Page:Rilla of Ingleside (1921).djvu/65

 did that little hussy of an Ethel Reese. What a flirt he is!”

“I don’t think he’s a flirt,” said Rilla as defiantly as two desperate sniffs would let her.

“Oh well, you'll know more about men when you're as old as I am,” said Mary patronizingly. “Mind you, it doesn’t do to believe all they tell you. Don't let Ken Ford think that all he has to do to get you on the string is to drop his handkerchief. Have more spirit than that, child.”

To be thus hectored and patronized by Mary Vance was unendurable! And it was unendurable to walk on stony roads with blistered heels and bare feet! And it was unendurable to be crying and have no handkerchief and not to be able to stop crying!

“I’m not thinking”—sniff—“about Kenneth”—sniff—“Ford”—two sniffs—“at all,” cried tortured Rilla.

“There's no need to fly off the handle, child. You ought to be willing to take advice from older people. I saw how you slipped over to the sands with Ken and stayed there ever so long with him. Your mother wouldn't like it if she knew.”

“I’ll tell my mother all about it—and Miss Oliver—and Walter,” Rilla gasped between sniffs. “You sat for hours with Miller Douglas on that lobster trap, Mary Vance! What would Mrs. Elliott say to that if she knew?”

“Oh, I’m not going to quarrel with you,” said Mary, suddenly retreating to high and lofty ground. “All I say is, you should wait until you’re grown up before you do things like that.”