Page:The Climber (Benson).djvu/137

Rh "I've finished thinking," she said. "And—I'm sorry. And—thank you, you darling. Will you give me a kiss or not?"

There is, doubtless, such a thing as a falling-out that all the more endears; but there is, unfortunately, another sort of falling-out which does not have such happy results. Outwardly the reconciliation was complete, but to Maud it was as if an earthquake—very slight indeed, but perceptible—had made the very foundations of the noble building of her friendship with Lucia to tremble. The building stood there again, fine and beautiful, but there had been those moments of tremor which shook the foundations of it. And Lucia, on her side, said to herself that she must remember to be careful in what she told her friend. Maud was a darling, but she did not always completely understand. If a girl wanted a thing sufficiently, she would take reasonable steps to procure it, though she herself would never have taken these if they were not necessary. And she, Lucia, was the best judge of what steps were necessary in the management of her own affairs.