"Mention not that sad time, mention it not! fair sister-in-law."
When Arthur used this term in addressing Brenda she knew that he was bent on teasing; for although her sister had married Arthur's brother, her engagement to Arthur, announced in June, might very properly be thought to have done away with the teasing title "sister-in-law."
"Don't be silly, Arthur," cried Brenda; "you can't tease me to-day. Several years of my life certainly did pass before I had an idea that you were in the world. I was thinking of the time before we knew each other, when I was so jealous of Julia."
"Jealous of Julia!"
"Oh, I hadn't seen her when I began to have this feeling."
"But why—what made you jealous if you hadn't seen her?
"I can't wholly explain. Perhaps it wasn't altogether jealousy. You see I didn't like the idea of her coming to live with us."
"You must have got over that soon. You and she have always seemed to hit it off pretty well since I've known you."
"Oh, yes, ever since you have known us; and I've always been ashamed of that first year. Though Belle led me on, just a little."
As Arthur still seemed somewhat mystified, Brenda described Julia's first winter in Boston; and she did not spare herself, when she told how she had shut her cousin out from the little circle of "The Four."