought that in some mysterious way your going off had +some connection with Madame Du Launy." + +"That is true logic on your part," responded Miss South, "and you will +be interested to hear that I have spent several hours since Wednesday +with Madame Du Launy. Before I forget it I must tell you that she was +very sorry that she could not see you when you called. She told me to +say this to you as a special message from her." + +"Thank you," answered Julia, "but I am very anxious to hear what you +have to say. I feel sure that it is something very interesting." + +Miss South smiled. "Then I must begin at the very beginning. You may +have noticed that rather striking portrait of a young girl in the room +where Madame Du Launy usually receives her visitors. Well, that young +girl was my mother." Julia naturally gave a start of surprise, and for a +moment her mind occupied itself in reproducing an image of this +portrait. Then Miss South resumed her story. + +"Yes, my mother was the only one of Madame Du Launy's children who +married, and she married against her mother's will. My father was a very +independent man, and when his wife's mother said that she would never +forgive her for having married a poor man without family or position, he +accepted this as final. He would not let my mother make any attempt at +reconciliation, yet had she made such efforts I am sure that they would +have been unsuccessful. He took her to Ohio first, and after a time they +moved further west. We lived from the earliest time that I can remember, +very simply and economically, but we had the advantage of good +schools,--we two children, I mean--and when I showed a desire to go to +college I was sent to the State University of the State where we had +grown up. My brother, as I told you, was several years younger than I, +and was only preparing for college when my father died. Our mother had +died when we were little children, and in accordance with our father's +wishes we had heard little about our grandmother besides her name. Once +he had told us that she was an embittered old woman, and that she had +not shown any regard for him, or my mother after her marriage. We knew +that Boston had been our mother's home for a time, although most of her +youth had been spent in wandering around Europe with her parents. After +our father's death I thought once or twice of trying to find out whether +or not our grandmother was alive. But my brother always dissuaded me, so +keen was his resentment for the way she had treated our father. My +telling him that this had been mere prejudice on her part--for she never +had met my father--did not make him change his mind. He made me believe +that it would be disrespect to both our parents if I should seek my +grandmother. When I came to Boston, and heard about this peculiar Madame +Du Launy, who lived opposite the school, I felt that she must be my +grandmother, and some letters and a picture--a small water-color of the +house--made it perfectly clear that in this surmise I was correct. +Before the Bazaar I had decided in the course of the spring, to make +myself known to Madame Du Launy, and I ought to tell you that it was +your account of her gentler side that led me to think seriously of doing +this." + +"How very interesting!" cried Julia. "Why, I never heard anything like +it. But why did not Madame Du Launy ever try to find you?" + +"For the very good reason that she did not know of my existence. You see +my mother never wrote to her after the first months of her marriage when +my grandmother returned all her letters unopened. Yet Madame Du Launy--I +find it very hard to say 'Grandmother' had heard that my mother had had +one or two children, but she had also been told that they had died. All +that she heard, however, was mere rumor, for she was too proud to write +to my father after her daughter's death. But of late years, she says, +she has been very unhappy, and has thought much about my mother. It was +my close resemblance to her portrait that caused her to faint the other +day. I have a photograph made from that portrait, and occasionally I +dress my hair in the same style, those old fashions are somewhat in +vogue now, and I can do so with propriety. My grandmother says that I am +wonderfully like my mother." + +"Dear me!" said Julia, "it is more interesting than a novel. I suppose +that now you will go to live with Madame Du Launy, and we shall lose you +at school." + +Miss South smiled. "I shall certainly finish out my present year of +teaching, although it is probable that I may go to live with Madame Du +Launy." Then after a pause, "There is one thing that I ought to say, +Julia, because I know that already it is reported that I am to be a +great heiress. Madame Du Launy has a good income, but it comes from an +annuity, and when she dies it will die with her. She seemed to think +that she ought to explain this to me before asking me to live with her. +The house is hers outright, and she has said that she will give it to me +and my brother. I would not speak of this if it were not that I should +be placed in a false position otherwise. In fact I am the more ready to +go to live with my grandmother, because she is not the enormously rich +woman that she has been represented to be. But now I have talked enough +about myself, so let us turn to the Rosas." + +"Why, yes," responded Julia, "I have been wondering whether or not you +had seen them since the Bazaar." + +"Yes, I was able to go down yesterday, and I found Mrs. Rosa quite ready +to go to the country. I did not feel at liberty to tell her of the +success of the efforts of 'The Four,' but I told her that money was +certain to be furnished for the expense of removing her, and setting her +up in the little home that we have planned for her." + +"Wasn't she perfectly delighted?" + +"Well, she did not show a great deal of emotion. She is almost too weak +for that, but I am sure that she is pleased, although she has a certain +amount of regret at leaving the city." + +"She ought to be perfectly thankful to leave that wretched place." + +"It does not look quite as wretched and dirty to her as it does to us, +and after all home is home, and the North End has been her home for many +years." + +"I won't ask what the children think of the change, for I shall see them +myself in a day or two, and I suppose that I ought to be going home now. +But I do wish to tell you how delighted I am about your good fortune in +finding your grandmother. You know that I have grown quite fond of +Madame Du Launy myself, and I have been so sorry for her loneliness that +I am very glad indeed that she is to have you to live with her. Now, +here I suppose that I ought to leave you at this corner, so good-bye +until to-morrow." + +"Wait a moment, Julia, I have been so wrapped up in myself that I have +not given you a message from Madame Du Launy. At least she wished me to +tell you that your kindness in running in to see her this spring had +been greatly appreciated, and that she has been made very happy by the +glimpses of fresh, young life that you have given her. In the future she +hopes to see much more of you and of some of your young friends. Poor +grandmother! It is her own fault that she has been so shut out from +people and interesting things here in Boston. But in her youth she was a +very sharped tongued and overbearing woman,--she says this herself--and +she so resented the criticisms which people made on her marriage that +she was only too glad to give up their society, and in return for their +criticisms she said so many sharp things that even if she had wished it, +there was small chance of her having pleasant associations with most of +the families of her acquaintance. Oh! before we part there is one thing +that I must tell you about Mrs. Rosa. It seems that she has been greatly +annoyed lately by a young man, the son