“No; only old women and school-girls.”
“Pray, how long since you were a school-girl?” laughed Mrs. Holmes.
“I was eighteen last winter.”
“And Persis is scarcely two years younger.”
“Yes; but we always rub each other the wrong way, although, to do Perse justice, she is less aggressive as she grows older, and for the past week, since school closed, she has never been hateful once. I don’t see anything for me, mamma, but to go with grandma. I couldn’t be such a beast as to refuse when Melly would suffer by it.”
“You relieve my mind very much,” returned Mrs. Holmes. “There may be pleasant persons in the neighborhood, and you may have a better time than you expect. One does not always have the happiest time at a fashionable watering-place.”
This somewhat consoled Lisa, although she made her preparations for her summer outing in rather a half-hearted way.
Persis, on the contrary, was in great glee over the prospect. To have grandma and Annis, not to mention her “brother” Basil, was quite enough to insure her a happy time, she reflected.
“We can have no end of fun,” she said to Lisa. “I don’t see how you can feel so grumpy over it. In the first place, we don’t have to fuss over our clothes, and then we can live in the water if we like. I am crazy to learn to swim, and oh, Lisa, you can learn to ride my wheel; they say those shell roads are delightful. Then we can go cruising all around. Papa says Mr. Danforth is a splendid sailor.”
“I wish he, at least, didn’t have to go,” rejoined Lisa. “Who is he, anyway? Some didactic old Methuselah, I suppose.”