XXX
BRENDA'S FOLLY
It would make a long story to tell what every one said on the subject ofBrenda's folly. For this was the name given it, and by this name it waslong remembered, much to Brenda's discomfiture, when the subject of Mrs.Rosa and her money was brought up.
There were so many persons who had a right to express an opinion, thatpoor Brenda felt that simply to listen to what they said was punishmentenough. There were all the girls who had worked for the Bazaar, and alltheir parents, and all the girls at school who hadn't worked for theBazaar, but had done their share of buying. There were the boys fromHarvard, whose criticism took the form of mild chaffing, and therewere--but the list, it seemed to Brenda, included every one whom she hadever known, and some with whom she was sure that she had noacquaintance.
Mr. and Mrs. Barlow were especially severe, and told her that she mustgradually reimburse The Four from her allowance. "For the money," saidMr. Barlow, "did not belong to you, you held it in trust for Edith, andBelle, and Nora, and indeed I wonder how they ever came to entrust itentirely to you. You are too heedless a girl to have any realresponsibility, and I only hope that your thoughtlessness is not goingto deprive Mrs. Rosa of the country home that Miss South and the othershave planned for her."
Poor Brenda! Before that fatal Saturday two hundred dollars had seemedto her very little, but now it seemed an almost infinite amount. Herfather, of course, could easily have given her the sum at once, but hepreferred to make her realize her heedlessness. Indeed the lesson hadalready begun to benefit her; for the first time in her life Brendarealized the value of money. How in the world could she herself eversave the required sum from her allowance. Why, if she should not spend acent upon her own little wants it would take her more than two years toget together two hundred dollars. For her allowance it should beexplained, was large enough only to provide little extra things that sheneeded, or thought that she needed. She had not to use any of it forclothes, or other useful purposes. Yet when Brenda began to count thethings that she must give up for two years, or longer, it seemed as ifshe could hardly bear the sacrifice. But her sense of justice prevailed,and at last she admitted that she deserved this punishment.
"Poor Brenda!" said Mr. Barlow to Mrs. Barlow, as Brenda walked awayafter this interview with her head bent as if in reflection. "PoorBrenda! This lesson will be a hard one, but if we are ready to help herout of every difficulty, she will never be able to stand alone. I, atleast, could not feel justified in coming to the rescue just now."
After this conversation with her father, Brenda walked upstairs sadly,at least her head drooped a little, and any one who had followed her toher room would have found that the first thing she did was to flingherself, face downward on that broad chintz-covered lounge of hers.While she lay there, she did not hear a gentle knock at the door, northe soft footstep of some one entering the room.
"Why, Brenda Barlow," cried a pleasant voice. "Why, Brenda Barlow, whyare you lying in this downcast position?"
"'WHY, BRENDA BARLOW, WHY ARE YOU LYING IN THIS DOWNCAST POSITION?'"]
At first there was no reply from the prostrate figure. Then Julia--forit was she who had entered the room--ventured a little nearer, andrepeated her question in a somewhat different form.
Thereupon Brenda sprang to her feet, and though she attempted to smileat Julia, there were very evident traces of tears on her cheek.
"Brenda," said Julia, "you know that I am very apt to go straight to thepoint, if I wish to say anything, and so I will not apologize for what Iam going to say. I am sure that you won't be offended if I tell you thatyou are thinking too much about the loss of Mrs. Rosa's money. I havebeen noticing you for several days." (It was now about a week since MissSouth had made the discovery of the loss.)
As Brenda made no reply, Julia continued, this time a little timidly,"Nora and Edith feel sorry that you will not take an interest in theplans for moving Mrs. Rosa to Shiloh. You know we have been out to seethe cottage, and we missed you dreadfully. Belle wasn't there either,but since the Bazaar she hasn't been as much interested in the Rosas.But we thought that you really had some interest."
"Why, yes, I have," replied Brenda. She did not resent Julia's "we" inspeaking of the efforts now making for the Rosas, although not so verylong before Brenda herself had opposed having Julia considered one of"The Four."
"Why, yes, I have an interest in Mrs. Rosa," repeated Brenda, then witha return of her old light-heartedness. "Two hundred dollars' worth ofinterest, and what bothers me is to know how to turn it into capital."(You see from this that Brenda had not altogether forgotten herarithmetic.)
"There, Brenda, that is just what I have been wishing to speak about toyou. I have been afraid that you have been worrying over this. For UncleThomas has told me that he has decided not to help you to pay it."
