Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/149

Rh Before she had finished speaking, Nora and Julia had brought forward the chairs. They were painted a dark- green, the same shade as the doors and fence. Soon the four girls were chatting as gayly as only girls of fifteen can  chat, and Amy went on with her task as composedly as if  her visitors had been old friends. They talked of the jolly time they had had on The Fourth; and Brenda gave  Amy the special invitation which Mrs. Barlow had sent,  that she should come down soon to Rockley to spend the  day.

“If my mother can spare me, and I know she will, I shall be perfectly delighted,” responded Amy. Her face beamed with pleasure. It was not often that she had an invitation of this kind, and she knew that a day with  Brenda and her friends would be very delightful.

“How fine it must be,” exclaimed Nora, “to be so useful in a family that you could n’t accept an invitation until you knew whether or not you could be spared! In all my life I ’ve never reached that height,” said Nora.

There was always a ring of sincerity in Nora’s voice that even strangers recognized, and Amy saw that Nora  meant just what she said.

“I hope that I did n’t sound as if I thought myself of too much importance,” she said. “But you know we do not keep any regular girl, and we have an old cousin living  with us who needs much attention, and sometimes, when  mamma is busy, I feel as if I ought not to leave her.”

This was rather a long speech for Amy, and she was not in the habit of explaining her affairs so fully to people.