Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/226

210 Sometimes they lingered on the way to gratify Julia’s desire for a more beautiful view of the sea from some  point which she had not before visited, and sometimes  their drive had no definite object. Occasionally they stopped to pay a call on some girl whom they knew. For the summer residents were all now at their places, and Brenda had many friends in the handsome houses  scattered along the shore. It was all very charming to Amy, and all very new, this comfortable, care-free life  of which she thus had an occasional glimpse. It is true that she could not always join in the conversation, because  she was not thoroughly well-informed in its little personalities, and girls of sixteen have little to say to another  that is not in the nature of a personality. But Amy kept her ears and her eyes open, and she learned many things that in the future were likely to be of service to her. She learned, for one thing, to be a little frivolous; and she learned that while it is not necessary to pretend to  opinions that do not belong to one, it is no more necessary  in a general conversation to say all that one thinks. Self-restraint becomes a very important quality when five or six eager girls begin to discuss excitedly some subject  in which they are very much interested.

In fact, it is the girl with the most self-restraint who is apt to come out with flying colors in the end. Self-restraint was a natural quality which Amy had always possessed. Yet, with it, she had also had the habit of holding rather firmly to her own opinion, when once it had  been expressed. She really stood in need of some influence