“I don’t know what they call her over in Italy, or at the school in Switzerland that she has been attending. But her mother say that she is to be Lucia Coletti, or Miss Coletti at school. She wants to come to Lyon High; but I don’t suppose they will hurry about it.”
“Are they really going to send her to a public school?” asked Mathilde in a shocked tone.
“That shows what you really think of the public school, Mathilde Finn,” said Dotty, not unpleasantly, but with firmness.
“Suppose I do,” returned Mathilde, a question in her tone, as well as a bit of resentment.
“Well,” said Dotty, “all I have to say is that there are some who would call that snobbish!”
“All right, if you think that, Dotty Bradshaw, think away!”
This was getting a little too warm for comfort and Betty spoke again. “I think we must all be nice to Lucia, for she will not know what to do, she says, and besides, she will be terribly homesick. When I first saw her she was both seasick, or just getting over it, and homesick, too. But her mother says that Lucia is going to have a taste of American democracy.”
“She will probably get all she wants of it here,” sarcastically said Mathilde. “But Betty Lee is right—we must all be friendly.”
Kathryn nudged Betty again. “She will, all right,” Kathryn whispered, “the little snob!”
Betty gave a sideway smile at Kathryn and whispered, “Tut-tut!” But Kathryn’s eyes were twinkling and her expression not as unpleasant as her words.