A Flock of Girls and Boys | Page 8

smile as she said,--
"Perhaps the Pelhams, when they come, will take a fancy to her too,
and to that pretty name of Peggy."
The hot color rushed to Tilly's cheeks and the tears to her eyes as she
turned away. She knew perfectly well that Dora was thinking: "Oh,
your grandmother is only another old woman a good deal like Mrs.
Smith,--what is her judgment worth?"
Dora was a little ashamed of herself as Tilly left her. Indeed, she had
been a little ashamed of herself for some time,--ever since, in fact, she
had ranged herself on Agnes's side after the tennis affair; but once
having taken that side she was determined to stick to it, and to believe
that it was the right side, in spite of some qualms of conscience.
Her cousin Amy followed in the same path, and Agnes spared no pains
to keep them there. She felt that she could not afford to lose her only
allies. Every minute that had elapsed since she had flung down her
tennis racket in such anger and mortification had but increased this
mortification, and strengthened her resolve to show those boys and
Tilly Morris that she was right and they were wrong about "that girl."
Of course, when she set her face in this direction, she was on the
lookout for everything unfavorable; and everything, pretty nearly, was

turned into something unfavorable, so perverted and distorted had her
vision become. It was "Dora, did you notice this?" and "Amy, did you
see that?" until the two began to find the incessant harping upon one
subject rather wearisome, especially as the particular details thus
pointed out had never yet developed into matters of any importance.
"I wish Agnes wouldn't keep talking about that Smith girl all the time,
unless there was something more worth while to talk about," broke
forth Dora impatiently to Amy just after the interview with Tilly.
"So do I," Amy responded emphatically; then, laughing a little, "unless
there was some real big thing to tell."
"But I don't wonder Agnes doesn't like the girl, with Tilly and Will
taking up for her and making such a fuss;" and Dora indignantly
repeated Tilly's accusations. Amy caught at the word "persecution," as
Dora had done, and together they defended themselves against these
accusations with a zeal and ingenuity worthy of a better cause.
They were in the full tide of this talk when, as they rounded the curve
of the shore where they were walking, they came upon Agnes herself,
coming rapidly towards them.
"Oh, girls, I've been looking for you everywhere. I've got something I
want to show you," she exclaimed excitedly. "Come up here and sit
down;" and she led the way to a little cluster of rocks.
Dora and Amy glanced at each other rather apprehensively. Was Agnes
going to tell them something else about the Smith girl,--going to say.
"Did you notice this?" or "Did you see that?" in reference to some
detail that displeased her? They had worked themselves up into quite a
state of indignation against Tilly and the boys, and of increased
sympathy with Agnes; but they were so tired of hearing, "Did you
notice this?" "Did you see that?" when there had been such
uninteresting little things to "notice," to "see."
With these apprehensions flitting through their minds, the two girls
seated themselves to listen with very languid interest. But what was

that Agnes was unfolding,--a newspaper? And what was it she was
saying as she pointed to a certain column? She wanted them to read
that! The cousins looked at each other in a dazed, inquiring fashion;
and Agnes, starting forward, impatiently thrust the paper into Dora's
hand and cried sharply,--
"Read that; read that!"
Dora in a bewildered way read aloud this sentence, which in big black
letters stared her in the face,--
"Smithson, alias Smith."
"Well, go on, go on; read what is underneath," urged Agnes, as Dora
stopped; and Dora went on and read,--
"It seems that that arch schemer and swindler Frank Smithson, who got
himself out of the country so successfully with his ill-gotten gains from
the Star Mining Company, has dropped the last syllable from his too
notorious name, and is now figuring in South America under the name
of Smith. His wife and young son are with him, and the three are living
luxuriously in the suburbs of Rio, where Smithson has rented a villa.
An older child, a daughter of fourteen or fifteen, was left behind in this
country with Smithson's brother's widow, who has also taken the name
of Smith. They are staying at a summer resort not far from Boston."
The bewildered look on Dora's face did not disappear as she came to
the end of this statement.
"What did