“It’s pretty hot weather to go to bed in,” Albertina said. “Miss Sturgis, if I can get my mother to let me stay up half an hour more, will you let Eleanor stay up?”
Just beyond her friend, in the shadow of her ample back, Eleanor was making gestures intended to convey the fact that sitting up any longer was abhorrent to her.
“Eleanor needs her sleep to-night, I think,” Gertrude answered, professionally maternal.
“I brought Albertina so that our child might go home under convoy, while you and I were walking on the beach,” Jimmie suggested.
As the two little girls fell into step, the beginning of their conversation drifted back to the other two, who stood watching them for a moment. 133
“I thought I’d come over to see if you was willing to say you were sorry,” Albertina began. “My face stayed red in one spot for two hours that day after you slapped me.”
“I’m not sorry,” Eleanor said ungraciously, “but I’ll say that I am, if you’ve come to make up.”
“Well, we won’t say any more about it then,” Albertina conceded. “Are Miss Sturgis and Mr. Sears going together, or are they just friends?”
“Isn’t that Albertina one the limit?” Jimmie inquired, with a piloting hand under Gertrude’s elbow. “She told me that she and Eleanor were mad, but she didn’t want to stay mad because there was more going on over here than there was at her house and she liked to come over.”
“I’m glad Eleanor slapped her,” Gertrude said; “still I’m sorry our little girl has uncovered the clay feet of her idol. She’s through with Albertina for good.”