Yes, Elizabeth Ann could see that kind of thing was unkind for Catherine to say. You couldn’t excuse her, either, by telling yourself that she didn’t know about Roger. Catherine lived near Roger and knew all about him—that he was a “taken boy” and dependent upon the people for whom he worked for his food and clothing. There was every reason in the world why Catherine Gould, with a father and mother and a lovely home should have been kind to Roger who had nothing he could call his own.
“But she is so pretty, she must be nice,” Elizabeth Ann argued, tumbling out of the tree to have a game of tag before the bell should ring. “Catherine is pretty and she has lovely dresses; I don’t believe she knows when she is being mean to Roger.”
CHAPTER XI
PARTY PLANS
Elizabeth Ann learned more about Catherine Gould as the school term advanced. Catherine lived nearer to the Bonnie Susie than any other girl, and she was apt to come over Saturdays, to play with Elizabeth Ann and Doris. They went to her house, too, and as Mattie had said, Catherine did live in a large house and there wasn’t much that her mother wouldn’t let her do.
“I wish my mother would be like Mrs. Gould,” said Doris, one night at the supper table. “Mrs. Gould only says, ‘Well, all right,’ when Catherine tells her she doesn’t want to do her homework.”
Uncle Hiram shook his head.
“That is exactly why Catherine doesn’t get along better in school,” said he. “She only does what she wants to do. Most of the time she doesn’t want to study her homework. So last June she wasn’t promoted with the rest of her class.”
“Catherine always talks about her piano lessons,” declared Elizabeth Ann. “But she doesn’t like to practice. And her mother has to do all the explaining when the teacher comes, and Catherine doesn’t know her music lesson.”
“Well, anyway, she has a good time,” Doris said enviously.