But I do not mean this as an excuse, I do not think it one.
If I had not felt like a thief perhaps I would not have been ashamed to
confess my fault before the other girls as I should have done before our
altar fire to-night. I tried but I did not have the courage, so I am
going away from camp. Please tell Miss McMurtry, Mollie and the other
girls and do not ask me to come back, for it is impossible. If I could
return your money, Betty, I should not feel so bitterly humiliated, but
as I cannot at present I would rather not see you until I can. Of
course we are no longer friends, for you cannot wish it, and always it
has seemed to me that your wealth and my poverty makes the gulf between
us. I can only say that I am truly sorry.
Yours sincerely,
POLLY
Having finished this ungracious note of apology Betty handed it without
comment to Esther and then buried her own head in the pillow. If Polly
could feel toward her in this manner because of a mistake which they had
both made, then nothing she could do or say would make any difference.
For to insist to Polly that she had a perfect right to use the money
found by accident would not be altogether true and would not change her
point of view, while to declare that the return of the money to its
rightful owner was a matter of indifference would only deepen the
misunderstanding.
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