“You bet I’m going to stay!” she declared, furiously. “And I’ll get even with you, Dolly Ransom, and your nasty old Miss Mercer, and the whole crew of you! Maybe you’ve been able to set all my friends against me–I’m glad of it!”
“No one is set against you, Gladys,” said Marcia, gently.
“Maybe you don’t call it that, Marcia Bates, but I’ve got my own opinion of a lot of girls who call themselves my friends and side against me the way you’ve done!”
“Why, Gladys, I haven’t done a thing–”
“That’s just it, you sneak! Why, do you suppose I’d have let them treat you as I was treated to-night? If it had happened to you and I’d joined before, I’d have got up and thrown their nasty old ring back at them! I don’t want their old ring! I’ve got much prettier ones of my own–gold, and set with sapphires and diamonds!”
“I’m very glad you’re going to stay, Gladys!” said Dolly. “I’m sorry I’ve been cross when I spoke to you lately two or three times, and I hope you’ll forgive me. And I think you’ll see soon that we’re not at all what you think we are in the Camp Fire.”
“Oh, you needn’t talk that way to me, Dolly Ransom! You can pretend all you like to be a saint, but I’ve known you too long to swallow all that! You’ve done just as many mean things as anyone else! And now you stand around and act as if you were ashamed to know me. Just you wait! I’ll get even with you, and all the rest of your new friends, if it’s the last thing I ever do!”
Bessie’s hand reached out for Dolly’s. She knew her chum well enough to understand that if Dolly controlled her temper now it would only be by the exercise of the grimmest determination. Sure enough, Dolly’s hand was trembling, and Bessie could almost feel the hot anger that was swelling up in her. But Dolly mastered herself nobly.
“You can’t make me angry now, Gladys,” said Dolly, finally. “You’re perfectly right; I’ve done things that are meaner than anything you did at Lake Dean. And I’m just as sorry for them now as you will be when you understand better.”
“Well, you needn’t preach to me!” said Gladys, fiercely. “And you can give up expecting me to run away. I’m not a coward, whatever else I may be! And I’d never be able to hold up my head if I thought a lot of common girls had frightened me into running away from this place. I’m going to stay here, and I’m going to have a good time, and you’d better look out for yourselves–that’s all I can say! Maybe I know more about you than you think.”