Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/147

Rh they chose was the first cool day after the long, hot spell, and they were able to go in cloth walking skirts, with  pretty silk waists and fresh gloves to give them a more  formal aspect than was usual in their summer costumes.

Brenda had yielded to the other girls in the matter of walking.

“Really, we have been almost like prisoners during this warm season; I have hardly set foot off the piazza,” said  Nora; “I’m dying for fresh air and exercise.”

“But you ’ve been driving nearly every evening.”

“Oh, yes, Brenda, but still that is not the same thing at all. A long walk will do us good. Do say yes, for I’m sure that you ’ll enjoy it, too.”

“I’d rather go on my wheel.”

“Oh, it’s too warm for that, besides we’d get so very dusty. Come, Julia’s in favor of walking, so you ’ll have to give in.”

“Oh, very well, as long as the sun is n’t very bright. I hate to walk in the sun.”

The walk toward the road where Amy lived was a pleasant one. It lay along a cross road that was little more than a lane. The trees on each side almost met overhead, and along the sides was the thick growth of  flowering bushes which always surprises visitors to the  Massachusetts North Shore.

“I never can get used to finding all these lovely things so near the sea-shore,” cried Julia; “why, one could almost stand with one foot in the ocean, and the other resting on a bank of wild flowers such as would be looked for