to be her friend?"

"Certainly, if you are trying your best," said Mrs. Hirst. "We cannot
force our friendship where it is not wanted. You can await your
opportunity of doing Muriel a good turn; some day she may appreciate you
better. Kindness is never wasted, and even if it does not seem to have
any immediate result, it is doing its own quiet work, and may return to
you afterwards in ways which you never expect. We rarely find people
exactly to our liking, so the best plan is to pick out their good
points, and ignore the disagreeable side as much as we can. One of the
greatest secrets in life is to know how to smile and wait. I am sure you
will never regret being patient with Muriel, and who can tell that she
may not change her views, and learn to value what she now throws away."

Patty went back to school much consoled, and in a far more cheerful
frame of mind. She was determined that she would not let Muriel's
unkindness distress her any more. She would not avoid her cousin, but,
on the other hand, she would not make advances which would lay her open
to a rebuff, or give any opportunity for that scornful treatment which
had hurt her so much in the past. As her mother suggested, she would be
ready to help if occasion offered, but there seemed no need to press
services which were evidently neither desired nor welcome. Having
settled that point with her own conscience, Patty began thoroughly to
enjoy the summer term. The Priory was delightfully situated in the midst
of pretty country, and the girls were allowed many rambles in the woods
or on the heathery common. Occasionally the botany class would make an
excursion, under the superintendence of Miss Rowe, to obtain specimens
of wild flowers, which they afterwards pressed and pasted in books; and
once Miss Lincoln took the whole of the lower school to hunt for fossils
among the heaps of shale lying at the mouth of an old quarry. She
herself was both a keen geologist and naturalist, and tried to interest
her girls in all the specimens of stones, flowers, birds, or insects
which they found during their walks. "If you will only learn to talk
about things instead of people," she said, "you will avoid a great deal
of disagreeable gossip and ill-natured conversation. The wide world is
full of beautiful objects, and the more you know about them the less
concern you will take over your neighbours' doings and failings. Real
culture consists largely in being able to discuss thing