of an old friend of hers, who for +several years was in the habit of lending her small sums of money. The +friend had given her to understand that these sums were gifts in +repayment of kindnesses that Mrs. Rosa had done her friend in her youth. +In fact the young man's mother had borrowed from the Rosas in their +prosperous days. Lately, however, this friend has died, and her son has +a little book in which the money lent Mrs. Rosa amounts with interest to +two hundred dollars. He claims that it is a debt due him, and though he +cannot collect anything from a person who has nothing, he annoys Mrs. +Rosa very much by coming to her house and telling her that she ought to +get some of her rich friends to help her pay the debt. He is very well +off himself, for a Portuguese, and his behavior is a kind of +persecution." + +"Well," said Julia, "I must tell the girls, for if they should let Mrs. +Rosa have even a little of the money----" + +"He would certainly wheedle it from her, and you ought to give them a +word of warning." + +As they parted Julia felt that she had many things to think about--many +more things than she had had to consider for a long time. When she +reached home she found the family all discussing some of the rumors that +had come to them about Madame Du Launy and Miss South, and she was glad +that she had had her information at first hand, and that she could +contradict some rather absurd rumors that were in circulation. + +"The worst thing about it," said Mrs. Barlow, "appears to be the fact +that by this turn of Fortune's wheel, Miss Crawdon's school is likely to +lose one of its best teachers." + +"I am not so sure of that," responded Julia; "I have an idea that Miss +South may continue to teach; she is very fond of her work----" + +"But her grandmother will certainly wish her to give all her time to +her, and her first duty will be with her." + +"Whatever her duty is, I am sure that she will do it," replied Julia; +"she is the most conscientious person I have ever known; just think of +her going down to see Mrs. Rosa this very week, when she must have had +so much to interest her in at her grandmother's." + +"By the way," asked Mr. Barlow, "are Miss South and Madame Du Launy sure +that they are correct in their surmises about the relationship? They +must have some stronger proof than personal resemblance, and the +possession of one or two old pictures." + +"Oh, yes," interposed Mrs. Barlow, "I believe that Miss South has many +other proofs to show in the way of letters, certificates, and some other +things that belonged to her mother." + +"Then her name, too,--you know she is called Lydia from a sister of +Madame Du Launy's who died young, and--why how foolish we are, of course +Madame Du Launy always knew that the name of the man whom her daughter +married was George South, the name of your teacher's father. One of her +objections to him was his plebeian name," said Mrs. Barlow's cousin who +had remained over Sunday. + +Brenda had had less comment to make on these exciting events than had +Julia, and even Mr. and Mrs. Barlow had seemed to take more interest in +this romance of Madame Du Launy and Miss South. If the truth must be +told Brenda was really half worn out. Her vacation had been anything but +restful. The Bazaar by itself need not have tired her had she not in the +latter part of the week spent almost every hour in some kind of vigorous +exercise in search of what she and Belle called "fun." There had been +two long bicycle rides, one dancing party, a three hours' walk to +Brookline and back one day, and other things that really had told on her +strength. Moreover her conscience was pricking her. For on the preceding +afternoon, moved by an impulse which she now regretted, she had +persuaded Nora to go with her to the North End to visit Mrs. Rosa. This +was not long after Miss South had left the sick woman, and they found +Mrs. Rosa somewhat depressed, first at the thought that she was really +going to leave the city, second by the fact that her persistent creditor +had just been in and had told her that he might "take the law on +her"--so she quoted him, if she did not pay the money which he found +written against her name in his mother's little book. Now Mrs. Rosa +ought to have rested herself on Miss South's assurance that the young +man could not make good his claim in law, but she was only a rather +ignorant foreigner to whom the power of the law meant that she might be +dragged off to the nearest police station by the brass-buttoned +officers. She did not tell the young girls about her creditor, but when +they pitied her for looking so ill, she sighed so sadly that they felt +very sorry indeed for her. Marie, who had accompanied them to the North +End had left them for a quarter of an hour to see a friend of hers +living in the neighborhood, and then Brenda had no one but Nora to +remonstrate with her for any folly she might wish to commit. When, +therefore, out of a small bag which she carried, she took her +purse,--her best purse with the silver monogram,--and when from the +purse she extracted the three hundred-dollar notes, the proceeds of the +Bazaar, even Nora gave a little gasp. + +"Why, Brenda, how did you ever dare to bring that money down to this +part of the city?" + +"Why shouldn't I, you goose! I am sure that it will do Mrs. Rosa more +good to see this money than anything else possibly could. See! Mrs. +Rosa" she continued, "this is all yours, this three hundred dollars that +we made at the Bazaar that we have been telling you about----" For Nora +and she had expatiated on the charms of the occasion--the flowers, the +music, and the many pretty articles that had been displayed on the +tables. In fact they had brought several simple little things as +presents for Mrs. Rosa and the children, and while the former probably +did not understand all that they said to her, she did realize that some +one had been at a great deal of trouble for her, and that this money was +the result. + +"All for me, oh tank you," she said, reaching her hand out towards the +bills. Nora hastily jerked Brenda's arm. + +"You mustn't give them to her." + +Now up to this moment, Brenda had had no intention of doing this. "Why, +Nora, really I think that I understand things as well as you do." Nora +for the moment forgot the effect which opposition usually had on Brenda. +Mrs. Rosa glanced questioningly from one girl to the other. + +"Why, yes, you may look at them close too, you may hold them," said +Brenda, laying the bills on Mrs. Rosa's transparent hand. The expression +on the poor woman's face brightened. + +"The money means a great deal to her," said Nora, sympathetically. + +"Yes," answered Brenda, "you see that I was right in giving it to her, I +mean in letting her see it. She has a little color in her cheeks +already. She knows what that money can do for her and her children." It +was hard enough for Mrs. Rosa to understand English when spoken in a +full voice, and she made no effort to comprehend the undertone in which +the two girls were speaking. + +"Are they for me to keep?" she asked eagerly. + +"Not now," responded Brenda, "but by and by, next week, perhaps you +shall have a little money to spend, and some of it we may spend for you +to take you to the country, you know." + +"Come, Brenda," said Nora, "we must not stay too long, if the children +are not to be back until five o'clock, we cannot wait to see them. We +ought to be watching for Marie now." + +"I know, I know," retorted Brenda, impatiently, "I shall be ready when +you are." + +"If I could just have this money in the house for a little while," said +Mrs. Rosa, with her quaint accent, "I should be so happy. I think it +would make me sleep. I haven't slept for _so_ long," and she sighed and +looked paler than ever. + +"Poor thing," said Brenda, "I wish that I could give it to you now. +Indeed