“I thought that she was rather bright-looking,” responded Philip, “though her clothes were pretty freakish.”
“Well, I fancy we were rather in the way as long as we couldn’t help much. Julia has probably carried the girl home with her. Did she open her mouth to you?”
“Who, Julia?”
“No, the other girl. I didn’t hear her say a word.”
“Oh, she said ‘yes’ once and ‘no’ twice,” replied Philip, laughing.
“Ah!” sighed Pamela, standing beside Julia, “I hope I’ll never see any sugar again. I’m not bound to do errands for Miss Batson.” Then, as Julia looked puzzled, she began to explain. “Miss Batson is my—” she hesitated. She could not truthfully say “landlady,” so she tried again. “She has the house where I live. She has boarders, and sometimes I do errands for her. It seems easy to carry her things in my bag, but to-day—”
“Were you on your way home?” interposed Julia, to draw her mind from the recent catastrophe.
“No, I was going to Fay House to study.”
“Well, then, please come home with me. Ruth and I are always at home Mondays, but you have never called on us.”
Pamela hesitated. Every hour counted in her scheme of work. But the temptation was strong, and she went on with Julia. Although the latter remembered that Pamela had never invited her to call, she realized that she herself might have done various little things to make the way pleasanter for one who was so evidently alone. She could see that Pamela would not make friends easily, and she had noticed her at none of the college affairs since that first Idler.