“You have extraordinarily bad manners, Gerry. I wonder if it is because you do not know better?” Bettina returned quietly. By this time she was also angry, but she had a self-possession which gave her the advantage. Yet, the moment her sentence was finished, Bettina regretted it. Among the new Sunrise Hill Camp Fire club this was the first open quarrel, and the other girls were looking uncomfortable. Bettina had not meant to make her accusation so sweeping. Having lost her temper, she had simply said more than she should, as most of us do under similar circumstances. Moreover, Bettina felt a little stab at realizing that Gerry would doubtless tell her side of their difficulty to their Camp Fire guardian. In Bettina’s mind there was little doubt whose part she would take.
“You are hateful, Bettina,” Sally Ashton murmured, still a little sleepily. She had not listened carefully to what had been said, but wished to announce herself as Gerry’s champion. The truth was that Alice had recently lectured her younger sister on the subject of their intimacy, and Sally intended to show how utterly unimpressed she was by family advice.
If Gerry intended continuing the quarrel she did not say anything more at this instant. For, glancing up, she had seen that Mrs. Burton had come out of her tent and was walking slowly towards them.
Bettina also had seen her and was a little puzzled that Gerry did not make the best of her present opportunity. Then she concluded that Gerry was a little ashamed, as she herself was, over their childish lack of self-control. Perhaps next day there would be a chance to straighten things out when they were alone, particularly as they were expecting guests to arrive at their camp fire at any moment.
“Our visitors have not yet appeared, have they?” Polly asked a moment later, as she sat down next to her niece.
Straightway Gerry kissed her hand to their Camp Fire guardian across the intervening space, looking as sweet and unruffled as if nothing unpleasant had occurred.
Really, by this time only Peggy showed any especial expression of annoyance. Peggy simply refused at all times to pretend to any state of mind she did not feel. Although she had not spoken, recognizing that she had no part in Bettina’s and Gerry’s quarrel, none the less was she ruffled.
Recognizing this fact, but not understanding the cause, Polly slipped her arm affectionately through Peggy’s and held her close for a moment. She could feel the girl grow less rigid; see her expression change and soften. There was no doubting the sincerity of the devotion between the niece and aunt, even if now and then they did not entirely approve of each other’s actions. Mrs. Burton, however, had not the faintest idea that Peggy would at any time oppose her in a matter of importance. Perhaps she had grown too accustomed to believing in her own charm and unconsciously in the influence of her own success. So far no one appreciated the fact that Peggy Webster was one of the few people who absolutely had to think for herself, and to be faithful to the truth and to justice as she saw it.
“Terry Benton’s note to me said he wished to bring half a dozen other friends with him tonight, so that was rather an unnecessary question on my part,” Mrs. Burton went on, wondering why the group of girls remained so silent and constrained, and glancing with more attention from one face to the other.
Some little time before, Mrs. Burton had been compelled to surrender the idea that she could order her Sunrise Hill Camp Fire club as if it were a nunnery and she the Mother Superior. At least, this was the accusation which Mrs. Gardener had certainly made on their arrival. Really, Polly had only wished to keep clear of entanglements. But Terry Benton, although not permitted to remain as guide, had manifested no ill feeling. Indeed, ever since he had been a more or less frequent visitor at camp, bringing an occasional friend with him. He and Gerry and Sally seemed to have formed a kind of three-cornered friendship.