"Perhaps. But don't you realize, honey, that we came near being
just as foolish as Rhoda Hammond when we came here last fall?"

"Oh, nonsense!" ejaculated Bess; but she blushed.

"Think," said Nan, with twinkling eyes. "Don't you remember that
shoe-box lunch we brought with us and that the girls made so much
sport of? Didn't you get vexed?"

"Oh! Well! Yes, a little," admitted Bess. "But, Nan! I never acted
as foolishly as this Rhoda Hammond. Now, did I?"

"No, you did not, my dear," agreed her chum.

But she might honestly have claimed credit for this being a fact.
It had been Nan's better sense and her strong influence over her
chum that had kept Bess Harley from acting quite as unwisely as
Rhoda Hammond was now acting.

"I expect," was all Nan said, however, "that this poor Rhoda is
going to have a very unhappy time of it here, unless she changes
her attitude."

"Well, she deserves to. She spoiled our fun and she hurt Minnie
badly. I suppose she's had no sort of bringing-up, coming right
from that wild country."

Nan chuckled. "I wonder! She thinks we lack proper up-bringing. She
compares us unfavorably with the Mexican and Indian girls she has
been used to out on the ranch from which she comes."