“I was just wondering if you knew how intimate Bettina and your Indian protégé are,” she said finally, “and if you mind? It seems odd to me when you were not willing to have Terry Benton continue as our guide, when he was a nice American fellow. And this Indian——”
Impulsively Gerry reached out and took hold of Polly’s hand, looking at her with a kind of playful apology.
“I don’t mean to criticise you, you know. I would never do that, and besides, I wouldn’t dare anyhow. But I feel you cannot have noticed their friendship. It is only because I realize Bettina does not understand some things as I do; has never been up against the world as I have that——”
“Be quiet, Gerry.”
Undeniably Mrs. Burton’s amiability, which she had announced as necessary to her Camp Fire work, had suddenly vanished.
“One thing I shall never allow in my Camp Fire club is for one girl to talk to me unkindly of another. If Bettina is friendly to Tewa it is because she is grateful to him, as I am. He is an unusual fellow and she may help him with his education. I am afraid, Gerry, you do not understand just who Bettina is, nor who her father and mother are.”
Polly hesitated. After all, Gerry’s influences had been so different. She must not be too angry with her.
“Don’t let me hear any suggestions of this kind again about any one of the Camp Fire girls,” she ended more kindly. “It is because I want you to forget a good deal of nonsense that I brought you out here with us.”
Gerry said nothing and, getting up, Polly laid her hand lightly on Gerry’s head.
“Let us forget this past few moments altogether—both of us,” she suggested, and walked away.