"Really, Nora, I don't see how you could speak in that way to Belle. I am sure that she feels very badly," began Edith.
"Well, she is awfully conceited about her clothes, and sometimes she does look so queer."
"But you shouldn't say so to her face——"
"Better to her face than behind her back."
"I don't know," rejoined Edith, "there are some things that it is just as well not to say at all. Belle has a right to wear whatever kind of hats she likes."
"Oh, Edith," responded Nora, "you are altogether too fair. I am tired of having Belle find fault with every one else as if she were just perfect herself. For my own part, I——"
"Well, Nora," said Brenda, "you ought not to say anything to Belle when she is in my house. I happen to know that she is very sensitive about her clothes. In the first place her mother will never let her have what she wants——"
"No, it's her grandmother," interrupted Edith. "She really does have a hard time, and it isn't fair to criticise her."
"No," added Brenda, "it is not."
"Well, Brenda," said Nora, "you ought not to say anything. You make Belle awfully mad sometimes by what you say. I heard you telling her the other day that you should think that she'd just hate that winter coat that she has been wearing, the fur is so very unbecoming, and you asked her why she didn't have a chinchilla collar and muff. She won't quarrel with you, because there are so many little things that you can do for her."