Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/17

Rh houses,—the blacksmith’s shop, the post-office in a small grocery shop, and a few dwellings occupied chiefly by  people who worked for the summer residents.

Mrs. Barlow came out of one of these houses, looking a little disturbed.

“Good-morning, girls,” she said, “I expected you a quarter of an hour ago, although it has n’t made much difference—my waiting for you. These laundresses are very trying. Mrs. Slattery is one of the best we have had, but now she thinks that she won’t do any more work this summer, because her son is home from Texas on a visit.”

“Why, mamma, of course you would n’t expect her to work. She ’ll want to go about on pleasure trips with him; just think how it will be when Agnes comes home, or Caroline. I’m sure that you could n’t half attend to them, if you had to do a week’s washing at the same time.”

Mrs. Barlow and Julia both laughed at Brenda’s way of putting things.

“Still it does n’t alter the present case,” said Mrs. Barlow, “and if Mrs. Slattery is firm in her determination, I shall have to send you girls out into the highways and byways to find a laundress. There are some little cottages up on the back road, and perhaps some one up  there might condescend to take in washing.”

At this moment a curve in the road brought them in full sight of the beach, which up to this minute had shown itself only occasionally behind houses and trees.

“How beautiful!” cried Julia. “This is a new point