But how should she make it? “Oh,” she thought, “it’s the very hardest thing I ever had to do!”
Then summoning all her courage, she spoke in low, faltering tones, her head drooping, her whole face and even her neck crimson with blushes.
“Girls, I—I own that Syd was right in what she said last night; Lora too; and that besides, I did look when I was supposed to be hiding my eyes in the other games.”
She ended with a burst of tears, half turning her back upon her companions, as if too much mortified to meet their glances.
There was a moment of surprised silence, in which no one either moved or spoke; then Eva said, in a kindly, sympathizing tone:
“It is noble in you to own it, Rosie; so I think we should all love you more than ever.”
“Yes,” said Lulu, hurrying to Rosie’s side, and putting her arms affectionately about her, “so we will, Rosie, dear; so don’t cry. I’m sure you don’t intend ever to do any thing of the kind again, and we’ll all forget about it directly, won’t we, girls?”
“We’ll try,” they answered, Sydney adding, “So dry your eyes, coz, and don’t let us spoil our good times by fretting over what’s done and can’t be helped.”
“It will do for you to feel that way,” sobbed Rosie, “all of you that haven’t been doing wrong; but I ought to be ashamed and sorry whenever I think about it.”
“Don’t think about it, then,” said Sydney, in a jesting tone, “I wouldn’t.”