"Oh, Gretta, who is going to scold you? I'm sure we'll all have enough to do to watch over our own faults, without talking to you of yours."
"Didn't you say we were to help each other? How can we do that, if we don't say anything when one of us does wrong? No, let our teachers and parents and big sisters do that. I'm sure they seem to enjoy it well enough."
"Enjoy it! Well, I'm sure we can't blame them. I don't know how else they are to get even with you, when you never give in half your demerits for the day, and sit and sulk for half an hour if you're told to stop talking," said Miriam, with her usual heedlessness.
"Well. I'm not so lazy that I can't pin my collar on straight and clean my finger nails; and as for killing giants, I think we'd better be eating fruit and taffy than getting into a fuss by meddling with other folks' affairs!" And Gretta flounced off in high dudgeon.
Winnie's eyes filled with tears. All this was so unlike anything she had imagined, and now they had gotten into a quarrel the very first thing.
"Let her go, Winnie," said Fannie; "she's always getting into the sulks, and her father's nothing but a music teacher, anyhow. I never could see why you girls liked her so much. I'm sure I never did."
"No!" said Miriam sarcastically, "we can't all be the handsome daughter of a wealthy and celebrated lawyer, more's the pity!"
Winnie's heart sank lower. How she wished she had tried to do right herself, and let the other girls alone! Now Fannie would be angry, too.
But, to her surprise, Fannie laughed outright. "This is too absurd for anything, girls. Here we were just about to sweep the world before us, and now we've had our first quarrel for over a month. As for me, I know I'm proud and vain, and I do like my friends to be rich and distinguished. But papa says it isn't exactly well-bred to choose our friends on such a basis, and he calls my pride silly, and tells me not to be a—well, yes, he does—a snob. But I like to be proud. Perhaps, though, someone else beside myself knows something, and I'll be glad to join, and will try to like it when my toes are stepped on."
"Well," said Miriam, "I'm sure I beg your pardon, if I hurt the toes. But I think your good-nature got the best of it. As for Gretta, you all know she'll sulk just so long, anyhow, and when she gets tired of it, she'll be all right; and if she once gets this thing through her somewhat thick head, she'll want to join, too."