“You used to take pride,” suggested Eileen, “in leading your class.”
“And has anyone told you that I am not leading my class at the present minute?” asked Linda.
“No,” said Eileen, “but what I want to point out to you is that the minute you start running with the boys you will quit leading your class.”
“Don’t you believe it,” said Linda quietly. “I’m not built that way. I shan’t concentrate on any boy to the exclusion of chemistry and geometry, never fear it.”
Then she thoughtfully ascended the stairs and went to work.
Eileen went to her room and sat down to think; and the more she thought, the deeper grew her anger and chagrin; and to the indifference that always had existed in her heart concerning Linda was added in that moment a new element. She was jealous of her. How did it come that a lanky, gangling kid in her tees had been paid a visit by the son of possibly the most cultured and influential family of the city, people of prestige, comfortable wealth, and unlimited popularity? For four years she had struggled to gain an entrance in some way into Louise Whiting’s intimate circle of friends, and she had ended by shutting the door on the only son of the family. And why had she ever allowed Linda to keep the runabout? It was not proper that a young girl should own a high powered car like that. It was not proper that she should drive it and go racing around the country, heaven knew where, and with heaven knew whom. Eileen bit her lip until it almost bled. Her eyes were hateful and her hands were nervous as she reviewed the past week. She might think any mean thing that a mean brain could conjure up, but when she calmed down to facts she had to admit that there was not a reason in the world why Linda should not drive the car she had driven for her father, or why she should not take with her Donald Whiting or Peter Morrison or Henry Anderson. The thing that rankled was that the car belonged to Linda. The touring car which she might have owned and driven, had she so desired, lay in an extremely slender string of pearls around her neck at that instant. She reflected that if she had kept her car and made herself sufficiently hardy to drive it, she might have been the one to have taken Peter Morrison to his home location and to have had many opportunities for being with him.
“I’ve been a fool,” said Eileen, tugging at the pearls viciously. “They are nothing but a little bit of a string that looks as if I were trying to do something and couldn’t, at best. What I’ve got to do is to think more of myself. I’ve got to plan some way to prevent Linda from being too popular until I really get my mind made up as to what I want to do.”
CHAPTER XIII
Leavening the Bread of Life
“‘A house that is divided against itself cannot stand,’” quoted Linda. “I must keep in mind what Eileen said, not that there is the slightest danger, but to fall behind in my grades is a thing that simply must not happen. If it be true that Peter and Henry can so easily and so cheaply add a few improvements in my workroom in connection with Peter’s building, I can see no reason why they shouldn’t do it, so long as I pay for it. I haven’t a doubt but that there will be something I can do for Peter, before he finishes his building, that he would greatly appreciate, while, since I’m handy with my pencil, I might be able to make a few head and tail pieces for some of his articles that would make them more attractive. I don’t want to use any friend of mine: I don’t want to feel that I am not giving quite as much as I get, but I think I see my way clear, between me and the Bear-cat, to pay for all the favours I would receive in altering my study.