Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/157

Rh could almost be set inside hers. But of course I know that ours is very attractive. It’s a good situation.”

“I should say so,” replied Amy; “you certainly ought to be very happy.”

“That sounds as if you would like to add ‘and very good,’” said Brenda, again smiling. “But you ’ll find, if you know me well, that I’m not particularly good.”

“I should n’t wonder if you were good enough,” rejoined Amy. Although she may have seen some things to criticise in Brenda, she still had a strong liking for this new friend of hers. Brenda, on her part, had the rather strange sensation of wishing to gain the approbation of another girl. It was not the same feeling that she had sometimes had at school when she found herself  trying by various little methods (in which liberality in  spending money at recess, and generosity in buying birthday and Christmas presents played a large part) to attain  a reputation for popularity. Even had she known that the next day would be the birthday of Amy, she would  hardly have dared to make her a present. But she did feel anxious to stand well in her estimation. It was on this account, probably, that she threw an uneasy glance  at her visitor, as the latter paused for a moment, in  passing through her room, to look at her book-shelves.

What if she should take down one of those paper-bound volumes! A regret flashed through her mind that she had not put them away in her closet.

But although Brenda had bidden Amy make herself perfectly at home, the latter would not have ventured