"You don't know what hateful things she said about your uncle ever so long ago," pursued Lottie.
"But if they were false, her merely saying them could not make them true, you know."
It was a bit of philosophy quite new to the girls, though each one might have thought of it long before, and was one of the things that had been a great comfort to Kathie many a time.
"But this is true."
"It will be bitter enough to bear, then, without our adding to the burden"; and a tremulous color flitted over Kathie's fair face, not so much at what she had been saying as the fact that these girls were grouped around listening for her verdict.
"I don't believe she will come to-morrow," two or three voices decided.
They never knew how hard her coming was, how she had begged and entreated her mother to let her stay at home, and finally threatened not to go, when Mrs. Hadden had taken her in the carriage. There was no pride in her soul as she stepped out of it, only a bitter, haughty hatred.
"Don't act like a fool!" was her mother's parting advice. "The matter will soon blow over."