"Nonsense! I am very glad I could help you. May you leave now, or must you wait for Miss Smith's permission to go?"
"Oh, she said when I had worked the sum I could put my paper on her desk and go."
In a few minutes the two children started on their homeward way together. Marigold could not help thinking of the day when she had given Muriel her confidence, and how it had been betrayed. The remembrance made her feel rather embarrassed, and she wished their walk was over. Muriel was looking pale and tired. She was not a very strong child, and the hot weather was trying her health and spirits.
"Shan't you be glad when the holidays come?" she asked. "I don't think we ought to have to go to school in this heat. Are you going home for the holidays?"
"I—I am afraid not."
"I suppose father will send me to the seaside; he generally does every summer. That will be a change anyway!"
"Will your father go with you?" Marigold inquired.
"Good gracious, no!" as though surprised at the idea. "He will take his holiday abroad somewhere, I expect; and I shall be packed off with our housekeeper, Mrs. Jones. She's a silly old woman, but, on the whole, I think I'd rather have her for a companion than father!"
"Are you not very fond of your father, then?"
"No, I'm not," Muriel acknowledged candidly.