Brenda's Ward: A Sequel to 'Amy in Acadia'Reed, Helen Leah
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Brenda's Ward: A Sequel to 'Amy in Acadia'
Reed, Helen Leah
Boston (Mass.) -- Juvenile fiction; Young women -- Juvenile fiction
"Let me tell you," he began, "about the squirrels. Really, they are of
more consequence than most other dwellers in the Yard. They will eat
anything, from mushrooms to pâté de foie gras, and although it's rather
expensive, we try to give them whatever they demand. The tree trunks
here are probably filled with treasures that they have hidden away; some
of them even are fond of books, and I heard of one who had an intimate
acquaintance with Greek roots. No nuts are too hard for them to crack;
they are real philosophers, and here," he cried as he threw some acorns
on the grass, "they are so tame one doesn't have even to throw salt on
their tails to catch them."
Upon this, with a deft movement, he picked up a bushy-tailed gray
squirrel that had been attracted by the bait he had thrown down, and as
he held it toward Elinor, "Here," he exclaimed, "if you wish a souvenir
of Harvard, is the real thing," and extending his arm, he pressed the
little creature's head against Elinor's cheek. Then, to everyone's
surprise, Elinor Naylor, the dignified Miss Elinor Naylor of
Philadelphia, screamed loudly, and turning her back on Lucian, ran up to
Martine, who happened to be nearest her, and laid her head on Martine's
arm, crying loudly, "Take it away, take it away, it's just like a big
rat."
Lucian, decidedly crestfallen at this little episode, let the squirrel
whisk itself away, while he walked up to Elinor to offer his apologies.
In his heart he was saying, "Thank heaven that Martine has some nerve,"
and Martine herself, by a sudden revulsion of feeling, at once became
the champion of the girl she had recently been criticising.
Elinor accepted Lucian's apologies very graciously. "I know that I am
foolish," she said, "but I never have liked those little creepy animals;
they all seem to be like rats and mice, except at a distance."
"You were certainly very thoughtless, Lucian." Martine spoke in a tone
of deep reproof, and during the remainder of their walk she had Elinor
hanging on her arm.
The suite of rooms occupied by Lucian and Robert Pringle was in a
dormitory outside the Yard, in the neighborhood of the old ballground,
Jarvis Field. To reach it the party went across the Memorial Delta, past
the statue of John Harvard--concerning which the boys had various
strange tales to tell--and along a quiet street on which were several
other dormitories.
"How delightful! This suite is much more attractive than Joe's rooms at
Yale, as I remember them," cried Elinor.
"Yes," sighed Arthur Weston, "Joe and I were not sybarites. We went in
for hard work, plain living, and high thinking," and he looked
reproachfully toward Lucian and Robert.
"We work too, I can assure you," insisted Robert. "Of course we had to
furnish up a little."
"Work! I should say so," added Lucian. "Don't judge us by our
surroundings."
"We'll try not to," retorted Martine, "for this tea-table is almost too
ladylike for two tall boys like you."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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