"Don't worry," she said. "I'll never be called that by any one who knows
me! I've done nothing but make mistakes and get in hot water all my
life. Wasn't I doing penance last week myself?"
"Then I should think you would know how other people feel."
"I do. That's why I'm trying to advise you. I reckon it's a mighty
selfish way to look at it, Mary, but you'll be a heap happier yourself
to do the square thing. It gives you such a comfy sort of feeling."
"I'm perfectly comfortable now," Mary said obstinately. "I wish it had
been a hose instead of a little pitcher--"
Blue Bonnet put her hand over Mary's mouth and gave her a little hug.
"You don't wish anything of the kind. You're angry. When people are
angry they aren't responsible. I'm going to tell you something I did
last summer to one of my very best friends when I was angry."
She told Mary of how she had almost let Kitty Clark drown in the
swimming pool of the Texas stream; how Kitty had cut her head on the
rock, and of the consternation that followed.
Mary listened almost unbelievingly.
"You did--that, Blue Bonnet?"
"I did, Mary, and it was a dear lesson. I've had a line on my temper
ever since--sometimes it gets away, for a while, but not so often. Now
come on, be a thoroughbred! Go and talk to Fraulein."
Mary shrank away protesting.
Blue Bonnet shrugged her shoulders and started to pick up the room.
"All right, Mary, if you've got a damp cotton cord for a back bone--"
Mary got up out of her chair instantly.
"_That's_ something I haven't got. I'll just show you, Miss Blue Bonnet
Ashe."
She flew out of the room and Carita ran to the door to watch her.
"She's knocking on Fraulein's door, as sure as you live," she announced,
coming back.
"Of course," Blue Bonnet said, hanging a couple of dresses back in the
closet. "Mary's all right. She doesn't mean half she says."
A few of the girls were waiting for Blue Bonnet in the "Angel's
Retreat."
"Hurry up," Ruth Biddle said, as she entered the room. "We've a lot to
say to you--too much for ten minutes."
"Go ahead, then, I'm listening."
"You are about to have a great honor conferred upon you," Ruth
continued.
"'Some achieve greatness--some have it thrust upon them,'" Blue Bonnet
quoted. "This is the thrusting kind, I suppose--"
"We want you to join our club, Blue Bonnet," Annabel said. "We haven't
time to be frivolous. I have a lesson in exactly seven minutes with Mrs.
White. Will you?"
Blue Bonnet looked stunned.
"A club!" she said. "What kind of a club?"
"Oh, just a club--something like a sorority. I'm the president, if
that's any inducement."
"It certainly would be, Annabel, but--you see I belong to one club--a
little one in Woodford. I don't know how the girls would feel about my
joining another."
"You won't be in Woodford much from now on," Annabel said. "You'd better
take the 'good the gods provide,'--it's some club!"
"I don't doubt that--but--what do you do?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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