Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/215

199 said Amy. “I don’t think that mamma wishes me to be. She says that people would never make any progress in the world if they were perfectly contented.”

“Well, I don’t believe that you are going to make much progress in the world just by being intimate with  Brenda Barlow, and those other girls. When they go back to the city, they ’ll forget you, just as sure as fate,  see if they don’t.”

Amy wisely made no reply. She knew that it was not worth while to argue with cousin Joan. The old lady had her own way of looking at things, and Amy had been brought up to treat the opinions of her elders with respect,  even when she could not agree with them perfectly.

“Do not pretend to agree with a person, if you find that your opinion is absolutely unchanged. But do not argue with an older person. You may be right, but you are even more apt to be wrong, and it is much  more important to show a proper respect for the opinions  of older persons.” This was one of Mrs. Redmond’s rules.

“Can’t I read to you for a little while?” she said gently. “I see that your church paper has n’t been opened, and I’d be very happy to read that for a little  while.”

This offer cost Amy something, for, of all the things that she was in the habit of reading to cousin Joan, the  church paper was the one that wearied her the most.

As she began to unfold it, she looked out of the window. She was sorry a moment afterwards that she had done so, for there, on his bicycle, accompanied by another boy,