I do not know why I should not, it is certainly yours, and I do +not care for the responsibility myself,"--this speciously, for Brenda +knew perfectly well that her father stood ready to take care of the +money. + +"Nora," she called rather sharply, "I think that we ought to let Mrs. +Rosa have this money until we are ready to spend it. It is really hers +now, people would not have come to the Bazaar, except to help the +Rosas." + +"Now, Brenda," cried Nora, "don't be foolish. I cannot imagine your +doing so crazy a thing. It was bad enough for you to have brought the +money down here. It was an awful risk, for suppose you had lost the +purse,--oh, my," with a change of tone, "why there is Manuel. I must run +out and speak to him," and in her usual heedless way Nora left the room +with little thought for the subject which she and Brenda had the moment +before been discussing. + +Left alone with Mrs. Rosa, Brenda felt an increase of pity for the poor, +pale woman, who looked as if she had very little more time to live. As +she handled the bills with feverish fingers, Brenda made a quick +resolve. + +"Why should I not give her a pleasure that will cost me so little, and I +am sure that no reasonable person can object. + +"Mrs. Rosa," she said, leaning forward, "if I should let you keep that +money for a few days, would you promise not to let the children see it. +You must keep it right in this purse, and never let it out of your +sight. I mean when any one is here you must keep it under your pillow, +though of course when you are alone you can look at it." + +Mrs. Rosa smiled gratefully, and Brenda taking the bills began to put +them back in her portemonnaie. "I think," she said reflectively, "that I +will keep one of these bills in case there are special things that Miss +South or Julia may have planned for you." She could afford to be liberal +in her feelings now that she was getting ready to do something that in +the bottom of her heart she knew that the others who were interested in +Mrs. Rosa would not approve. So she tied up the one hundred dollar bill, +that she intended to keep, in a corner of her handkerchief, and placed +it carefully in the bottom of her bag. + +"Remember," she said, as she handed the little purse to Mrs. Rosa, +"remember that you are not to spend this." + +"O, I remember, I promise, miss," responded Mrs. Rosa, and just at this +moment Nora reopened the door. + +"Come, Brenda," she said, "Marie is outside waiting, and we ought to +start for home at once. Good-bye, Mrs. Rosa, I suppose we shall hardly +see you again in this uncomfortable room. Come on, Brenda, how long it +takes you to put your gloves on!" + +Brenda, of course was greatly relieved that Nora asked not another word +about the money. But all the same her conscience had begun to trouble +her, and after she reached home could she have thought of any way to do +it, without betraying herself, she would have sent down to Mrs. Rosa's +for the purse and its contents. On Sunday, at least in the morning, she +had felt reassured. + +"What possibility," she thought, "is there that anything could happen to +the money. There might be a fire at the North End, but so there might be +at the Back Bay. Perhaps she ought to have let her father put it in the +bank. Well on Monday morning she would go down, perhaps before school if +she could wake early enough. But on Sunday it was out of the question." +So she had reasoned until Sunday afternoon. Then as she heard Julia tell +what Miss South had said to her, she became very nervous. + +"Oh, dear," she thought. "Oh, dear, what _shall_ I do if anything has +happened to that money?" + + + + +XXIX + +AFTER VACATION + + +On Monday morning as might have been expected, Brenda did not awake very +early, and though she had a few uneasy minutes as she thought of Mrs. +Rosa, on the whole she was too much absorbed by her preparations for +school to worry over what had now become a very unpleasant subject to +her. + +At school all was bustle and excitement for the quarter hour preceding +the opening. Some of the girls had been in New York, or even as far as +Washington during the vacation, and they had much to tell of their +doings. Even those girls who had remained in Boston had had very +exciting experiences, or at least this seemed to have been the case +judging by the eager tones in which they talked, and the effort of each +girl to make herself heard above all the others. If there had been +nothing else eventful among the girls of the set to which The Four +belonged, the Bazaar would have afforded abundant food for discussion. +Even the older girls were interested in this affair, and felt proud of +the success of their schoolmates. This morning, too, was an exciting one +at the school, because it marked the beginning of the spring term--the +last term of regular school for several of Miss Crawdon's pupils, who +next year were to take their place in society. Already in their spring +gowns, modeled after the styles of their elders, they looked like young +women, and their sweeping skirts and elaborate hats seemed to put a gulf +between them and their younger companions. Among the girls of +intermediate age there was also a special reason for dreading the spring +term, for during the few remaining weeks, two or three of them besides +Ruth and Julia were to concentrate all their energy on preparation for +the preliminary college examinations. Not all of these girls were likely +to go to college, but Miss Crawdon had encouraged them to prepare for +the examinations, hoping that their success in passing them might lead +them eventually to take the college course. + +Even these girls, the less frivolous in the school, were chattering,--or +perhaps I should say talking--as eagerly as the others. They had many +little points to talk over regarding the requirements for college, the +special tutoring they might need, and similar things. Julia, although +she had been conscientious in her work during the winter, really did +dread the coming ordeal. Examinations of any kind were new to her, for +until the past winter her studies had always been carried on in an +individual way. It was still a sore point with Brenda that Julia should +think of going to college. She felt certain that teaching was her +cousin's ultimate aim, and she did not like the idea at all. A few years +before this Brenda had been remarkably free from anything resembling +snobbishness. This may have been partly on account of her youth, +although a more probable reason was that she had not in her earliest +days so many snobbish friends to influence her. For in spite of her +intimacy with Nora and Edith, Brenda permitted herself to be too greatly +influenced by Belle. Frances Pounder, too, was only one of a group of +girls much less simple-minded than Brenda, whom the latter had come to +associate with rather closely. Any one of them would have indignantly +denied a special regard for money. They would have been pained had you +said that they made wealth a consideration in choosing their friends. +Yet this was what it amounted to,--their way of cavilling at those who +did not belong to their set. They said that family was the only +consideration with them. But I doubt that a very poor girl, however good +her family, would have been considered by them as welcome as a richer +girl of poorer family. There was Julia, for example, who had in every +way as strong a claim to consideration as Brenda--for were not the two +cousins? Yet Frances invariably had some little supercilious thing to +say about Julia--except in the presence of Nora and Edith--and the +superciliousness came largely from the fact that she regarded Julia as a +poor relation of the Barlows. "She can never be of any great use," +Frances had reasoned, "to us;" including in the latter term all the +girls with whom she was intimate, "and therefore what