right to speak except for myself. But if
you wish to know the truth, the opinion is pretty general."

"Have the girls the same attitude toward you, Peggy, because of your
interest in Ralph Marshall?" Mrs. Burton demanded. "You know how much of
your time and thought you give to him these days, even though you rarely
mention his name, and you have many more people to care for than Gerry,
who is rather singularly alone. If you girls are not fond of her I am
not surprised that she prefers Felipe Morris, who, after all, is
exceptionally attractive."

Peggy was suddenly upon the defensive.

"I don't think I have allowed my interest in Ralph to interfere with my
friendships with the Camp Fire girls," she argued defensively. "But I
did not intend being disagreeable about Gerry. She is always amiable and
sweet, only it is difficult not to resent her indifference and her
absorption in herself."

After this speech Mrs. Burton and Peggy continued their walk in silence
for a few moments. Then Mrs. Burton said in a different tone:

"When Gerry comes back this evening, Peggy, I wish you would try to be
particularly nice to her. If she has become too much interested in
Felipe I cannot help being sorry for her. I have never told you girls
much of Gerry's history because she preferred my not telling. But she
has had a hard time and no one has ever really cared for her. Her father
is dead and her mother an impossibly common person without any good
traits of character, so far as I have been able to discover, which would
redeem her commonness. So things will be all the more difficult for
Gerry if she is under the impression she cares for Felipe. In a little
time our Camp Fire summer will be over and they will be separated."

Peggy nodded. "I will do my best. I am sorry to have been so critical.
At least Gerry does not make disagreeable speeches about other people!
But you are mistaken if you think any of us has ever been unkind to
her; it is only that we have found it impossible to become intimate. Of
course she and Sally like each other. But if there are facts in Gerry's
life she does not wish to discuss, I can understand why she prefers not
to develop too close an intimacy with the rest of us, who know almost
everything about one another. But don't worry, I presume some accident
has delayed Gerry and Felipe. Suppose we return to camp? They may have
taken some other route and arrived by this time."

But of course Gerry was not at t