"Well, nobody wants a person 'round with them who makes herself so disagreeable as Cordelia does; and as for dancing with her, she's never in step, and is always treading upon you and bumping against you; and in everything else it's just the same."
"Maybe she's shy, as Miss Vincent was."
"Shy! Cordelia Burr shy!" shouted Alice, in derision.
"No; she's anything but shy," said Janey; "she's as uppish and independent as she can be."
"But maybe she puts that on. Maybe—"
"Maybe she's a princess in disguise!" cried Alice, scornfully.
"Well, I don't care. I think we ought to try and see if perhaps we are not on the wrong track with her; and I—"
"Now, Eva," and Alice looked up very determinedly, "if you begin to take notice of Cordelia, there'll be no getting away from her; she'll be pushing herself in where she isn't wanted, constantly. And there's just one thing more: I'll say, if you do begin this, you'll have to do it alone. I won't have anything to do with it; and, you'll see, the rest of the girls won't; and you'll be left to yourself with Miss Cordelia, and a nice time you'll have of it."
Eva made no answer. Indeed, she would have found it hard to speak, for she was choking with tears,—tears that presently found vent in "a good cry," as Alice and Janey left the room.
What should she do? What could she do with all the girls against her? If she could only tell Miss Vincent, she could advise her. But Miss Vincent had been summoned home by illness that very morning.