is the good in +pretending to be fond of a strong-minded girl who may in a few years be +a teacher in a public school? I honestly think that she would just as +soon as not teach in a public school, Brenda, for I heard her praising +public schools to the sky the other day. I'm sure I wonder that she does +not go to a public school instead of to Miss Crawdon's. It would save +your father and mother a lot of money," concluded Frances, forgetting +that how Mr. and Mrs. Barlow spent their money was really no concern of +hers. At times Frances laid aside her good manners. Brenda never knew +just how to respond to speeches of this kind, and their chief effect was +a little feeling of irritation that a cousin of hers should have put +herself in this position of being classed with mere wage-earners. Brenda +was no longer jealous of Julia in the ordinary sense. She had begun to +lose the childish pettishness of her earlier years. Observation was +teaching her that even in the one household there could be room for two +girls near the same age, and that any privileges or affection accorded +Julia did not interfere with her own rights. Indeed had she been +perfectly honest with herself she would have admitted that Julia's +companionship during the past winter had really been of great value to +her. If any one were to tell her that Julia was not to be in the house +with her another year, she would have admitted that she would be lonely. +In spite of the childishness which Brenda sometimes showed towards her +cousin, the two girls saw a great deal of each other, and Brenda had +lately acquired the habit of slipping into her cousin's room on her way +up and downstairs to talk over little happenings of one kind or another. + +But at school on this bright spring morning, Brenda felt some irritation +at the sight of Julia and Ruth in close consultation with the Greek +teacher. "He has such sharp eyes," whispered Frances, as she and Brenda +passed him in the hallway. "Don't you feel as if he were always looking +right through you, and saying, 'you're a little ignoramus; every one is +who does not study Greek with me.'" + +"Oh, how tiresome you are, Frances," responded Brenda crossly; "I dare +say Miss Crawdon will say that, too, in the English class at the close +of the next hour unless you have a better composition than I have." + +"Why, Brenda Barlow, I had forgotten all about it, and we were expected +to have it ready this morning. Have you written yours?" + +"No," replied Brenda, "I forgot mine, too. There were so many other +things to think of last week." + +It happened, naturally enough, that Brenda and Frances and several other +girls who had neglected their compositions in the same way received a +reprimand from Miss Crawdon, who thereupon said, + +"Since so little English written work has been handed in to-day, I will +submit a composition of my own to you for criticism. It is very simple, +and consists merely of a brief description of an evening party, supposed +to be the work of a girl of about your age. + +"Now listen, 'I have seldom had so nice a time as at Clara Gordon's +party. In the first place the house is a particularly nice one, and the +room where we danced has the nicest floor for waltzing that I ever saw. +Then there were so many nice people there, all the girls and young men +whom I know especially well, and some others from out of town. The +orchestra played divinely. I never heard nicer music, and John Brent, my +partner in the German, was just as nice to me as he could be. I wish +that I could describe the nice supper that we had at nice little tables +in the dining-room. There was every imaginable kind of nice thing, ices, +salads, and cakes. The sherbet was so nice that some persons who sat +down late could not get any. It was all gone. I got along very nicely, +for John Brent looked out for me. I have not told you about the dresses, +but they were all so nice that it is hard to say which was the nicest. I +danced until I could hardly stand, for I was determined not to miss a +single dance, but when my aunt tried to urge me to go home before twelve +o'clock so that I wouldn't be tired to death, I wouldn't give in for a +moment, but told her that I felt quite nicely.' + +"There," said Miss Crawdon, "this is a longer composition than many of +you have prepared to-day, and mine is voluntary, while many of you have +failed to carry out what was really a command laid upon you. What do you +think of my composition?" + +While she was reading, some of the girls had rubbed their eyes in +amazement. It did not take even the duller very long however to see that +Miss Crawdon had been playing a practical joke upon them. She had always +had a great deal to say to them on the necessity of a wide vocabulary, +and she had been particularly severe towards those girls who made the +adjective "nice" take the place of more expressive words. "You noticed, +perhaps," continued Miss Crawdon, "that I have not been extravagant in +the matter of adjectives, at least I have been extravagant in the use of +only one, for I have been able to make 'nice' serve in almost every +instance where an adjective was needed, and in none of these instances +was it used in its own proper sense." + +Those girls who had not previously seen the joke, now glanced at one +another in amazement. Yes, it really was a practical joke, this little +composition by Miss Crawdon, and they had only begun to find it out. +Then Miss Crawdon spoke again. + +"I will not pretend that my composition has cost me much effort. Indeed, +I only wrote it here in school in the few minutes at my disposal before +the opening hour. I need not say also that it is the result of a few +hastily jotted notes, based on scraps of conversation which came to me +as I passed various groups of my pupils, at recess or before school. +But, seriously," and all eyes were fixed on her, "I do wish that you +would avoid the word 'nice' altogether for the present, unless you can +resist the temptation to make it do duty on all occasions. Now, hoping +that you will take this lesson to heart, I will leave you to Miss South, +who will talk to you for a quarter of an hour on the subject of letter +writing." + +Thereupon Miss South took Miss Crawdon's place, and the girls had no +opportunity to exchange opinions regarding Miss Crawdon's humorous, if +brief, essay. + +Miss Crawdon and Miss South were joint teachers of this class in +English. Miss South had charge of it oftener than Miss Crawdon. But the +latter had general supervision of it, and as the first hour of certain +mornings was given to it, occasionally Miss South was permitted to +arrive at school a little late, while Miss Crawdon took her place. When +Miss South was late it was not on account of any dilatoriness of her +own; it was usually business of Miss Crawdon's that detained her--for +she was Miss Crawdon's trusted friend--and she often had to go to the +bank, or to hold an interview with an anxious parent, or to do some +other thing by which Miss Crawdon might be spared care or unnecessary +steps. + +On this special Monday morning, however, Miss South was not only late, +but she looked a little worried. Many of the girls had heard of the +newly discovered relationship between her and Madame Du Launy, and in +the quarter hour before school, the story of the discovery, with a few +slight variations from accuracy, had been talked over very freely. When +Miss South did not appear to take charge of the English class, most of +her pupils assumed that she was no longer to be a teacher at Miss +Crawdon's. They were therefore astonished when she entered the room, as +ready to assume her school duties as if she had had no change of +fortune. + +Yet, as I have said, Miss South looked a little worried, and her glance +wandered two or three times in the direction of Brenda in a way that +caused Brenda's conscience