Brenda

“ It happened that Nora and Brenda were standing together, when Arthur Weston gave to them each her piece of wedding cake.
“Now, choose,” he said, mischievously, balancing a plate on each hand. “I should not for a moment dare to make the choice for you, as in that way I might be settling your fate for you.”
“Oh, Brenda would n’t mind that,” replied Nora; “she rather likes to have her future read for her.”
“Indeed!” exclaimed the young man, with a searching glance at Brenda. “Perhaps she traffics with fortune-tellers.” ”

“ With feet planted lightly on the slippery rocks, and a strong hand holding her hand to steady her progress over the wet weed, Brenda looked out across the expanse of darkening ocean that flowed away to the horizon, beyond it, till it flung its spent waters upon the quiet shores on the other side of the world, and her eyes were big, and filled with the wondering content that is born of happiness. ”

“ Brenda and Arthur were young and capable. Let them wait, at least until she came of age. Let her be tried by an ordeal of patient resistance. If she were worthy she could fight her family for those thirteen months and win her own triumph without injuring poor Banks.
And whether because I had communicated my thought to her by some change of attitude or because she intuitively shared my sympathy for her father, Anne turned to me just before she spoke, with a quick little, impatient gesture as if beseeching me not to interfere. ”

“ Weston had designed for him,—a most effective one with its crimson doublet, slashed sleeves, and long, silk trunk hose.
"Oh, don't talk about war," cried Brenda, almost pettishly, while Nora, whose sparkling eyes and bright smile showed that she, at least, had enjoyed the evening, said gently, "Come, Brenda, there are Agnes and Ralph beckoning to us; I suppose they wish to count us all to see that we are safe and sound before they start for home." ”

“ Brenda is not shallow or changeable; it may be her one chance of happiness that her parents in their anxious affection are trying to remove her from, and which she will cling to with every invisible fiber of her being until she conquers, or turns into a dismal old maid. Brenda is not like other girls. Love is serious to her. She never played with it as Leslie has always done, and as American girls do, yes, in Massachusetts and Virginia alike. She is an earnest, simple, sincere, constant nature, very much, in fact, like him. ”

“ While Julia and Amy were rather quiet, the quietest of the young people on the “Balloon,” Nora and Brenda and the two sophomores, or rather juniors, kept up a gay chattering. The scraps of conversation that floated to Mrs. Barlow’s ears often drew an involuntary smile.
“It may have been so in my day,” she said to herself, “but still I do think that the young people of the present day are more frivolous than they need be. They ought to be an improvement over their parents. Surely their advantages are greater. I wonder if Brenda will ever take life seriously.” ”

“ But Brenda did not heed Ralph's teasing, for already at the sound of three sharp peals of the door-bell she had rushed out to meet her cousin Julia.
"Oh, Julia, I have found just the girl for your school; she is an orphan and hates study, and—"
"Well, upon my word!" exclaimed Ralph, "those are certainly fine qualifications,—'an orphan and hates study'!"
"I understand what she means, or thinks she means," responded Julia, as she laughingly advanced to the centre of the room, greeting the family cordially, while Agnes helped her remove her hat and coat. ”

“ On the contrary, she did her part in helping when the Bazaar actually came off, and a little later, when Brenda got herself into difficulties, by a very foolish act, she came nobly to the rescue of her cousin. For this Brenda had been duly grateful, and the relation between the two girls was now most cousinly and cordial. Yet in the space of a few months a complete change of disposition is hardly to be looked for in even the best intentioned girl of fifteen. Brenda, therefore, although she now was fond of Julia, for some time was likely to be wilful, headstrong, and more or less selfish. ”

“ But what will Julia and the Mansion do without you next year?"
"Oh, I shall be at the Mansion until after Easter," replied Miss South, "and for the remainder of the year I think that Nora and Anstiss are willing to do double work. Beyond that we cannot look at present."
"Arthur," said Brenda, as they moved away, "you are not half as cheerful to-day as you were at Agnes' wedding. You and Ralph seem to have changed places. It is he who is making every one laugh. It does not seem natural for you to be so serious." ”

