"They won't be conquering heroes if they haven't done any fighting."
"Don't interrupt; and you can throw a wreath at Arthur's feet."
"I wasn't thinking of Arthur."
"Excuse me, but I think that you were; and then, well—and then they will live happy ever after."
"Philip Blair, you are too absurd. Conquering heroes and wreaths, indeed!"
But Philip's nonsense had made Brenda smile, and for the time she was decidedly more cheerful.
When Mr. and Mrs. Barlow went down to Rockley, Brenda had simply refused to go. When they told her that she would suffer in town from the heat, she replied that she did not care, she hoped, indeed, that she would suffer, and concluded by saying emphatically that she was tired of being a mere idler.
"But since you are so unused to hard work, and to the city in hot weather, you must not overdo now. I do wish, Brenda," and Mrs. Barlow's tone was unusually serious, "that you could do things in moderation. If you had taken a little more interest in the work at the Mansion last winter, perhaps you would not feel it necessary to go to extremes now."
"It isn't extremes now, only I have more time to give to Julia, and I don't feel like going to Rockley; and why should any one care, especially as you have Agnes and Lettice with you."
Mrs. Barlow for the time said no more. She managed, however, to persuade Brenda to spend a day or two each week at Rockley, usually Saturday and Sunday; and every Wednesday a large box of flowers was sent up to the school with a card marked, "With love, from little Lettice."