"But dear me, Win," interrupted the boy impatiently, "the mother consented when you asked to spend that afternoon at Dingle Cottage some time ago. Why should she turn round and condemn the friendship now?"
"Oh, I can explain that easily. Mamma was hurrying to go out with Clare and Edith when I begged permission, and said yes without making any inquiries; but she scarcely spoke to Nellie on Friday evening, and I cannot understand what has made her so angry all at once."
"Did she say anything against Nellie personally?"
"No; but she is not in my position in life, and I must not make a friend and confidante of her. We may speak at school of course, but that is all," and Winnie's grief burst out afresh at this point.
"I wonder," he said at length, a slow light dawning in his eyes, "if Ada Irvine can have been putting the mother up to this? It would be quite in keeping with some of her low dodges."
Winnie shook her head. "I thought so myself at first, but mamma led me to believe otherwise. She says Ada is such a sweet, amiable girl, and much more suitable in every way than Nellie for a friend. I fired up at that, however, and declared I hated Ada, adding she was a sneak, and did horrible things at school."
"Oh, you would give her true character to the mother, I have no doubt," put in Dick with twinkling eyes; "but the question is, 'What was the effect?'"
"'I was prejudiced--and no one is faultless in this world.'"
A short period of silence followed, during which Winnie wept copiously, and Dick sat beating a tattoo on the table.
"You'll soon have no eyes left," he observed practically, as the little drenched handkerchief was again brought into use to wipe away the flowing tears. "Cheer up, Win, old girl, and don't look as if your grandmother had died half an hour ago."
"But you do not know the worst of it yet, Dick," cried the girl, raising her tear-stained face and speaking in heart-breaking tones. "I promised Nellie I would come and spend one afternoon with her during the holidays, and now I can't get. Oh! I wish so much to go."
"Then do so," replied Dick doggedly. "There's no great harm in that; and after all, what reward does one receive for being conscientious and obedient?"