“So, he did get back in time.”
“Strange he didn’t tell me last night he was going away,” observed Elinor.
“I think Edward Paxton is a person of many moods,” said Mary. “He is never the same from one day to the next. I don’t think he is a bit like Edward l’Estrange in character. It’s only his face.”
“They are certainly alike in face,” put in Billie. “I believe their nearest relatives could not tell them apart if they were dressed alike.”
“I could,” exclaimed Elinor with conviction in her tones. “There is such a difference in their expressions. Edward Paxton’s face is so much more spiritual.”
Billie could not help laughing at this, and Elinor was piqued.
“Well, I do think he is much more refined,” she observed. “After all, Billie, it was rather familiar of Edward l’Estrange to call you by your first name.”
“Nonsense,” ejaculated Billie. “He’s as good as I am, and I call him Edward. Besides, haven’t we accepted his hospitality, ‘eaten his bread,’ as Papa says? It was quite right for him to call me Billie if he wanted to.”
The girls were rather surprised at this little tiff between the two friends, who were never known to have had the shadow of a quarrel before. Billie made up her mind that she would tell the girls the truth about the two Edwards that very night, even if it were not her secret. She couldn’t bear these small misunderstandings, though they disturbed the placid waters of their friendship ever so little.
“Why is it no one ever sees Virginia?” asked peacemaker Mary, changing the subject.