“ Brenda said.
He remembered that for a time he had forgotten. It seemed incredible now, with the small warm hand in his, and the sense of comradeship which the nearness of her, the friendly light in her eyes, conveyed, that ever it had been a matter of indifference to him whether he saw her again. There was not a shadow of doubt as to his pleasure at the moment.
She drew her hand away.
“The management may be watching me,” she said.
“Oh bother! There is always some one watching you,” he returned. “No matter! We will have our talk out where no one can watch us save the stars. ”

“ But the girls were able to conceal any embarrassment that they may have felt. Brenda put out her hand for the bride’s bouquet at just the right moment, and Julia helped her adjust her veil as they turned from the altar. Neither of them stumbled over Agnes's train, as they had been afraid they might when they had talked the matter over in advance; and the only criticisms made by the spectators were wholly in commendation of the bride’s youthful attendants. Brenda, as she passed the first pew, saw her mother furtively wiping her eyes, and this for a second made her feel a trifle sad. ”

“ We will go out and see the wonders of the night, and you will be in bed again and, peut-être, asleep, before Mademoiselle Brenda and Mademoiselle Fanchon appear.”
This sounded delicious, daring, extremely naughty, and altogether quite impossible to resist, to the little girls.
“You are quite a darling,” said Nina. “I only wish you were our governess instead of horrid Brenda!”
“Ah, méchante—but Brenda, whom you like not, is of the best. She has the principles the most high, and the desires the most perfect for your real advancement.” ”

“ Brenda made her joke with a merry laugh and showed all her pearly teeth.
“Come, Nina,” said Josie, who was in high good humour, “you must kiss Brenda; you were horribly rude to her.”
“Oh, I forgive her—poor little thing,” said Brenda. “Little girls don’t like the rod, do they? but sometimes they have to bear it, haven’t they? Now then, you little thing, cheer up, and make friends. I have found a delightful shop where we can have tea, bread and butter and shrimps, and afterwards we’ll sit on the beach—it’s great fun, sitting on the beach—and we’ll see nearly all the fashionable folks.” ”

“ I shall see enough of her."
"Tell us about her, Brenda," cried Nora who came out from the house for a moment. "Belle says she has come. What is she like?"
"Like? Why, like any girl. There's nothing special about her. She wears black and I think she feels kind of superior. It's going to be awfully hard for me."
"Yes, Brenda," said a thin-faced girl in the group back by Belle. "You don't think any one could be superior to you, do you?"
Brenda, with her back to the sidewalk, was ready with a sharp reply, when a warning look from one of the girls closed her lips. ”

“ But, if you must insist on that sort of symmetry, Brenda is not tall. He is a kind of Italian, more common than one thinks, that doesn’t get into literature, having nothing exciting, mysterious, wicked, or even conspicuously picturesque about him. After being a good son,–they are very often good sons,–he will be a good husband and a good father, like his own father before him. He is without vanity, while looking like a square-built, stocky, responsible Romeo. Devoted to duty, passionate for order, absolutely punctilious in matters of honor and courtesy, he is a good citizen, a good soldier. ”

“ As Martine courtesied her thanks for this compliment, she backed gracefully, and neither she nor Brenda realized that she was approaching too near a table of bric-à-brac, until it toppled over with a crash.
"Oh what have I done! No wedding presents smashed, I hope." There was a touch of dismay in Martine's voice.
"Not a thing that could break." Brenda's smile was reassuring. "Silver or brass, everyone of them. That's one thing I have already learned, not to have breakable things, if one values them, within anyone's reach. ”

“ Soon Tom Hearst and Julia, in their search for Brenda, came upon her in the garden.
"Well, here you are! We've been looking everywhere. The rest of the group has gone upstairs to be photographed. There's a man with a flashlight in one of the studios. Aren't you coming?"
The posing of the group took some time, and then there were single pictures, and Agnes and Ralph were taken together.
An idea came to Brenda. "Why shouldn't we form a group by ourselves?" Brenda had turned to Tom Hearst with her question. ”

