"Oh, you must know! Aunt Sophia, for instance, and that awful time at Easterhaze, and the most terrible of all terrible days when I went to the White Bay, and Nancy King, and--and my birthday. I can't talk of these subjects. I will talk of anything else--of baby Marjorie, and how pretty she grows; how fond we are of nurse, and of father, and--oh!"
"Do you know that John is courting Betty? I know he is. He went up to her the other day in the garden and put his hand on her shoulder, and when he thought no one was by he kissed her. I hid behind the hedge, and I had the greatest difficulty to keep back a shout of merriment. Isn't it fun?"
"I suppose so," said Verena. "But, Pauline, what you say makes me unhappy. I wish I might talk out to you."
Pauline raised herself on her elbow and looked full into Verena's face.
"Where are your dresses?" she asked suddenly.
"My dresses! You silly girl! In that cupboard, of course. I am getting tidy. You know I would do anything I possibly could to please Aunt Sophy. I can't do big things to please her--I never shall be able to--so I do little things. I am so tidy that I am spick-and-span. I hate and loathe it; but I wouldn't leave a pin about for anything. You open that door and look for yourself. Do you see my skirts?"
Verena got off the bed and opened the cupboard door. Pauline had about half-a-dozen skirts, and they all hung neatly on their respective hooks. Amongst them was the thick blue serge which she had worn on the day when she had gone to the White Bay. Verena felt her heart beating fast. She felt the color rush into her cheeks. She paused for a moment as if to commune with her own heart. Then her mind was made up.
"What are you doing, Renny?" said her sister. "How funny of you to have gone into the cupboard!"
For Verena had absolutely vanished. She stood in the cupboard, and Pauline from the bed heard a rustle. The rustling grew louder, and Pauline wondered what it meant. A moment later Verena, her face as red as a turkey-cock, came out.
"Paulie," she said--"Paulie, there is no good going on like this. You have got to explain. You have got to get a load off your mind. You have got to do it whether you like it or not. How did you come by this? How--did--you--come--by--this?"