"Yes, about you!"
"And is it about me, also?" asked Fanny.
"Yes."
"And me, too?" asked Jeannie.
"Yes, it's about you all."
"What can it be?" asked they again. Then, drawing closer to Lillia, they said, "Come, dear Lillia, do tell us."
"Well, since you are so anxious, I will tell you. Minnie said to me the other day, that she thought you, Miss Fanny, was a very hateful thing; that Rhoda was a proud thing; and that Jeannie told lies."
The girls now looked at each other with blank surprise; and Fanny asked,—
"Did she say so, truly, Lillia?"
"She did, truly. She told me so down in the garden, the day that she was with me to try my new swing."