Part 11 (1/2)
”And auntie,” went on Dorothy, rather timidly, ”I want to tell you something else, Alice MacAllister brought a girl to visit me this afternoon, and she said such strange things about yesterday's accidents. She was positively disagreeable.”
”You are too sensitive, child. Of course people will say strange things every time they get a chance--some people. But you must not bother your pretty head about such gossip. When you do what is right, good people will always think well of you and, after all, their opinion is all that we really care for, isn't it?”
”But why should she be so rude? She is a perfect stranger to me?”
”Some girls think it smart to be rude, Dorothy. What did she say that troubled you so?”
”That's precisely it, auntie, no one could repeat her remarks. They were merely insinuations and depended upon the entire conversation for their meaning.”
”Insinuations? Perhaps that you had been arrested for stealing melons?” and the aunt laughed at the idea. ”Well, my dear, I believe it will be well for you to be away from all this country gossip.”
”But Viola Green goes to Glenwood School!” declared Dorothy.
”No! Really? Who is she?”
”A friend of Alice MacAllister, from Dunham. I was so surprised when she said she went to Glenwood.”
”But, my dear, what will that matter? There are many girls at Glenwood. All you will have to do is to choose wisely in selecting your friends from among them.”
”If Tavia were only with me I would not need other friends,” demurred Dorothy.
”Does she want to go?” asked Mrs. White suddenly.
”I believe she does, but she denies it. I think she does that because she does not want me to bother about her. She is such a generous girl, auntie, and dislikes any one fussing over her.”
”There's a step on the porch,” and both listened. ”Yes,” continued Mrs. White, ”that's Tavia looking for you. Run down to her and I will speak with both of you before she leaves.”
CHAPTER VIII
AN INVERTED JOKE
”Dorothy! Dorothy!” called Tavia. ”Come here just a minute. I want to speak to you.”
”Won't you come in?” asked Dorothy, making her way to the side porch.
”No, I can't, really. But I couldn't wait to tell you. I know what the Green Violet meant by her mean remarks. And it's too killing. I am just dead laughing over it.”
”I'm glad it's funny,” said Dorothy.
”The funniest ever,” continued Tavia. ”You know when we got out of the wagon Miss Green was standing a little way off from Alice. That dude, Tom Burbank, was with her (they say she always manages to get a beau), and she was watching us alight--you know how she can watch: like a cat.
Well, Tom asked Nat what was the matter, and if he had been speeding.
Everybody seemed to know we had gone off in the auto, for which blessing I am duly grateful. I don't often get a ride--”
”Tavia, will you tell me the story?” asked Dorothy with some impatience.
”Coming to it! Coming to it, my dear, but I never knew you to be so keen on a common, everyday story before,” answered Tavia, with provoking delay.
”The remarks?”
”Oh, yes, as I was saying, Tom asked Nat were we speeding. And Nat said no. Then, looking down at his farmer clothes, he added: 'Not speeding, just melons.' And the dude believed him,--the goose! Then Viola took it all in and she too thinks we were arrested for stealing muskmelons.”