Blue Bonnet and Grandmother were walking slowly up and down the veranda; Sunday was nearly over, Blue Bonnet was thinking, and the something which she had been hoping all day would happen had not happened. It had not seemed possible that Kitty would let this first day of a new week go by without making some effort towards a reconciliation. And she would have been so willing to meet her halfway, to forgive those unkind speeches and all the slights since, including that of yesterday afternoon—if only Kitty had asked her to.
Mr. Blake had preached on charity that morning; he had not been nearly so dull and prosy as usual; and Kitty had been there. How could Kitty feel it her Christian duty not to want to be friends? If only all the “We are Seven’s” could start afresh to-morrow morning, letting bygones be bygones.
Blue Bonnet looked wistfully off across the broad lawn, in all its Spring greenness, to the quiet street, lying bright and deserted in the afternoon sunlight. Woodford always seemed a little different on Sundays from other days; there seemed a sort of hush over everything. Just a moment before, Grandmother had quoted George Herbert’s line—
“‘Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,’”
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind.” Blue Bonnet wished the words would not keep running through her thoughts. She felt that she had suffered long, very long; and she certainly was willing to be “kind.”
“... seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked.” Perhaps she had been fairly easy to provoke, “... endureth all things.” Enduring things wasn’t her strong point, that was certain.
“Grandmother,” Blue Bonnet said, much as she had said it that August evening on this same veranda, “it is very uncomfortable—not being friends with people.”
“Then why not try to put an end to the discomfort, dear?”
“But—”
“After all, there is something to be said on Kitty’s side, you know. Suppose someone whom you liked and trusted quite unexpectedly did something directly contrary to what you considered fair and loyal, wouldn’t you think you had a right to know the reason why?”