“I know,” sighed the little girl.
“If we have her here,” went on the older sister thoughtfully, “we’ll at least know what they both are doing; and, if she doesn’t act nicely, we’ll have some ground to influence Carey.”
“Yes,” answered the little girl with another sigh. “Have you thought, Nellie, perhaps he won’t like it?”
“Yes, I’ve thought that too, but I guess it won’t really matter much. It may do good, you know.”
“But he might not come home to supper that night. Or he might get real mad, and get up and leave while she’s here.”
“Well, I don’t see that that would really do any harm. I guess we’ve got to try something, and this seems kind of a plain way to do. If Mother were here, it would be better. Mother would know how to give dignity to the occasion. But I guess for Mother’s sake I’ve got to do something to either improve her or get rid of her before Mother comes home. It would kill Mother.”
“Yes, I know. What do you suppose father’ll say?”
“Well, I don’t believe I’ll tell father, either, only that I’m going to have a girl here to supper. It would only worry him if he knew she went with Carey; and you can always depend on father to be polite, you know, to anybody.”
“Yes,” said Louise soberly. “He’ll be polite, but—he won’t like her, and she can’t help knowing it, no matter how thick-skinned she is; but maybe it’ll do her good. Only I’m afraid Carey’ll be mad, and say something to father or something.”
“No, I don’t think he will, not before a girl. Not before any girl. Not if I know Carey. He may say things afterwards, but we’ll have to be willing to stand that. And, besides, what can he say? Aren’t we polite to one of his friends? We’re not supposed to know anything about her. When it comes down to facts, little sister, we don’t really know anything about her except that she dresses in a loud way, chews gum, and talks too loud on the street. The other things you have only heard, and you can’t be sure they are true unless you see them yourself, or some one you trust perfectly has seen them. I know she may get a notion in her head that Carey is crazy about her if we single her out and invite her alone, but I’ve about decided it’s the only way. Anyhow, she’s let herself in for things of that sort by getting herself talked about. I believe we’ve got to do something quite radical, and either kill or cure this trouble. I’ve thought about asking that Brand fellow too, and maybe some one else, some other girl. But who would it be?”