"Well, that is interesting, I must confess," ejaculated Kate. "I begged her pardon; what more did she want?"
"She wanted you to say that you hadn't the least idea of her in your mind,—that you didn't mean that she was forward or pert, and you said nothing of the sort; you only begged her pardon for having spoken as you did," explained Myra Donaldson, giggling a little.
"And that is what I meant,—just that,—that I was sorry for having spoken—"
"Your thoughts," said Myra, giggling again.
"Dorothea is generally a good-natured girl," spoke up Anna Fleming here, with a kind impulse to be just.
"Oh, I like Dorothea very well. I should like her better if she didn't bounce and flounce so. You can't say that her manners are as nice as they might be, can you?" said Myra, looking appealingly at Anna.
"N—o, I can't say that her manners are really nice," answered Anna.
"I think she is vulgar!" Kate suddenly snapped out, with a vehemence that quite startled the other two girls.
"Vulgar! why, Kate, she's one of the Boston Derings."
Kate made a little face, and then in a sarcastic voice, "Who are the Boston Derings?" she asked.