“Something else!” and Tavia tried to laugh. “Surely it is no crime to be—thoughtful?”
“Well, I think it is perfectly dreadful for a girl to go and grow straight up—without any warning.”
“What an old lady I must be,” and Tavia looked very severe and dignified. “But, Doro dear, you need not worry. You surely believe I would never do anything I really thought wrong.”
“That’s just it. You would not think it wrong, but suppose you did something that turned out to be wrong?”
Tavia made no answer but the “old lady” look came back into her face—that serious expression so new to her. She seemed to be looking far ahead—far away—at some uncertain, remote possibility.
For several minutes neither girl spoke. They could hear the “miscreants” who had been out after hours creeping past their door. Every one in Glenwood should be asleep. The last hall light had just been turned out—but the girls from Dalton were still thinking.
Dorothy, usually the one to mend matters, to-night seemed sullen and resolute. Plainly Tavia was hiding something from her, and while Dorothy could bear with any amount of mistakes or impulsive little wrongdoings, she could not put up with a deliberate slight—a premeditated act of deception.
Tavia saw that she was bound to hold out—to insist upon a “clearing up,” and, as this did not suit her, for reasons best known to herself, she attempted to pet Dorothy back to her usual forgiving mood.
But the storm that had been so long brewing was in no hurry to blow over, and Dorothy went to bed with swollen eyes and an aching head, while Tavia only pretended to sleep—she had an important letter to write—an answer to the one that had come in on the evening mail, and required to be replied to by return of post. This meant that the missive must be penned that night and dropped in the post-office the very first thing in the morning.
“Dear little Dorothy,” Tavia murmured as she looked down on the fair face, to make sure that the eyes were resting in sleep, “I will never do anything to disgrace you. Only have a little patience and you will understand it all. But I must—must—” and then she broke off with a long, long sigh.