icular
day it seemed as if some of the ingredients were wanting, for the
morning and afternoon passed, to the astonishment of all, without a
single "phiz" as the girls were wont somewhat felicitously to call the
frequent passages of arms in which the two girls considered it their
peculiar privilege to indulge.

Mona had slightly sneered at what she termed Minnie's latest "crank," on
the preceding evening, but she had been a good deal impressed by the
courage and simplicity of Minnie's conduct, and in reality admired it,
while she felt she could never emulate it. She was honest with herself
whatever she might be with others, and felt in a vague sort of way that
she might be doing a thing almost as admirable, if not as likely to
excite admiration, if she could even only for one day keep her sharp
tongue under control, and refrain from such exercises of the vein of
sarcasm which was her peculiar characteristic, as at other times she
held it almost necessary to perform. Thus it was that the school was
particularly quiet that day, for Minnie was also in a subdued mood, and
so when school was over and she was at liberty to walk off with Mabel,
she felt just in the frame of mind for the discussion to which she had
been looking forward all day.

She felt, however, that she could not proceed with it at present, on the
way home where they would be liable to interruption at almost every
turn, so she persuaded Mabel to come home with her. This was no very
difficult matter, any more than it was an infrequent occurrence, for
Minnie and Mabel were never very long separate, and having had to leave
without her friend on the previous evening, had been as much a
disappointment to Mabel as it had been to Minnie.

It was a remarkable feature in the friendship which existed between
them, that it was, and always had been free from that species of quarrel
called "huffs." In the case of nine girls' friendships out of ten, the
fact of one going off in the way Mabel had done, without an explanation
afterwards or an intimation before hand, would have formed a very strong
foundation whereon to raise a structure of evidence to prove that
something was amiss, which few girls could have resisted. But no such
idea entered Minnie's head. She simply concluded that something very
pressing had compelled Mabel to leave earlier than usual, and trusted
her too completely to connect it in any way with herself.

After dinner they proceeded with their lesson