Again the girl to whom she was speaking seemed unlike the old Brenda,for she did not resent the fact that Julia had apparently been takeninto Mr. Barlow's confidence to so great an extent.
"Now, Brenda," continued Julia, "as I have said before, I always preferto come straight to the point, and so I must tell you that the twohundred dollars has been paid to Miss South--the other girls have votedto make her the treasurer--for Mrs. Rosa's benefit."
"Where in the world,--" began Brenda, in a most astonished tone. Thenwith a glance at Julia's face, over which an expression ofself-consciousness was spreading, "Why, Julia Bourne, had you anything,did you, why I really believe that you had something to do with it. Didyou get some one to give you the money?"
"No," replied Julia, with a look of relief, "oh, no, no, I made noeffort to collect money."
Brenda's wits were now well at work.
"There, Julia, I begin to see; it seemed funny when you paid one hundreddollars for that picture, at least I thought very little about it then,but to-day when I was going over everything connected with the Rosas inmy mind, it occurred to me that one hundred dollars was a rather largeamount for you to pay, and I meant to ask you how it happened--" thenstammering a little, as she realized that this was not a very polite wayof putting things, "at least, I know that I should never have so muchmoney saved up from _my_ allowance for any one thing. But you are moresensible than I, and of course you can make money go a great dealfarther."
Julia smiled pleasantly, for she understood in spite of a certainconfusion of statement, pretty well what her cousin meant.
But still she did not answer immediately, and Brenda, who was nowthoroughly herself, exclaimed,
"Do tell me, Julia, did you give that two hundred dollars to Mrs. Rosa,that is, was it a present from you?"
For a moment Julia was silent, then she replied with some hesitation,"Yes, yes, although I had not meant to tell you, it is my littlecontribution to the plan you all have made for helping the Rosas. I havebeen wishing to do something, and it seemed better to give this now,when the money was so much needed, rather than to wait until later, asat one time I had thought of doing. Though I am sure," she continuedmodestly, "that there would have been little trouble in raising themoney, only I thought that it was better for me to make my contributionpromptly now, while you were----"
"Then it was just to help me; so that there would not be so much faultfinding with me. Why you are a perfect angel, Julia," cried Brenda.
"Hardly," said Julia, laughing. "Hardly an angel, though if this makesyou feel more comfortable, I shall be very happy."
Brenda was on the point of asking her cousin how she happened to haveall this money, for the more she thought about it, the stranger itseemed.
Before she could ask a question, Julia however had bidden her good-bye,saying that she had an engagement with Edith, and Brenda was forced towait an opportunity for getting the information she wished from hermother. After all, the explanation was fairly simple. Brenda and Bellewithout good grounds had decided at the first that Julia was entirelydependent on Mr. Barlow. Instead of this Julia had a good income of herown, which when she came of age woul
d be largely increased. The girlshad wrongly assumed that Julia was studying and working diligentlysimply because she expected at some time to be obliged to earn herliving, whereas the real motive behind all her efforts was her genuinelove of study. Had circumstances made it necessary Julia would haveenjoyed the teacher's profession, as a means of earning her living. Infact sometimes when she thought about her future she found herselfregretting that she could not adopt this profession. But she knew thatthe ranks were already fairly crowded, and she felt that she would haveno right to enter a profession that could barely support those whoneeded it as a means of livelihood. Brenda and Belle had made manymistakes not only in their estimation of her fortune but in the readingof her character.
Brenda was beginning to find out her own mistakes, and when once she wasconvinced of a fault she was seldom slow to acknowledge it. In the endshe would have been fair to Julia even if her cousin had not establisheda certain claim upon her by her generosity towards the Rosas. For reallyby giving the money so promptly she had saved Brenda from a continuationof annoying criticism. Two hundred dollars was not an extremely largesum for a rich girl to give to a good cause, but Julia's delicacy andthoughtfulness made Brenda her firm friend. Belle, naturally enough, wasnot so ready to change her point of view. When she did permit herself toshow greater cordiality towards Julia, it was rather because she had afull appreciation of what it would mean to her to have a girl of Julia'swealth her friend. It was hard for Belle to take an impersonal view ofanything, and this, perhaps, was largely the reason why she became ofless consequence in the little set which had been called "The FourClub." As the others of the quartette grew older, Belle's selfishnessbecame more and more disagreeable to them. Although there was still aquartette of friends, Julia began to have the fourth place, while Bellegradually withdrew to the more congenial society of Frances Pounder. Butin saying this I am anticipating a little, for Belle retained herinterest in the Rosas long enough to be one of those who helped move thelittle family to the little house which had been chosen for them inShiloh.