"Yes, indeed!" Lulu agreed. "She certainly apologised afterwards, and said the remark had been surprised out of her, whatever she may have meant by that. I call her a spiteful old woman! If she can't afford nice clothing herself she shouldn't be envious of others."
"Oh, you misjudge her there!" Mrs. Wallis exclaimed, in accents of gentle reproof. "I am sure Miss Pring is much too good and kind to be envious, though perhaps she is a little too outspoken, sometimes."
"A great deal too outspoken, I think!" Lulu cried, tossing her head, for she still felt very angry.
"Yes, indeed," Celia assented, earnestly.
Lulu regarded Celia with growing favour; but she took no notice of Joy, and when later she rose to go to her room to prepare for tea, it was the elder sister she asked to accompany her.
"Mother, what do you think of her?" Joy asked, the minute she and her mother were alone together.
"Poor child, she is much to be pitied," was the answer she received in tones of deep compassion.
"Oh, mother! Why?"
"Because she has no one to correct her faults, my dear; no one to tell her what a self-centered little girl she is, so wrapped up in her own affairs and so vain of her dress. I do not like the way she speaks of her father, it is not a respectful way. I am glad she is only going to stay till Monday, for I should not care for you to be very friendly with her."
"I am not likely to be that," Joy said, soberly, for she could not help feeling a little hurt that Lulu had taken no notice of her, though she was not in the least jealous of her sister. "She has scarcely spoken to me yet."