“I guess perhaps Arabella didn't mean to be disagreeable,” said Flossie Barnet.
She disliked Arabella, but she never could bear to hear any one spoken of unkindly.
“Now, Flossie Barnet, you might just know that Arabella likes to be unpleasant,” said Jeanette, and Flossie could not deny it.
Dorothy and Nancy had heard what they were saying, and they thought that it was not at all nice of the girls to speak as if Aunt Charlotte had allowed Arabella to be rude.
“Perhaps Aunt Charlotte thought she wouldn't correct her the very first day,” Nancy said, and Nina and Mollie wished that what they had said had not been heard.
Little Reginald seemed, for once, to have nothing to say.
He was skipping along between his cousin Katie Dean and Jeanette Earl, and tightly grasping their hands.
There had been a light shower early in the morning, and here and there a little puddle reflected the blue sky and floating clouds. Reginald saw one just ahead, and laughed softly. Katie and Jeanette were talking with Dorothy, and paying little heed to the small boy who walked between them.
“I thought your cousin was coming to school this morning,” said Dorothy.
“She's coming the first of next week,” said Jeanette.