“No—there were two others.”
“Girls, I suppose?”
“No.”
“Not young men, I hope?”
“Yes, one of them was Helen’s brother. The other was a friend of his....”
For a few moments he was very thoughtful. Then he continued:
“I don’t think you ought to have gone with them, Catherine ... at your age, you know.... Besides, you’ve plenty of girl friends—I can’t think what you want with young men and boys.... Girls should stick to girls....”
“But surely, Father——”
“If you want friends, let them be girl friends ... surely you can find plenty of your own sex without——”
Catherine could think of no adequate answer to this argument, so she bade him good-night and went upstairs to bed....