The blue-eyed girl sat up on the couch. “I don’t care if I never ride a bicycle again as long as I live,” she replied, deliberately.
The girl with the dimple in her chin turned pale. “I knew it was something awful when I saw you crying with the blinds all rolled up; but I hardly thought it was so bad as that. You—you haven’t any fever or queer feelings in your head, have you?”
“If I had, it would not make any difference,” she sobbed. “I—oh, I’ll get even with Effie Bittersweet if it ruins my complexion and takes me all the rest of my natural life to do it!”
“Oho, it’s Effie, is it? Well, you’ll have plenty of chances to get even with her, once you are her sister-in-law!”
“I wouldn’t marry Jack now, to—to spite Effie, and I—I doubt if I shall have the chance, anyhow. And as for Frances, I—”
“Never mind, dear; I know she has behaved abominably, but she is punished already. Her aunt has brought her a new hat from Paris, and it is geranium pink—fancy Frances in geranium, can you? She promised it to Frances when she went abroad last fall, and Frances has been talking about it ever since. She will have to wear it, too, because her aunt is to make them a long visit, and she is too wealthy to have her feelings hurt.”
The blue-eyed girl shook her head, sadly. “It is very kind of you to try to cheer me,” she said, “but I am beyond rejoicing. I only hope it is a very deep geranium pink, that’s all. Oh, Emily, what a desert waste this life is! No, don’t put another cushion back of me—I want to be just as uncomfortable as possible. You know Effie was here this morning, don’t you?”
“I suppose so—I noticed that you have two portraits of Edwin on the table.”
“Yes. Well, she asked me to go shopping with her, and I must say I was pleased, because she hasn’t been here since—since—”
“Not since you quar—pardon me, I mean since her brother quarreled with you.”