Page:Leah Reed--Brenda's summer at Rockley.djvu/366

346 done, and Amy’s wild flowers were Brenda’s sole dependence.

The good influence which Amy exercised over Brenda was, naturally enough, observed with great pleasure by  Mr. and Mrs. Barlow. They appreciated it all the more, because they knew that it was exercised almost without  any realization on Amy’s part that she was doing anything  for Brenda. Simply by acting herself, she had made herself so attractive to the latter that the more serious  standards of Amy seemed to Brenda well worth adopting. Naturally, she could n’t make them wholly her own, or at least, not all at once; and yet she had taken several  steps forward in the direction of higher ideals.

Julia, too, liked Amy very much. But Julia’s character was already more nearly formed than Brenda’s, and less  likely to be influenced. As she was much the same kind of girl as Amy, why was not her influence on her cousin  equally great? It is not in my power to answer this question exactly. But many young girls will admit that the members of their household are the last persons whose  influence they are willing to acknowledge. Brenda had overcome her early prejudice against Julia, and she seldom  now showed opposition to anything that her cousin suggested. But remembering the experience of the past winter, Julia was always slow in suggesting things to her  cousin. The indirect influence of Julia was stronger than she herself realized, and she was very glad indeed that  Brenda had been attracted to a girl of Amy’s fine  character.