to reassert itself. + +"Oh, dear," she thought, "what shall I do if Miss South has heard about +that money? Of course it is no concern of hers, but still, but +still----" + +Now Brenda did not know exactly what she dreaded, for her idea of the +value of money was very vague. She only knew that she had not done right +in leaving the two hundred dollars with Mrs. Rosa. Yet she consoled +herself with the reflection, "At any rate I have a third of that money +safe at home, and that is a great deal to have saved, if anything has +happened to the rest." + +Nora, too, had come late to school, though Brenda had been too much +carried away by the excitement of seeing the other girls again to notice +this. Later in the morning Nora slipped into her accustomed place, and +her face, too, though Brenda had not observed it, looked a little more +serious than usual. + +It was not until the end of school that the storm burst. At recess Nora, +contrary to her usual custom, had remained at her desk studying. But +after school she ran up to Brenda, with an "Oh, how _could_ you, Brenda? +We have lost almost the whole advantage from the Bazaar! Miss South and +I were down at the Rosas this morning--I promised not to say anything to +you, until after school--and, well, Miss South will tell you. I can't +bear to talk about it." + +"Brenda," said Miss South, drawing near, "I suppose that you would like +me to tell you about Mrs. Rosa's money, yet I do not feel that it is a +matter with which I ought to meddle. I had nothing to do with raising +the money, only I have been interested in the plan by means of which you +all wished to help the poor woman." + +"We all think that you have been very kind," interposed Nora, politely. + +"Ah, I have been. I am very much interested in Mrs. Rosa and her +family--and so I know is Brenda," for she saw a cloud settling on the +young girl's face. + +"But you were not exactly wise, Brenda, in leaving that money with Mrs. +Rosa." + +"Has it been stolen?" gasped Brenda. + +"Well, not exactly stolen, although Mrs. Rosa no longer has it." + +"Brenda," interrupted Nora, "I certainly begged you not to leave it +there. Though I never imagined that you would do so." + +"Well, Brenda," continued Miss South, "Nora received a letter this +morning from Angelina, written apparently in great haste last night. +What she said was very vague, but she spoke of the loss of two hundred +dollars in such a way as to recall to Nora your suggestion that you +might leave the money with Mrs. Rosa. Nora was so excited that she left +her breakfast--so she tells me--almost untasted. She gave her mother a +hasty account of what Angelina had told her, and her mother advised her +to see me. The upshot was that we went at once to Mrs. Rosa's, and there +we found that the young man who has been troubling her lately to pay a +debt which he claimed that she owed his mother had called to see her +soon after you and Nora were at the house. He caught sight of the purse +that you had left with Mrs. Rosa, and when her head was turned, pulled +it from under the pillow and began to examine its contents. Naturally he +was astonished to find that it contained two hundred dollars, and when +Mrs. Rosa saw him with the purse in his hand he refused to give it up to +her. The poor woman was alone and very weak, and so completely in his +power that she could not refuse when he compelled her to tell him how +the money had come into her possession. When he learned that it had been +raised for her at a Bazaar, and that it was to be used for her benefit +he seemed very much pleased. 'It is really your own,' he said, 'or else +the young ladies would not have left it with you. If it is to do you any +good you had better give it to me to keep you out of prison, for that is +where I shall send you for not paying your debts, unless you give me +this money.' So by continued threats he finally made her sign a paper +saying that she paid the money willingly to rid herself of a debt owed +to his mother. He even made her think that he had done her a great favor +in not trying to get the fifty dollars--the balance of the debt which he +claimed." + +Brenda had listened with an almost dazed expression while Miss South +told this strange story. + +"But he did not really take it, did he?" she murmured. + +"He not only took it," said Miss South, "but we have reason to think +that he has left the country with it. His friends say that he had been +getting ready for weeks to go to South America, and that he expected to +sail from New York this morning." + +"Can't he be stopped?" asked Brenda. Her voice sounded very weak, and +her face was not at all the face of the usually cheerful young girl. + +"He cannot be stopped now, Brenda, and I doubt if in any case we could +recover the money. He was very clever in getting Mrs. Rosa to sign that +paper. If he were in Boston we might recover the money on the ground +that it did not belong to Mrs. Rosa, and that therefore she had no right +to give it away. But we can hardly make that a ground for any action +now. Besides, I know that she thought that the money belonged to her, in +some way you gave her that impression, and any testimony of hers would +not help us very much if you had a case in court against young Silva." + +"But she knew," moaned poor Brenda, "that the money was only to help her +to go to the country. I am sure that I said so to her." + +"You cannot expect a woman of her limited intelligence, a foreigner, +too, who only half understands English, to grasp the meaning of all that +is said to her. The fact was clear to her that you had brought her some +money, and when her creditor claimed it, she believed that he had a +right to it, and that to use it in this way would benefit her more than +to spend it in going to the country." + +"Well, it seems to me that she just deceived me," cried Brenda, angrily. + +"No," responded Nora, "you must be fair. Miss South and I both believe +that she didn't mean to do anything with the money when she took it from +you, but she thought that you had given it to her----" + +"And she never has been as anxious to move from the city as we have been +to have her," continued Miss South, "yet it is so much the best thing, +and our plans are all carefully made, that I hope we can carry them +out." + +"I have one hundred dollars at home," said Brenda, "but, oh, dear, I do +not like to think about it; how angry Belle and Edith will be. Do they +know yet?" + +"No," said Miss South, "I thought it better to tell you first. Nora and +I are the only persons except Mrs. Rosa and her friends who know +anything about the money. But of course you must tell the other girls as +well as your father and mother. It might be worth while for them to +consult a lawyer, at least they might feel better satisfied. For my own +part, I am confident that the money cannot be recovered." + +"Come, come, Brenda, now do cheer up," cried Nora. "It's no use crying +about spilled milk, and perhaps we can think of some way to straighten +things out." + +"I might sell my watch," said Brenda, as they walked away from the +school, "and give up my allowance for the rest of the year, for it is +just as if I had thrown that money away--and we all worked so hard for +it." + +"Well, we all had a good time out of the Bazaar," replied the optimistic +Nora, "and perhaps the money has done some good in going to Mrs. Rosa's +creditor. I shouldn't wonder if we could get a subscription for all that +we need to help the Rosas," and so Nora chattered on, in her efforts to +cheer Brenda. For the latter, always at one extreme or the other, was +now very low-spirited. + + + + +XXX + +BRENDA'S FOLLY + + +It would make a long story to tell what every one said on the subject of +Brenda's folly. For this was the name given it, and by this name it was +long remembered, much to Brenda's discomfiture, when the subject