"Oh, yes!" Celia assented, raising her blue eyes to her mother's face with a confiding smile.
At that moment she was ready to acknowledge herself in the wrong; but later, when she reconsidered the matter, she still thought it had been very unkind of her mother not to gratify her wish for a new brooch.
"I have no ornaments worth mentioning," she mused, "and Lulu has so many. Lulu's father does not object to her wearing as much jewellery as she pleases. Mother is very strict with me. I wonder what Uncle Jasper would say if I told him mother would not buy me a new brooch? He would say she was right, I expect; he would not go against her."
Celia was standing in front of the dressing-table in her bedroom brushing her hair, preparatory to going downstairs to dinner, as she mused thus. She had reached this point in her reflections when Joy entered the room. The younger sister was looking remarkably well. She had spent the morning much to her liking, and her face, which was not a little sunburnt, glowed with health and exercise; whilst her expression was bright and happy. Celia wondered how she could look so contented when she knew herself to be in Sir Jasper's black books. It had troubled her that Joy should suffer on her account, though she had not the courage to speak openly, and right the wrong her silence had wrought.
"What did you buy?" Joy asked; "a lot of pretty clothes, I suppose?"
"Yes," Celia assented, and she forthwith gave an account of the purchases, the other listening with polite interest. "And where have you been all the morning?" she inquired.
"As soon as you and mother had gone, Eric and I started to take Wag for a walk, and as we were passing Home Vale we saw Miss Pring at work in her garden, so we thought we'd go in and talk to her for a bit. By the way, Celia, she's going to exhibit onions at the T— flower show. Vegetables and fruit are to be shown as well as flowers. She says she shall certainly go to the show, so probably you'll see her there."
"Probably," Celia replied, determining to keep out of Miss Pring's way if possible. "Going to exhibit onions, is she?"
"Yes, I saw them—such monsters! I should think they will be sure to get the first prize. Well, we stayed longer than we intended at Home Vale because Miss Mary came out when she saw us in the garden with her aunt, and then Mr. Cole happened to be passing, and he came in, and somehow the time simply flew. When Eric looked at his watch it was nearly one o'clock, so we had to hurry home at a great rate."
"So you have actually spent the whole morning at Home Vale!" Celia exclaimed in astonishment. "What did you talk about?"