“Nan, I tell you that that’s Linda Riggs down there below us,” she said insistently this time. “Look at the way she’s tossing her head and talking to that man that’s next to her. You would think that he was a prince, a handsome prince, the way she is acting.”
“Why, Bess, you’re right. That is Linda.” Nan at last drew her eyes away from the ring and looked at the girl Bess was pointing to.
“Yes, and I’m sure she saw us a while ago,” Laura contributed. She too had been watching the girl that the Lakeview crowd had grown to dislike so cordially. “You know the way she always looks around her to see whether there is anyone she really ought to be decent to, anyone that might be able to do something for her. Well, she did that when she first came in. I saw her, but I wasn’t going to say anything because I didn’t want to spoil the fun we were having.”
“I’ll bet she sneered when she saw us,” Bess said. “She’s always hated us and especially since we had the laugh on her on the boat last summer.”
“Oh, Bess, that wasn’t exactly a laugh,” Nan protested. “The girl almost drowned.”
“Yes, and you went and saved her. And what thanks did you get?” Bess could always be indignant when she thought of Linda Riggs. “You should have let her alone. I would have. I would have enjoyed seeing the waves wash her over-board. I would have looked over the rail and laughed when I saw her screaming and waving her arms and trying to keep herself from going under.”
“You little fiend!” Nan exclaimed. “How can you say such things?”
“Because they are true,” Bess retorted. “People like her shouldn’t be allowed to clutter up things. She makes everybody that knows her unhappy, so what good is she anyway? Her father is always trying to get her out of trouble. Look at her down there now. You can see by the way she’s holding her head that she’s mean and proud and deceitful.”
“Bess, be quiet!” Nan warned. “You’ll have everyone looking at you. Linda is a little prig and she does make trouble and I don’t like her any more than you do, but there’s no use making things unpleasant because she’s happened to turn up here where we are. Forget her.”
“Forget her!” Bess exclaimed. “You can’t forget a thorn that’s forever sticking in your flesh. Trying to forget her doesn’t do any good. She always makes trouble. It’s best to watch her so that you will be prepared for what happens.”