of Mrs. +Rosa and her money was brought up. + +There were so many persons who had a right to express an opinion, that +poor Brenda felt that simply to listen to what they said was punishment +enough. There were all the girls who had worked for the Bazaar, and all +their parents, and all the girls at school who hadn't worked for the +Bazaar, but had done their share of buying. There were the boys from +Harvard, whose criticism took the form of mild chaffing, and there +were--but the list, it seemed to Brenda, included every one whom she had +ever known, and some with whom she was sure that she had no +acquaintance. + +Mr. and Mrs. Barlow were especially severe, and told her that she must +gradually reimburse The Four from her allowance. "For the money," said +Mr. Barlow, "did not belong to you, you held it in trust for Edith, and +Belle, and Nora, and indeed I wonder how they ever came to entrust it +entirely to you. You are too heedless a girl to have any real +responsibility, and I only hope that your thoughtlessness is not going +to deprive Mrs. Rosa of the country home that Miss South and the others +have planned for her." + +Poor Brenda! Before that fatal Saturday two hundred dollars had seemed +to her very little, but now it seemed an almost infinite amount. Her +father, of course, could easily have given her the sum at once, but he +preferred to make her realize her heedlessness. Indeed the lesson had +already begun to benefit her; for the first time in her life Brenda +realized the value of money. How in the world could she herself ever +save the required sum from her allowance. Why, if she should not spend a +cent upon her own little wants it would take her more than two years to +get together two hundred dollars. For her allowance it should be +explained, was large enough only to provide little extra things that she +needed, or thought that she needed. She had not to use any of it for +clothes, or other useful purposes. Yet when Brenda began to count the +things that she must give up for two years, or longer, it seemed as if +she could hardly bear the sacrifice. But her sense of justice prevailed, +and at last she admitted that she deserved this punishment. + +"Poor Brenda!" said Mr. Barlow to Mrs. Barlow, as Brenda walked away +after this interview with her head bent as if in reflection. "Poor +Brenda! This lesson will be a hard one, but if we are ready to help her +out of every difficulty, she will never be able to stand alone. I, at +least, could not feel justified in coming to the rescue just now." + +After this conversation with her father, Brenda walked upstairs sadly, +at least her head drooped a little, and any one who had followed her to +her room would have found that the first thing she did was to fling +herself, face downward on that broad chintz-covered lounge of hers. +While she lay there, she did not hear a gentle knock at the door, nor +the soft footstep of some one entering the room. + +"Why, Brenda Barlow," cried a pleasant voice. "Why, Brenda Barlow, why +are you lying in this downcast position?" + +[Illustration: "'WHY, BRENDA BARLOW, WHY ARE YOU LYING IN THIS DOWNCAST POSITION?'"] + +At first there was no reply from the prostrate figure. Then Julia--for +it was she who had entered the room--ventured a little nearer, and +repeated her question in a somewhat different form. + +Thereupon Brenda sprang to her feet, and though she attempted to smile +at Julia, there were very evident traces of tears on her cheek. + +"Brenda," said Julia, "you know that I am very apt to go straight to the +point, if I wish to say anything, and so I will not apologize for what I +am going to say. I am sure that you won't be offended if I tell you that +you are thinking too much about the loss of Mrs. Rosa's money. I have +been noticing you for several days." (It was now about a week since Miss +South had made the discovery of the loss.) + +As Brenda made no reply, Julia continued, this time a little timidly, +"Nora and Edith feel sorry that you will not take an interest in the +plans for moving Mrs. Rosa to Shiloh. You know we have been out to see +the cottage, and we missed you dreadfully. Belle wasn't there either, +but since the Bazaar she hasn't been as much interested in the Rosas. +But we thought that you really had some interest." + +"Why, yes, I have," replied Brenda. She did not resent Julia's "we" in +speaking of the efforts now making for the Rosas, although not so very +long before Brenda herself had opposed having Julia considered one of +"The Four." + +"Why, yes, I have an interest in Mrs. Rosa," repeated Brenda, then with +a return of her old light-heartedness. "Two hundred dollars' worth of +interest, and what bothers me is to know how to turn it into capital." +(You see from this that Brenda had not altogether forgotten her +arithmetic.) + +"There, Brenda, that is just what I have been wishing to speak about to +you. I have been afraid that you have been worrying over this. For Uncle +Thomas has told me that he has decided not to help you to pay it." + +Again the girl to whom she was speaking seemed unlike the old Brenda, +for she did not resent the fact that Julia had apparently been taken +into Mr. Barlow's confidence to so great an extent. + +"Now, Brenda," continued Julia, "as I have said before, I always prefer +to come straight to the point, and so I must tell you that the two +hundred dollars has been paid to Miss South--the other girls have voted +to make her the treasurer--for Mrs. Rosa's benefit." + +"Where in the world,--" began Brenda, in a most astonished tone. Then +with a glance at Julia's face, over which an expression of +self-consciousness was spreading, "Why, Julia Bourne, had you anything, +did you, why I really believe that you had something to do with it. Did +you get some one to give you the money?" + +"No," replied Julia, with a look of relief, "oh, no, no, I made no +effort to collect money." + +Brenda's wits were now well at work. + +"There, Julia, I begin to see; it seemed funny when you paid one hundred +dollars for that picture, at least I thought very little about it then, +but to-day when I was going over everything connected with the Rosas in +my mind, it occurred to me that one hundred dollars was a rather large +amount for you to pay, and I meant to ask you how it happened--" then +stammering a little, as she realized that this was not a very polite way +of putting things, "at least, I know that I should never have so much +money saved up from _my_ allowance for any one thing. But you are more +sensible than I, and of course you can make money go a great deal +farther." + +Julia smiled pleasantly, for she understood in spite of a certain +confusion of statement, pretty well what her cousin meant. + +But still she did not answer immediately, and Brenda, who was now +thoroughly herself, exclaimed, + +"Do tell me, Julia, did you give that two hundred dollars to Mrs. Rosa, +that is, was it a present from you?" + +For a moment Julia was silent, then she replied with some hesitation, +"Yes, yes, although I had not meant to tell you, it is my little +contribution to the plan you all have made for helping the Rosas. I have +been wishing to do something, and it seemed better to give this now, +when the money was so much needed, rather than to wait until later, as +at one time I had thought of doing. Though I am sure," she continued +modestly, "that there would have been little trouble in raising the +money, only I thought that it was better for me to make my contribution +promptly now, while you were----" + +"Then it was just to help me; so that there would not be so much fault +finding with me. Why you are a perfect angel, Julia," cried Brenda. + +"Hardly," said Julia, laughing. "Hardly an angel, though if this makes +you feel more comfortable, I shall be very happy." + +Brenda was on the point of asking her cousin how she happened