"Why, yours doesn't either," exclaimed Nora.
"Oh, you don't know," and Brenda shook her head. "There's Julia now——"
"Nonsense," laughed Nora, running up the steps. "Good-bye, now. I'm coming to see Julia this afternoon. You know I expect to like her."
"Your lunch is waiting, Miss Brenda," said the maid as Brenda started up the front stairs toward her room.
"Oh, I've had my luncheon," replied Brenda. "You don't think I'd wait until this time."
"Brenda," called her mother from the library, "it's half-past three. Where have you been since school?"
"Oh, dear!" grumbled Brenda to herself. "I don't see why I have to give an account of every step I take. I'll be down in a minute," she called out, as she continued her way upstairs. When she descended to the library, she hastened forward with a polite "Good-afternoon" to Julia, who was seated before the fire with a book in her lap.
"Julia has been reading to me," said her mother.
"We have had a very pleasant hour," added Julia.
"But tell me where you have been," said Brenda's mother. "You know that it is a rule that you should come directly home——"