“ I should think it would be great fun to have another girl in the house."
"Oh, well, Brenda can always have one of us. Her mother is so good about letting her invite people—and of course she can't tell how she'll get along with her cousin. No, I really shouldn't like it myself."
As Nora and Edith walked away, Brenda turned to Belle, in whom she always found a ready sympathizer.
"You know how I feel, Belle."
"Yes, indeed; I think it's too bad. I'm sure it will spoil half our fun. It's horrid anyway to have some one older than yourself ordering you round." ”

“ Then Belle, who prided herself on her tact, hastened to change what she knew might become a sore subject with Brenda.
"Were there many people you knew on the train, Miss——"
"Oh, please say Julia," broke in the young girl. "Every one always does. No, there wasn't any one I knew in the cars between here and Chicago. If I had not had Eliza I should have been very lonely."
Brenda had subsided into an unwonted silence. She was wondering how she could excuse herself to her cousin—whether her mother would really make her give up the tableaux for that evening. ”

“ You know that you always enjoy yourself when you are once in the water,” and Brenda pirouetted out of the room so energetically that Julia smiled, calling after her,—
“Don’t forget that it is a hot day!” A half-hour later the two cousins stood on the beach in their bathing-suits, and looked around for Amy and Fritz.
“We might as well go in without them,” Brenda at length exclaimed a little impatiently. “But I don’t see why they have n’t come; for Amy always does what she says she will do.” ”

“ Didn't you say she hadn't been at school much?"
"Oh, girls who have studied at home always think they know more than any one else. Oh, there, there!" and Brenda paused in her speech as a little child playing on the opposite sidewalk ran out into the street in front of the very wheels of a passing wagon. For a moment all held their breath, then Nora with a leap and a run was down the steps and in the street. Before the child realized its own danger she had snatched it from in front of the horses, and had dragged it to the sidewalk. ”

“ She constantly has the idea that something of importance has been concealed from her which she ought to know."
"Yes," replied Mrs. Barlow, "I am afraid that Brenda is hopelessly spoiled. We did not realize the danger when she was little. The other two girls were so different."
"It would not surprise me," responded Mr. Barlow, "if after all some change should come to Brenda's point of view from having to consider her cousin more or less." ”

“ Barlow to Mrs. Barlow, as Brenda walked away after this interview with her head bent as if in reflection. "Poor Brenda! This lesson will be a hard one, but if we are ready to help her out of every difficulty, she will never be able to stand alone. I, at least, could not feel justified in coming to the rescue just now."
After this conversation with her father, Brenda walked upstairs sadly, at least her head drooped a little, and any one who had followed her to her room would have found that the first thing she did was to fling herself, face downward on that broad chintz-covered lounge of hers. ”

“ PRESENTS AND PREPARATIONS The opening of the boxes containing the wedding presents for Agnes had given Brenda almost ceaseless occupation for the day or two immediately before the wedding, and indeed, from their first arrival, she had taken the boxes in charge, arranging the pretty things on tables and shelves in a sitting-room that was set aside for the purpose.
“Really, Brenda, I wish that you would let Julia take charge of this,” said Agnes, mildly. “You know that you are not the most careful girl in the world, and I’m afraid that you ’ll get the cards mixed up in some way.” ”

“ The bizarre contrast between her dark eyelashes and her fair hair seemed to find some kind of echo in the combination of health and fragility that she expressed in her movements. She appeared at once vital and delicate without being too highly-strung. I could well understand how the bucolic strain in Arthur Banks was prostrate with admiration before such a rare and exciting beauty.
By the side of Brenda, Anne looked physically robust. The developed lines of her figure emphasised Brenda’s fragility. And yet Anne’s eyes, her whole pose, expressed a spirituality that Brenda lacked. ”