to have +all this money, for the more she thought about it, the stranger it +seemed. + +Before she could ask a question, Julia however had bidden her good-bye, +saying that she had an engagement with Edith, and Brenda was forced to +wait an opportunity for getting the information she wished from her +mother. After all, the explanation was fairly simple. Brenda and Belle +without good grounds had decided at the first that Julia was entirely +dependent on Mr. Barlow. Instead of this Julia had a good income of her +own, which when she came of age would be largely increased. The girls +had wrongly assumed that Julia was studying and working diligently +simply because she expected at some time to be obliged to earn her +living, whereas the real motive behind all her efforts was her genuine +love of study. Had circumstances made it necessary Julia would have +enjoyed the teacher's profession, as a means of earning her living. In +fact sometimes when she thought about her future she found herself +regretting that she could not adopt this profession. But she knew that +the ranks were already fairly crowded, and she felt that she would have +no right to enter a profession that could barely support those who +needed it as a means of livelihood. Brenda and Belle had made many +mistakes not only in their estimation of her fortune but in the reading +of her character. + +Brenda was beginning to find out her own mistakes, and when once she was +convinced of a fault she was seldom slow to acknowledge it. In the end +she would have been fair to Julia even if her cousin had not established +a certain claim upon her by her generosity towards the Rosas. For really +by giving the money so promptly she had saved Brenda from a continuation +of annoying criticism. Two hundred dollars was not an extremely large +sum for a rich girl to give to a good cause, but Julia's delicacy and +thoughtfulness made Brenda her firm friend. Belle, naturally enough, was +not so ready to change her point of view. When she did permit herself to +show greater cordiality towards Julia, it was rather because she had a +full appreciation of what it would mean to her to have a girl of Julia's +wealth her friend. It was hard for Belle to take an impersonal view of +anything, and this, perhaps, was largely the reason why she became of +less consequence in the little set which had been called "The Four +Club." As the others of the quartette grew older, Belle's selfishness +became more and more disagreeable to them. Although there was still a +quartette of friends, Julia began to have the fourth place, while Belle +gradually withdrew to the more congenial society of Frances Pounder. But +in saying this I am anticipating a little, for Belle retained her +interest in the Rosas long enough to be one of those who helped move the +little family to the little house which had been chosen for them in +Shiloh. + + + + +XXXI + +THE SHILOH PICNIC + + +Miss South and Julia were the leaders in the work of removing the Rosas +from the city. Julia showed remarkable ability, and the more she had to +do the better she seemed to do it. Nor did her lessons suffer because of +this outside interest. The day of removal was continually changing. It +was put off from week to week with one feeble excuse or another on the +part of Mrs. Rosa. Miss South was more patient with the poor woman than +were her young helpers. She realized that the poor woman could not be +expected to appreciate all the advantages to result from the change, and +she sympathized with Mrs. Rosa's reluctance to leave her old neighbors +to go among strangers. Indeed it was the end of May before they were +really off. On the Saturday before their departure The Four, and two or +three of the other girls who had been especially interested, went out to +Shiloh to see the little cottage which had been fitted up for the Rosas. +It had only six rooms, and these were not very large, but what fun the +girls had in exploring every nook and corner! Floors and walls had all +been newly painted,--some in rather bright colors. There were small mats +in front of each bed, and one in the centre of the room intended for +dining-room, but besides these, there were no floor coverings. The +bedsteads were iron, painted brown, and all the other furniture was of +the simplest possible style. + +"I am afraid," said Julia, "that Angelina will be disappointed in not +finding a piano; she has an idea that we are considering her education +as much as her mother's health in making this change, and as she happens +to be very anxious to take music lessons she will expect some kind of a +musical instrument if not a piano." + +"What nonsense!" cried Belle. "Angelina ought to be thankful that she +has not been sent away as a servant. She is certainly old enough to live +out." + +"If it were not for her mother's being so weak, undoubtedly we should +make some effort to put her at service. But with all those younger +children, for the present Angelina will have sufficient practice in +house-work, and she is to work every day for a boarding-house keeper; if +the family stays out here I have a plan that will be of great value not +only to Angelina, but to the rest of them. In fact," concluded Miss +South, "Angelina, if she takes kindly to the scheme, may serve as a +model for a number of other girls at the North End, who stand sadly in +need of such training as she will be able to get in this comfortable +house." + +"Oh, do tell us about it now," begged Nora, "I know that you have some +plan to carry out--Domestic Science--isn't that what you call it,--but I +haven't the least idea what you really intend to do." + +Miss South smiled at the eagerness which Nora displayed, smiled +indulgently, but in reply, said merely, + +"I am afraid that there will hardly be time now, but in the early +autumn, if there is no opportunity before you go away, I am going to +have a special meeting to which you will all be invited, at which I will +tell you of a scheme which with your cooperation as well as that of some +other interested persons I hope to carry out next season. There really +is not time to say much about it now, for Philip and his friends will +soon be here and we must all go to work to prepare our tea." + +Then the girls set to work with a will, and in addition to the delicious +things sent out in hampers, they prepared several dainty dishes. Many of +these delicacies were the result of the practice they had had in the +cooking class of the past two seasons. Julia set the table with the new +dishes that filled Mrs. Rosa's corner closet,--the closet, that is, that +was to be Mrs. Rosa's. No one criticised the thickness of the cups, nor +the crudeness of the colors with which the cups and plates were +decorated, for by the time the boys came they were all so hungry that +they could have eaten and drunk from plates and cups of tin. + +It was rather a picnic supper on the whole, as the table was not large +enough for the group of merry young people who wished to gather around +it. Some of them, therefore, sat out on the steps, and on the tiny +little piazza at the corner, and laughed and talked in at the top of +their voices in the intervals between courses. Though each course +consisted of little more than a sandwich, or a stuffed egg, or a salad, +those who in turn took the part of waiters and waitresses served them +with all the pomp that might have had its proper place at a great feast. +It was all in fun, and the fun was of the heartiest kind. Then when the +supper was over, boys and girls--the dignified Philip, the serious Will, +as well as fun loving Brenda and Nora, set to work with energy, and +washed and wiped dishes, and put things in order, so that the little +house showed not the slightest trace of "invasion of the Goths and +Vandals," as Brenda said, with an unusual correctness of historical +allusion. There