III
NEW ACQUAINTANCES
It was a hot, hot day, and Brenda wandered around the house discontentedly.
“I wish that I had gone back to Beverly with Edith yesterday. I’m sure that it must be cooler there. It certainly could not be any hotter. I don’t envy Julia in Cambridge, it must be even worse there.”
Julia had gone to Cambridge to board for a week. She and Ruth were to have a special tutor for a few days before the examinations. Brenda, without her cousin, felt particularly restless. In the immediate vicinity of Rockley there were few girls of her own age, and she missed the companionship of Julia, even though their tastes and inclinations were not always the same.
“If you had more to do, Brenda,” said her mother, “you would be less discontented. I am sorry now that I had not arranged for music lessons for you this summer. Regular practising would keep you from thinking about the heat.”
“As if I could sit at the piano on a day like this! How can you suggest such a thing, mamma?”
Brenda did not appear as miserable as her words and tone intimated.
