A Flock of Girls and Boys | Page 5

they met.
"I wonder where the boy is?" thought Peggy; "he and that New York
girl were nice." She glanced over her shoulder at this thought. There
was the boy; and--yes, he was standing at the office desk, carefully
examining the hotel register. "He's looking for our names!" flashed into
Peggy's mind, "and those girls set him up to it. I wonder what they'll
say to 'Mrs. Smith and niece'? I know; they'll say, or the girl they call
Agnes will say, 'Smith, of course! I knew they had some such common
name as that.'"
Something very like this comment did take place when Master Will, in
obedience to Dora Robson's request, brought the information that the
people at the corner table were Mrs. Smith and her niece. But if Peggy
could only have heard Will flash out upon this comment the further
information that very distinguished people had borne the name of
Smith,--could have heard him quote the famous English clergyman
Sydney Smith, whose wit and humor were so charming,--if Peggy
could have heard Will going on in this fashion, she would have thought
he was very nice indeed, and been quite delighted with his independent
outspokenness.
Agnes, however, was anything but delighted. She was, in fact, very
angry with Will by this time, and what she called his meddlesome,
domineering airs, and quite determined to let him know at the very first
opportunity that she was not in the least to be influenced by his
opinions.
The opportunity presented itself sooner than she expected. It was just
after luncheon, and a couple of Indians had come up from their
neighboring summer camp with a load of baskets for sale.
Dora and Tilly, with Mrs. Brendon and Agnes and Amy, went out to
them at once. Others soon followed, and a brisk bargaining began.
When the Indian woman held up a beautiful little basket skilfully
woven to imitate shells, there was a general exclamation of pleasure,
and one voice cried out with enthusiasm, "Oh, how lovely!" and the

owner of the voice reached forth to take the basket in her hand. Agnes
Brendon, turning quickly, saw that it was Mrs. Smith's niece.
"The idea of that girl pushing herself forward like this!" was Agnes's
whispered remark to Amy.
"Hush: she'll hear you," whispered back Amy.
"I don't care," answered Agnes, at the same time crowding herself to
the front and inquiring the price of the basket, with the determination to
get possession of it before any one else had a chance. But when the
price--two dollars--was named, Mrs. Brendon pronounced it exorbitant,
and offered half the sum, never doubting its acceptance. The Indian
woman, however, shook her head with an air of grim decision; and at
that very moment, catching sight of Mrs. Smith and her niece, she
nodded smilingly, repeated the price, and held the basket up again;
"Yes, yes, I'll take it," called out Peggy, nodding and smiling
responsively; and the next instant the basket was in her hands.
Agnes, not only disappointed, but deeply mortified and angry, turned
hastily to Dora Robson, and gave vent to her feelings by remarking in a
perfectly clear undertone,--
"The worst of a place like this is that you meet such common people,
with nothing to recommend them but their money."
Dora and Amy flushed with annoyance at this speech; but Tilly was so
disgusted and indignant that she broke away from them all with an
impatient exclamation, and started off across the lawn towards the
house. Halfway across she met Will Wentworth, with Tom
Raymond,--a great chum of his, who had just arrived by the noon boat.
"Hullo, what's up, what's the matter?" asked Will, as he perceived the
expression of Tilly's face.
Tilly stopped, and in a few graphic words told her story, winding up
with, "Wasn't it horrid of Agnes?"

"Horrid? It was beastly," sputtered Will. "She to call people common!"
"But that girl is not common," said Tilly. "She may belong to people
who have just made a lot of money,--for that's what Agnes meant to
fling out,--but there isn't any vulgar common show of it. Look at her,
how plainly she's dressed, and how quiet she is."
"Wonder what Agnes is up to now? Let's go and see," said Will,
wheeling about and nodding to Tilly and Tom to follow.
As they came along together, Will a little ahead, Tom Raymond was
quite silent until they approached the group collected around the
Indians; then he suddenly ejaculated, "Well, I never!"
"What? What do you mean?--what--who do you see?" asked Tilly, very
much surprised at this outbreak.
"Is that the girl--the Smith girl you were telling about--there by the
tree--holding a basket?" asked Tom.
"Yes; why--do you know her?"
"N-o--but--I was thinking--she doesn't look common, does she?"
"Of