"No, you have not offended me at all. You looked so spirited that I could not help admiring you. It is a very mean thing for girls to make ill-natured comments on each other. I wish they did not. I do not see why they cannot pick out the nice things instead and say them over."
Helen had made several protests about this matter. She corrected the subject of Miss Craven's age with spirit.
"You will never make me believe that," Miss Mays had exclaimed with unnecessary vigor.
"Mrs. Aldred has the register, ask her."
"Oh, Miss Craven may have said that was her age. And who knows anything about her? She keeps to herself as if there was something not quite——" ending with a disagreeable emphasis.
"Girls," began another, "we all know if there was anything wrong or discreditable she would not be here. I do not call her an attractive girl, but if we do not like her we can let her alone. She lets us alone. We can't say she has forced herself in our society."
"A vote of thanks from one for speaking up for her," said Helen gayly. "And, of course, Mrs. Aldred knows."
"And Miss Grant, the baby of the school, has been taken into confidence. Pray do enlighten us. Did she come from India or the Fiji Islands, where education is sadly neglected?"
"For all information on the subject, I refer you to Mrs. Aldred."
Helen was angry, but she kept her temper. The ridiculous side of it all occurred to her, and another thought—What if Uncle Jason should come striding into the hall when half the girls were standing around? What would they say about her? How could girls be so mean and ungenerous?