was a delightful drive, to wind up the evening, around +the borders of the lake which forms one of the attractions of Shiloh, +and when just at dark they stepped aboard the train they all declared +that it was the pleasantest expedition that they had known for--well for +a long, long time. + +"If Mrs. Rosa were to take summer boarders, I am sure that I should love +to come out here for a month," said Ruth, "I mean if she only hadn't so +many children to fill up the house, so completely." + +"If you were to come," said Will, in an undertone, "I am sure that I +should wish to spend the summer in Shiloh, too. I made friends with the +owner of the omnibus that brought us up, and I rather think that I could +get him to take me in." + +Ruth blushed as Will made this speech, for even she could not help +noticing the decided preference that he showed for her society. It had +been his actions rather than his words that had attracted the attention +of the others, for he seemed in no way afraid of having his preference +known. Ruth was neither foolish, nor vain, but she had to admit to +herself that Will's little attentive ways were rather gratifying. + +In the cars on the way home, Philip and Julia happened to sit together. +Philip was still somewhat conscious in his manner, for he could not +forget that he was a sophomore. Yet with Julia he always got on +capitally, and they had really become very good friends. + +"Do you see much of Madame Du Launy now?" he asked. "I hear that you and +she were great friends for a time." + +"Oh, we are now," answered Julia, "only naturally since she and Miss +South have discovered their relationship, I do not go there as often as +I did earlier in the spring." + +"Then this story about Miss South is really true, she actually _is_ the +old lady's granddaughter!" said Philip. "I heard a lot about it just +after the Bazaar, but in some way I thought that it would prove to be a +mistake. You know that things like that do not often happen out of +books." + +"Oh, this is perfectly true," answered Julia, "and the whole thing is +just as interesting as it can be. It seems very sad that Madame Du Launy +should have lived a lonely life for so long when here was a +granddaughter close at hand, and a grandson not so very far away. She +could have been such a help to them, and they to her." + +"It shows that an old lady can't afford not to know who her +grandchildren are, and where they live," responded Philip, "especially +if one of them is as pretty and clever as Miss South." + +"Oh, well, there were special reasons in this case," answered Julia. + +"Then doesn't it seem queer," continued Philip, "that you yourself +should have had the credit all winter of being a poor dependent--isn't +that what they say in novels? How do you feel now when you know that +every one knows that you are an heiress?" he concluded, mischievously. + +"Oh, pretty well, I thank you," answered Julia, adopting his tone. "You +see I never imagined for a moment that people attached any importance to +my having or not having money. Indeed, to be perfectly fair, I cannot +see any change in any one since the discovery was made." + +"Whew!" whistled Philip, "not even in Belle?" + +After a moment of silence, Julia replied, "I do not suppose that under +any circumstances Belle and I could ever have been great friends. Our +tastes are so unlike. In the early winter many little things troubled +me. I often felt neglected when The Four left me out of their plans, +especially while they were working for the Bazaar. But at length I +decided that I ought not to expect Brenda to treat me at once like an +intimate friend. I knew that in time she would understand me better, and +this is what has really happened. But Nora and Edith were always so kind +to me that I had a delightful winter." + +"Then pity," said Philip, with a smile, "would be utterly wasted on +Brenda's cousin?" + +"It would be utterly wasted on her," replied Julia, cheerfully, +"especially since she has been permitted to make a fifth in Brenda's +Four Club." + + +THE END + + + + +RECENT BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG + + +FIFE AND DRUM AT LOUISBOURG. By J. Macdonald Oxley. Illustrated by Clyde +O. De Land. + +No true American boy with lively blood in his veins can read "Fife and +Drum at Louisbourg" without wishing to read it again and again. The book +is filled to the brim with historical information.--_Denver Republican._ + +THE BOYS OF MARMITON PRAIRIE. By Gertrude Smith, author of "Ten Little +Comedies," etc. Illustrated by Bertha C. Day. + +One of the best boys' stories in current literature.--_Boston Journal._ + +It is full of the free, wild life of the frontier, and of the adventures +which befall healthy, strong boys.--_Pittsburg Times._ + +THE ISLAND IMPOSSIBLE. By Harriet Morgan. Illustrated by Katharine Pyle. + +What Frank Stockton has done for older people, Harriet Morgan does for +boys and girls.--_Commercial Advertiser._ + +MADAM MARY OF THE ZOO. By Lily F. Wessel-hoeft, author of "Sparrow the +Tramp," "Torpeanuts the Tomboy," etc. With pictures by L. J. Bridgman, +and from photographs. + +A delightful story of animals in and outside of the Zoo, and of a little +girl who is their friend.--_The Outlook._ + +The amusing way in which the elephant and the other big animals, as well +as the little ones, are brought in is sure to charm the childish +mind.--_Denver Times._ + +THE IRON STAR, AND WHAT IT SAW IN ITS JOURNEY THROUGH THE AGES FROM MYTH +TO HISTORY. A Wonder Story for Girls and Boys. By John Preston True. +Illustrated by Lilian Crawford True. + +A capital idea, worked out in the best possible manner. "The Iron Star" +does not fall far short of being a work of genius.--_Church Standard_, +Philadelphia. + +A FLOWER OF THE WILDERNESS. By A. G. Plympton, author of "Dear Daughter +Dorothy," etc. Illustrated by the author. + +A most delightful story.--_Denver Times._ + +Merits nothing but praise.--_Springfield Republican._ + +THE YOUNG PURITANS IN CAPTIVITY. By Mary P. Wells Smith. Illustrated by +Jessie Willcox Smith. + +The reader will be for the nonce a Puritan, and will follow the +adventures of the children taken captive by the Indians, feeling that he +is a participant in the scenes so well portrayed. He will sleep in the +Indians' wigwam and breathe the odor of the pines.--_Sacramento Bee._ + +THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF BRANTHAM. By Evelyn Raymond, author of "The Little +Lady of the Horse," "Among the Lindens," etc. Illus. + +A very bright and interesting story of life at a military academy in +which it has been decided to admit girls for co-education. + +There is a healthy, stirring atmosphere about the entire book.--_New +York Commercial Advertiser._ + +ROB AND KIT. By the author of "Miss Toosey's Mission." With +illustrations. + +'TWIXT YOU AND ME. A Story for Girls. By Grace Le Baron. With pictures +by Ellen B. Thompson, and floral decorations by Katharine Pyle. + +OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY TALES. By Madame D'Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, etc. +With more than 200 illustrations. + +OLD FRENCH FAIRY TALES. By Charles Perrault, Madame D'Aulnoy, etc. With +more than 200 illustrations. + +PLISH AND PLUM _and_ MAX AND MAURICE. By Wilhelm Busch. New editions. +Translated by Charles T. Brooks. With humorous illustrations. + +JOEL, A BOY OF GALILEE. By Annie Fellows Johnston. New edition. +Illustrated. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Brenda, Her School and Her Club, by Helen Leah Reed + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRENDA, HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB *** + +***** This file should be named 34944.txt or 34944.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/4/34944/ + +Produced by Heather Clark, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |