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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25510-8.txt b/25510-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..46d3f84 --- /dev/null +++ b/25510-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11817 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Vivian, by L. T. Meade + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Betty Vivian + A Story of Haddo Court School + +Author: L. T. Meade + +Release Date: May 18, 2008 [EBook #25510] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY VIVIAN *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, the Marriott Library Rare Book +Collection at the University of Utah, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Betty Vivian + +_A Story of Haddo Court School_ + +By MRS. L. T. MEADE + +Author of + +"The Harmon Girls," "The Princess of the Revels," "Aylwyn's +Friends," "The School Queens," "Seven Maids," Etc. + +[Illustration] + +A. L. BURT, COMPANY, PUBLISHERS +NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter Page + + + I. YES OR NO 3 + II. WAS FANNY ELATED? 14 + III. GOING SOUTH 25 + IV. RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT 36 + V. THE VIVIANS' ATTIC 49 + VI. A CRISIS 64 + VII. SCOTCH HEATHER 80 + VIII. A NEW MEMBER 91 + IX. STRIVING FOR A DECISION 104 + X. RULE I. ACCEPTED 120 + XI. A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT 133 + XII. A VERY EVENTFUL DAY 137 + XIII. A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL 151 + XIV. TEA AT FARMER MILES'S 169 + XV. A GREAT DETERMINATION 180 + XVI. AFTERWARDS 194 + XVII. A TURNING-POINT 224 + XVIII. NOT ACCEPTABLE 234 + XIX. "IT'S DICKIE!" 246 + XX. A TIME OF DANGER 254 + XXI. A RAY OF HOPE 266 + XXII. FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE 282 + XXIII. RESTORATION 290 + + + + +BETTY VIVIAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +YES OR NO + + +Haddo Court had been a great school for girls for many generations. In +fact, for considerably over a century the Court had descended from +mother to daughter, who invariably, whatever her husband's name, took +the name of Haddo when she became mistress of the school. The reigning +mistress might sometimes be unmarried, sometimes the reverse; but she +was always, in the true sense of the word, a noble, upright, generous +sort of woman, and one slightly in advance of her generation. There had +never been anything low or mean known about the various head mistresses +of Haddo Court. The school had grown with the times. From being in the +latter days of the eighteenth century a rambling, low old-fashioned +house with mullioned windows and a castellated roof, it had gradually +increased in size and magnificence; until now, when this story opens, it +was one of the most imposing mansions in the county. + +The locality in which Haddo Court was situated was not very far from +London; but for various reasons its name will be withheld from the +reader, although doubtless the intelligent girl who likes to peruse +these pages will be easily able to discover its whereabouts. Haddo +Court, although within a measurable distance of the great metropolis, +had such large grounds, and such a considerable area of meadow and +forest land surrounding it, that it truly seemed to the girls who lived +there that they were in the heart of the country itself. This was indeed +the case; for from the Court you could see no other house whatsoever, +unless it were the picturesque abode of the head gardener or that of the +lodge-keeper. + +The school belonged to no company; it was the sole and undivided +possession of the head mistress. It combined the advantages of a +first-class high school with the advantages that the best type of +private school affords. Its rooms were lofty and abundantly supplied +with bright sunshine and fresh air. So popular was the school, and such +a tone of distinction did it confer upon the girls who were educated +there, that, although Mrs. Haddo did not scruple to expect high fees +from her pupils, it was as difficult to get into Haddo Court as it was +for a boy to become an inmate of Winchester or Eton. The girl whose +mother before her had been educated at the Court usually put down her +little daughter's name for admission there shortly after the child's +birth, and even then she was not always certain that the girl could be +received; for Mrs. Haddo, having inherited, among other virtues from a +long line of intelligent ancestors, great firmness of character, made +rules which she would allow no exception to break. + +The girls at Haddo Court might number one hundred and fifty; but nothing +would induce her, on any terms whatsoever, to exceed that number. She +had a staff of the most worthy governesses, many of whom had been +educated at the Court itself; others who bore testimony to the lamented +and much-loved memory of the late Miss Beale of Cheltenham; and others, +again, who had taken honors of the highest degree at the two +universities. + +Mrs. Haddo never prided herself on any special gift; but she was well +aware of the fact that she could read character with unerring instinct; +consequently she never made a mistake in the choice of her teachers. The +Court was now so large that each girl, if she chose, could have a small +bedroom to herself, or two sisters might be accommodated with a larger +room to share together. There was every possible comfort at the Court; +at the same time there was an absence of all that was enervating. +Comforts, Mrs. Haddo felt assured, were necessary to the proper growth +and development of a young life; but she disliked luxuries for herself, +and would not permit them for her pupils. The rooms were therefore +handsomely, though somewhat barely, furnished. There were no superfluous +draperies and few knick-knacks of any sort. There was, however, in each +bedroom a little book shelf with about a dozen of the best and most +suitable books--generally a copy of Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies," of +Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," of Milton's "Paradise Lost"; also one or +two books by the best writers of the present day. Works of E. V. Lucas +were not forgotten in that collection, and Mrs. Ewing's "Jackanapes" was +a universal favorite. + +The girls had one special library where classical works and books of +reference were found in abundance; also standard novels, such as the +best works of Thackeray and Dickens. In addition to this was a smaller +library where the girls were allowed to have their own private +possessions in the shape of books and drawings. This room was only used +by the girls of the upper school, and was seldom interfered with either +by the head mistress or the various teachers. + +Out of one hundred and fifty girls it would be impossible to describe +more than a few; but at the time when this story opens there was in the +upper school a little band of devoted friends who adored each other, who +had high aims and ambitions, who almost worshiped Mrs. Haddo, and, as +far as possible, endeavored to profit by her excellent training. The +names of the girls in question were Susie Rushworth, who was seventeen +years of age, and would in a year's time be leaving the Court; Fanny +Crawford, her cousin and special friend--Fanny and Susie were much of +the same age, Fanny being a little the younger of the two--two sisters +named Mary and Julia Bertram; Margaret Grant, who was tall, dark, and +stately, and Olive Repton, everybody's favorite, a bright-eyed, +bewitching little creature, with the merriest laugh, a gay manner, and +with brilliant powers of repartee and a good-natured word for every +one--she was, in short, the life of the upper school. + +None of these girls was under sixteen years of age; all were slightly +above the average as regards ability, and decidedly above the average as +regards a very high standard of morals. They had all been brought up +with care. They knew nothing of the vanities of the world, and their +great ambition in life was to walk worthily in the station in which they +were born. They were all daughters of rich parents--that is, with the +exception of Olive Repton, whose mother was a widow, and who, in +consequence, could not give her quite so many advantages as her +companions received. Olive never spoke on the subject, but she had wild, +impossible dreams of earning her own living by and by. She was not +jealous nor envious of her richer schoolfellows. She was thoroughly +happy, and enjoyed her life to the utmost. + +Among the teachers in the school was a certain Miss Symes, an +Englishwoman of very high attainments, with lofty ideas, and the +greatest desire to do the utmost for her pupils. Miss Symes was not more +than six-and-twenty. She was very handsome--indeed, almost +beautiful--and she had such a passion for music and such a lovely voice +that the girls liked to call her Saint Cecilia. Miss Arundel was another +teacher in the school. She was much older than Miss Symes, but not so +highly educated. She only occasionally came into the upper school--her +work was more with the girls of the lower school--but she was kind and +good-natured, and was universally popular because she could bear being +laughed at, and even enjoyed a joke against herself. Such a woman would +be sure to be a favorite with most girls, and Mary Arundel was as happy +in her life at the Court as any of her pupils. There were also French +and German governesses, and a lady to look after the wardrobes of the +older girls, and attend to them in case of any trifling indisposition. + +Besides the resident teachers there was the chaplain and his wife. The +chaplain had his own quarters in a distant wing of the school. His name +was the Reverend Edmund Fairfax. He was an elderly man, with white hair, +a benign expression of face, and gentle brown eyes. His wife was a +somewhat fretful woman, who often wished that her husband would seek +preferment and leave his present circumscribed sphere of action. But +nothing would induce the Reverend Edmund Fairfax to leave Mrs. Haddo so +long as she required him; and when he read prayers morning and evening +in the beautiful old chapel, which had been built as far back as the +beginning of the eighteenth century, the girls loved to listen to his +words, and even at times shyly confided their little troubles to him. + +Such was the state of things at Haddo Court when this story opens. Mrs. +Haddo was a woman of about thirty-eight years of age. She was tall and +handsome, of a somewhat commanding presence, with a face which was +capable, in repose, of looking a little stern; but when that same face +was lit up by a smile, the heart of every girl in the school went out to +her, and they thought no one else like her. + +Mrs. Haddo was a widow, and had no children of her own. Her late husband +had been a great friend of Mr. Fairfax. At his death she had, after +careful reflection, decided to carry on the work which her mother had so +successfully conducted before her. Everything was going well, and there +was not a trace of care or anxiety on Mrs. Haddo's fine face. + +There came a day, however, when this state of things was doomed to be +altered. There is no Paradise, no Garden of Eden, without its serpent, +and so Janet Haddo was destined to experience. The disturbing element +which came into the school was brought about in the most natural way. +Sir John Crawford, the father of one of Mrs. Haddo's favorite pupils, +called unexpectedly to see the good lady. + +"I have just got the most exciting piece of news for you," he said. + +"Indeed!" replied Mrs. Haddo. + +She never allowed herself to be greatly disturbed, but her heart did +beat a trifle faster when she saw how eager Sir John appeared. + +"I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order not to lose a +moment," continued the good baronet. "I don't want to see Fanny at +present. This has nothing whatever to do with Fanny. I have come to tell +you that a wonderful piece of news has reached me." + +"What can that be?" asked Mrs. Haddo. She spoke with that gracious calm +which always seemed to pervade her presence and her words. + +"Do relieve my mind at once!" said Sir John. "Is it possible that +you--you, Mrs. Haddo, of Haddo Court--have at the present moment three +vacancies in your school?" + +Mrs. Haddo laughed. "Is that all?" she said. "But they can be filled up +to-morrow ten times over, if necessary." + +"But you _have_ three vacancies--three vacancies in the upper school? It +is true--I see it is true by your face. Please assure me on that point +without delay!" + +"It happens to be true," said Mrs. Haddo, "although I do not want the +matter mentioned. My three dear young pupils, the Maitlands, have been +unable to return to school owing to the fact that their father has been +made Governor of one of the West India Islands. He has insisted on +taking his family out with him; so I have lost dear Emily, Jane, and +Agnes. I grieve very much at their absence. They all came to see me last +week to say good-bye; and we had quite a trying time, the children are +so affectionate. I should have greatly loved to keep them longer; but +their father was determined to have them with him, so there was nothing +to be done but submit." + +"Oh, Mrs. Haddo, what is one person's loss is another person's gain!" + +"I don't understand you, Sir John," was the good lady's reply. + +"If you have three vacancies, you can take three more girls. You can +take them into the school at once, can you not?" + +"I can, certainly; but, as a matter of fact, I am in no hurry. I shall +probably be obliged to fill up the vacancies next term from the list of +girls already on my books. I shall, as my invariable custom is, promote +some girls from the lower school to the upper, and take three new little +girls into the lower school. But there is really no hurry." + +"Yes, but there is every hurry, my friend--every hurry! I want you to +take three--three _orphan_ girls--three girls who have neither father +nor mother; I want you to take them at once into the upper school. They +are not specially well off; but I am their guardian, and your terms +shall be mine. I have just come from the death-bed of their aunt, one of +my dearest friends; she was in despair about Betty and Sylvia and Hester +Vivian. They are three sisters. They have been well educated; and, +although I don't know them personally, any girl brought up by Frances +Vivian, my dear friend who has just passed away, could not but be in all +respects a desirable inmate of any school. I am forced to go to India +immediately, and must ask you to look after Fanny for me during the next +vacation. Now, if you would only take the Vivians I should go away with +a light heart. Do you say 'Yes,' my dear friend! Remember how many of my +name have been educated at Haddo Court. You cannot refuse me. I am +certain you will not." + +"I never take girls here on the plea of friendship--even for one like +yourself, Sir John. I must know much more about these children before I +agree to admit them into my school." + +Sir John's face became very red, and just for a minute he looked almost +angry. + +"Oh, Mrs. Haddo," he said then, "do banish that alarmingly severe +expression from your face and look kindly on my project! I can assure +you that Frances Vivian, after whom my own Fanny has been called, had +the finest character in the world. Ah, my dear friend, I have you +now--her own sister was educated here. Now, isn't that guarantee enough? +Look back on the past, refer to the old school-books, and you will see +the name of Beatrice Vivian in the roll-call." + +"What can you tell me about the girls themselves?" said Mrs. Haddo, who +was evidently softened by this reference to the past. "I remember +Beatrice Vivian," she continued, before the baronet had time to speak. +"She was a very charming girl, a little older than myself, and she was +undoubtedly a power for good in the school." + +"Then, surely, that makes it quite all right?" said Sir John. "Mrs. +Haddo, you must pity me. I have to place these girls somewhere in a week +from now. I am responsible for them. They are homeless; they are young; +they are good-looking." + +"Tell me something about their characters and dispositions," said Mrs. +Haddo. + +"I can tell you nothing. I only saw Betty for two or three minutes; she +was in a state of wild, tempestuous grief, poor child! I tried to +comfort her, but she rushed away from me. Sylvia was nearly as bad; +while as to poor Hetty, she was ill with sorrow." + +"Well, I will think the matter over and let you know," said Mrs. Haddo. +"I never decide anything hastily, so I cannot say more at present." + +The baronet rose. "I had best have a peep at Fanny before I go," he +said. "I am only going as far as London to-night, so you can wire your +decision--'Yes' or 'No'--to the Ritz Hotel. Poor Fanny! she will be in +trouble when she hears that I cannot receive her at Christmas; but I +leave her in good hands here, and what can any one do more?" + +"Please promise me one thing, Sir John," said Mrs. Haddo. "Do not say +anything to Fanny about the Vivians. Allow me to tell her when I have +decided that they are to come to the school. If I decide against it, she +need never know. Now, shall I ring and ask one of the servants to send +her to you? Believe me, Sir John, I will do my very utmost to oblige you +in this matter; but I must be guided by principle. You know what this +school means to me. You know how earnestly I have at heart the welfare +of all my children, as I call the girls who live at Haddo Court." + +"Yes, yes, I know; but I think, somehow, that you will agree to my +request." + +"Send Miss Crawford here," said Mrs. Haddo to a servant who appeared at +that moment, and a minute later Fanny entered the room. She gave a cry +of delight when she saw her father, and Mrs. Haddo at once left them +alone together. + +The day was a half-holiday, and the head mistress was glad of the fact, +for she wanted to have a little time to think over Sir John's request. +Haddo Court had hitherto answered so admirably because no girl, even if +her name had been on the books for years, was admitted to the school +without the head mistress having a personal interview, first with her +parents or guardians, and afterwards with the girl herself. Many an +apparently charming girl was quietly but courteously informed that she +was not eligible for the vacancy which was to be filled, and Mrs. Haddo +was invariably right in her judgment. With her shrewd observation of +character, she saw something lacking in that pretty, or careless, or +even thoughtful, or sorrowful face--something which might _aspire_, but +could never by any possibility _attain_, to what the head mistress +desired to inculcate in the young lives around her--and now Mrs. Haddo +was asked to receive three girls under peculiar circumstances. They were +orphans and needed a home. Sir John Crawford was one of her oldest +friends. The Crawfords had always been associated with Haddo Court, and +beautiful Beatrice Vivian had received her education there. Surely there +could not be anything wrong in admitting three young girls like the +Vivians to the school? But yet there was her invariable rule. Could she +possibly see them? One short interview would decide her. She looked +round the beautiful home in which had grown up the fairest specimens of +English girlhood, and wondered if, for once, she might break her rule. + +Sir John Crawford had gone to the Ritz Hotel. There he was to await Mrs. +Haddo's telegram. But she would not telegraph; she would go to London +herself. She took the first train from the nearest station, and arrived +unexpectedly at the "Ritz" just as Sir John was sitting down to dinner. + +"I see by your face, my dear, good friend, that you are bringing me the +best of news!" said the eager man, flushing with pleasure as Mrs. Haddo +took a seat by his side. "You will join me at dinner, of course?" + +"No, thank you, Sir John. I shall have supper at the Court on my return. +I will tell you at once what I have come about. I have, as you must know +well, never admitted a girl into my school without first seeing her and +judging for myself what her character was likely to be. I should +greatly like to help you in the present case, which is, I will admit, a +pressing one; and girls of the name of Vivian, and also related to you, +have claims undoubtedly on Haddo Court. Nevertheless, I am loath to +break my rule. Is it possible for me to see the girls?" + +"I fear it is not," said Sir John. "I did not tell you that poor Frances +died in the north of Scotland, and I could not possibly get the girls up +to London in time for you to interview them and then decide against +them. It must be 'Yes' or 'No'--an immediate 'Yes' or 'No,' Mrs. Haddo; +for if you say 'No' and I pray God you won't--I must see what is the +next best thing I can do for them. Poor children! they are very lonely +and unhappy; but, of course, there _are_ other schools. Perhaps you +could recommend one, if you are determined to refuse them without an +interview?" + +Mrs. Haddo could never tell afterwards why a sudden fit of weakness and +compassion overcame her. Perhaps it was the thought of the other +schools; for she was a difficult woman to please, and fastidious and +perhaps even a little scornful with regard to some of the teaching of +the present day. Perhaps it was the sight of Sir John's troubled face. +Perhaps it was the fact that there never was a nicer girl in the school +than Beatrice Vivian--Beatrice, who was long in her grave, but who had +been loved by every one in the house; Beatrice, whom Mrs. Haddo herself +remembered. It was the thought of Beatrice that finally decided the good +lady. + +"It _is_ against my rule," she said, "and I hope I am not doing wrong. I +will take the children; but I make one condition, Sir John, that if I +find they do not fulfill the high expectations which are looked for in +every girl who comes to Haddo Court, I do my best to place them +elsewhere." + +"You need not be afraid," said Sir John. His voice shook with delight +and gratitude. "You will never regret this generous act; and, believe +me, my dear friend, there is no rule, however firm, which is not +sometimes better broken than kept." + +Alas, poor Sir John! he little knew what he was saying. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WAS FANNY ELATED? + + +Mrs. Haddo slept very little that night. Miss Symes, who adored the head +mistress, could not help noticing that something was the matter with +her; but she knew Mrs. Haddo's nature far too well to make any +inquiries. The next day, however, Miss Symes was called into the head +mistress's presence. + +"I want to speak to you all alone," said Mrs. Haddo. "You realize, of +course, Emma, how fully I trust you?" + +"You have always done so, dear Mrs. Haddo," replied the young teacher, +her beautiful face flushing with pleasure. + +"Well, now, I am going to trust you more fully still. You noticed, or +perhaps you did not, that Sir John Crawford, Fanny's father, called to +see me yesterday?" + +"Fanny herself told me," replied Miss Symes. "I found the poor, dear +child in floods of tears. Sir John Crawford is going to India +immediately, and Fanny says she is not likely to see him again for a +year." + +"We will cheer her up all we can," said Mrs. Haddo. "I have many schemes +for next Christmas which will, I am sure, give pleasure to the girls who +are obliged to stay here. But time enough for all that later on. You +know, of course, Emma, that there are three vacancies in the upper +school?" + +"Caused by the absence of the dear young Maitlands," replied Miss Symes. +"I cannot tell you how much we miss them." + +"We do miss them," said Mrs. Haddo, who paused and looked attentively at +Miss Symes. "I don't suppose," she continued, "that there is any teacher +in the school who knows so much about the characters of the girls as you +do, my dear, good Emma." + +"I think I know most of their characters," said Miss Symes; "characters +in the forming, as one must assuredly say, but forming well, dear Mrs. +Haddo. And who can wonder at that, under your influence?" + +Mrs. Haddo's face expressed a passing anxiety. + +"Is anything wrong?" said Miss Symes. + +"Why do you ask me, Emma? Have you--noticed anything?" + +"Yes, certainly. I have noticed that you are troubled, dear friend; and +Mary Arundel has also observed the same." + +"But the girls--the girls have said nothing about it?" inquired Mrs. +Haddo. + +"No; but young girls cannot see as far into character as older people +can." + +"Well, now," said Mrs. Haddo, "I will be frank with you. What I say to +you, you can repeat to Mary Arundel. I feel proud to call you both my +flag lieutenants, who always hold the banner of high principle and +virtue aloft, and I feel certain you will do so to the end. Emma, Sir +John Crawford came to see me yesterday on a very important matter; and, +partly to oblige him, partly because of an old memory, partly also +because it seemed to me that I must trust and hope for the best in +certain emergencies, I have agreed to do what I never did +before--namely, to take three girls into the school--yes, into the upper +school, in place of the three Maitlands. These girls are called Betty, +Sylvia, and Hester Vivian. They are the nieces of that dear woman, +Beatrice Vivian, who was educated at this school years ago. I expect +them to arrive here on Monday next. In the meantime you must prepare the +other girls for their appearance on the scene. Do not blame me, Emma, +nor look on me with reproachful eyes. I quite understand what you are +thinking, that I have broken a rule which I have always declared I would +never break--namely, I am taking these girls without having first +interviewed them. Such is the case. Now, I want you, in particular, to +tell Fanny Crawford that they are coming. Fanny is their cousin. Sir +John is their guardian. Sir John knows nothing whatever about their +disposition, but I gather from some conversation which I had with him +last night that Fanny is acquainted with them. Observe, dear, how she +takes the news of their coming. If dear Fanny looks quite happy about +them, it will certainly be a rest to my mind." + +"Oh, I will talk to her," said Miss Symes, rising. "And now, please, +dear Mrs. Haddo, don't be unhappy. You have done, in my opinion, the +only thing you could do; and girls with such high credentials must be +all right." + +"I hope they will prove to be all that is desirable," said Mrs. Haddo. +"You had better have a talk with Miss Ludlow with regard to the rooms +they are to occupy. Poor children! they are in great trouble, having +already lost both their parents, and are now coming to me because their +aunt, Miss Vivian, has just died. It might comfort them to be in that +large room which is near Fanny's. It will hold three little beds and the +necessary furniture without any crowding." + +"Yes, it would do splendidly," said Miss Symes. "I will speak to Miss +Ludlow. I suppose, now, I ought to return to my school duties?" + +Miss Symes was not at all uneasy at what Mrs. Haddo had told her. Hers +was a gentle and triumphant sort of nature. She trusted most people. She +had a sublime faith in the good, not the bad, of her fellow-creatures. +Still, Mrs. Haddo had done a remarkable thing, and Miss Symes owned to +herself that she was a little curious to see how Fanny Crawford would +take the news of the unexpected advent of her relatives. + +It was arranged that the Vivians were to arrive at Haddo Court on the +following Monday. To-day was Wednesday, and a half-holiday. +Half-holidays were always prized at Haddo Court; and the girls were now +in excellent spirits, full of all sorts of schemes and plans for the +term which had little more than begun, and during which they hoped to +achieve so much. Fanny Crawford, in particular, was in earnest +conversation with Susie Rushworth. They were forming a special plan for +strengthening what they called the bond of union in the upper school. +Fresh girls were to be admitted, and all kinds of schemes were in +progress. Susie had a wonderfully bright face, and her eager words fell +on Miss Symes's ears as she approached the two girls. + +"It's all very fine for you, Susie," Fanny was heard to say; "but this +term seems to me quite intolerable. You will be going home for +Christmas, but I shall have to stay at the school. Oh, of course, I love +the school; but we are all proud of our holidays, and father had all but +promised to take me to Switzerland in order to get some really good +skating. Now everything is knocked on the head; but I suppose I must +submit." + +"I couldn't help overhearing you, Fanny," said Miss Symes, coming up to +the girls at that moment; "but you must look on the bright side, my +love, and reflect that a year won't be long in going by. I know, of +course, to what you were alluding--your dear father's sudden departure +for India." + +"Yes, St. Cecilia," replied Fanny, looking up into Miss Symes's face; +"and I am sure neither Susie nor I mind in the least your overhearing +what we were talking about. Do we Susie?" + +"No," replied Susie; "how could we? St. Cecilia, if you think you have +been playing the spy, we will punish you by making you sing for us +to-night." + +Here Susie linked her hand lovingly through Miss Symes's arm. Miss Symes +bent and kissed the girl's eager face. + +"I will sing for you with pleasure, dear, if I have a moment of time to +spare. But now I have come to fetch Fanny. I want to have a little talk +with her all by herself. Fan, will you come with me?" + +Fanny Crawford raised her pretty, dark eyebrows in some surprise. What +could this portend? There was a sort of code of honor at the school that +the girls were never to be disturbed by the teachers during the +half-holiday hours. + +"Come, Fanny," said Miss Symes; and the two walked away in another +direction for some little distance. + +The day was a glorious one towards the end of September. Miss Symes +chose an open bench in a part of the grounds where the forest land was +more or less cleared away. She invited Fanny to seat herself, and took a +place by her side. + +"Now, my dear," she said, "I have a piece of news for you which will, I +think, please you very much." + +"Oh, what can please me when father is going?" said Fanny, her eyes +filling with tears. + +"Nevertheless, this may. You have, of course, heard of--indeed, I have +been given to understand that you know--your cousins, the Vivians?" + +Fanny's face flushed. It became a vivid crimson, then the color faded +slowly from her cheeks; and she looked at Miss Symes, amazement in her +glance. "My cousins--the Vivians!" she exclaimed. "Do you mean +Betty--Betty and her sisters?" + +"Yes, I think Betty is the name of one of the girls." + +"There are three," said Fanny. "There's Betty, who is about my age; and +then there are the twins, Sylvia and Hetty." + +"Then, of course, you _do_ know them, dear?" + +"Yes, I know them. I went to stay with them in Scotland for a week +during last holidays. My cousin--their aunt, Miss Vivian--was very ill, +however, and we had to keep things rather quiet. They lived at a place +called Craigie Muir--quite beautiful, you know, but very, very wild." + +"That doesn't matter, dear." + +"Well, why are you speaking to me about them? They are my cousins, and I +spent a week with them not very long ago." + +"You observed how ill Miss Vivian was?" + +"I used to hear that she was ill; Sylvia used to tell me. Betty couldn't +stand anything sad or depressing, so I never spoke to her on the +subject." + +"And you--you liked your cousins? You appreciated them, did you not, +Fanny?" + +"I didn't know them very well," said Fanny in a slightly evasive voice. + +Miss Symes felt her heart sink within her. She knew Fanny Crawford well. +She was the last girl to say a word against another; at the same time +she was exceedingly truthful. + +"Well, dear," said Miss Symes, "your father came here yesterday in order +to----" + +"To see me, of course," interrupted Fanny; "to tell me that he was going +to India. Poor darling dad! It was a terrible blow!" + +"Sir John came here on other business also, Fanny. He wanted to see Mrs. +Haddo. You know that poor Miss Vivian is dead?" + +"Oh, yes," said Fanny. Then she added impulsively, "Betty will be in a +terrible state!" + +"It may be in your power to comfort her, dear." + +"To comfort Betty Vivian! What do you mean?" + +"It has just been arranged between Mrs. Haddo and your father, who is +now the guardian of the girls, that they are all three to come here as +pupils in the school. They will arrive here on Monday. You are glad, are +you not, Fan?" + +Fanny started to her feet. She stood very still, staring straight before +her. + +"You are glad--of course, Fanny?" + +Fanny then turned and faced her governess. "Do you want the truth, +or--or--a lie?" + +"Fanny, my dear, how can you speak to me in that tone? Of course I want +the truth." + +"Then I am not glad." + +"But, my dear, consider. Those poor girls--they are orphans almost in a +double sense. They are practically alone in the world. They are your +cousins. You must have a very strong reason for saying what you have +said--that you are not glad." + +"I am not glad," repeated Fanny. + +Miss Symes was silent. She felt greatly disturbed. After a minute she +said, "Fanny, is there anything in connection with the Vivians which, in +your opinion, Mrs. Haddo ought to know?" + +"I won't tell," said Fanny; and now her voice was full of agitation. She +turned away and suddenly burst out crying. + +"My dear child! my dear child! you are upset by the thought of your +father's absence. Compose yourself, my love. Don't give way, Fanny, +dear. Try to have that courage that we all strive to attain at Haddo +Court." + +Fanny hastily dashed away her tears. Then she said, after a pause, "Is +it fixed that they are to come?" + +"Yes, it is quite fixed." + +"Miss Symes, you took me at first by surprise, but when the Vivians +arrive you will see that I shall treat them with the affection due to +cousins of my own; also, that I will do my utmost to make them happy." + +"I am sure of it, my love. You are a very plucky girl!" + +"And you won't tell Mrs. Haddo that I seemed distressed at the thought +of their coming?" + +"Do you really wish me not to tell her?" + +"I do, most earnestly." + +"Now, Fanny, I am going to trust you. Mrs. Haddo has been more or less +driven into a corner over this matter. Your dear, kind father has been +suddenly left in sole charge of those three young girls. He could not +take them to India with him, and he had no home to offer them in this +country. Mrs. Haddo, therefore, contrary to her wont, has agreed to +receive them without the personal interview which she has hitherto +thought essential." + +Fanny smiled. "Oh, can I ever forget that interview when my turn came to +receive it? I was at once more frightened and more elated than I +believed it possible for any girl to be. I loved Mrs. Haddo on the spot, +and yet I shook before her." + +"But you don't fear her now, dear?" + +"I should fear her most frightfully if I did anything wrong." + +"Fanny, look down deep into your heart, and tell me if, in keeping +something to yourself which you evidently know concerning your cousins, +you are doing right or wrong." + +"I will answer your question to-morrow," replied Fanny. "Now, may I go +back to the others; they are waiting for me?" + +"Yes, you may go, dear." + +"The Vivians come here on Monday?" said Fanny as she rose. + +"Yes, dear, on Monday. By the way, Miss Ludlow is arranging to give them +the blue room, next to yours. You don't object, do you?" + +"No," said Fanny. The next minute the girl was out of sight. + +Miss Symes sat very still. What was the matter? What was Fanny Crawford +trying to conceal? + +That evening Mrs. Haddo said to Miss Symes, "You have told Fanny that +her cousins are coming?" + +"Yes." + +"And how did she take it?" + +"Fanny is very much upset about her father's absence," was Miss Symes's +unexpected answer. + +Mrs. Haddo looked attentively at the English teacher. Their eyes met, +but neither uttered a single word. + +The next day, after school, Fanny went up to Miss Symes. "I have been +thinking over everything," she said, "and my conscience is not going to +trouble me; for I know, or believe I know, a way by which I may help +them all." + +"It is a grand thing to help those who are in sorrow, Fanny." + +"I will do my best," said the girl. + +That evening, to Miss Symes's great relief, she heard Fanny's merry +laugh in the school. The girls who formed the Specialities, as they were +called, had met for a cheerful conference. Mary and Julia Bertram were +in the highest spirits; and Margaret Grant, with her beautiful +complexion and stately ways, had never been more agreeable. Olive +Repton, the pet and darling of nearly the whole of the upper school, was +making the others scream with laughter. + +"There can be nothing very bad," thought Miss Symes to herself. "My dear +friend will soon see that the charitable feeling which prompted her to +receive those girls into the house was really but another sign of her +true nobility of character." + +Meanwhile Fanny, who was told not to keep the coming of the Vivians in +any way a secret, was being eagerly questioned with regard to them. + +"So you really saw them at their funny home, Craigie Muir?" exclaimed +Olive. + +"Yes; I spent a week there," said Fanny. + +"And had a jolly good time, I guess?" cried Julia Bertram. + +"Not such a very good time," answered Fanny, "for Miss Vivian was ill, +and we had to be very quiet." + +"Oh! don't let's bother about the time Fanny spent in that remote part +of Scotland," said Olive. "Do tell us about the girls themselves, Fan. +It's so unusual for any girls to come straight into the upper school, +and also to put in an appearance in the middle of term. Are they very +Scotch, to begin with?" + +"No, hardly at all," replied Fanny. "Miss Vivian only took the pretty +little cottage in which they live a year ago." + +"I am glad they are not too Scotch," remarked Susie; "they will get into +our ways all the sooner if they are thoroughly English." + +"I don't see that for a single moment," remarked Olive. "For my part, I +love Scotch lassies; and as to Irish colleens, they're simply adorable." + +"Well, well, go on with your description, Fan," exclaimed Julia. + +"I can tell you they are quite remarkable-looking," replied Fanny. +"Betty is the eldest. She is a regular true sort of Betty, up to no end +of larks and fun; but sometimes she gets very depressed. I think she is +rather dark, but I am not quite sure; she is also somewhat tall; and, +oh, she is wonderfully pretty! She can whistle the note of every bird +that ever sang, and is devoted to wild creatures--the moor ponies and +great Scotch collies and sheep-dogs. You'll be sure to like Betty +Vivian." + +"Your description does sound promising," remarked Susie; "but she will +certainly have to give up her wild ways at Haddo Court." + +"What about the others?" asked Olive. + +"Sylvia and Hetty? I think they are two years younger than Betty. They +are not a bit like her. They are rather heavy-looking girls, but still +you would call them handsome. They are twins, and wonderfully like each +other. Sylvia is very tender-hearted; but Hetty--I think Hetty has the +most force of character. Now, really," continued Fanny, rising from her +low chair, where her chosen friends were surrounding her, "I can say +nothing more about them until they come. You can't expect me, any of +you, to overpraise my own relations, and, naturally, I shouldn't abuse +them." + +"Why, of course not, you dear old Fan!" exclaimed Olive. + +"I must go and write a letter to father," said Fanny; and she went +across the room to where her own little desk stood in a distant corner. + +After she had left them, Olive bent forward, looked with her merry, +twinkling eyes full into Susie Rushworth's face, and said, "Is the dear +Fan _altogether_ elated at the thought of her cousins' arrival? I put it +to you, Susie, as the most observant of us all. Answer me truthfully, or +for ever hold your peace." + +"Then I will hold my peace," replied Susie, "for I cannot possibly say +whether Fan is elated or not." + +"Now, don't get notions in your head, Olive," said Mary Bertram. "That +is one of your faults, you know. I expect those girls will be downright +jolly; and, of course, being Fan's relations, they will become members +of the Specialities. That goes without saying." + +"It doesn't go without saying at all," remarked Olive. "The +Specialities, as you know quite well, girls, have to stand certain +tests." + +"It is my opinion," said Susie, "that we are all getting too high and +mighty for anything. Perhaps the Vivians will teach us to know our own +places." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GOING SOUTH + + +It was a rough stone house, quite bare, only one story high, and without +a tree growing anywhere near it. It stood on the edge of a vast Scotch +moor, and looked over acres and acres of purple heather--acres so +extensive that the whole country seemed at that time of year to be +covered with a sort of mantle of pinky, pearly gold, something between +the violet and the saffron tones of a summer sunset. + +Three girls were seated on a little stone bench outside the lonely, +neglected-looking house. They were roughly and plainly dressed. They +wore frocks of the coarsest Scotch tweed; and Scotch tweed, when it is +black, can look very coarse, indeed. They clung close together--a +desolate-looking group--Betty, the eldest, in the middle; Sylvia +pressing up to her at one side; Hetty, with her small, cold hand locked +in her sister's, on the other. + +"I wonder when Uncle John will come," was Hetty's remark after a pause. +"Jean says we are on no account to travel alone; so, if he doesn't come +to-night, we mayn't ever reach that fine school after all." + +"I am not going to tell him about the packet. I have quite made up my +mind on that point," said Betty, dropping her voice. + +"Oh, Bet!" The other two looked up at their elder sister. + +She turned and fixed her dark-gray eyes first on one face, then on the +other. "Yes," she said, nodding emphatically; "the packet is sure to +hold money, and it will be a safe-guard. If we find the school +intolerable we'll have the wherewithal to run away." + +"I've read in books that school life is very jolly sometimes," remarked +Sylvia. + +"Not _that_ school," was Betty's rejoinder. + +"But why not that school, Betty?" + +Betty shrugged her shoulders. "Haven't you heard that miserable +creature, Fanny Crawford, talk of it? I shouldn't greatly mind going +anywhere else, for if there's a human being whom I cordially detest, it +is my cousin, Fanny Crawford." + +"I hear the sound of wheels!" cried Sylvia, springing to her feet. + +"Ah, and there's Donald coming back," said Betty; "and there is Uncle +John! No chance of escape, girls! We have got to go through it. Poor old +David!"--here she alluded to the horse who was tugging a roughly made +dogcart up the very steep hill--"he'll miss us, perhaps; and so will +Fritz and Andrew, the sheep-dogs. Heigh-ho! there's no good being too +sorrowful. That money is a rare comfort!" + +By this time the old white horse, and Donald, who was driving, and the +gentleman who sat at the opposite side of the dogcart, drew up at the +top of the great plateau. The gentleman alighted and walked swiftly +towards the three girls. They rose simultaneously to meet him. + +In London, and in any other part of the south of England, the weather +was warm at this time of the year; but up on Craigie Muir it was cold, +and the children looked desolate as they turned in their coarse clothes +to meet their guardian. + +Sir John came up to them with a smile. "Now, my dears, here I am--Betty, +how do you do? Kiss your uncle, child." + +Betty raised her pretty lips and gave the weather-beaten cheek of Sir +John Crawford an unwilling kiss. Sylvia and Hetty clasped each other's +hands, clung a little more closely together, and remained mute. + +"Come, come," said Sir John; "we mustn't be miserable, you know! I hope +that good Jean has got you something for supper, for the air up here +would make any one hungry. Shall we go into the house? We all have to +start at cockcrow in the morning. Donald knows, and has arranged, he +tells me, for a cart to hold your luggage. Let's come in, children. I +really should be glad to get out of this bitter blast." + +"It is just lovely!" said Betty. "I am drinking it in all I can, for I +sha'n't have any more for many a long day." + +Sir John, who had the kindest face in the world, accompanied by the +kindest heart, looked anxiously at the handsome girl. Then he thought +what a splendid chance he was giving his young cousins; for, although he +allowed them to call him uncle, the relationship between them was not +quite so close. + +They all entered the sparsely furnished and bare-looking house. Six deal +boxes, firmly corded with great strands of rope, were piled one on top +of the other in the narrow hall. + +"Here's our luggage," said Betty. + +"My dear children--those deal boxes! What possessed you to put your +things into trunks of that sort?" + +"They are the only trunks we have," replied Betty. "And I think supper +is ready," she continued; "I smell the grouse. I told Jean to have +plenty ready for supper." + +"Good girl, good girl!" said Sir John. "Now I will go upstairs and wash +my hands; and I presume you will do the same, little women. Then we'll +all enjoy a good meal." + +A few minutes later Sir John Crawford and the three Misses Vivian were +seated round a rough table, on which was spread a very snowy but coarse +cloth. The grouse were done to a turn. There was excellent coffee, the +best scones in the world, and piles of fresh butter. In addition, there +was a small bottle of very choice Scotch whiskey placed on the +sideboard, with lemons and other preparations for a comforting drink by +and by for Sir John. + +The girls were somewhat silent during the meal. Even Betty, who could be +a chatterbox when she pleased, vouchsafed but few remarks. + +But when the supper-things had been cleared away Sir John said +emphatically, turning to the three girls, "You got my telegram, with its +splendid news?" + +"We got your telegram, Uncle John," said Hetty. + +"With its splendid news?" repeated Sir John. + +Hetty pursed up her firm lips; Sylvia looked at him and smiled; Betty +crossed the room and put a little black kettle on the peat fire to boil. + +"You would like some whisky-punch?" Betty said. "I know how to make it." + +"Thank you, my dear; I should very much. And do you three lassies object +to a pipe?" + +"Object!" said Betty. "No; Donald smokes every night; and +since--since----" Her voice faltered; her face grew pale. After a +minute's silence she said in an abrupt tone, "We go into the kitchen +most nights to talk to Donald while he smokes." + +"Then to-night you must talk to me. I can tell you, my dears, you are +the luckiest young girls in the whole of Great Britain to have got +admitted to Haddo Court; and my child Fan will look after you. You +understand, dears, that everything you want you apply to me for. I am +your guardian, appointed to that position by your dear aunt. You can +write to me yourselves, or ask Fan to do so. By the way, I have been +looking through some papers in a desk which belonged to your dear aunt, +and cannot find a little sealed packet which she left there. Do you know +anything about it, any of you?" + +"No, uncle, nothing," said Betty, raising her dark-gray eyes and fixing +them full on his face. + +"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," said Sir John; "but in a special +letter to me she mentioned the packet. I suppose, however, it will turn +up. Now, my dears, you are in luck. When you get over your very natural +grief----" + +"Oh, don't!" said Betty. "Get over it? We'll never get over it!" + +"My dear, dear child, time softens all troubles. If it did not we +couldn't live. I admire you, Betty, for showing love for one so +worthy----" + +"If you don't look out, Uncle John," suddenly exclaimed Hetty, "you'll +have Betty howling; and when she begins that sort of thing we can't stop +her for hours." + +Sir John raised his brows and looked in a puzzled way from one girl to +the other. "You will be very happy at Haddo Court," he said; "and you +are in luck to get there. Now, off to bed, all three of you, for we have +to make an early start in the morning." Sir John held out his hand as he +spoke. "Kiss me, Betty," he said to the eldest girl. + +"Are you my uncle?" she inquired. + +"No; your father and I were first cousins. But, my poor child, I stand +in the place of father and guardian to you now." + +"I'd rather not kiss you, if you don't mind," said Betty. + +"You must please yourself. Now go to bed, all of you." + +The girls left the little sitting-room. It was their fashion to hold +each other's hands, and in a chain of three they now entered the +kitchen. + +"Jean," said Betty, "_he_ says we are to go to bed. I want to ask you +and Donald a question, and I want to ask it quickly." + +"And what is the question, my puir bit lassie?" asked Jean Macfarlane. + +"It is this," said Betty--"you and Donald can answer it quickly--if we +want to come back here you will take us in, won't you?" + +"Take you in, my bonny dears! Need you ask? There's a shelter always for +the bit lassies under this roof," said Donald Macfarlane. + +"Thanks, Donald," said Betty. "And thank you, Jean," she added. "Come, +girls, let's go to bed." + +The girls went up to the small room in the roof which they occupied. +They slept in three tiny beds side by side. The beds were under the +sloping roof, and the air of the room was cold. But Betty, Sylvia, and +Hetty were accustomed to cold, and did not mind it. The three little +beds touched each other, and the three girls quickly undressed and got +between the coarse sheets. Betty, as the privileged one, was in the +middle. And now a cold little hand was stretched out from the left bed +towards her, and a cold little hand from the right bed did ditto. + +"Betty," said Sylvia in a choking voice, "you will keep us up? You are +the brave one." + +"Except when I cry," said Betty. + +"Oh, but, Betty," said Hetty, "you will promise not to! It's awful when +you do! You will promise, won't you?" + +"I will try my best," said Betty. + +"How long do you think, Betty, that you and Hetty and I will be able to +endure that awful school?" said Sylvia. + +"It all depends," said Betty. "But we've got the money to get away with +when we like. It was left for our use. Now, look, here, girls. I am +going to tell you a tremendous secret." + +"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" exclaimed the other two. "Betty, you're a perfect +darling; you are the most heroic creature in the world!" + +"Listen; and don't talk, girls. I told a lie to-night about that packet; +but no one else will know about it. There was one day--now don't +interrupt me, either of you, or I'll begin howling, and then I can't +stop--there was one day when Auntie Frances was very ill. She sent for +me, and I went to her; and she said, 'I am able to leave you so very +little, my children; but there is a nest-egg in a little packet in the +right-hand drawer of my bureau. You must always keep it--always until +you really want it.' I felt so bursting all round my heart, and so choky +in my throat, that I thought I'd scream there and then; but I kept all +my feelings in, and went away, and pretended to dearest auntie that I +didn't feel it a bit. Then, you know, she, she--died." + +"She was very cold," said Sylvia. "I saw her--I seem to see her still. +Her face made me shiver." + +"Don't!" said Betty in a fierce voice. "Do you want me to howl all night +long?" + +"I won't! I won't!" said Sylvia. "Go on, Betty darling--heroine that you +are!" + +"Well, I went to her bureau straight away, and I took the packet. As a +matter of fact, I already knew quite well that it was there; for I had +often opened auntie's bureau and looked at her treasures, so I could lay +my hands on it at once. I never mean to part with the packet. It's +heavy, so it's sure to be full of gold--plenty of gold for us to live on +if we don't like that beastly school. When Sir John--or Uncle John, as +he wants us to call him----" + +"He's no uncle of mine," said Hetty. + +"I like him, for my part," said Sylvia. + +"Don't interrupt me," said Betty. "When Uncle John asked me about the +packet I said 'No,' of course; and I mean to say 'No' again, and again, +and again, and again, if ever I'm questioned about it. For didn't auntie +say it was for us? And what right has he to interfere?" + +"It does sound awfully interesting!" exclaimed Sylvia. "I do hope you've +put it in a very, very safe place, Betty?" + +Betty laughed softly. "Do you remember the little, old-fashioned pockets +auntie always wore inside her dress--little, flat pockets made of very +strong calico? Well, it's in one of those; and I mean to secure a safer +hiding-place for it when I get to that abominable Court. Now perhaps +we'd better go to sleep." + +"Yes; I am dead-sleepy," responded Sylvia. + +By and by her gentle breathing showed that she was in the land of +slumber. Hetty quickly followed her twin-sister's example. But Betty lay +wide awake. She was lying flat on her back, and looking out into the +sort of twilight which still seemed to pervade the great moors. Her eyes +were wide open, and wore a startled, fixed expression, like the eyes of +a girl who was seeing far beyond what she appeared to be looking at. + +"Yes, I have done right," she said to herself. "There must always be an +open door, and this is my open door; and I hope God, and auntie up in +heaven, will forgive me for having told that lie. And I hope God, and +auntie up in heaven, will forgive me if I tell it again; for I mean to +go on telling it, and telling it, and telling it, until I have spent all +that money." + +While Betty lay thinking her wild thoughts, Sir John Crawford, +downstairs, made a shrewd and careful examination of the different +articles of furniture which had been left in the little stone house by +his old friend, Miss Frances Vivian. Everything was in perfect order. +She was a lady who abhorred disorder, who could not endure it for a +single moment. All her letters and her neatly receipted bills were tied +up with blue silk, and laid, according to date, one on top of the other. +Her several little trinkets, which eventually would belong to the girls, +were in their places. Her last will and testament was also in the drawer +where she had told Sir John he would find it. Everything was in +order--everything, exactly as the poor lady had left it, with the +exception of the little sealed packet. Where was it? Sir John felt +puzzled and distressed. He had not an idea what it contained; for Miss +Vivian, in her letter to him, had simply asked him to take care of it +for her nieces, and had not made any comment with regard to its +contents. Sir John certainly could not accuse the girls of purloining +it. After some pain and deliberate thought, he decided to go out and +speak to the old servants, who were still up, in the kitchen. They +received him respectfully, and yet with a sort of sour expression which +was natural to their homely Scotch faces. + +Donald rose silently, and asked the gentleman if he would seat himself. + +"No, Donald," replied Sir John in his hearty, pleasant voice; "I cannot +stay. I am going to bed, being somewhat tired." + +"The bit chamber is no' too comfortable for your lordship," said Jean, +dropping a profound curtsey. + +"The chamber will do all right. I have slept in it before," said Sir +John. + +"Eh, dear, now," said Jean, "and you be easy to please." + +"I want you, Jean Macfarlane, to call the young ladies and myself not +later than five o'clock to-morrow morning, and to have breakfast ready +at half-past five; and, Donald, we shall require the dogcart to drive to +the station at six o'clock. Have you given orders about the young +ladies' luggage? It ought to start not later than four to-morrow morning +to be in time to catch the train." + +"Eh, to be sure," said Donald. "It's myself has seen to all that. Don't +you fash yourself, laird. Things'll be in time. All me and my wife wants +is that the bit lassies should have every comfort." + +"I will see to that," said Sir John. + +"We'll miss them, puir wee things!" exclaimed Jean; and there came a +glint of something like tears into her hard and yet bright blue eyes. + +"I am sure you will. You have, both of you, been valued servants both to +my cousin and her nieces. I wish to make you a little present each." +Here Sir John fumbled in his pocket, and took out a couple of +sovereigns. + +But the old pair drew back in some indignation. "Na, na!" they +exclaimed; "it isn't our love for them or for her as can be purchased +for gowd." + +"Well, as you please, my good people. I respect you all the more for +refusing. But now, may I ask you a question?" + +"And whatever may that be?" exclaimed Jean. + +"I have looked through your late mistress's effects----" + +"And whatever may 'effects' be?" inquired Donald. + +"What she has left behind her." + +"Ay, the laird uses grand words," remarked Donald, turning to his wife. + +"Maybe," said Jean; "but its the flavor of the Scotch in the speech that +softens my heart the most." + +"Well," said Sir John quickly, "there's one little packet I cannot find. +Miss Vivian wrote to me about it in a letter which I received after her +death. I haven't an idea what it contained; but she seemed to set some +store by it, and it was eventually to be the property of the young +ladies." + +"Puir lambs! Puir lambs!" said Jean. + +"I have questioned them about it, but they know nothing." + +"And how should they, babes as they be?" said Jean. + +"You'll not be offended, Jean Macfarlane and Donald Macfarlane, if I ask +you the same question?" + +Jean flushed an angry red for a moment; but Donald's shrewd face +puckered up in a smile. + +"You may ask, and hearty welcome," he said; "but I know no more aboot +the bit packet than the lassies do, and that's naucht at all." + +"Nor me no more than he," echoed Jean. + +"Do you think, by any possibility, any one from outside got into the +house and stole the little packet?" + +"Do I think!" exclaimed Jean. "Let me tell you, laird, that a man or +woman as got in here unbeknownst to Donald and me would go out again +pretty quick with a flea in the ear." + +Sir John smiled. "I believe you," he said. He went upstairs, feeling +puzzled. But when he laid his head on his pillow he was so tired that he +fell sound asleep. The sleep seemed to last but for a minute or two when +Jean's harsh voice was heard telling him to rise, for it was five +o'clock in the morning. Then there came a time of bustle and confusion. +The girls, with their faces white as sheets, came down to breakfast in +their usual fashion--hand linked within hand. Sir John thought, as he +glanced at them, that he had never seen a more desolate-looking little +trio. They hardly ate any of the excellent food which Jean had provided. +The good baronet guessed that their hearts were full, and did not worry +them with questions. + +The pile of deal boxes had disappeared from the narrow hall and was +already on its way to Dunstan Station, where they were to meet a local +train which would presently enable them to join the express for London. +There was a bewildered moment of great anguish when Jean caught the +lassies to her breast, when the dogs clustered round to be embraced and +hugged and patted. Then Donald, leading the horse (for there was no room +for him to ride in the crowded dogcart), started briskly on the road to +Dunstan, and Craigie Muir was left far behind. + +By and by they all reached the railway station. The luggage was piled up +on the platform. Sir John took first-class tickets to London, and the +curious deal boxes found their place in the luggage van. Donald's +grizzly head and rugged face were seen for one minute as the train +steamed out of the station. Betty clutched at the side of her dress +where Aunt Frances' old flat pocket which contained the packet was +secured. The other two girls looked at her with a curious mingling of +awe and admiration, and then they were off. + +Sir John guessed at the young people's feelings, and did not trouble +them with conversation. By and by they left the small train and got into +a compartment reserved for them in the London express. Sir John did +everything he could to enliven the journey for his young cousins. But +they were taciturn and irresponsive. Betty's wonderful gray eyes looked +out of the window at the passing landscape, which Sir John was quite +sure she did not see; Sylvia and Hester were absorbed in watching their +sister. Sir John had a queer kind of feeling that there was something +wrong with the girls' dress; that very coarse black serge, made with no +attempt at style; the coarse, home-made stockings; the rough, hobnailed +boots; the small tam-o'-shanter caps, pushed far back from the little +faces; the uncouth worsted gloves; and then the deal boxes! He had a +kind of notion that things were very wrong, and that the girls did not +look a bit at his own darling Fanny looked, nor in the least like the +other girls he had seen at Haddo Court. But Sir John Crawford had been a +widower for years, and during that time had seen little of women. He had +not the least idea how to remedy what looked a little out of place even +at Craigie Muir, but now that they were flying south looked much worse. +Could he possibly spare the time to spend a day in a London hotel, and +buy the girls proper toilets, and have their clothes put into regulation +trunks? But no, in the first place, he had not the time; in the second, +he would not have the slightest idea what to order. + +They all arrived in London late in the evening. Sylvia and Hetty had +been asleep during the latter part of the journey, but Betty still sat +bolt upright and wide awake. It was dusk now, and the lamp in the +carriage was lit. It seemed to throw a shadow on the girl's miserable +face. She was very young--only the same age as Sir John's dear Fanny; +and yet how different, how pale, how full of inexpressible sadness was +that little face! Those gray eyes of hers seemed to haunt him! He was +the kindest man on earth, and would have given worlds to comfort her; +but he did not know what to do. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT + + +Having made up her mind to receive the Vivian girls, Mrs. Haddo arranged +matters quite calmly and to her entire satisfaction. There was no fuss +or commotion of any kind; and when Sir John appeared on the following +morning, with the six deal boxes and the three girls dressed in their +coarse Highland garments, they were all received immediately in Mrs. +Haddo's private sitting-room. + +"I have brought the girls, Mrs. Haddo," said Sir John. "This is Betty. +Come forward, my dear, and shake hands with your new mistress." + +"How old are you?" asked Mrs. Haddo. + +"I was sixteen my last birthday, and that was six months ago, and one +fortnight and three days," replied Betty in a very distinct voice, +holding herself bolt upright, and looking with those strange eyes full +into Mrs. Haddo's face. She spoke with extreme defiance. But she +suddenly met a rebuff--a kind of rebuff that she did not expect; for +Mrs. Haddo's eyes looked back at her with such a world of love, +sympathy, and understanding that the girl felt that choking in her +throat and that bursting sensation in her heart which she dreaded more +than anything else. She instantly lowered her brilliant eyes and stood +back, waiting for her sisters to speak. + +Sylvia came up a little pertly. "Hetty and I are twins," she said, "and +we'll be fifteen our next birthday; but that's not for a long time yet." + +"Well, my dears, I am glad to welcome you all three, and I hope you will +have a happy time in my school. I will not trouble you with rules or +anything irksome of that sort to-day. You will like to see your cousin, +Fanny Crawford. She is busy at lessons now; so I would first of all +suggest that you go to your room, and change your dress, and get tidy +after your journey. You have come here nice and early; and in honor of +your arrival I will give, what is my invariable custom, a half-holiday +to the upper school, so that you may get to know your companions." + +"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Betty, but Betty +would not raise her eyes. She was standing very still, her hands locked +tightly together. Mrs. Haddo walked to the bell and rang it. A servant +appeared. + +"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Mrs. Haddo. + +The English governess with the charming, noble face presently appeared. + +"Miss Symes," said Mrs. Haddo, "may I introduce you to Sir John +Crawford?" + +Sir John bowed, and the governess bent her head gracefully. + +"And these are your new pupils, the Vivians. This is Betty, and this +little girl is Sylvia. Am I not right, dear?" + +"No; I am Hester," said the girl addressed as Sylvia. + +"This is Hetty, then; and this is Sylvia. Will you take them to their +room and do what you can for their comfort? If they like to stay there +for a little they can do so. I will speak to you presently, if you will +come to me here." + +The girls and Miss Symes left the presence of the head mistress. The +moment they had done so Mrs. Haddo gave a quick sigh. "My dear Sir +John," she said, "what remarkable, and interesting, and difficult, and +almost impossible girls you have intrusted to my care!" + +"I own they are not like others," said Sir John; "but you have admitted +they are interesting." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking slowly. "I shall manage them yet. The +eldest girl, Betty, is wonderful. What a heart! what a soul! but, oh, +very hard to get at!" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Sir John, fidgeting slightly, "that you would +object to the rough way they are clothed. I really don't like it myself; +at least, I don't think it's quite the fashion." + +"Their clothes do not matter at all, Sir John." + +"But the less remarkable they look the better they will get on in the +school," persisted Sir John; "so, of course, you will get what is +necessary." + +"Naturally, Miss Symes and I will see to that." + +"They led a very rough life in the country," continued Sir John, "and +yet it was a pure and healthy life--out all day long on those great +moors, and with no one to keep them company except a faithful old +servant of Miss Vivian's and his wife. They made pets of dogs and +horses, and were happy after their fashion. You will do what you can for +them, will you not, Mrs. Haddo?" + +"Having accepted them into my school, I will do my utmost. I do not mind +simple manners, for the noblest natures are to be found among such +people; nor do I mind rough, ungainly clothing, for that, indeed, only +belongs to the outward girl and can quickly be remedied. I will keep +these girls, and do all that woman can for them, provided I see no +deceit in any of them; but that, you will clearly understand, Sir John, +is in my opinion an unpardonable sin." + +"Do they look like girls who would deceive any one?" was Sir John's +rejoinder. + +"I grant you they do not. Now, you must be very busy, so you must cast +the girls from your mind. You would like to see Fanny. I know she is +dying to have a talk with you." + +Meanwhile Miss Symes had conducted the girls upstairs. The room they +entered was much grander than any room they had ever seen before. It was +large--one of the largest bedrooms in the great house. It had three +noble windows which reached from floor to ceiling, and were of French +style, so that they could be opened wide in summer weather to admit the +soft, warm air. There was a great balcony outside the windows, where the +girls could sit when they chose. The room itself was called the blue +room; the reason of this was that the color on the walls was pale blue, +whereas the paint was white. The three little beds stood in a row, side +by side. There was a very large wardrobe exactly facing the beds, also a +chest of large drawers for each girl, while the carpet was blue to match +the walls. A bright fire was burning in the cheerful, new-fashioned +grate. Altogether, it would have been difficult to find a more charming +apartment than the blue room at Haddo Court. + +"Are we to sleep here?" asked Betty. + +"Yes, my dear child. These are your little beds; and Anderson, the +schoolroom maid, will unpack your trunks presently. I see they have been +brought up." + +Miss Symes slightly started, for the six wooden trunks, fastened by +their coarse ropes, were standing side by side in another part of the +room. + +"Why do you look at our trunks like that?" asked Sylvia, who was not +specially shy, and was quick to express her feelings. + +But Betty came to the rescue. "Never mind how she looks," remarked +Betty; "she can look as she likes. What does it matter to us?" + +This speech was so very different from the ordinary speech of the +ordinary girl who came to Haddo Court that Miss Symes was nonplussed for +a moment. She quickly, however, recovered her equanimity. + +"Now, my dears, you must make yourselves quite at home. You must not be +shy, or lonely, or unhappy. You must enter--which I hope you will do +very quick--into the life of this most delightful house. We are all +willing and anxious to make you happy. As to your trunks, they will be +unpacked and put away in one of the attics." + +"I wish we could sleep in an attic," said Betty then in a fierce voice. +"I hate company-rooms." + +"There is no attic available, my dear; and this, you must admit, is a +nice room." + +"I admit nothing," said Betty. + +"I think it's a nice room," said Hester; "only, of course, we are not +accustomed to it, and that great fire is so chokingly hot. May we open +all the windows?" + +"Certainly, dears, provided you don't catch cold." + +"Catch cold!" said Sylvia in a voice of scorn. "If you had ever lived +on a Scotch moor you wouldn't talk of catching cold in a stuffy little +hole of a place like this." + +Miss Symes had an excellent temper, but she found it a trifle difficult +to keep it under control at that moment. "I must ask you for the keys of +your trunks," she said; "for while we are at dinner, which will be in +about an hour's time, Anderson will unpack them." + +"Thanks," said Betty, "but we'd much rather unpack our own trunks." + +Miss Symes was silent for a minute. "In this house, dear, it is not the +custom," she said then. She spoke very gently. She was puzzled at the +general appearance, speech, and get-up of the new girls. + +"And we can, of course, keep our own keys," continued Betty, speaking +rapidly, her very pale face glowing with a faint tinge of color; +"because Mrs.----What is the name of the mistress?" + +"Mrs. Haddo," said Miss Symes in a tone of great respect. + +"Well, whatever her name is, she said we were to be restricted by no +rules to-day. She said so, didn't she, Sylvia? Didn't she, Hetty?" + +"She certainly did," replied the twins. + +"Then, if it's a rule for the trunks to be unpacked by some one else, it +doesn't apply to us to-day," said Betty. "If you will be so very kind, +Miss----" + +"Symes is my name." + +"So very kind, Miss Symes, as to go away and leave us, we'll begin to +unpack our own trunks and put everything away by dinner-time." + +"Very well," said Miss Symes quite meekly. "Is there anything else I can +do for your comfort?" + +"Yes," remarked Sylvia in a pert tone; "you can go away." + +Miss Symes left the room. When she did so the two younger girls looked +at their elder sister. Betty's face was very white, and her chest was +working ominously. + +Sylvia went up to her and gave her a sudden, violent slap between the +shoulders. "Now, don't begin!" she said. "If you do, they'll all come +round us. It isn't as if we could rush away to the middle of the moors, +and you could go on with it as long as you liked. Here, if you howl, +you'll catch it; for they'll stand over you, and perhaps fling water on +your head." + +"Leave me alone, then, for a minute," said Betty. She flung herself flat +on the ground, face downwards, her hair falling about her shoulders. She +lay as still as though she were carved in stone. The twin girls watched +her for a minute. Then very softly and carefully Sylvia approached the +prone figure, pushed her hand into Betty's pocket (a very coarse, +ordinary pocket it was, put in at the side of her dress by Jean's own +fingers), and took out a bunch of keys. + +Sylvia held up the keys with a glad smile. "Now let's begin," she said. +"It's an odious, grandified room, and Betty'll go mad here; but we can't +help it--at least, for a bit. And there's always the packet." + +At these words, to the great relief of her younger sisters, Betty stood +upright. "There's always the packet," she said. "Now let's begin to +unpack." + +Notwithstanding the fact that there were six deal trunks--six trunks of +the plainest make, corded with the coarsest rope--there was very little +inside them, at least as far as an ordinary girl's wardrobe is +concerned; for Miss Frances Vivian had been very poor, and during the +last year of her life had lived at Craigie Muir in the strictest +economy. She was, moreover, too ill to be greatly troubled about the +girls' clothing; and by and by, as her illness progressed, she left the +matter altogether to Jean. Jean was to supply what garments the young +ladies required, and Jean set about the work with a right good will. So +the coarsest petticoats, the most clumsy stockings, the ugliest jackets +and blouses and skirts imaginable, presently appeared out of the little +wooden trunks. + +The girls sorted them eagerly, putting them pell-mell into the drawers +without the slightest attempt at any sort of order. But if there were +very few clothes in the trunks, there were all sorts of other things. +There were boxes full of caterpillars in different stages of chrysalis +form. There was also a glass box which contained an enormous spider. +This was Sylvia's special property. She called the spider Dickie, and +adored it. She would not give it flies, which she considered cruel, but +used to keep it alive on morsels of raw meat. Every day, for a quarter +of an hour, Dickie was allowed to take exercise on a flat stone on the +edge of the moor. It was quite against even Jean Macfarlane's advice +that Dickie was brought to the neighborhood of London. But he was here. +He had borne his journey apparently well, and Sylvia looked at him now +with worshiping eyes. + +In addition to the live stock, which was extensive and varied, there +were also all kinds of strange fossils, and long, trailing pieces of +heather--mementos of the life which the girls lived on the moor, and +which they had left with such pain and sorrow. They were all busy +worshiping Dickie, and envying Sylvia's bravery in bringing the huge +spider to Haddo Court, when there came a gentle tap at the door. + +Betty said crossly, "Who's there?" + +A very refined voice answered, "It's I;" and the next minute Fanny +Crawford entered the room. "How are you all?" she said. Her eyes were +red, for she had just said good-bye to her father, and she thoroughly +hated the idea of the girls coming to the school. + +"How are you, Fan?" replied Betty, speaking in a careless tone, just +nodding her head, and looking again into the glass box. "He is very +hungry," she continued. "By the way, Fan, will you run down to the +kitchen and get a little bit of raw meat?" + +"Will I do what?" asked Fanny. + +"Well, I suppose there is a kitchen in the house, and you can get a bit +of raw meat. It's for Dickie." + +"Oh," said Fanny, coming forward on tiptoe and peeping into the box, +"you can't keep that terror here--you simply won't be allowed to have +it! Have you _no_ idea what school-life is like?" + +"No," said Betty; "and what is more, I don't want you to tell me. Dickie +darling, I'd let you pinch my finger if it would do you any good. +Sylvia, what use are you if you can't feed your own spider? If Fan won't +oblige her cousins when she knows the ways of the house, I presume you +have a pair of legs and can use them? Go to the kitchen at once and get +a piece of raw meat." + +"I don't know where it is," said Sylvia, looking slightly frightened. + +"Well, you can ask. Go on; ask until you find. Now, be off with you!" + +"You had better not," said Fanny. "Why, you will meet all the girls +coming out of the different classrooms!" + +"What do girls matter," said Betty in a withering voice, "when Dickie is +hungry?" + +Sylvia gathered up her courage and departed. Betty laid the glass box +which contained the spider on the dressing-table. + +If Fanny had not been slightly afraid of these bold northern cousins of +hers, she would have dashed the box out on the balcony and released poor +Dickie, giving him back to his natural mode of life. "What queer dresses +you are wearing!" she said. "Do, please, change them before lunch. You +were not dressed like this when I saw you last. You were never +fashionable, but this stuff----" + +"You'd best not begin, Fan, or I'll howl," said Betty. + +"Hush! do hush, Fanny!" exclaimed Hester. "Don't forget that we are in +mourning for darling auntie." + +"But have you really no other dresses?" + +"There's nothing wrong with these," said Hester; "they're quite +comfortable." + +Just at that moment there came peals of laughter proceeding from several +girls' throats. The room-door was burst open, and Sylvia entered first, +her face very red, her eyes bright and defiant, and a tiny piece of raw +meat on a plate in her hand. The girls who followed her did not belong +to the Specialities, but they were all girls of the upper school. Fanny +thanked her stars that they were not particular friends of hers. They +were choking with laughter, and evidently thought they had never seen so +good a sight in their lives. + +"Oh, this is too delicious!" said Sibyl Ray, a girl who had just been +admitted into the upper school. "We met this--this young lady, and she +said she wanted to go to the kitchen to get some raw meat; and when I +told her I didn't know the way she just took my hand and drew me along +with her, and said, 'If you possessed a Dickie, and he was dying of +hunger, you wouldn't hesitate to find the kitchen.'" + +"Well, I'm not going to interfere," said Fanny; "but I think you know +the rules of the house, Sibyl, and that no girl is allowed in the +kitchen." + +"I didn't go in," said Sibyl; "catch me! But I went to the beginning of +the corridor which leads to the kitchen. _She_ went in, though, boldly +enough, and she got it. Now, we do want to see who Dickie is. Is he a +dog, or a monkey, or what?" + +"He's a spider--_goose_!" said Sylvia. "And now, please, get out of the +way. He won't eat if you watch him. I've got a good bit of meat, Betty," +she continued. "It'll keep Dickie going for several days, and he likes +it all the better when it begins to turn. Don't you Dickie?" + +"If you don't all leave the room, girls," said Fanny, "I shall have to +report to Miss Symes." + +The girls who had entered were rather afraid of Fanny Crawford, and +thought it best to obey her instructions. But the news with regard to +the newcomers spread wildly all over the house; so much so that when, in +course of time, neat-looking Fanny came down to dinner accompanied by +her three cousins, the whole school remained breathless, watching the +Vivians as they entered. But what magical force is there about certain +girls which raises them above the mere accessories of dress? Could there +be anything uglier than the attire of these so-called Scotch lassies? +And was there ever a prouder carriage than that of Betty Vivian, or a +more scornful expression in the eye, or a firmer set of the little lips? + +Mrs. Haddo, who always presided at this meal, called the strangers to +come and sit near her; and though the school had great difficulty in not +bursting into a giggle, there was not a sound of any sort whatever as +the three obeyed. Fanny sat down near her friend, Susie Rushworth. Her +eyes spoke volumes. But Susie was gazing at Betty's face. + +At dinner, the girls were expected to talk French on certain days of the +week, and German on others. This was French day, and Susie murmured +something to Fanny in that tongue with regard to Betty's remarkable +little face. But Fanny was in no mood to be courteous or kind about her +relatives. Susie was quick to perceive this, and therefore left her +alone. + +When dinner came to an end, Mrs. Haddo called the three Vivians into her +private sitting-room. This room was even more elegant than the beautiful +bedroom which they had just vacated. "Now, my dears," she said, "I want +to have a talk with you all." + +Sylvia and Hester looked impatient, and shuffled from one ungainly clad +foot to the other; but Mrs. Haddo fixed her eyes on Betty's face, and +again there thrilled through Betty's heart the marvelous sensation that +she had come across a kindred soul. She was incapable, poor child, of +putting the thought into such words; but she felt it, and it thawed her +rebellious spirit. + +Mrs. Haddo sat down. "Now," she said, "you call this school, and, having +never been at school before, you doubtless think you are going to be +very miserable?" + +"If there's much discipline we shall be," said Hester, "and Betty will +howl." + +"_Don't_ talk like that!" said Betty; and there was a tone in her voice +which silenced Hetty, to the little girl's own amazement. + +"There will certainly be discipline at school," said Mrs. Haddo, "just +as there is discipline in life. What miserable people we should be +without discipline! Why, we couldn't get on at all. I am not going to +lecture you to-day. As a matter of fact, I never lecture; and I never +expect any young girl to do in my school what I would not endeavor to do +myself. Above all things, I wish to impress one thing upon you. If you +have any sort of trouble--and, of course, dears, you will have +plenty--you must come straight to me and tell me about it. This is a +privilege I permit to very few girls, but I grant it to you. I give you +that full privilege for the first month of your stay at Haddo Court. You +are to come to me as you would to a mother, had you, my poor children, a +mother living." + +"Don't! It makes the lump so bad!" said Betty, clasping her rough little +hand against her white throat. + +"I think I have said enough on that subject for the present. I am very +curious to hear all about your life on the moors--how you spent your +time, and how you managed your horses and dogs and your numerous pets." + +"Do you really want to hear?" said Betty. + +"Certainly; I have said so." + +"Do you know," said Hetty, "that Sylvia _would_ bring Dickie here. +Betty and I were somewhat against it, although he is a darling. He is +the most precious pet in the world, and Sylvia would not part with him. +We sent her to the kitchen before dinner to get a bit of raw meat for +him. Would you like to see him?" + +Mrs. Haddo was silent for a minute. Then she said gently, "Yes, very +much. He is a sort of pet, I suppose?" + +"He is a spider," said Betty--"a great, enormous spider. We captured him +when he was small, and we fed him--oh, not on little flies--that would +be cruel--but on morsels of raw meat. Now he is very big, and he has +wicked eyes. I would rather call him Demon than Dickie; but Sylvia named +him Dickie when he was but a baby thing, so the name has stuck to him. +We love him dearly." + +"I will come up to your room presently, and you shall show him to me. +Have you brought other pets from the country?" + +"Oh, stones and shells and bits of the moor." + +"Bits of the moor, my dear children!" + +"Yes; we dug pieces up the day before yesterday and wrapped them in +paper, and we want to plant them somewhere here. We thought they would +comfort us. We'd like it awfully if you would let one of the dogs come, +too. He is a great sheep-dog, and such a darling! His name is Andrew. I +think Donald Macfarlane would part with him if you said we might have +him." + +"I am afraid I can't just at present, dear; but if you are really good +girls, and try your very best to please me, you shall go back to Donald +Macfarlane in the holidays, and perhaps I will go with you, and you will +show me all your favorite haunts." + +"Oh, will you?" said Betty. Her eyes grew softer than ever. + +"You are quite a dear for a head mistress," said Sylvia. "We've always +read in books that they are such horrors. It is nice for you to say you +will come." + +"Well, now, I want to say something else, and then we'll go up to your +room and see Dickie. I am going to take you three girls up to town +to-morrow to buy you the sort of dresses we wear in this part of the +world. You can put away these most sensible frocks for your next visit +to Craigie Muir. Not a word, dears. You have said I am a very nice head +mistress, and I hope you will continue to think so. Now, let us come up +to your room." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE VIVIANS' ATTIC + + +Mrs. Haddo was genuinely interested in Dickie. She never once spoke of +him as a horror. She immediately named the genus to which he belonged in +the spider tribe, and told the girls that they could look up full +particulars with regard to him and his ways in a large book she had +downstairs called "Chambers's Encyclopedia." She suggested, however, +that they should have a little room in one of the attics where they +could keep Dickie and his morsels of meat, and the different boxes which +contained the caterpillars. She volunteered to show this minute room to +the young Vivians at once. + +They looked at her, as she spoke, with more and more interest and less +and less dislike. Even Sylvia's little heart was melted, and Hetty at +once put out her hand and touched Mrs. Haddo's. In a moment the little +brown hand was held in the firm clasp of the white one, which was +ornamented with sparkling rings. + +As the children and Mrs. Haddo were leaving the blue room, Mrs. Haddo's +eyes fell upon the deal trunks. "What very sensible trunks!" she said. +"And so you brought your clothes in these?" + +"Yes," replied Betty. "Donald Macfarlane made them for us. He can do +all sorts of carpentering. He meant to paint them green; but we thought +we'd like them best just as they are unpainted." + +"They are strong, useful boxes," replied Mrs. Haddo. "And now come with +me and I will show you the room which shall be your private property and +where you can keep your pets. By the way," she added, "I am exceedingly +particular with regard to the neatness of the various rooms where my +pupils sleep; and these bits of heather and these curious stones--oh, I +can tell you plenty about their history by and by--might also be put +into what we will call 'the Vivians' attic.'" + +"Thank you so much!" said Betty. She had forgotten all about +howling--she had even forgotten for the minute that she was really at +school; for great Mrs. Haddo, the wonderful head mistress, about whom +Fanny had told so many stories, was really a most agreeable +person--nearly, very nearly, as nice as dear Aunt Frances. + +The little attic was presently reached; the pets were deposited there; +and then--wonderful to relate!--Mrs. Haddo went out herself with the +girls and chose the very best position in the grounds for them to plant +the pieces of heather, with their roots and surrounding earth. She gave +to each girl a small plot which was to be her very own, and which no +other girl was to have anything whatever to do with. When presently she +introduced them into the private sitting-room of the upper school, +Betty's eyes were shining quite happily; and Sylvia and Hetty, who +always followed her example, were looking as merry as possible. + +Fanny Crawford, being requested to do so by Susie Rushworth, now +introduced the Vivians to the Specialities. Mary and Julia Bertram shook +hands with them quite warmly. Margaret Grant smiled for a minute as her +dark, handsome eyes met those of Betty; while Olive Repton said in her +most genial tone, "Oh, do sit down, and tell us all about your life!" + +"Yes, please--_please_, tell us all about your life!" exclaimed another +voice; and Sibyl Ray came boldly forward and seated herself in the midst +of the group, which was known in the school as the Specialities. + +But here Margaret interfered. "You shall hear everything presently, +Sibyl," she said; "but just now we are having a little confab with dear +Fanny's friends, so do you mind leaving us alone together?" + +Sibyl colored angrily. "I am sure I don't care," she said; "and if you +are going to be stuck-up and snappish and disagreeable just because you +happen to call yourselves the Specialities, you needn't expect _me_ to +take an interest in you. I am just off for a game of tennis, and shall +have a far better time than you all, hobnobbing in this close room." + +"Yes, the room is very close," exclaimed Betty. Then she added, "I do +not think I shall like the South of England at all; it seems to be +without air." + +"Oh, you'll soon get over that!" laughed Susie. "Besides," she +continued, "winter is coming; and I can tell you we find winter very +cold, even here." + +"I am glad of that," said Betty. "I hate hot weather; unless, indeed," +she added, "when you can lie flat on your back, in the center of one of +the moors, and watch the sky with the sun blazing down on you." + +"But you must never lie anywhere near a flat stone," exclaimed Sylvia, +"or an adder may come out, and that isn't a bit jolly!" + +Sibyl had not yet moved off, but was standing with her mouth slightly +gaping and her round eyes full of horror. + +"Do go! do go, Sibyl!" said Mary Bertram; and Sibyl went, to tell +wonderful stories to her own special friends all about these oddest of +girls who kept monstrous spiders--spiders that had to be fed on raw +meat--and who themselves lay on the moors where adders were to be found. + +"Now tell us about Dickie," said Susie, who was always the first to make +friends. + +But Betty Vivian, for some unaccountable reason, no longer felt either +amiable or sociable. "There's nothing to tell," she replied, "and you +can't see him." + +"Oh, please, Betty, don't be disagreeable!" exclaimed Fanny. "We can see +him any minute if we go to your bedroom." + +"No, you can't," said Betty, "for he isn't there." + +Fanny burst out laughing. "Ah," she said, "I thought as much! I thought +Mrs. Haddo would soon put an end to poor Dickie's life!" + +"Then you thought wrong!" exclaimed Sylvia with flashing eyes, "for Mrs. +Haddo loves him. She was down on her knees looking----Oh, what is the +matter, Betty?" + +"If you keep repeating our secrets with Mrs. Haddo I shall pinch you +black and blue to-night," was Betty's response. + +Sylvia instantly became silent. + +"Well, tell us about the moor, anyhow," said Margaret. + +"And let's go out!" cried Olive. "The day is perfectly glorious; and, of +course," she continued, "we are all bound to make ourselves agreeable to +you three, for we owe our delightful half-holiday to you. But for you +Vivians we'd be toiling away at our lessons now instead of allowing our +minds to cool down." + +"Do minds get as hot as all that?" asked Hester. + +"Very often, indeed, at this school," said Olive with a chuckle. + +"Well, I, for one, shall be delighted to go out," said Betty. + +"Then you must run upstairs and get your hats and your gloves," said +Fanny, who seemed, for some extraordinary reason, to wish to make her +cousins uncomfortable. + +Betty looked at her very fiercely for a minute; then she beckoned to her +sisters, and the three left the room in their usual fashion--each girl +holding the hand of another. + +"Fan," said Olive the moment the door had closed behind them, "you don't +like the Vivians! I see it in your face." + +"I never said so," replied Fanny. + +"Oh, Fan, dear--not with the lips, of course; but the eyes have spoken +volumes. Now, I think they are great fun; they're so uncommon." + +"I have never said I didn't like them," repeated Fanny, "and you will +never get me to say it. They are my cousins, and of course I'll have to +look after them a bit; but I think before they are a month at the school +you will agree with me in my opinion with regard to them." + +"How can we agree in an opinion we know nothing about?" said Margaret +Grant. + +Fanny looked at her, and Fanny's eyes could flash in a very significant +manner at times. + +"Let's come out!" exclaimed Susie Rushworth. "The girls will follow us." + +This, however, turned out not to be the case. Susie, the Bertrams, +Margaret Grant, Olive Repton, waited for the Vivians in every imaginable +spot where they it likely the newcomers would be. + +As a matter of fact, the very instant the young Vivians had left the +sitting-room, Betty whispered in an eager tone, first to one sister and +then to the other, "We surely needn't stay any longer with Fanny and +those other horrid girls. Never mind your hats and gloves. Did we ever +wear hats and gloves when we were out on the moors at Craigie Muir? +There's an open door. Let's get away quite by ourselves." + +The Vivians managed this quite easily. They raced down a side-walk until +they came to an overhanging oak tree of enormous dimensions. Into this +tree they climbed, getting up higher and higher until they were lost to +view in the topmost branches. Here they contrived to make a cozy nest +for themselves, where they sat very close together, not talking much, +although Betty now and then said calmly, "I like Mrs. Haddo; she is the +only one in the whole school I can tolerate." + +"Fan's worse than ever!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Oh, don't let's talk of her!" said Betty. + +"It will be rather fun going to London to-morrow," said Hester. + +"Fun!" exclaimed Betty. "I suppose we shall be put into odious +fashionable dresses, like those stuck-up dolls the other girls. But I +don't think, try as they will, they'll ever turn _me_ into a fashionable +lady. How I do hate that sort!" + +"Yes, and so do I," said Sylvia; while Hetty, who always echoed her +sisters' sentiments, said ditto. + +"Mrs. Haddo was kind about Dickie," said Betty after a thoughtful pause. + +"And it is nice," added Sylvia, "to have the Vivian attic." + +"Oh, dear!" said Hester; "I wish all those girls would keep out of +sight, for then I'd dash back to the house and bring out the pieces of +heather and plant them right away. They ought not to be long out of the +ground." + +"You had best go at once," said Betty, giving Hester a somewhat vigorous +push, which very nearly upset the little girl's balance. "Go boldly back +to the house; don't be afraid of any one; don't speak to any one unless +it happens to be Mrs. Haddo. Be sure you are polite to her, for she is a +lady. Go up to the Vivian attic and bring down the clumps of heather, +and the little spade we brought with us in the very bottom of the fifth +trunk." + +"Oh, and there's the watering-can; don't forget that!" cried Sylvia. + +"Yes, bring the watering-can, too. You had best find a pump, or a well, +or something, so that you can fill it up to the brim. Bring them all +along; and then just whistle 'Robin Adair' at the foot of this tree, and +we two will come swarming down. Now, off with you; there's no time to +lose!" + +Hester descended without a word. She was certainly born without a scrap +of fear of any kind, and adventure appealed to her plucky little spirit. +Betty settled herself back comfortably against one of the forked +branches of the tree where she had made her nest. + +"If we are careful, Sylvia, we can come up here to hide as often as we +like. I rather fancy from the shape of those other girls that they're +not specially good at climbing trees." + +"What do you mean by their shape?" asked Sylvia. + +"Oh, they're so squeezed in and pushed out; I don't know how to explain +it. Now, _we_ have the use of all our limbs; and I say, you silly little +Sylvia, won't we use them just!" + +"I always love you, Betty, when you call me 'silly little Sylvia,' for I +know you are in a good humor and not inclined to howl. But, before Hetty +comes back, I want to say something." + +"How mysterious you look, Sylvia! What can you have to say that poor +Hetty's not to hear? I am not going to have secrets that are not shared +among us three, I can tell you. We share and share alike--we three. We +are just desolate orphans, alone in the world; but at least we share and +share alike." + +"Of course, of course," said Sylvia; "but I saw--and I don't think Hetty +did----" + +"And what did you see?" + +"I saw Fan looking at us; and then she came rather close. It was that +time when we were all stifling in that odious sitting-room; Fan came and +sat very close to you, and I saw her put her hand down to feel your +dress. I know she felt that flat pocket where the little sealed packet +is." + +Betty's face grew red and then white. + +"And don't you remember," continued Sylvia, "that Fan was with us on the +very, very day when darling auntie told us about the packet--the day +when you came out of her room with your eyes as red as a ferret's; and +don't you remember how you couldn't help howling that day, and how far +off we had to go for fear darlingest auntie would hear you? And can't +you recall that Fan crept after us, just like the horrid sneak that she +is? And I know she heard you say, 'That packet is mine; it belongs to +all of us, and I--I _will_ keep it, whatever happens.'" + +"She may do sneaky things of that sort every hour of every day that she +likes," was Betty's cool rejoinder. "Now, don't get into a fright, silly +little Sylvia. Oh, I say, hark! that's Hester's note. She is whistling +'Robin Adair'!" + +Quick as thought, the girls climbed down from the great tree and stood +under it. Hester was panting a little, for she had run fast and her arms +were very full. + +"I saw a lot of _them_ scattered everywhere!" she exclaimed; "but I +don't _think_ they saw me, but of course I couldn't be sure. Here's the +heather; its darling little bells are beginning to droop, poor sweet +pets! And here's the spade; and here's the watering-can, brimful of +water, too, for I saw a gardener as I was coming along, and I asked him +to fill it for me, and he did so at once. Now let's go to our gardens +and let's plant. We've just got a nice sod of heather each--one for each +garden. Oh, do let's be quick, or those dreadful girls will see us!" + +"There's no need to hurry," said Betty. "I rather think I can take care +of myself. Give me the watering-can. Sylvia, take the heather; and, +Hetty--your face is perfectly scarlet, you have run so fast--you follow +after with the spade." + +The little plots of ground which had been given over to the Vivian girls +had been chosen by Mrs. Haddo on the edge of a wild, uncultivated piece +of ground. The girls of Haddo Court were proud of this piece of land, +which some of them--Margaret Grant, in particular--were fond of calling +the "forest primeval." But the Vivians, fresh from the wild Scotch +moors, thought but poorly of the few acres of sparse grass and tangled +weed and low under-growth. It was, however, on the very edge of this +piece of land that the three little gardens were situated. Mrs. Haddo +did nothing by halves; and already--wonderful to relate--the gardens had +been marked out with stakes and pieces of stout string, and there was a +small post planted at the edge of the center garden containing the words +in white paint: THE VIVIANS' PRIVATE GARDENS. + +Even Betty laughed. "This is good!" she said. "Girls, that is quite a +nice woman." + +The twins naturally acknowledged as very nice indeed any one whom Betty +admired. + +Betty here gave a profound sigh. "Come along; let's be quick," she said. +"We'll plant our heather in the very center of each plot. I'll have the +middle plot, of course, being the eldest. You, silly Sylvia, shall have +the one on the left-hand side; and you, Het, the one on the right-hand +side. I will plant my heather first." + +The others watched while Betty dug vigorously, and had soon made a hole +large enough and soft enough to inclose the roots of the wild Scotch +heather. She then gave her spade to Sylvia, who did likewise; then +Hetty, in her turn, also planted a clump of heather. The contents of the +watering-can was presently dispersed among the three clumps, and the +girls turned back in the direction of the house. + +"She _is_ nice!" said Betty. "I will bring her here the first day she +has a minute to spare and show her the heather. She said she knew all +about Scotch heather, and loved it very much. I shouldn't greatly mind, +for my part, letting her know about the packet." + +"Oh, better not!" said Hester in a frightened tone. "Remember, she is +not the only one in that huge prison of a house." Here she pointed to +the great mansion which constituted the vast edifice, Haddo Court. "She +is by no means the only one," continued Hester. "If she were, I could be +happy here." + +"You are right, Het; you are quite a wise, small girl," said Betty. "Oh, +dear," she added, "how I hate those monstrous houses! What would not I +give to be back in the little, white stone house at Craigie Muir!" + +"And with darling Jean and dearest old Donald!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Yes, and the dogs," said Hester. "Oh, Andrew! oh, Fritz! are you +missing us as much as we miss you? And, David, you darling! are you +pricking up your ears, expecting us to come round to you with some +carrots?" + +"We'd best not begin too much of this sort of talk," said Betty. "We've +got to make up our minds to be cheerful--that is, if we wish to please +Mrs. Haddo." + +The thought of Mrs. Haddo was certainly having a remarkable effect on +Betty; and there is no saying how soon she might, in consequence, have +been reconciled to her school-life but for an incident which took place +that very evening. For Fanny Crawford, who would not tell a tale against +another for the world, had been much troubled since she heard of her +cousins' arrival. Her conscientious little mind had told her that they +were the last sort of girls suitable to be in such a school as Haddo +Court. She had found out something about them. She had not meant to spy +on them during her brief visit to Craigie Muir, but she had certainly +overheard some of Betty's passionate words about the little packet; and +that very evening, curled up on the sofa in the tiny sitting-room at +Craigie Muir Cottage, she had seen Betty--although Betty had not seen +her--creep into the room in the semi-darkness and remove a little sealed +packet from one of Miss Vivian's drawers. As Fanny expressed it +afterwards, she felt at the moment as though her tongue would cleave to +the roof of her mouth. She had tried to utter some sound, but none +would come. She had never mentioned the incident to any one; and as she +scarcely expected to see anything more of her cousins in the future, she +tried to dismiss it from her thoughts. But as soon as ever she was told +in confidence by Miss Symes that the Vivian girls were coming to Haddo +Court, she recalled the incident of what she was pleased to regard as +the stolen packet. It had haunted her while she was at Craigie Muir; it +had even horrified her. Her whole nature recoiled against what she +considered clandestine and underhand dealings. Nevertheless she could +not, she would not, tell. But she had very nearly made up her mind to +say something to the girls themselves--to ask Betty why she had taken +the packet, and what she had done with it. But even on this course she +was not fully decided. + +On the morning of that very day, however, just before Fanny bade her +father good-bye, he had said to her, "Fan, my dear, there's a trifle +worrying me, although I don't suppose for a single moment you can help +me in the matter." + +"What is it, father?" asked the girl. + +"Well, the fact is this. I am going, as you know, to India for the next +few years, and it is quite possible that as the cottage at Craigie Muir +will belong to the Vivian girls--for poor Frances bought it and allowed +those Scotch folk the Macfarlanes to live there--it is, I say, quite +possible that you may go to Craigie Muir for a summer holiday with your +cousins. The air is superb, and would do you much good, and of course +the girls would be wild with delight. Well, my dear, if you go, I want +you to look round everywhere--you have good, sharp eyes in your head, +Fan, my girl--and try if you can find a little sealed packet which poor +Frances left to be taken care of by me for your three cousins." + +"A sealed packet?" said Fanny. She felt herself turning very pale. + +"Yes. Do you know anything about it?" + +"Oh, father!" said poor Fanny; and her eyes filled with tears. + +"What is the matter, my child?" + +"I--I'd so much rather not talk about it, please." + +"Then you do know something?" + +"Please, please, father, don't question me!" + +"I won't if you don't wish it; but your manner puzzles me a good deal. +Well, dear, if you can get it by any chance, you had better put it into +Mrs. Haddo's charge until I return. I asked those poor children if they +had seen it, and they denied having done so." + +Fanny felt herself shiver, and had to clasp her hands very tightly +together. + +"I also asked that good shepherd Donald Macfarlane and his wife, and +they certainly knew nothing about it. I can't stay with you any longer +now, my little girl; but if you do happen to go to Craigie Muir you +might remember that I am a little anxious on the subject, for it is my +wish to carry out the directions of my dear cousin Frances in all +particulars. Now, try to be very, very good to your cousins, Fan; and +remember how lonely they are, and how differently they have been brought +up from you." + +Fanny could not speak, for she was crying too hard. Sir John presently +went away, and forgot all about the little packet. But Fanny remembered +it; in fact, she could not get it out of her head during the entire day; +and in the course of the afternoon, when she found that the Vivian girls +joined the group of the Specialities, she forced a chair between Betty +and Olive Repton, and seated herself on it, and purposely, hating +herself all the time for doing so, felt Betty's pocket. Beyond doubt +there was something hard in it. It was not a pocket-handkerchief, nor +did it feel like a pencil or a knife or anything of that sort. + +"I shall know no peace," thought Fanny to herself, "until I get that +unhappy girl to tell the truth and return the packet to me. I shall be +very firm and very kind, and I will never let out a single thing about +it in the school. But the packet must be given up; and then I will +manage to convey it to Mrs. Haddo, who will keep it until dear father +returns." + +But although Fan intended to act the part of the very virtuous and +proper girl, she did not like her cousins the more because of this +unpleasant incident. Fanny Crawford had a certain strength of character; +but it is sad to relate that she was somewhat overladen with +self-righteousness, and was very proud of the fact that nothing would +induce _her_ to do a dishonorable thing. She sadly lacked Mrs. Haddo's +rare and large sympathy and deep knowledge of life, and Fanny certainly +had not the slightest power of reading character. + +That very evening, therefore, when the Vivian girls had gone to their +room, feeling very tired and sleepy, and by no means so unhappy as they +expected, Fanny first knocked at their door and then boldly entered. +Each girl had removed her frock and was wearing a little, rough, gray +dressing-gown, and each girl was in the act of brushing out her own very +thick hair. + +"Brushing-hair time!" exclaimed Fanny in a cheerful tone. "I trust I am +not in the way." + +"We were going to bed," remarked Betty. + +"Oh, Betty, what a reproachful tone!" Fanny tried to carry matters off +with a light hand. "Surely I, your own cousin, am welcome? Do say I am +welcome, dear Betty! and let me bring my brush and comb, and brush my +hair in your room." + +"No," said Betty; "you are not welcome, and we'd all much rather that +you brushed your hair in your own room." + +"You certainly are sweetly polite," said Fanny, with a smile on her face +which was not remarkable for sweetness. She looked quite calmly at the +girls for a moment. Then she said, "This day, on account of your +arrival, rules are off, so to speak, but they begin again to-morrow +morning. To-morrow evening, therefore, I cannot come to your bedroom, +for it would be breaking rules." + +"Oh, how just awfully jolly!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Thanks," said Fanny. She paused again for a minute. Then she added, +"But as rules are off, I may as well say that I have come here to-night +on purpose. Just before father left, he told me that there was a little +sealed packet"--Betty sat plump down on the side of her bed; Sylvia and +Hetty caught each others hands--"a little sealed packet," continued +Fanny, "which belonged to poor Miss Vivian--your aunt Frances--and which +father was to take charge of for you." + +"No, he wasn't," said Betty; "you make a mistake." + +"Nonsense, Betty! Father never makes a mistake. Anyhow, he has Miss +Vivian's letter, which proves the whole thing. Now, the packet cannot be +found. Father is quite troubled about it. He says he has not an idea +what it contains, but it was left to be placed under his care. He asked +you three about it, and you said you knew nothing. He also asked the +servants in that ugly little house----" + +"How dare you call it ugly?" said Betty. + +"Well, well, pray don't get into a passion! Anyhow, you all denied any +knowledge of the packet. Now, I may as well confess that, although I +have not breathed the subject to any one, I saw you, Betty, with my own +eyes, take it out of Miss Vivian's drawer. I was lying on the sofa in +the dark, or almost in the dark, and you never noticed me; but I saw you +open the drawer and take the packet out. That being the case, you _do_ +know all about it, and you have told a lie. Please, Betty, give me the +packet, and I will take it to-morrow to Mrs. Haddo, and she will look +after it for you until father returns; and I promise you faithfully that +I will never tell a soul what you did, nor the lie you told father about +it. Now, Betty, do be sensible. Give it to me, without any delay. I +felt it in the pocket under your dress to-day, so you can't deny that +you have it." + +Fanny's face was very red when she had finished speaking, and there were +two other faces in that room which were even redder; but another face +was very pale, with shining eyes and a defiant, strange expression about +the lips. + +The three Vivians now came up to Fanny, who, although older than the two +younger girls, was built much more slightly, and, compared with them, +had no muscle at all. Betty was a very strong girl for her age. + +"Come," said Betty, "we are not going to waste words on you. Just march +out of this!" + +"I--what do you mean?" + +"March! This is our room, our private room, and therefore our castle. If +you like to play the spy, you can; but you don't come in here. Go +along--be quick--out you go!" + +A strong hand took Fanny forcibly by her right arm, and a strong hand +took her with equal force by her left, then two very powerful hands +pushed from behind; so that Fanny Crawford, who considered herself one +of the most dignified and lady-like girls in the school, was summarily +ejected. She went into her room, looked at the cruel marks on her arms +caused by the angry girls, and burst into tears. + +Miss Symes came in and found Fanny crying, and did her best to comfort +the girl. "What is wrong, dear?" she said. + +"Oh, don't--don't ask me!" said poor Fanny. + +"You are fretting about your father, darling." + +"It's not that," said Fanny; "and I can't ever tell you, dear St. +Cecilia. Oh, please, leave me! Oh, oh, I am unhappy!" + +Miss Symes, finding she could do no good, and believing that Fanny must +be a little hysterical on account of her father, went away. When she +had gone Fanny dried her eyes, and stayed for a long time lost in +thought. She had meant to be good, after her fashion, to the Vivian +girls; but, after their treatment of her, she felt that she understood +for the first time what hate really meant. If she could not force the +girls to deliver up the packet, she might even consider it her duty to +tell the whole story to Mrs. Haddo. Never before in the annals of that +great school had a Speciality been known to tell a story of another +girl. But Fanny reflected that there were great moments in life which +required that a rule should be broken. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A CRISIS + + +The Specialities had made firm rules for themselves. Their numbers were +few, for only those who could really rise to a high ideal were permitted +to join. + +The head of the Specialities was Margaret Grant. It was she who first +thought of this little scheme for bringing the girls she loved best into +closer communion each with the other. She had consulted Susie Rushworth, +Fanny Crawford, Mary and Julia Bertram, and Olive Repton. Up to the +present there were no other members of the Speciality Club. These girls +managed it their own way. They had their private meetings, their earnest +conversations, and their confessions each to make to the other. They +swore eternal friendship. They had all things in common--that is, +concealments were not permitted amongst the Specialities; and the +influence of this small and apparently unimportant club did much towards +the formation of the characters of its members. + +Now, as poor Fanny sat alone in her pretty room she thought, and +thought again, over what had occurred. According to the rules of the +club to which she belonged, she ought to consult the other girls with +regard to what the Vivians had done. _The_ great rule of the +Specialities was "No secrets." Each must know all that the others knew. +Never before in the annals of the school had there been a secret of such +importance--in short, such a horrible secret--to divulge. Fanny made up +her mind that she could not do it. + +There was to be a great meeting of the Specialities on the following +evening. They usually met in each other's bedrooms, taking the task of +offering hospitality turn and turn about. At these little social +gatherings they had cocoa, tempting cakes, and chocolate creams; here +they laughed and chatted, sometimes having merely a merry evening, at +others discussing gravely the larger issues of life. Fanny was the one +who was to entertain the Specialities on the following evening, and she +made preparations accordingly. Sir John had brought her a particularly +tempting cake from Buzzard's, a couple of pounds of the best chocolate +creams, a tin of delicious cocoa, and, last but not least, a beautiful +little set of charming cups and saucers and tiny plates, and real silver +spoons, also little silver knives. Notwithstanding her grief at parting +from her father, Fanny was delighted with her present. Hitherto there +had been no attempt at style in these brief meetings of the friends. But +Fanny's next entertainment was to be done properly. + +There was no secret about these gatherings. Miss Symes had been told +that these special girls wanted to meet once a week between nine and ten +o'clock in their respective bedrooms. She had carried the information to +Mrs. Haddo, who had immediately given the desired permission, telling +the girls that they might hold their meeting until the great bell rang +for chapel. Prayers were always read at a quarter to ten in the +beautiful chapel belonging to Haddo Court, but only the girls of the +upper school attended in the evening. Fanny would have been in the +highest spirits to-night were it not for the Vivians, were it not for +the consciousness that she was in possession of a secret--a really +terrible secret--which she must not tell to her companions. Yes, she +must break her rule; she must not tell. + +She lay down on her bed at last and fell asleep, feeling tired and very +miserable. She was horrified at Betty's conduct with regard to the +little packet, and could not feel a particle of sympathy for the other +girls in the matter. + +It was soon after midnight on that same eventful night. The great clock +over the stables had struck twelve, and sweet chimes had come from the +other clock in the little tower of the chapel. The whole house was +wrapped in profound slumber. Even Mrs. Haddo had put away all cares, and +had laid her head on her pillow; even the Rev. Edmund Fairfax and his +wife had put out the lights in their special wing of the Court, and had +gone to sleep. + +It was shortly after the clocks had done their midnight work that Betty +Vivian raised herself very slowly and cautiously on her elbow, and +touched Sylvia on her low, white forehead. The little girl started, +opened her eyes, and was about to utter an exclamation when Betty +whispered, "Don't make a sound, silly Sylvia! It's only me--Betty. I +want you to get very wide awake. And now you are wide awake, aren't +you?" + +"Yes, oh yes," said Sylvia; "but I don't know where I am. Oh yes, of +course I remember; I am in----" + +"You are in prison!" whispered Betty back to her. "Now, lie as still as +a statue while I waken Hester." + +Soon the two little sisters were wide awake. + +"Now, both of you creep very softly into my bed. We can all squeeze up +together if we try hard." + +"Lovely, darlingest Betty!" whispered Sylvia. + +"You are nice, Bet!" exclaimed Hester. + +"Now I want to speak," said Betty. "You know the packet?" + +The two younger girls squeezed Betty's hands by way of answer. + +"You know how _she_ spoke to-night?" + +Another squeeze of Betty's hands, a squeeze which was almost ferocious +this time. + +"Do you think," continued Betty, "that she is going to have her way, and +we are going to give it up to her?" + +"Of course not," said Sylvia. + +"I might," said Betty--"I _might_ have asked Mrs. Haddo to look after it +for me; but never now--never! Girls, we've got to bury it!" + +"Oh Bet!" whispered Sylvia. + +"We can't!" said Hester with a sort of little pant. + +"We can, and we will," said Betty. "I've thought it all out. I am going +to bury it my own self this very minute." + +"Betty, how--where? Betty, what do you mean?" + +"You must help me," said Betty. "First of all, I am going to get up and +put on my thick skirt of black serge. I won't make a sound, for that +creature Fan sleeps next door. Lie perfectly still where you are while I +am getting ready." + +The girls obeyed. It was fearfully exciting, lying like this almost in +the dark; for there was scarcely any moon, and the dim light in the +garden could hardly be called light at all. Betty moved mysteriously +about the room, and presently came up to her two sisters. + +"Now, you do exactly what you are told." + +"Yes, Betty, we will." + +"I am going, first of all," said Betty, "to fetch the little spade." + +"Oh Bet, you'll wake the house!" + +"No," said Betty. She moved towards the door. She was a very observant +girl, and had noticed that no door creaked in that well-conducted +mansion, that no lock was out of order. She managed to open the door of +her bedroom without making the slightest sound. She managed to creep +upstairs and reach the Vivian attic. She found the little spade and +brought it down again. She re-entered the beautiful big bedroom and +closed the door softly. + +"Here's the spade!" she whispered to her sisters. "Did you hear me +move?" + +"No, Bet. Oh, you are wonderful!" + +"Now," said Betty, "we must take the sheets off our three beds. The +three top sheets will do. Sylvia, begin to knot the sheets together. +Make the knots very strong, and be quick about it." + +Sylvia obeyed without a word. + +"Hester, come and help me," said Betty now. She took the other twin's +hand and led her to one of the French windows. The window happened to be +a little open, for the night was a very warm and balmy one. Betty pushed +it wider open, and the next minute she was standing on the balcony. + +"Go back," she whispered, speaking to Hester, "and bring Sylvia out with +the sheets!" + +In a very short time Sylvia appeared, dragging what looked like a +tangled white rope along with her. + +"Now, then," said Betty, "you've got to let me down to the ground by +means of these sheets. I am a pretty good weight, you know, and you +mustn't drop me; for if you did I might break my leg or something, and +that would be horrid. You two have got to hold one end of these knotted +sheets as firmly as ever you can, and not let go on any account. Now, +then--here goes!" + +The next instant Betty had clutched hold of one of the sheets herself, +and had climbed over the somewhat high parapet of the balcony. A minute +later, still firmly holding the white rope, she was gradually letting +herself down to the ground, hand over hand. By-and-by she reached the +bottom. When she did this she held up both hands, which the girls, as +they watched her from above, could just see. She was demanding the +little spade. Sylvia flung it on the soft grass which lay beneath. Betty +put her hand, making a sort of trumpet of it, round her lips, and +whispered up, "Stay where you are till I return." + +She then marched off into the shrubbery. She was absent for about twenty +minutes, during which time both Sylvia and Hetty felt exceedingly cold. +She then came back, fastened the little spade securely into the broad +belt of her dress, and, aided by her sisters, pulled herself up and up, +and so on to the balcony once more. + +The three girls re-entered the bedroom. Not a soul in that great house +had heard them, or seen them, or knew anything about their adventure. + +"It is quite safe now--poor, beautiful darling!" whispered Betty. +"Girls, we must smooth out these sheets; they _do_ look rather dragged. +And now we'll get straight into bed." + +"I am very cold," said Sylvia. + +"You'll be warm again in a minute," replied Betty; "and what does a +little cold matter when I have saved _It_? No, I am not going to tell +you where it is; just because it's safer, dear, dearest, for you not to +know." + +"Yes, it's safer," said Sylvia. + +The three sisters lay down again. By slow degrees warmth returned to the +half-frozen limbs of the poor little twins, and they dropped asleep. But +Betty lay awake--warm, excited, triumphant. + +"I've managed things now," she thought; "and if every girl in the school +asks me if I have a little packet, and if every teacher does likewise, +I'll be able truthfully to say 'No.'" + +Early the next morning Mrs. Haddo announced her intention to take the +Vivians to London. School-work was in full swing that day; and Susie, +Margaret, Olive, and the other members of the Specialities rather envied +the Vivians when they saw them driving away in Mrs. Haddo's most elegant +landau to the railway station. + +Sibyl Ray openly expressed her sentiments on the occasion. She turned to +her companion, who was standing near. "I must say, and I may as well say +it first as last, that I do not understand your adorable Mrs. Haddo. Why +should she make such a fuss over common-looking girls like those?" + +"Do you call the Vivians common-looking girls?" was Martha West's +response. + +"Of course I do, and even worse. Why, judging from their dress, they +might have come out of a laborer's cottage." + +"Granted," replied Martha; "but then," she added, "they have something +else, each of them, better than dress." + +"Oh, if you begin to talk in enigmas I for one shall cease to be your +friend," answered Sibyl. "What have they got that is so wonderful?" + +"It was born in them," replied Martha. "If you can't see it for +yourself, Sibyl, I am not able to show it to you." + +Mrs. Haddo took the girls to London and gave them a very good day. It is +true they spent a time which seemed intolerably long to Betty in having +pretty white blouses and smartly made skirts and neat little jackets +fitted on. They spent a still more intolerable time at the dressmaker's +in being measured for soft, pretty evening-dresses. They went to a +hairdresser, who cut their very thick hair and tied it with broad black +ribbon. They next went to a milliner and had several hats tried on. They +went to a sort of all-round shop, where they bought gloves, boots, and +handkerchiefs innumerable, and some very soft black cashmere and even +black silk stockings. Oh, but _they_ didn't care; they thought the +whole time wasted. Nevertheless they submitted, and with a certain +grace; for was not the precious packet safe--so safe that no one could +possibly discover its whereabouts? And was not Betty feeling her queer, +sensitive heart expanding more and more under Mrs. Haddo's kind +influence? + +"Now, my dears," said that good lady, "we will go back to Miss Watts the +dressmaker at three o clock; but we have still two hours to spare. +During that time we'll have a little lunch, for I am sure you must be +hungry; and afterwards I will take you to the Wallace Collection, which +I think you will enjoy." + +"What's a collection?" asked Sylvia. + +"There are some rooms not far from here where beautiful things are +collected--pictures and other lovely things of all sorts and +descriptions. I think that you, at least, Betty, will love to look at +them." + +Betty afterwards felt, deep down in her heart, that this whole day was a +wonderful dream. She was starvingly hungry, to begin with, and enjoyed +the excellent lunch that Mrs. Haddo ordered at the confectioners. She +felt a sense of curious joy and fear as she looked at one or two of the +great pictures in the Wallace Collection, and so excited and uplifted +was she altogether that she scarcely noticed when they returned to the +shops and the coarse, ugly black serges were exchanged for pretty coats +and skirts of the finest cloth, for neat little white blouses, for +pretty shoes and fine stockings. She did not even object to the hat, +which, with its plume of feathers, gave a look of distinction to her +little face. She was not elated over her fine clothes, neither was she +annoyed about them. + +"Now, Miss Watts," said Mrs. Haddo in a cheerful tone, "you will hurry +with the rest of the young ladies' things, and send them to me as soon +as ever you can. I shall want their evening-dresses, without fail, by +the beginning of next week." + +They all went down into the street. Sylvia found herself casting shy +glances at Betty. It seemed to her that her sister was changed--that she +scarcely knew her. Dress did not make such a marked difference in +Hetty's appearance; but Hetty too looked a different girl. + +"And now we are going to the Zoological Gardens," said Mrs. Haddo, +"where we may find some spiders like Dickie, and where you will see all +sorts of wonderful creatures." + +"Oh Mrs. Haddo!" exclaimed Betty. + +They spent an hour or two in that place so fascinating for children, and +arrived back at Haddo Court just in time for supper. + +"We have had a happy day, have we not?" said Mrs. Haddo, looking into +Betty's face and observing the brightness of her eyes. + +"Very happy, and it was you who gave it to us," answered the girl. + +"And to-morrow," continued Mrs. Haddo, "must be just as happy--just as +happy--because lessons will begin; and to an intelligent and clever girl +there is nothing in the world so delightful as a difficulty conquered +and knowledge acquired." + +That evening, when the Vivian girls entered the room where supper was +served, every girl in the upper school turned to look at them. The +change in their appearance was at once complete and arresting. They +walked well by nature. They were finely made girls, and had not a scrap +of self-consciousness. + +"Oh, I say, Fan," whispered Susie in her dear friend's ear, "your +cousins will boss the whole school if this sort of thing goes on. To be +frank with you, Fan, I have fallen in love with that magnificent Betty +myself. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her." + +"You ought not to whisper in English, ought you?" was Fanny's very +significant response, uttered in the German tongue. + +Susie shrugged her shoulders. The Specialities generally sat close to +each other; and she looked down the table now, and saw that Margaret, +and the Bertrams, and Olive Repton were equally absorbed in watching the +Vivian girls. Nothing more was said about them, however; and when the +meal came to an end Miss Symes took them away with her, to give them +brief directions with regard to their work for the morrow. She also +supplied them with a number of new books, which Betty received with +rapture, for she adored reading, and hitherto had hardly been able to +indulge in it. Miss Symes tried to explain to the girls something of the +school routine; and she showed each girl her own special desk in the +great schoolroom, where she could keep her school-books, and her +different papers, pens, pencils, ink, etc. + +"I cannot tell until to-morrow what forms you will be in, my dears; but +I think Betty will probably have a good deal to do with me in her daily +tuition; whereas you, Sylvia, and you, Hester, will be under the charge +of Miss Oxley. I must introduce you to Miss Oxley to-morrow morning. And +now you would like, I am sure, to go to bed. Mrs. Haddo says that you +needn't attend prayers to-night, for you have had a long and tiring day; +so you may go at once to your room." + +The girls thanked Miss Symes, and went. They heard voices busily +conversing in Fanny's room--eager voices, joined to occasional peals of +merry laughter. But they were too tired, too sleepy, and, it may be +added, too happy, to worry themselves much over these matters. They were +very quickly in bed and sound asleep. + +Meanwhile Fanny was much enjoying the unstinted praise which her friends +were bestowing on the beautiful tea-set which her father had given her. + +"Oh, but it is perfectly lovely!" exclaimed Olive. "Why, Fan, you are in +luck; it's real old Crown Derby!" + +"Yes," said Fanny; "I thought it was. Whenever father does a thing he +does it well." + +"We'll be almost afraid to drink out of it, Fanny!" exclaimed Julia +Bertram. "Fancy, if I were to drop one of those little jewels of cups! +Don't the colors just sparkle on them! Oh, if I were to drop it, and it +got broken, I don't think I'd ever hold up my head again!" + +"Well, dear Julia, don't drop it," said Fanny, "and then you will feel +all right." + +Cocoa was already prepared; the rich cake graced the center of the +board; the chocolate creams were certainly in evidence; and the girls +clustered round, laughing and talking. Fanny was determined to choke +back that feeling of uneasiness which had worried her during the whole +of that day. She could not tell the Specialities what her cousins had +done; she could not--she would not. There must be a secret between them. +She who belonged to a society of whom each member had to vow not to have +a secret from any other member, was about to break her vow. + +The girls were in high spirits to-night, and in no mood to talk +"sobersides," as Mary Bertram sometimes called their graver discussions. + +But when the little meal of cocoa and cake had come to an end, Margaret +said, "I want to make a proposal." + +"Hush! hush! Let the oracle speak!" cried Olive, her pretty face beaming +with mirth. + +"Oh Olive, don't be so ridiculous!" said Margaret. "You know perfectly +well I am no oracle; but I have a notion in my head. It is this: why +should not those splendid-looking girls, the Vivians, join the +Specialities? They did look rather funny, I will admit, yesterday; but +even then one could see that clothes matter little or nothing to them. +But now that they're dressed like the rest of us, they give distinction +to the whole school. I don't think I ever saw a face like Betty's. Fan, +you, of course, will second my proposal that Betty Vivian, even if her +sisters are too young, should be asked to become a Speciality?" + +Fanny felt that she was turning very pale. Susie Rushworth gazed at her +in some wonder. + +"I propose," exclaimed Margaret Grant, "that Miss Betty Vivian shall be +invited to join our society and to become a Speciality. I further +propose that we ask her to join our next meeting, which takes place this +day week, and is, by the way, held in my room. Now, who will second my +suggestion?" + +"You will, of course, Fan," said Susie. "Betty is your cousin, so you +are the right person to second Margaret's wish." + +Fanny's face grew yet paler. After a minute she said, "Just because +Betty is my cousin I would rather some one else seconded Margaret +Grant's proposal." + +All the girls looked at her in astonishment. + +"Very well; I second it," responded Susie. + +"Girls," said Margaret, "will you all agree? Those who do _not_ agree, +please keep their hands down. Those who _do_ agree, please hold up +hands. Now, then, is Betty Vivian to be invited to join the +Specialities? Which has it--the 'ayes' or the 'noes'?" + +All the girls' hands, with one exception, were eagerly raised in favor +of Betty Vivian. Fanny sat very still, her hands locked one inside the +other in her lap. Something in her attitude and in the expression of her +face caused each of her companions to gaze at her in extreme wonder. + +"Why, Fanny, what is the meaning of this?" asked Margaret. + +"I cannot explain myself," said Fanny. + +"Cannot--and you a Speciality! Don't you know that we have no secrets +from one another?" + +"That is true," said Fanny, speaking with a great effort. "Well, then, +I will explain myself. I would rather Betty Vivian did not join our +club." + +"But why, dear--why?" + +"Yes, Fanny, why?" echoed Susie. + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" cried Olive Repton. + +"The most striking-looking girl I ever saw!" said Julia Bertram. "Why, +Fan, what is your reason for this?" + +"Call it jealousy if you like," said Fanny; "call it any name under the +sun, only don't worry me about it." + +As she spoke she rose deliberately and left the room, her companions +looking after her in amazement. + +"What does this mean?" said Julia. + +"I can't understand it a bit," said Margaret. Then she added after a +pause, "I suppose, girls, you fully recognize that the Speciality Club +is supposed to be a club without prejudice or favor, and that, as the +'ayes' have carried the day, Miss Betty Vivian is to be invited to +join?" + +"Of course she must be invited to join," replied Susie; "but it is very +unpleasant all the same. I cannot make out what can ail Fanny Crawford. +She hasn't been a bit herself since those girls arrived." + +The Specialities chatted a little longer together, but the meeting was +not convivial. Fanny's absence prevented its being so; and very soon the +girls broke up, leaving the pretty cups and saucers and the remains of +the feast behind them. The chapel bell rang for prayers, and they all +trooped in. But Fanny Crawford was not present. This, in itself, was +almost without precedent, for girls were not allowed to miss prayers +without leave. + +As each Speciality laid her head on her pillow that night she could not +but reflect on Fanny's strange behavior, and wondered much what it +meant. As to Fanny herself, she lay awake for hours. Some of the girls +and some of the mistresses thought that she was grieving for her father; +but, as a matter of fact, she was not even thinking of him. Every +thought of her mind was concentrated on what she called her present +dilemma. It was almost morning before the tired girl fell asleep. + +At half-past six on the following day the great gong sounded through the +entire upper school. Betty started up in some amazement, her sisters in +some alarm. + +By-and-by a kind-looking woman, dressed as a sort of housekeeper or +upper servant, entered the room. "Can I help you to dress, young +ladies?" she said. + +The girls replied in the negative. They had always dressed themselves. + +"Very well," replied the woman. "Then I will come to fetch you in +half-an-hour's time, so that you will be ready for prayers in chapel." + +Perhaps Betty Vivian never, as long as she lived, forgot that first day +when she stood with her sisters in the beautiful little chapel and heard +the Reverend Edmund Fairfax read prayers. He was a delicate, +refined-looking man, with a very intellectual face and a beautiful +voice. Mrs. Haddo had begged of him to accept the post of private +chaplain to her great school for many reasons. First, because his health +was delicate; second, because she knew she could pay him well; and also, +for the greatest reason of all, because she was quite sure that Mr. +Fairfax could help her girls in moments of difficulty in their spiritual +life, should such moments arise. + +Prayers came to an end; breakfast came to an end. The Vivians passed a +very brisk examination with some credit. As Miss Symes had predicted, +Betty was put into her special form, in which form Susie Rushworth and +Fanny Crawford also had their places. The younger Vivians were allowed +to remain in the upper school, but were in much lower forms. Betty took +to her work as happily (to use a well-known expression) as a duck takes +to water. Her eyes were bright with intelligence while she listened to +Miss Symes, who could teach so charmingly and could impart knowledge in +such an attractive way. + +In the middle of the morning there was the usual brief period when the +girls might go out and amuse themselves for a short time. Betty wanted +to find her sisters; but before she could attempt to seek for them she +felt a hand laid on her arm, and, glancing round, saw that Fanny +Crawford was by her side. + +"Betty," said Fanny, "I want to speak to you, and at once. We have only +a very few minutes; will you, please, listen?" + +"Is it really important?" asked Betty. "For, if it is not, I do want to +say something to Sylvia. She forgot to give Dickie his raw meat this +morning." + +"Oh, aren't you just hopeless!" exclaimed Fanny. "You think of that +terrible spider when--when----Oh, I don't know what to make of you!" + +"And I don't know what to make of you, Fanny!" retorted Betty. "What are +you excited about? What is the matter?" + +"Listen!--do listen!" said Fanny. + +"Well, I am listening; but you really must be quick in getting out +whatever's troubling you." + +"You have heard of the Specialities, haven't you?" said Fanny. + +"Good gracious, no!" exclaimed Betty. "The Specialities--what are they?" + +"There is nothing _what_ about them. They are people--girls; they are +not things." + +"Oh, girls! What a funny name to give girls! I haven't heard of them, +Fanny." + +"You won't be long at Haddo Court without hearing a great deal about +them," remarked Fanny. "I am one, and so is Susie Rushworth, and so are +the Bertrams, and so is that handsome girl Margaret Grant. You must +have noticed her; she is so dark and tall and stately. And so, also, is +dear little Olive Repton----" + +"And so is--and so is--and so is--" laughed Betty, putting on her most +quizzical manner. + +"You must listen to me. The Specialities--oh, they're not like any other +girls in the school, and it's the greatest honor in the world to be +asked to belong to them. Betty, it's this way. Margaret Grant is the +sort of captain of the club--I don't know how to express it exactly; but +she is our head, our chief--and she has taken a fancy to you; and last +night we had a meeting in my bedroom----" + +"Oh, that was what the row was about!" exclaimed Betty. "If we hadn't +been hearty sleepers and girls straight from the Scotch moors, you would +have given us a very bad night." + +"Never mind about that. Margaret Grant proposed last night that you +should be asked to join." + +"_I_ asked to join?" + +"Yes, you, Betty. Doesn't it sound absurd? And they all voted for +you--every one of them, with the exception of myself." + +"And it's a great honor, isn't it?" said Betty, speaking very quietly. + +"Oh yes--immense." + +"Then, of course, you wouldn't vote--would you, dear little Fan?" + +"Don't talk like that! We shall be returning to the schoolroom in a few +minutes, and Margaret is sure to talk to you after dinner. You are +elected by the majority, and you are to be invited to attend the next +meeting. But I want you to refuse--yes, I do, Betty; for you can't +join--you know you can't. With that awful, awful lie on your conscience, +you can't be a Speciality. I shall go wild with misery if you join. +Betty, you must say you won't." + +Betty looked very scornfully at Fanny. "There are some people in the +world," she said, "who make me feel very wicked, and I am greatly +afraid you are one. Now, let me tell you plainly and frankly that if you +had said nothing I should probably not have wished to become that +extraordinary thing, a Speciality; but because you are in such a mortal +funk I shall join your club with the utmost pleasure. So now you know." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SCOTCH HEATHER + + +Betty was true to her word. After school that day, Margaret Grant and +Olive Repton came up to her and asked her in a very pretty manner if she +would become a member of their Speciality Club. + +"Of course," said Margaret, "you don't know anything about us or our +rules at present; but we think we should like you to join, so we are +here now to invite you to come to our next meeting, which will take +place on Thursday of next week, at eight o'clock precisely, in my +bedroom." + +"I don't know where your bedroom is," said Betty. + +"But I know where yours is!" exclaimed Olive; "so I will fetch you, +Betty, and bring you to Margaret's room. Oh, I am sure you will enjoy +it--we have such fun! Sometimes we give quite big entertainments--that +is, when we invite the other girls, which we do once or twice during the +term. By the way, that reminds me that you will be most useful in that +respect, for you and your sisters have the largest bedroom in the house. +You will, of course, lend us your room when your turn comes; but that is +a long way off." + +"I am so glad you are coming!" said Margaret. "You are the sort of girl +we want in our club. And now, please, tell me about your life in +Scotland." + +"I will with pleasure," replied Betty. She looked full up into +Margaret's face as she spoke. + +Margaret was older than Betty, and taller; and there was something about +her which commanded universal respect. + +"I don't mind telling you," said Betty--"nor you," she added as Olive's +dancing blue eyes met hers; "for a kind of intuition tells me that you +would both love my wild moors and my beautiful heather. Oh, I say, do +come, both of you, and see our three little plots of garden! There's +Sylvia's plot, and Hester's, and mine; and we have a plant of heather, +straight from Craigie Muir, in the midst of each. Our gardens are quite +bare except for that tiny plant. Do, _do_ come and see it!" + +Margaret laughed. + +Olive said, "Oh, what fun!" and the three began to walk quickly under +the trees in the direction of the Vivians' gardens. + +As they passed under the great oak-trees Betty looked up, and her eyes +danced with fun. "Are you good at climbing trees?" she asked of +Margaret. + +"I used to be when I was very, very young; but those days are over." + +"There are a few very little girls in the lower school who still climb +one of the safest trees," remarked Olive. + +Betty's eyes continued to dance. "You give me delightful news," she +said. "I am so truly glad none of you do anything so vulgar as to climb +trees." + +"But why, Betty?" asked Margaret. + +"I have my own reasons," replied Betty. "You can't expect me to tell you +everything right away, can you?" + +"You must please yourself," said Margaret. + +Olive looked at Betty in a puzzled manner; and the three girls were +silent, only that they quickened their steps, crunching down some broken +twigs as they walked. + +By-and-by they reached the three bare patches of ground, which were +railed in in the simple manner which Mrs. Haddo had indicated, and in +the center of which stood the wooden post with the words, "THE VIVIANS' +PRIVATE GARDENS," painted on it. + +"How very funny!" exclaimed Olive. + +"Yes, it is rather funny," remarked Betty. "Did you ever in the whole +course of your existence see anything uglier than these three patches of +ground? There is nothing whatever planted in them except our darling +Scotch heather; and oh, by the way, I don't believe the precious little +plants are thriving! They are drooping like anything! Oh dear! oh dear! +I think I shall die if they die!" As she spoke she flung herself on the +ground, near the path. + +"Of course you won't, Betty," said Margaret. "Besides, why should they +die? They only want watering." + +"I'll run and fetch a canful of water," said Olive, who was extremely +good-natured. + +Betty made no response. She was still lying on the ground, resting on +her elbows, while her hands tenderly touched the faded and drooping +bells of the wild heather. She had entered her own special plot. Olive +had disappeared to fetch the water, but Margaret still stood by Betty's +side. + +"Do you think they'll do?" said Betty at last, glancing at her +companion. + +Margaret noticed that her eyes were full of tears. "I don't think they +will," she said after a pause. "But I'll tell you what we must do, +Betty: we must get the right sort of soil for them--just the sandy soil +they want. We'll go and consult Birchall; he is the oldest gardener in +the place, and knows something about everything. For that matter, we are +sure to get the sort of sand we require on this piece of waste +ground--our 'forest primeval,' as Olive calls it." + +"Oh dear!" said Betty, dashing away the tears from her eyes, "you are +funny when you talk of a thing like that"--she waved her hand in the +direction of the uncultivated land--"as a 'forest primeval.' It is the +poorest, shabbiest bit of waste land I ever saw in my life." + +"Let's walk across it," said Margaret. "Olive can't be back for a minute +or two." + +"Why should we walk across it?" + +"I want to show you where some heather grows. It is certainly not rich, +nor deep in color, nor beautiful, like yours; but it has grown in that +particular spot for two or three years. I am quite sure that Birchall +will say that the soil round that heather is the right sort of earth to +plant your Scotch heather in." + +"Well, come, and let's be very quick," said Betty. + +The girls walked across the bit of common. Margaret pointed out the +heather, which was certainly scanty and poor. + +Betty looked at it with scorn. "I think," she said after a pause, "I +don't want to consult Birchall." Then she added after another pause, "I +think, on the whole, I'd much rather have no heather than plants like +those. You are very kind, Margaret; but there are some things that can't +be transplanted, just as there are some hearts--that break--yes, +break--if you take them from home. That poor heather--once, doubtless, +it was very flourishing; it is evidently dying now of a sort of +consumption. Let's come back to our plots of ground, please, Margaret." + +They did so, and were there greeted by Olive, who had a large can of +cold water standing by her side, and was eagerly talking to Sylvia and +Hester. Betty marched first into the center plot of ground. + +"I've got lots of water," said Olive in a cheerful tone, "so we'll do +the watering at once. Sylvia and Hester say that they must have a third +each of this canful; but of course we can get a second can if we want +it." + +"No!" said Betty. + +Sylvia, who was gazing with lack-lustre eyes at the fading heather, now +started and looked full at her sister. Hester, who always clung to +Sylvia in moments of emotion, caught her sister's hand and held it very +tight. + +"No," said Betty again; "I have made a discovery. Scotch heather does +not grow here in this airless sort of place. Sylvia and Hester, Margaret +was good enough to show me what she calls heather. There are a few +straggling plants just at the other side of that bit of common. I don't +want ours to die slowly. Our plants shall go at once. No, we don't water +them. Sylvia, go into your garden and pull up the plant; and, Hester, +you do likewise Go, girls; go at once!" + +"But, Betty----" said Margaret. + +"You had better not cross her now," said Sylvia. + +Margaret started when Sylvia addressed her in this tone. + +Betty's face was painfully white, except where two spots of color blazed +in each cheek. As her sisters stooped obediently to pull up their +heather, Betty bent and wrenched hers from the ground by which it was +surrounded, which ground was already dry and hard. "Let's make a +bonfire," she said. "I sometimes think," she added, "that in each little +bell of heather there lives the wee-est of all the fairies; and perhaps, +if we burn this poor, dear thing, the little, wee fairies may go back to +their ain countree." + +"It all seems quite dreadful to me," said Margaret. + +"It is right," replied Betty; "and I have a box of matches in my +pocket." + +"Oh, have you?" exclaimed Olive. "If--if Mrs. Haddo knew----" + +But Betty made no response. She set her sisters to collect some dry +leaves and bits of broken twigs; and presently the bonfire was erected +and kindled, and the poor heather from the north country had ceased to +exist. + +"Now, you must see _our_ gardens," said Margaret, "for you must have +gardens, you know. Olive and I will show you the sort of things that +grow in the south, that flourish here, and look beautiful." + +"I cannot see them now," replied Betty. She brushed past Margaret, and +walked rapidly across the common. + +Sylvia's face turned very white, and she clutched Hetty's hand still +more tightly. + +"What is she going to do? What is the matter?" said Margaret, turning to +the twins. + +"She can't help it," said Sylvia; "she must do it. She is going to +howl." + +"To do what?" said Margaret Grant. + +"Howl. Did you never howl? Well, perhaps you never did. Anyhow, she must +get away as far as possible before she begins, and we had better go back +to the house. You wouldn't like the sound of Betty's howling." + +"But are you going to let her howl, as you call it, alone?" + +"Let her? We have no voice in the matter," replied Hester. "Betty always +does exactly what she likes. Let's go quickly; let's get away. It's the +best thing she can do. She's been keeping in that howling-fit for over a +week, and it must find vent. She'll be all right when you see her next. +But don't, on any account, ever again mention the heather that we +brought from Craigie Muir. She may get over its death some day, but not +yet." + +"Your sister is a very strange girl," said Margaret. + +"Every one says that," replied Sylvia. "Don't they, Het?" + +"Yes; we're quite tired of hearing it," said Hetty. "But do let's come +quickly. Which is the farthest-off part of the grounds--the place where +we are quite certain not to hear?" + +"You make me feel almost nervous," said Margaret. "But come along, if +you wish to." + +The four girls walked rapidly. At last they found a little summer-house +which was built high up on the very top of a rising mound. From here you +could get a good view of the surrounding country; and very beautiful it +was--at least, for those whose eyes were trained to observe the rich +beauty of cultivated land, of flowing rivers, of forests, of carefully +kept trees. Very lonely indeed was the scene from Haddo Court +summer-house; for, in addition to every scrap of land being made to +yield its abundance, there were pretty cottages dotted here and +there--each cottage possessing its own gay flower-garden, and, in most +cases, its own happy little band of pretty boys and girls. + +As soon as the four girls found themselves in the summer-house, Margaret +began to praise the view to Sylvia. + +Sylvia looked round to right and to left. "_We_ don't admire that sort +of thing," she said. "Do we, Hetty?" + +Hetty shook her head with vehemence. "Oh no, no," she said. Then, coming +a little closer to Margaret, she looked into her face and continued, +"Are you the sort of kind girl who will keep a secret?" + +Margaret thought of the Speciality Club. But surely this poor little +secret belonging solely to the Vivians need not be related to any one +who was not in sympathy with them. "I never tell tales, if that is what +you mean," she said. + +"Then that is all right," remarked Sylvia. "And are you the same sort of +girl, Olive? You look very kind." + +"It wouldn't be hard to be kind to one like you," was Olive's response. + +Whereupon Sylvia smiled, and Hetty came close to Olive and looked into +her face. + +"Then we want you," continued Sylvia, "never, never to tell about the +burnt sacrifice of the Scotch heather, nor about the flight of the +fairies back to Scotland. It tortured Betty to have to do it; but she +thought it right, therefore it was done. There are some people, +however, who would not understand her; and we would much rather be able +to tell our own Betty that you will never speak of it, when she has come +back to herself and has got over her howling." + +"Of course we'll never tell," said Olive; and Margaret nodded her head +without speaking. + +"I think you are just awfully nice," said Sylvia. "We were so terrified +when we came to this school. We thought we'd have an awful time. We +still speak of it as a prison, you know. Do you speak of it to your +dearest friend as a prison?" + +"Prison!" said Margaret. "There isn't a place in the world I love as I +love Haddo Court." + +"Then you never, never lived in a dear little gray stone house on a wild +Scotch moor; and you never had a man like Donald Macfarlane to talk to, +nor a woman like Jean Macfarlane to make scones for you; and you never +had dogs like our dogs up there, nor a horse like David. I pity you from +my heart!" + +"I never had any of those things," said Margaret; "but I shall like to +hear about them from you." + +"And so shall I like to hear about them," said Olive. + +"We will tell you, if Betty gives us leave," said one of the twins. "We +never do anything without Betty's leave. She is the person we look up +to, and obey, and follow. We'd follow her to the world's end; we'd die +for her, both of us, if it would do her any good." + +Margaret took Sylvia's hand and began to smooth it softly. "I wish," she +said then in a slow voice, "that I had friends to love me as you love +your sister." + +"Perhaps you aren't worthy," said Sylvia. "There is no one living like +Betty in all the world, and we feel about her as we do because she is +Betty." + +"But, all the same," said Hester, frowning as she spoke, "our Betty has +got an enemy." + +"An enemy, my dear child! What do you mean? You have just been praising +her so much! Did any one take a dislike to her up in that north +country?" + +"It may have begun there," remarked Hetty; "but the sad and dreadful +thing is that the enemy is in this house. Sylvia and I don't mind your +knowing. We rather think you like her, but we don't. Her name is Fanny +Crawford." + +"Oh, really, though, that is quite nonsense!" said Margaret, flushing +with annoyance. "Poor dear Fanny, there is not a better or sweeter girl +in the school!" + +Sylvia laughed. "That is your point of view," she said. "She is our +enemy; she is not yours. Oh, hurrah! hurrah! I see Betty! She is coming +back, walking very slowly. She has got over the worst of the howls. We +must both go and meet her. Don't be anywhere about, please, either of +you. Keep quite in the shade, so that she won't see you; and the next +time you meet talk to her as though this had never happened." + +The twins dashed out of sight. They certainly could run very fast. + +When they had gone Margaret looked at Olive. "Well," she said, "that +sort of scene rather takes one's breath away. What do you think, Olive?" + +"It was exceedingly trying," said Olive. + +"All the same," said Margaret, "I feel roused up about those girls in +the most extraordinary manner. Didn't you notice, too, what Sylvia said +about poor Fanny? Isn't it horrid?" + +"Of course it isn't true," was Olive's remark. + +"We have made up our minds not to speak evil of any one in the school," +said Margaret after a pause; "but I cannot help remembering that Fanny +did not wish Betty to become a Speciality. And don't you recall how +angry she was, and how she would not vote with the 'ayes,' and would +not give any reason, and although she was hostess she walked out of the +room?" + +"It's very uncomfortable altogether," said Olive. "But I don't see that +we can do anything." + +"Well, perhaps not yet," said Margaret; "but I may as well say at once, +Olive, that I mean to take up those girls. Until to-day I was only +interested in Betty, but now I am interested in all three; and if I can, +without making mischief, I must get to the bottom of what is making poor +little Betty so bitter, and what is upsetting the equanimity of our dear +old Fan, whom we have always loved so dearly." + +Just at that moment Fanny Crawford herself and Susie Rushworth appeared, +walking together arm in arm. They saw Margaret and Olive, and came to +join them. Susie was in her usual high spirits, and Fanny looked quite +calm and collected. There was not even an allusion made to the Vivian +girls. Margaret was most thankful, for she certainly did not wish the +little episode she had witnessed to reach any one's ears but her own and +Olive's. Susie was talking eagerly about a great picnic which Mrs. Haddo +had arranged for the following Saturday. The whole school, both upper +and lower, were to go. Mr. Fairfax and his wife, most of the teachers, +and Mrs. Haddo herself would also accompany the girls. They were all +going to a place about twenty miles away; and Mrs. Haddo, who kept two +motor-cars of her own, had made arrangements for the hire of several +more, so that the party could quickly reach their place of rendezvous +and thus have a longer time there to enjoy themselves. + +"She does things so well, doesn't she?" said Susie. "There never was her +like. Do you know, there was a sort of insurrection in the lower school +early this morning, for naughty sprites had whispered that all the small +children were to go in ordinary carriages and dogcarts and wagonettes. +Then came the news that Mrs. Haddo meant each girl in the school to +have an equal share of enjoyment; and, lo and behold! the cloud has +vanished, and the little ones are making even merrier than the older +girls." + +"I wish I felt as amiable as I used to feel," said Fanny at that moment. + +"Oh, but, Fan, why don't you?" asked Olive. "You ought to feel more and +more amiable every day--that is, if training means anything." + +"Training is all very well," answered Fanny, "and you may think you are +all right; but when temptation comes----" + +"Temptation!" said Margaret. "In my opinion, that is the worst of Haddo +Court: we are so shielded, and treated with such extreme kindness, that +temptation cannot come." + +"Then you wish to be tested, do you, Margaret?" asked Fanny. + +Margaret shivered slightly. "Sometimes I do wish it," she said. + +"Oh, Margaret dear, don't!" said Olive. "You'll have heaps of troubles +in life, for my mother says that no one yet was exempt from them. There +never was a woman quite like my darling mother--except, indeed, Mrs. +Haddo. Mother has quite peculiar ideas with regard to bringing up girls. +She says the aim of her life is to give me a very happy childhood and +early youth. She thinks that such a life will make me all the stronger +to withstand temptation." + +"Let us hope so, anyhow," said Fanny. Then she added, "Don't suppose I +am grumbling, although it has been a trial father going away--so very +far away--to India. But I think the real temptation comes to us in this +way: when we have to meet girls we can't tolerate." + +"Now she's going to say something dreadful!" thought Olive to herself. + +Margaret rose as though she would put an end to the colloquy. + +Fanny was watching Margaret's face. "The girl I am specially thinking of +now," she said, "is Sibyl Ray." + +"Oh!" said Margaret. She gave a sigh of such undoubted relief that Fanny +was certain she had guessed what her first thoughts were. + +"And now I will tell you why I don't like Sibyl," Fanny continued. "I +have nothing whatever to say against her. I have never heard of her +doing anything underhand or what we might call low-down or ill-bred. At +the same time, I do dislike Sibyl, just for the simple reason that she +is _not_ well-bred, and she never will be." + +"Oh! oh, give her her chance--do!" said Olive. + +"I am not going to interfere with her," remarked Fanny; "but she can +never be a friend of mine. There are some girls who like her very well. +There's Martha West, who is constantly with her." + +"I am quite sure," said Margaret, "that there isn't a better girl in the +school than Martha, and I have serious thoughts of asking her to become +a Speciality." As she spoke she fixed her very dark eyes on Fanny's +face. + +"Do ask her; I shall be delighted," remarked Fanny. "Only, whatever you +do, don't ask her friend, Sibyl Ray." + +"I have no present intention of doing so. Fanny, I don't want to be +nasty; but you are quite right about Sibyl. No one can say a word +against her; and yet she just is not well-bred." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A NEW MEMBER + + +The picnic was a great success. The day was splendid. The sun shone in a +sky which was almost cloudless. The motor-cars were all in prime +condition. There were no accidents of any sort. The girls laughed and +chatted, and enjoyed life to the utmost; and the Vivian girls were +amongst the merriest in those large and varied groups. + +The twins invariably followed in Betty's footsteps, and Betty possessed +that curious mixture of temperament which threw her into the depths of +anguish one moment and sent her spirits flying like a rocket skyward the +next. Betty's spirits were tending skyward on this happy day. She was +also making friends in the school, and was delighted to walk with +Margaret and Susie and Olive. Fanny did not trouble her at all; but +Martha West chatted with her for a whole long hour, and, as Martha knew +Scotland, a very strong link was immediately established between the +girls. + +A thoroughly happy picnic--a perfect one--is usually lived through +without adventure. There are no _contretemps_, no unhappy moments, no +jealousies, no heart-burnings. These are the sort of picnics which come +to us very rarely in life, but they do come now and then. In one sense, +however, they are uninteresting, for they have no history--there is +little or nothing to say about them. Other picnics are to follow in this +story which ended differently, which led to tangled knots and bitter +heart-burnings. But the first picnics from Haddo Court in which Betty +Vivian took part was, in a way, something like that first morning when +she joined the other girls in whispering her prayers in the beautiful +chapel. + +The picnic came and went, and in course of time the day arrived when +Betty was to be the honored guest of the Specialities. On the morning of +that day Fanny made another effort to induce Betty to renounce the idea +of becoming a Speciality. She had spent a sleepless night thinking over +the matter, and by the morning had made up her mind what to do. + +Betty was making friends rapidly in the school. But the twins, although +they were quite popular, still clung very much to each other; and +Fanny's idea was to get at Betty through her sisters. She knew quite +well that often, during recess, Sylvia and Hester rushed upstairs, for +what purpose she could not ascertain, the existence of the Vivians' +attic being unknown to her. There, however, day by day, Sylvia and Hetty +fed Dickie on raw meat, and watched the monstrous spider getting larger +and more ferocious-looking. + +"He'd be the sort," said Sylvia, opening her eyes very wide and fixing +them on her sister, "to do mischief to _some one_ if _some one_ were not +very careful." + +"Oh, don't, silly Sylvia!" said Hetty with some annoyance. "You know +Mrs. Haddo would not like you to talk like that. Now let's examine our +caterpillars." + +"There isn't much to see at the present moment," remarked Sylvia, "for +they're every one of them in the chrysalis stage." + +The girls, having spent about five minutes in the Vivians' attics, now +ran downstairs, and went out, as was their custom, by a side-door which +opened into one of the gardens. It was here that Fanny pounced on them. +She came quickly forward, trying to look as pleasant as she could. + +"Well, twins," she said, "and how goes the world with you?" + +"Oh, all right!" replied Sylvia. "We can't stay to talk now; can we, +Het? We've got to meet a friend of ours in the lower garden--old +Birchall. By the way, do you know old Birchall, Fan?" + +"Doddering old creature! of course I know him," replied Fanny. + +"He isn't doddering," said Sylvia; "he has a great deal more sense than +most of us. I wish I had half his knowledge of worms, and spiders, and +ants, and goldfish, and--and--flies of every sort. Why, there isn't a +thing he doesn't know about them. I call him one of the most delightful +old men I ever met." + +"Oh," said Hetty, "you shouldn't say that, Sylvia! Birchall is nice, but +he isn't a patch upon Donald Macfarlane." + +"If you want to see Birchall, I will walk with you," said Fanny. "You +can't object to my doing that, can you?" + +"We mean to run," said Hetty. + +"Oh no, you don't!" said Fanny. Here she took Hetty's hand, pulled it +violently through her arm. "You've got to talk to me, both of you. I +have something important I want to say." + +Sylvia laughed. + +"Why do you laugh, you naughty, rude little girl?" + +"Oh, please forgive me, Fanny; but it does sound so silly for you to say +that you have something important to talk over with us, for of course we +know perfectly well that you have nothing of the sort." + +"Then you are wrong, that's all; and I sha'n't waste time arguing with +you." + +"That's all right," said Hetty. "We may be off to Birchall now, mayn't +we, Fanny?" + +"No, you mayn't. You must take a message from me to Betty." + +"I thought so," remarked Sylvia. + +Fanny had great difficulty in controlling her temper. After a minute she +said, speaking quietly, "I don't permit myself to lower myself by +arguing with children like you two. But I have an important message to +give your sister, and if you won't give it you clearly understand that +you will rue it to the last days of your lives--yes, to the last day of +your lives." + +Sylvia began to dance. Hetty tried to tug her hand away from Fanny's +arm. + +"Come, children, you can do it or not, just as you please. Tell Betty +that if she is wise, and does not wish to get into a most serious and +disgraceful scrape, she will not attend the meeting of some girls in +Margaret Grant's room this evening." + +"Let's try if we know it exactly right," said Sylvia. "Betty will get +into a serious scrape if she goes to Margaret Grant's room to-night? +What a pity! For, you see, Fan, she is going." + +"Do listen to me, Sylvia. You have more sense in your little head than +you imagine. Persuade Betty not to go. Believe me, I am only acting for +her best interests." + +"We'll give her the message all right," said Hester. "But as to +persuading Betty when Betty's mind is made up, I'd like to know who can +persuade her to change it then." + +"But you are her sisters; she will do what you wish." + +"But we _don't_ wish her not to go. We'd much rather she went. Why +shouldn't she have a bit of fun? Some one told us--I forget now who it +was--that there are always splendid chocolates at those funny +bedroom-parties. I only wish we were asked!" + +"I tell you that your sister will get into a scrape!" repeated Fanny. + +"You tell us so indeed," said Sylvia, "and it's most frightfully +annoying of you; for we sha'n't have a minute to talk to Birchall, and +he promised to have four different kinds of worms ready for us to look +at this morning. Oh dear, dear! mayn't we go? Fanny, if you are so fond +of Betty, why don't you speak to her yourself?" + +"I have spoken, and she won't listen to me." + +"There! wasn't I right?" said Sylvia. "Oh Fanny, do you think she'd mind +what we said--and coming from you, too? If she didn't listen to you +direct, she certainly won't listen to you crookedwise--that's not +Betty." + +"I was thinking," said Fanny, "that you might persuade her--that is, if +you are very, very clever, just from yourselves--not to go. You needn't +mention my name at all; and if you really manage this, I can tell you +I'll do a wonderful lot for you. I'll get father to send me curious +spiders and other creatures, all the way from India, for you. He can if +he likes. I will write to him by the very next mail." + +"Bribes! bribes!" cried Sylvia. "No, Fan, we can't be bribed. Good-bye, +Fan. We'll give the message, but she'll go all the same." + +With a sudden spring, for which Fanny was not prepared, Hester loosened +her hand from Fanny's arm. The next minute she had caught Sylvia's hand, +and the two were speeding away in the direction of the lower garden and +the fascinating company of old Birchall. + +Fanny could have stamped her foot with rage. + +The Specialities always met at eight o'clock in the evening. They were +expected to wear their pretty evening-dress, and look as much like +grown-up young ladies as possible. In a great house like Haddo Court +there must be all sorts of rooms, some much bigger than others. Thus, +where every room was nice and comfortable, there were a few quite +charming. The Vivians had one of the largest rooms, but Margaret Grant +had the most beautiful. She had been for long years now in the school, +and was therefore accorded many privileges. She had come to Haddo Court +as a very little girl, and had worked her way steadily from the lower +school to the upper. Her people were exceedingly well-off, and her +beautiful room--half bedroom, half sitting-room--was furnished mostly +out of her own pocket-money. She took great pride in its arrangements, +and on this special evening it looked more attractive than usual. There +were great vases of late roses and early chrysanthemums on the different +whatnots and small tables. A very cheerful fire blazed in the grate, +for it was getting cold enough now to enjoy a fire in the evenings, and +Margaret's supper was all that was tasteful and elegant. + +Betty had received Fanny Crawford's message, and Betty's eyes had +sparkled with suppressed fun when her sisters had delivered it to her. +She had made no comment of any sort, but had asked the girls, before +they got into bed, to help her to fasten on her very prettiest frock. +She had not worn this frock before, and the simple, soft, white muslin +suited her young face and figure as nothing else could have done. The +black ribbon which tied back her thick hair, and was worn in memory of +dear Aunt Frances, was also becoming to her; and the twin girls' eyes +sparkled with rapture as they looked at their darling. + +"Good-night, Bet!" said Sylvia. + +"Have a splendid time, Bet!" whispered Hester. + +Then Sylvia said, "I am glad you are going!" + +"But of course I am going," said Betty. "Good-night, chickabiddies; +good-night. I won't wake you when I come back. Sleep well!" Betty left +the room. + +In the corridor outside she met Olive Repton, who said, "Oh, there you +are, Betty! Now let's come. We'll be two of the first; but that's all +the better, seeing that you are a new member." + +"It sounds so mysterious--a sort of freemasonry," remarked Betty, +laughing as she spoke. "I never did think that exciting things of this +sort happened at school." + +"They don't at most schools," replied Olive. "But, then, there is only +one Haddo Court in the world." + +"Shall I have to take an awful vow; shall I have to write my name in +blood in a queer sort of book, or anything of that sort?" asked Betty. + +"No, no! You are talking nonsense now." + +By this time they had reached Margaret's room, and Margaret was waiting +for them. Betty gave a cry of rapture when she saw the flowers, and, +going from one glass bowl to the other, she buried her face in the +delicious perfume. + +By-and-by the rest of the Specialities appeared--the Bertrams (who were +greatly excited at the thought of Betty joining), Susie Rushworth, and, +last to enter, Fanny Crawford. + +Fanny had taken great pains with her dress, and she looked her best on +this occasion. She gave one quick glance at Betty. Then she went up to +her and said, "Welcome, Betty!" and held out her hand. + +Betty was not prepared for this most friendly greeting. She scarcely +touched Fanny's hand, however, and by so doing put herself slightly in +the wrong in the presence of the girls, who were watching her; while +Fanny, far cleverer in these matters, put herself in the right. + +"Now, then, we must all have supper," said Margaret. "After that we'll +explain the rules to Betty, and she can decide whether she will join us +or not. Then we can be as jolly as we please. It is our custom, you +know, girls, to be extra jolly when a new member joins the +Specialities." + +"I'm game for all the fun in the world," said Betty. Her curious, eager, +beautiful eyes were fixed on Margaret's face; and Margaret again felt +that strange sense of being wonderfully drawn to her, and yet at the +same time of being annoyed. What did Fanny's conduct mean? But one girl, +however much she may wish to do so, cannot quite spoil the fun of six +others. Margaret, therefore, was prepared to be as amiable and merry and +gay as possible. + +Was there ever a more delicious supper? Did ever cake taste quite so +nice? Were chocolate creams and Turkish delight ever quite so good? And +was not Margaret's lemonade even more admirable than her delicate cups +of cocoa? And were not the dried fruits which were presently handed +round quite wonderful in flavor? And, above all things, were not the +sandwiches which Margaret had provided as a sort of surprise (for as a +rule they had no sandwiches at these gatherings) the greatest success of +all? + +The merry supper came to an end, and the girls now clustered in a wide +circle round the fire; and Margaret, as president, took the book of +rules and began to read aloud. + +"There are," she said, opening the book, which was bound beautifully in +white vellum, "certain rules which each member receives a copy of, and +which she takes to heart and obeys. If she deliberately breaks any +single one of these rules, and such a lapse of principle is discovered, +she is expected to withdraw from the Specialities. This club was first +set on foot by a girl who has long left the school, and who was very +much loved when she was here. Up to the present it has been a success, +although its numbers have varied according to the tone of the girls who +belong to the upper school. No girl belonging to the lower school has +ever yet been asked to join. We have had at one time in the Speciality +Club as many as one dozen members. At present we are six; although we +hope that if you, Betty, decide to join us, we shall have seven members. +That will be very nice," continued Margaret, smiling and looking across +the room at Betty, whose eyes were fixed on her face, "for seven is the +mystic, the perfect number. Now, I will begin to read the rules aloud to +you. If you decide to think matters over, we will ask you to come to our +next gathering this day week, when you will receive the badge of +membership, and a copy of the rules would be made by me and sent to you +to your room. + +"Now I will begin by telling you that the great object of our club is to +encourage the higher thought. Its object is to discourage and, if +possible, put a stop to low, small, mean, foolish, uncharitable +thoughts. Its object is to set kindness before each member as the best +thing in life. You can judge for yourself, Betty, that we aim high. +Yes, what were you going to say?" + +"I was thinking," said Betty, whose eyes were now very wide open indeed, +while her cheeks grew paler than ever with some concealed emotion, "that +the girl who first thought of this club must have sat on a Scotch moor +one day, with the purple heather all round her, and that to her it was +vouchsafed to hear the fairies speak when they rang the little purple +bells of the heather." + +"That may have been the case, dear," said Margaret in her kindest tone. +"Now, I will read you the rules. They are quite short and to the point: + + "'RULE I.--Each girl who is a member of the Specialities gives + perfect confidence to her fellow-members, keeps no secret to + herself which those members ought to know, is ready to consider + each member as though she were her own sister, to help her in time + of trouble, and to rejoice with her in periods of joy.' + +"That is Rule I., and I need not say, Betty, that it is a very important +rule." + +Betty's eyes were now lowered, so that only her very black lashes were +seen as they rested against her pale cheeks. + +"Rule II. is this: + + "'RULE II.--That the Specialities read each day, for one quarter of + an hour, a book of great thoughts.' + +"The books are generally selected at the beginning of term, and each +member is expected to read the same amount and from the same book. This +term, for instance, we occupy one quarter of an hour daily in reading +Jeremy Taylor's 'Holy Living.' It is not very long, but there's a vast +amount of thought in it. If we feel puzzled about anything in this +wonderful book we discuss it with each other at the next meeting of the +Specialities, and if, after such a discussion, the whole matter does not +seem quite clear, we ask Mr. Fairfax to help us. He is most kind, +although of course he is not in the secret of our club. + +"Rule III. is quite different. It is this: + + "'RULE III.--Each day we give ourselves up, every one of us, to + real, genuine fun--to having what may be called a jolly time.' + +"We never miss this part of the Speciality life. We get our fun either +by chatting gaily to each other, or by enjoying the society of a +favorite schoolfellow. + +"Rule IV. does not come into every day life; nevertheless it is +important: + + "'RULE IV.--We meet once a week in one of our bedrooms; but four + times during the term we all subscribe together, and get up as big + a party as ever we can of girls who are not Specialities. These + girls have supper with us, and afterwards we have round games or + music or anything that gives us pleasure.' + +"Rule V. is this: + + "'RULE V.--That whoever else we are cross with, we are always very + careful to show respect to our teachers, and, if possible, to love + them. We also try to shut our eyes to their faults, even if we see + them.' + +"Rule VI. is perhaps the most difficult of all to follow completely. It +is the old, old rule, Betty Vivian, of forgetting ourselves and living +for others. It is a rule that makes the secret of happiness. It is +impossible to keep it in its fullness in this world; but our aim is to +have a good try for it, and I think, on the whole, we succeed. + +"Now, these are the six rules. When you read them over, you will see +that they are comprehensive, that they mean a vast lot. They are, every +one of them, rules which tend to discipline--the sort of discipline that +will help us when we leave the school and enter into the big school of +the world. Betty, do you feel inclined to join the club or not?" + +"I don't know," replied Betty. "It is impossible to answer your +question on the spur of the moment. But I should greatly like to see a +copy of the rules." + +"I will have them copied and sent to your bedroom, Betty. Then if you +decide to join, you will be admitted formally this day week, and will +receive the badge of the Specialities--a little true-lovers' knot made +of silver--which you will wear when the Specialities give their +entertainments, and which will remind you that we are bound together in +one sisterhood of love for our fellow-creatures." + +Betty got up somewhat nervously. "I must think a great deal; and if I +may come to whichever room the Specialities are to meet in this day +week, I will let you know what I have decided." + +"Very well, dear," said Margaret, shutting the book and completely +altering her tone. "That is all, I think to-night. Now, you must sit +down and enjoy yourself. Which girl would you like to sit close to? We +are going to have some round games, and they are quite amusing." + +"I should like to sit close to you, Margaret, if I may." + +"You certainly may, Betty; and there is a seat near mine, just by that +large bowl of white chrysanthemums." + +Betty took the seat; and now all the girls began to chat, each of them +talking lovingly and kindly to the other. There was a tone about their +conversation which was as different from the way they spoke in their +ordinary life as though they were girls in a nunnery who had made solemn +vows to forsake the world. Even Fanny's face looked wonderfully kind and +softened. She did not even glance at Betty; but Betty looked at her once +or twice, and was astonished at the expression that Fanny wore. + +"Just one minute, girls, before we begin our fun," said Margaret. +"Martha West is most anxious to join the Specialities. Betty, of course, +has no vote, as she is not yet a member. But the rest of us know Martha +well, and I think we would all like her to join. Those who are opposed +to her, will they keep down their hands? Those who wish for her as a +member, will they hold them up?" + +All hands were held up on this occasion, and Fanny held hers the +straightest and highest of all. + +"Three cheers for Martha West!" said Susie Rushworth. + +"It will be splendid to have Martha!" said both the Bertrams; while +Olive, always gay, spirited, and full of fun, laughed from sheer +delight. + +The usual formula was then gone through, and Fanny Crawford was deputed +to take a note to Martha inviting her to be present at the next meeting. + +"Now, we shall have about half an hour for different sorts of fun," said +Margaret. "By the way, Betty," she continued, "sometimes our meetings +are rather solemn affairs; we want to discuss the book we are reading, +or something has happened that we wish to talk over. On the other hand, +there are times when we have nothing but fun and frolic. We're not a bit +solemn on these occasions; we loosen all the tension, so to speak, and +enjoy ourselves to the utmost." + +"And there are times, also," said Olive, "when we are just as busy as +bees planning out our next entertainment. Oh Margaret, we can't have one +this day week because of Betty and Martha. But don't you think we might +have one this day three weeks? And don't you think it might be a very +grand affair? And supposing Betty becomes a member--which, of course, +you will, Betty, for you couldn't disappoint us now--supposing we have +it in Betty's palatial mansion of a bedroom! We can ask no end of girls +to that. Oh, won't it be fun?" + +"If you ask my sisters, I don't mind at all--that is, _if_ I am a +member," said Betty. + +"Of course we'll ask the dear twins," said Margaret. She took Betty's +hand as she spoke and squeezed it with sudden affection. + +Betty pressed a little nearer to her. It was worth even giving up the +Scotch moors, and the society of Donald and Jean, and the dogs and the +horse, to have such a friend as Margaret Grant. + +But now the fun began in earnest, and very good fun it was; for every +girl had a considerable sense of humor, so much so that their games were +carried on with great spirit. Their laughter was so merry as to be quite +infectious; and no one was more amazed than Betty herself when the +ordeal of this first visit to the Specialities was over and she was +walking quickly downstairs, with Olive by her side, on her way to the +chapel. + +How beautifully Mr. Fairfax read the evening prayers that night! How +lovely it was to listen to his melodious voice and to look at his +earnest, intelligent face! How sweet, how wonderful, was the soft, soft +music which Mrs. Haddo herself played on the organ! + +"Oh yes," thought Betty, "one could be good here, and with the sort of +help that Margaret talks about; and high thoughts are nice thoughts, +they seem to be what I might call close to the angels. Nevertheless----" + +A cloud seemed to fall on the little girl's spirit. She thought of +Fanny, and, raising her eyes at the moment, observed that Fanny's eyes +were fixed on her. Fanny's eyes were full of queer warning, even of +menace; and Betty suddenly experienced a revulsion of all those noble +feelings which had animated her a short time ago. Were there two Fanny +Crawfords? Or could she possibly look as she looked now, and also as she +had done when Margaret Grant read the rules of the Speciality Club +aloud? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STRIVING FOR A DECISION + + +The week passed without anything very special occurring. The weather was +still warm and perfect. September had no idea of giving up her mantle of +late summer. But September was drawing to a close, and October, with +gusty winds and whirling, withered leaves, and much rain, would soon +take her place. October was certainly not nearly such a pleasant month +as September. Nevertheless, the young and healthy girls who lived their +regular life at Haddo Court were indifferent to the weather. They were +always busy. Each minute was planned out and fully occupied. There was +time for work, and time for play, and time for happy, confidential talks +in that bright and pleasant school. There were all kinds of surprises, +too; now an unexpected tea-party with Mrs. Haddo, given to a few select +girls; then, again, to another few who unexpectedly found themselves +select. There were also delightful cocoa-parties in the big private +sitting-room of the upper school, as well as games of every description, +outdoor and indoor. Night came all too soon in this happy family, and +each girl retired to bed wondering what could have made the day so very +short. + +But during this week Betty was not quite happy. She had received a copy +of the rules, and had studied them very carefully. She was, in her heart +of hearts, most anxious to become a Speciality. The higher life appealed +to her. It appealed to her strong sense of imagination; to her +passionate and really unworldly nature; to that deep love which dwelt in +her heart, and which, just at present, she felt inclined to bestow on +Margaret Grant. But there was Rule I. The rules had been sent, as +Margaret had promised, neatly copied and in a sealed envelope, to +Betty's room. She had read them upstairs all alone in the Vivians' +attic. She had read them while the queer, uncanny eyes of Dickie looked +at her. She certainly was not afraid of Dickie; on the contrary, she +admired him. She and her sisters were very proud of his increasing size, +and each day it was the turn of one girl or the other to take Dickie out +of his cage and give him exercise. He was rather alarming in his +movements, going at a tremendous rate, and giving more than one uncanny +glance at the Vivian girl who was his jailer for the time. + +On this special occasion, when Betty brought the rules to the Vivian +attic, she forgot all about Dickie. He was out, running round and round +the attic, rushing up the walls, peering at Betty from over the top of +the door, creeping as far as the ceiling and then coming down again. He +was, as a rule, easily caught, for Sylvia and Hetty always kept his meal +of raw meat till after he had had his exercise. But Betty had now +forgotten that it was necessary to have a bait to bring Dickie once more +into the shelter of his cage. She had consequently fed him first, then +let him free, and then stood by the small window of the attic reading +the rules of the Specialities. It was Rule I. which troubled her. Rule +I. ran as follows: "Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow +members, keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know, +is ready to consider each member as though she were her own sister, to +help her in time of trouble and to rejoice with her in periods of joy." + +To be quite frank, Betty did not like this rule. She was willing to give +a certain amount of affection to most of the girls who belonged to the +Specialities; but as to considering even nice girls like the Bertrams as +her own sisters, and Susie Rushworth (who was quite agreeable and gay +and kind) in that relationship, and Olive Repton also, as she would +Sylvia and Hetty, she did not think she could do it. She could be kind +to them--she would love to be kind to them; she would love to help each +and all in times of trouble, and to rejoice with them in periods of joy; +but to feel that they were her sisters--that certainly _was_ difficult. +She believed it possible that she could admit Margaret Grant into a +special and close relationship; into a deep friendship which partook +neither of sisterhood nor of anything else, but stood apart and +alone--the sort of friendship that a young, enthusiastic girl will give +to a friend of strong character a little older than herself. But as to +Fanny--she could never love Fanny. From the very first moment she had +set eyes on her--away, far away, in Scotland--she had disliked her, she +had pronounced her at once in her own mind as "niminy-priminy." She had +told her sisters frankly what she felt about Fanny. She had said in her +bold, independent way, "Fanny is too good for the likes of me. She is +the sort of girl who would turn me into a bad un. I don't want to have +anything to do with her." + +Fanny, however, had taken no notice of Betty's all too evident +antagonism. Fanny was, in her heart of hearts, essentially good-natured; +but Betty was as impossible for her to understand as it was impossible +for the moon to comprehend the brightness of the sun. Fanny had been +shocked at what she had witnessed when she saw Betty take the sealed +packet from the drawer. She remembered the whole thing with great +distress of mind, and had felt a sense of shock when she heard that the +Vivian girls were coming to the school. But her feelings were very much +worse when her father had informed her that the packet could nowhere be +found--that he had specially mentioned it to Betty, who declared that +she knew nothing about it. Oh yes, Fanny and Betty were as the poles +apart; and Betty knew now that were she to take the vows of the +Specialities fifty times over she could never keep them, as far as Fanny +Crawford was concerned. Then there was another unpleasant part of the +same rule: "Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow-members, +keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know." Betty +undoubtedly had a secret--a very precious one. She had even told a lie +in order to hug that secret to her breast. She had brought it away with +her to the school, and now it was safe--only Betty knew where. + +What puzzled her was this: was it necessary for the members to know her +secret? It had nothing to do with any of them. Nevertheless, she was an +honest sort of girl and could not dismiss the feeling from her own mind +that Rule I. was practically impossible to her. The Specialities had met +on Thursday in Margaret Grant's room. The next meeting was to be held in +Susie Rushworth's. Susie's room was in another wing of the building, and +was not so large or luxurious as that of Margaret. The next meeting +would, however, be quite formal--except for the admission of Betty to +the full privileges of the club, and the reading aloud of the rules to +Martha West. During the course of the week the Specialities seldom or +never spoke of their meeting-day. Nevertheless, Betty from time to time +caught Fanny's watchful eyes fixed on her. + +On the next Thursday morning she awoke with a slight headache. Miss +Symes noticed when she came downstairs that Betty was not quite herself, +and at once insisted on her going back to her room to lie down and be +coddled. Betty hated being coddled. She was never coddled in the gray +stone house; she was never coddled on the Scotch moors. She had +occasional headaches, like every one else, and occasional colds; but +they had to take care of themselves, and get well as best they could. +Betty used to shake herself with anger when she thought of any one +making a fuss about her when she was ill, and was consequently rather +cross when Miss Symes took her upstairs, made her lie down, and put a +wrap over her. + +"You must lie down and try to sleep, Betty. I hope you will be quite +well by dinner-time. Don't stir till I come for you, dear." + +"Oh, but I will!" said Betty, raising her head and fixing her bright, +almost feverish eyes on Miss Symes's face. + +"What do you mean, dear? I have desired you to stay quiet." + +"And I cannot obey," replied Betty. "Please, Miss Symes, don't be angry. +If I were a low-down sort of girl, I'd sneak out without telling you; +but as I happen to be Betty Vivian, I can't do that. I want to get into +the fresh air. Nothing will take away my headache like a walk. I want to +get as far as that dreadful piece of common land you have here, and +which you imagine is like a moor. I want to walk about there for a +time." + +"Very well, Betty; you are a good girl to have confided in me. You have +exactly two hours. Stay quiet for one hour. If at the end of that time +your head is no better, out for an hour; then return to your usual +duties." + +Betty lay very still for the whole of that hour. Her thoughts were busy. +She was haunted by Rule I., and by the passionate temptation to ignore +it and yet pretend that she would keep it--in short, to be a member of +the Specialities under false colors. One minute she was struggling hard +with the trouble which raged within her, the next minute she was making +up her mind to decline to be associated with the Specialities. + +When the hour had quite expired she sprang to her feet. Oh yes, her head +still ached! But what did that matter? She could not be bothered with a +trifling thing like a mere headache. She ran upstairs to the Vivian +attic. Dickie was in his cage. Betty remembered what terrible trouble +she had had to catch him on the day when she received a copy of the +rules. She shook her head at him now, and said, "Ah Dickie, you're a bad +boy! I am not going to let you out of your cage again in a hurry." Then +she went out. + +The wind had changed during the night, and heavy clouds were coming up +from the north. Betty felt herself much colder than she had ever done in +Scotland. She shivered, and walked very fast. She passed the celebrated +oak-tree where she and her sisters had hidden during their first day at +school. She went on to the place where the three little gardens were +marked for their benefit. But up to the present no Vivian had touched +the gardens, and there were the black remains of the bonfire where the +poor Scotch heather had been burnt almost in the center of Betty's +patch of ground. + +Oh, the school was horrible--the life was horrible! Oh why had she ever +come here? She wanted to be a Speciality; but she could not, it was not +in her. She hated--yes, she hated--Fanny Crawford more each minute, and +she could never love those other uninteresting girls as though they were +her sisters. In analyzing her feelings very carefully, she came to the +conclusion that she only wanted to join the Specialities in order to be +Margaret's friend. She knew quite well what privileges would be accorded +to her were she a member; and she also knew--for she had been told--that +it was a rare thing to allow a girl so lately come to the school to take +such an important position. + +Betty had a natural love of power. With a slight shudder she walked past +the little patches of ground and across what she contemptuously called +the miserable common. This common marked the boundaries of Mrs. Haddo's +school. There were iron railings at least six feet high guarding it from +the adjacent land. The sight of these railings was absolute torture to +Betty. She said aloud, "Didn't I know the whole place was a prison? But +prison-bars sha'n't keep me long in restraint!" + +She took out her handkerchief, and, pulling up some weedy grass, put the +handkerchief on one spiked bar and the grass on the other, and thus +protecting herself, made a light bound over the fence. The exercise and +the sense of freedom did her good. She laughed aloud, and continued her +walk through unexplored regions. She could not go very fast, however; +for she was hindered here by and there by a gateway, and here again by a +farmstead, and yet again by a cottage, with little children running +about amongst the autumn flowers. + +"How can people live in a place like this?" thought Betty. + +Then, all of a sudden, two ferocious dogs rushed out upon the girl, +clamored round her, and tried to stop her way. Betty laughed softly. +There was a delightful sound in her laugh. Probably those dogs had never +heard its like before. It was also possible, notwithstanding the fact +that Betty was wearing a new dress, that something of that peculiar +instinct which is imparted to dogs told these desperate champions that +Betty had loved a dog before. + +"Down, silly creature!" said Betty, and she patted one on the head and +put her arm on the neck of the other. Soon they were fawning about her +and jumping on her and licking her hands. She felt thoroughly happy now. +Her headache had quite vanished. The dogs, the darlings, were her true +friends! There was a little piece of grass quite close to where they had +attacked her, and she squatted deliberately down on it and invited the +dogs to stretch themselves by her side. They did so without a minute's +delay. They were in raptures with her, and one dog only growled when she +paid too much attention to the other. + +She began to whisper alternately in the shaggy ears of each. "Ah, you +must have come from Scotland! You must, anyhow, have met Andrew! Do you +think you are as brave as Andrew, for I doubt it?" + +Then she continued to the other dog, "And you must have been born in the +same litter with Fritz. Did you ever look into the eyes of Fritz and see +straight down into his gallant heart? I should be ashamed of you, +ashamed of you, if you were not as brave and noble as Fritz." + +There was such pathos in Betty's voice that the dogs became quite +penitent and abject. They had certainly never been in Scotland, and +Andrew and Fritz were animals unknown to them; but for some reason the +mysterious being who understood dogs was displeased with them, and they +fawned and crouched at her feet. + +It was just at that moment that a sturdy-looking farmer came up. He +gazed at Betty, then at the two dogs, uttered a light guffaw, and +vanished round the corner. In a very few minutes he returned, +accompanied by his sturdy wife and his two rough, growing sons. + +"Wife," he said, "did you ever see the like in all your life--Dan and +Beersheba crouching down at that young girl's feet? Why, they're the +fiercest dogs in the whole place!" + +"I heard them barking a while back," said Mrs. Miles, the farmer's wife, +"and then they stopped sudden-like. If I'd known they were here I'd have +come out to keep 'em from doing mischief to anybody; but hearing no more +sound I went on with my churning. Little miss," she added, raising her +voice, "you seem wonderful took with dogs." + +Betty instantly rose to a standing position. "Yes, I am," she said. +"Please, are these Scotch, and have they come from Aberdeenshire?" + +The farmer laughed. "No, miss," he said; "we bred 'em at home." + +Betty was puzzled at this. + +The dogs did not take the slightest notice of the farmer, his wife, or +his sons, but kept clinging to the girl and pressing their noses against +her dress. + +"May I come again to see them, please?" asked Betty. "They've got the +spirit of the Scotch dogs. They are the first true friends I have met +since I left Scotland." + +"And may I make bold to ask your name, miss?" inquired the farmer's +wife. + +"Yes, you may," said Betty. "It isn't much of a name. It's just Betty +Vivian, and I live at Haddo Court." + +"My word! Be you one of them young ladies?" + +"I don't know quite what you mean; but I am Betty Vivian, and I live at +Haddo Court." + +"But how ever did you get on the high road, miss?" asked the farmer. + +Betty laughed. "I went to the edge of what they call the common," she +said. "I found a fence, and I vaulted over--that is all. I don't like +your country much, farmer; there's no space about it. But the dogs, they +are darlings!" + +"You're the pluckiest young gel I ever come across," said the man. "How +you managed to tame 'em is more than I can say. Why, they are real +brutes when any one comes nigh the farm; and over and over I has said to +the wife, 'You ought to lock them brutes up, wife.' But she's rare and +kindhearted, and is very fond of them, whelps that they be." + +"I wonder," said the woman, "if missie would come into the house and +have a bite of summat to eat? We makes butter for the Court, miss; and +we sends up all our eggs, and many a pair of fat chickens and turkeys +and other fowl. We're just setting down to dinner, and can give you some +potatoes and pork." + +Betty laughed gleefully. "I'd love potatoes and pork more than +anything," she said. "May Dan and Beersheba dine with us?" + +"Well, miss, I don't expect you'll find it easy to get 'em parted from +you." + +So Betty entered the farmyard, and walked through, in her direct +fashion, without picking her steps; for she loved, as she expressed it, +a sense of confusion and the sight of different animals. She had a knack +of making herself absolutely at home, and did so on the present +occasion. Soon she was seated in the big bright kitchen of the +farmhouse, and was served with an excellent meal of the best fresh pork +and the most mealy potatoes she had seen since she left Scotland. Mrs. +Miles gave her a great big glass of rich milk, but she preferred water. +Dan sat at one side of her, Beersheba at the other. They did not ask for +food; but they asked imploringly for the pat of a firm, brown little +hand, and for the look of love in Betty's eyes. + +"I have enjoyed myself," said the girl, jumping up. "I do think you are +the nicest people anywhere; and as to your dogs, they are simply +glorious. Might not I come here again some day, and--and bring my +sisters with me? They are twins, you know. Do you mind twins?" + +"Bless your sweet voice!" said Mrs. Miles; "is it a-minding twins we be +when we has two sets ourselves?" + +"My sisters are very nice, considering that they are twins," said Betty, +who was always careful not to overpraise her own people; "and they are +just as fond of dogs as I am. Oh, by the way, we have a lovely spider--a +huge, glorious creature. His name is Dickie, and he lives in an attic at +the Court. He's as big as this." Betty made an apt illustration with her +fingers. + +"Lor', miss, he must be an awful beast! We're dead nuts agen spiders at +the Stoke Farm." + +Betty looked sad. "It is strange," she said, "how no one loves Dickie +except our three selves. We won't bring him, then; but may _we_ come?" + +"It all depends, miss, on whether Mrs. Haddo gives you leave. 'Tain't +the custom, sure and certain, for young ladies from the Court to come +a-visiting at Stoke Farm; but if so be she says yes, you'll be heartily +welcome, and more than welcome. I can't say more, can I, miss?" + +"Well, I have had a happy time," said Betty; "and now I must be going +back." + +"But," said the farmer, "missie, you surely ain't going to get over that +big fence the same way as you come here?" + +"And what else should I do?" said Betty. + +"'Taint to be done, miss. There's a drop at our side which makes the +fence ever so much higher, and how you didn't hurt yourself is little +less than a miracle to me. I'll have the horse put to the cart and drive +you round to the front entrance in a jiffy. Dan and Beersheba can +follow, the run'll do them no end of good." + +"Yes, missie, you really must let my husband do what he wishes," said +Mrs. Miles. + +"Thank you," said Betty in a quiet voice. Then she added, looking up +into Mrs. Miles's face, "I love Mrs. Haddo very much, and there is one +girl at the school whom I love. I think I shall love you too, for I +think you have understanding. And when I come to see you next--for of +course Mrs. Haddo will give me leave--I will tell you about Scotland, +and the heather, and the fairies that live in the heather-bells; and I +will tell you about our little gray stone house, and about Donald +Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane. Oh, you will love to hear! You are +something like them, except that unfortunately you are English." + +"Don't put that agen me," said Mrs. Miles, "for I wouldn't be nothing +else if you was to pay me fifty pounds down. There, now, I can't speak +squarer than that!" + +Just at that moment the farmer's voice was heard announcing that the +trap was ready. Betty hugged Mrs. Miles, and was followed out of the +farm-kitchen by the excited dogs. + +The next minute they were driving in the direction of the Court, and +Betty was put down just outside the heavy wrought-iron gates. "Good-bye, +Farmer Miles," she said, "and take my best thanks. I am coming again to +see those darling dogs. Good-bye, dears, good-bye." + +She pressed a kiss on each very rough forehead, passed through the +little postern door, heard the dogs whining behind her, did not dare to +look back, and ran as fast as she could to the house. She was quite late +for the midday dinner; and the first person she met was Miss Symes, who +came up to her in a state of great excitement. "Why, Betty!" she said, +"where have you been? We have all been terribly anxious about you." + +"I went out for a walk," said Betty, "and----" + +"Did you go beyond the grounds? We looked everywhere." + +"Oh yes," said Betty. "I couldn't be kept in by rails or bars or +anything of that sort. I am a free creature, you know, Miss Symes." + +"Come, Betty," said Miss Symes, "you have broken a rule; and you have no +excuse, for a copy of the rules of the school is in every sitting-room +and every classroom. You must see Mrs. Haddo about this." + +"I am more than willing," replied Betty. + +Betty felt full of courage, and keen and well, after her morning's +adventure. Miss Symes took Betty's hand, and led her in the direction of +Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room. That good lady was busy over some +work which she generally managed to accomplish at that special hour. She +was seated at her desk, putting her signature to several notes and +letters which she had dictated early that morning to her secretary. She +looked up as Betty and Miss Symes entered. + +"Ah, Miss Symes!" said Mrs. Haddo. "How do you do, Betty? Sit down. Will +you just wait a minute, please?" she added, looking up into the face of +her favorite governess. "I want you to take these letters as you are +here, and so save my ringing for a servant. Get Miss Edgeworth to stamp +them all, and put them into their envelopes, and send them off without +fail by next post." + +A pile of letters was placed in Miss Symes's hands. She went away at +once; and Mrs. Haddo, in her usual leisurely and gracious manner, turned +and looked at Betty. + +"Well, Betty Vivian," she said kindly, "I have seen you for some time at +prayers and in the different classrooms, and also at chapel; but I have +not had an opportunity of a chat with you, dear, for several days. Sit +down, please, or, rather, come nearer to the fire." + +"Oh, I am so hot!" said Betty. + +"Well, loosen your jacket and take off your hat. Now, what is the +matter? Before we refer to pleasant things, shall we get the unpleasant +ones over? What has gone wrong with you, Betty Vivian?" + +"But how can you tell that anything has gone wrong?" + +"I know, dear, because Miss Symes would not bring you to my private +sitting-room at this hour for any other reason." + +"Well, I don't think anything has gone wrong," said Betty; "but Miss +Symes does not quite agree with me. I will tell you, of course; I am +only longing to." + +"Begin, dear, and be as brief as possible." + +"I had a headache this morning, and went to lie down," began Betty. +"Miss Symes wanted me to stay lying down until dinner-time, but +afterwards she gave me leave to go out when I had been in my room for an +hour. I did so. I went as far as that bit of common of yours." + +"Our 'forest primeval'?" said Mrs. Haddo with a gracious smile. + +"Oh, but it isn't really!" said Betty. + +"Some of us think it so, Betty." + +Betty gave a curious smile; then with an effort she kept back certain +words from her lips, and continued abruptly, "I got to the end of the +common, and there was a railing----" + +"The boundary of my estate, dear." + +"Well," said Betty, "it drove me mad. I felt I was in prison, and that +the railing formed my prison bars. I vaulted over, and got into the +road. I walked along for a good bit--I can't quite tell how far--but at +last two dogs came bounding out of a farmyard near by. They barked at +first very loudly; but I looked at them and spoke to them, and after +that we were friends of course. I sat on the grass and played with them, +and they--I think they loved me. All dogs do--there is nothing in that. +The farmer and his wife came out presently and seemed surprised, for +they said that Dan and Beersheba were very furious." + +"My dear girl--Dan and Beersheba--_those_ dogs!" + +"Those were the names they called them. We call our dogs on the Scotch +moors Andrew and Fritz. They are much bigger dogs than Dan and +Beersheba; but Dan and Beersheba are darlings for all that. I went into +the Mileses' house and had my dinner with them. It was a splendid +dinner--pork and really _nice_ potatoes--and the dogs sat one on each +side of me. Mrs. Haddo, I want to go to the Mileses' again some day to +tea, and I want to take Sylvia and Hester with me. The Mileses don't +mind about their being twins, and they'll be quite glad to see them, and +Sylvia and Hester are about as fond of dogs as I am. Mrs. Miles said she +was quite willing to have us if you gave leave, but not otherwise." + +"Betty!" said Mrs. Haddo when the girl had ceased. She raised her head, +and looked full into the wonderful, pathetic, half-humorous, +half-defiant eyes, and once again between her soul and Betty's was felt +that firm, sure bond of sympathy. Involuntarily the girl came two or +three steps closer. Mrs. Haddo, with a gesture, invited her to kneel by +her, and took one of her hands. "Betty, my child, you know why you have +come to this school?" + +"I am sure I don't," said Betty, "unless it is to be with you and--and +Margaret Grant." + +"I am glad you have made Margaret your friend. She is a splendid +girl--quite the best girl in the whole school; and she likes you, +Betty--she has told me so. I am given to understand that you are to have +the honorable distinction of becoming a Speciality. The club is a most +distinguished one, and has a beneficial effect on the tone of the upper +school. I am glad that you are considered worthy to join. I know nothing +about the rules; I can only say that I admire the results of its +discipline on its members. But now to turn to the matter in hand. You +broke a very stringent rule of the school when you got over that fence, +and the breaking of a rule must be punished." + +"I don't mind," said Betty in a low tone. + +"But I want you to mind, Betty. I want you to be truly sorry that you +broke one of my rules." + +"When you put it like that," said Betty, "I do get a bit choky. Don't +say too much, or perhaps I'll howl. I am not so happy as you think. I am +fighting hard with myself every minute of the time." + +"Poor little girl! can you tell me why you are fighting?" + +"No, Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you." + +"I will not press you, dear. Well, Betty, one of my rules is that the +girls never leave the grounds without leave; and as you have broken that +rule you must receive the punishment, which is that you remain in your +room for the rest of the day until eight o'clock this evening, when I +understand that you are due at the meeting of the Specialities." + +"I will go to my room," said Betty. "I don't mind punishment at all." + +"You ran a very great risk, dear, when you went into that byroad and +were attacked by those fierce dogs. It was a marvel that they took to +you. It is extremely wrong of Farmer Miles to have them loose, and I +must speak to him." + +"And please," said Betty, "may we go to tea there--we three--one +evening?" + +"I will see about that. Try to keep every rule. Try, with all your might +and main, to conquer yourself. I am not angry with you, dear. It is +impossible to tame a nature like yours, and I am the last person on +earth to break your spirit. But go up to your room now, and--kiss me +first." + +Betty almost choked when she gave that kiss, when her eyes looked still +deeper into Mrs. Haddo's beautiful eyes, and when she felt her whole +heart tingle within her with that new, wonderful sensation of a love +for her mistress which even exceeded her love for Margaret Grant. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +RULE I. ACCEPTED + + +Betty's room was empty, and at that time of day was rather chill, for +the three big windows were wide open in order to let in the fresh, keen +air. Betty walked into the room still feeling that mysterious tingling +all over her, that tingling which had been awakened by her sudden and +unexpected love for Mrs. Haddo. That love had been more or less dormant +within her heart from the very first; but to-day it had received a new +impetus, and the curious fact was that she was almost glad to accept +punishment because it was inflicted by Mrs. Haddo. Being the sort of +girl she was, it occurred to her that the more severe she herself made +the punishment the more efficacious it would be. + +She accordingly sat down by one of the open windows, and, as a natural +consequence, soon got very chilled. As she did not wish to catch cold +and become a nuisance in the school, she proceeded to shut the windows, +and had just done so--her fingers blue and all the beautiful glow gone +from her young body--when there came a tap at the room door. Betty at +first did not reply. She hoped the person, whoever that person might be, +would go away. But the tap was repeated, and she was obliged in +desperation to go to the door and see who was there. + +"I, and I want to speak to you," replied the voice of Fanny Crawford. + +Instantly there rose a violent rebellion in Betty's heart. All her love +for Mrs. Haddo, with its softening influence, vanished; it melted slowly +out of sight, although, of course, it was still there. Her pleasant +time at the Mileses' farm, the delightful affection of the furious dogs, +the excellent dinner, the quick drive back, were forgotten as though +they had never existed; and Betty only remembered Rule I., and that she +hated Fanny Crawford. She stood perfectly still in the middle of the +room. + +Fanny boldly opened the door and entered. "I want to speak to you, +Betty," she said. + +"But I don't want to speak to you," replied Betty. + +"Oh, how bitterly cold this room is!" said Fanny, not taking much notice +of this remark. "I shall light the fire myself; yes, I insist. It is all +laid ready; and as it is absolutely necessary for us to have a little +chat together, I may as well make the room comfortable for us both." + +"But I don't want you to light the fire; I want you to go." + +Fanny smiled. "Betty, dear," she said, "don't be unreasonable. You can't +dislike me as much as you imagine you do! Why should you go on in this +fashion?" As Fanny spoke she knelt down by the guard, put a match to the +already well-laid fire, and soon it was crackling and roaring up the +chimney. + +"You are here," said Fanny, "because you broke a rule. We all know, +every one in the school knows, Mrs. Haddo is not angry, but she insists +on punishment. She never, never excuses a girl who breaks a rule. The +girl must pay the penalty; afterwards, things are as they were before. +It is amazing what an effect this has in keeping us all up to the mark +and in order. Now, Betty--Bettina, dear--come and sit by the fire and +let me hold your hands. Why, they're as blue as possible; you are quite +frozen, you poor child!" + +Fanny spoke in quite a nice, soothing voice. She had the same look on +her face which she had worn that evening in Margaret Grant's bedroom. +She seemed really desirous to be nice to Betty. She knew that Betty was +easily influenced by kindness; this was the case, for even Fanny did +not seem quite so objectionable when she smiled sweetly and spoke +gently. She now drew two chairs forward, one for herself and one for +Betty. Betty had been intensely cold, and the pleasant glow of the fire +was grateful. She sank into the chair which Fanny offered her with very +much the air of being the proprietor of the room, and not Betty, and +waited for her companion to speak. She did not notice that Fanny had +placed her own chair so that the back was to the light, whereas Betty +sat where the full light from the three big windows fell on her face. + +"Well, now, I call this real comfy!" said Fanny. "They will send up your +tea, you know, and you can have a book from the school library if you +like. I should recommend 'The Daisy Chain' or 'The Heir of Redclyffe.'" + +"I don't want any books, thanks," said Betty. + +"But don't you love reading?" + +"I can't tell you. Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't." + +"Betty, won't you tell me anything?" + +"Fanny, I have nothing to tell you." + +"Oh, Betty, with a face like yours--nothing!" + +"Nothing at all--to you," replied Betty. + +"But to others--for instance," said Fanny, still keeping her good +temper, "to Margaret Grant, or to Mrs. Haddo?" + +"They are different," said Betty. + +Fanny was silent for a minute. Then she said, "I want to tell you +something, and I want to be quite frank. You have made a very great +impression so far in the school. For your age and your little +experience, you are in a high class, and all your teachers speak well of +you. You are the sort of girl who is extremely likely to be popular--to +have, in short, a following. Now, I don't suppose there is in all the +world anything, Betty Vivian, that would appeal to a nature like yours +so strongly as to have a following--to have other girls hanging on your +words, understanding your motives, listening to what you say, perhaps +even trying to copy you. You will be very difficult to copy, Betty, +because you are a rare piece of original matter. Nevertheless, all these +things lie before you if you act warily now." + +"Go on," said Betty; "it is interesting to hear one's self discussed. Of +course, Fan, you have a motive for saying all this to me. What is it?" + +"I have," said Fanny. + +"You had better explain your motive. Things will be easier for us both +afterwards, won't they?" + +"Yes," said Fanny in a low tone, "that is true." + +"Go on, then," said Betty. + +"I want to speak about the Specialities." + +"Oh, I thought you were coming to them! They are to meet to-night, are +they not, in Susie Rushworth's room?" + +"That is correct." + +"And I am to be present?" said Betty. + +"You are to be present, if you will." + +"Why do you say 'if you will?' You know quite well that I shall be +present." + +"Martha West will also be there," continued Fanny. "She will go through +very much the sort of thing you went through last week, and she will be +given a week to consider before she finally decides whether she will +join. Betty, have you made up your mind what to do? You might tell me, +mightn't you? I am your own--your very own--cousin, and it was through +my father you got admitted to this school." + +"Thanks for reminding me," said Betty; "but I don't know that I do feel +as grateful as I ought. Perhaps that is one of the many defects in my +nature. You have praised me in a kind way, but you don't know me a bit. +I am full of faults. There is nothing good or great about me at all. You +had best understand that from the beginning. Now, I may as well say at +once that I intend to be present at the Specialities' meeting to-night." + +"You do! Have you read Rule I.?" + +"Oh, yes, I have read it. I have read all the rules." + +"Don't you understand," said Fanny, speaking deliberately, "that there +is one dark spot in your life, Betty Vivian, that ought to preclude you +from joining the Specialities? That dark spot can only be removed by +confession and restitution. You know to what I allude?" + +Betty stood up. Her face was as white as death. After a minute she said, +"Are you going to do anything?" + +"I ought; it has troubled me sorely. To tell you the truth, I did not +want you to be admitted to the club; but the majority were in your +favor. If ever they know of this they will not be in your favor. Oh, +Betty, you cannot join because of Rule I.!" + +"And I will join," said Betty, "and I dare you to do your very worst!" + +"Very well, I have nothing more to say. I am sorry for you, Betty +Vivian. From this moment on remember that, whatever wrong thing you did +in the past, you are going to do doubly and trebly wrong in the future. +You are going to take a false vow, a vow you cannot keep. God help you! +you will be miserable enough! But even now there is time, for it is not +yet four o'clock. Oh, Betty, I haven't spoken of this to a soul; but can +you not reconsider?" + +"I mean to join," said Betty. "Rule I. will not, in my opinion, be +broken. The rule is that each member keeps no secret to herself which +the other members ought to know. Why ought they know what concerns only +me--me and my sisters?" + +"Do you think," said Fanny, bending towards her, and a queer change +coming over her face--"do you think for a single moment that you would +be made a Speciality if the girls of this school knew that you had told +my father a _lie_? I leave it to your conscience. I will say no more." + +Fanny walked out of the room, shutting the door carefully behind her. +Miss Symes came up presently. It was the custom of St. Cecilia to be +particularly kind to the girls who were in disgrace. Often and often +this most sweet woman brought them to see the error of their ways. Mrs. +Haddo had told her about Betty, and how endearing she had found her, and +what a splendid nature she fully believed the girl to possess. But when +Miss Symes, full of thoughts for Betty's comfort, entered the room, +followed by a servant bringing a little tray of temptingly prepared tea, +Betty's look was, to say the least of it, dour; she did not smile, she +scarcely looked up, there was no brightness in her eyes, and there were +certainly no smiles round her lips. + +"The tray there, please, Hawkins," said Miss Symes. The woman obeyed and +withdrew. + +"I am glad you have a fire, Betty, dear," said Miss Symes when the two +were alone. "Now, you must be really hungry, for you had what I consider +only a snatch-dinner. Shall I leave you alone to have your tea in +comfort, or would you like me to sit with you for a little?" + +"Oh, thanks so much!" replied Betty; "but I really would rather be +alone. I have a good deal to think over." + +"I am afraid, my dear child, you are not very well." + +"On the contrary, I never was better," was Betty's response. + +"Your headache quite gone?" + +"Quite," said Betty with an emphatic nod. + +"Well, dear, I am sorry you have had to undergo this unpleasant time of +solitary confinement. But our dear Mrs. Haddo is not really angry; she +knows quite well that you did not consider. She takes the deepest +interest in you, Betty, my child." + +"Oh, don't speak of her now, please!" said Betty with a sort of groan. +"I would rather be alone." + +"Haven't you a book of any sort? I will go and fetch one for you; and +you can turn on the electric light when it gets dark." + +"If you have something really interesting--that will make me forget +everything in the world except what I am reading--I should like it." + +Miss Symes went away, and returned in a few minutes with "Treasure +Island." Strange as it may seem, Betty had not yet read this wonderful +book. + +Without glancing at the girl, Miss Symes again left the room. In the +corridor she met Fanny Crawford. "Fanny," she said, "do you know what is +the matter with Betty Vivian?" + +Fanny smiled. "I have been to see her," she said. "Is she in bad +spirits? It didn't occur to me that she was." + +"Oh, you have been to see her, have you?" + +"Yes, only a short time ago. She looked very cold when I entered the +room; but I took the liberty to light the fire, and sat with her until +suddenly she got cross and turned me out. She is a very queer girl is +Betty." + +"A very fine girl, my dear!" + +Fanny made no response of any sort. She waited respectfully in case Miss +Symes should wish to say anything further. But Miss Symes had nothing +more to say; she only guessed that the change between the Betty in whom +Mrs. Haddo had been so interested, and the Betty she had found, must be +caused in some inexplicable way by Fanny Crawford. What was the matter +with Fanny? It seemed to Miss Symes that, since the day when she had +taken the girl into her full confidence with regard to the coming of the +Vivians, she was changed, and not for the better. There was a coldness, +an impatience, a want of spontaneity about her, which the teacher's +observant eye noticed, but, being in the dark as to the cause, could not +account for. + +Meanwhile Betty ate her tea ravenously, and when it was finished turned +on the electric light and read "Treasure Island." This book was so +fascinating that she forgot everything else in its perusal: the sealed +packet in its safe hiding-place, the Specialities themselves, the odious +Fanny Crawford, Rule I.--everything was forgotten. Presently she raised +her head with a start. It was half-past seven. Olive Repton was coming +to fetch her at five minutes to eight, when the Specialities were all +expected to assemble in Susie Rushworth's room. + +Betty put on a black dress that evening. It was made of a soft and +clinging material, and was sufficiently open at the neck to show the +rounded purity of the young girl's throat, and short in the sleeves to +exhibit the moldings of her arms. She was a beautifully made creature, +and black suited her almost better than white. Her curiously pale +face--which never had color, and yet never showed the slightest +indication of weak health--was paler than usual to-night; but her eyes +were darker and brighter, and there was a determination about her which +slightly altered the character of her expression. + +The twins came rushing in at ten minutes to eight. + +"Oh, Bet, you are ready!" exclaimed Sylvia. "You are going to become a +real Speciality! What glorious fun! How honored we'll be! I suppose you +won't let us into any of the secrets?" + +"Of course not, silly Sylvia!" replied Betty, smiling again at sight of +her sisters. "But I tell you what," she added; "if you both happen to be +awake when I come back, which I think very doubtful, I am going to tell +you what happened this morning--something too wonderful. Don't be too +excited about it, for it will keep until to-morrow; but think that I had +a marvelous adventure, and, oh, my dears, it had to do with dogs!" + +"Dogs!" cried both twins simultaneously. + +"Yes, such glorious darlings! Oh, I've no time now--I must be off! +Good-bye, both of you. Go to sleep if you like; I can tell you +everything in the morning." + +"I think we'll lie awake if it has anything to do with dogs," said +Hetty. "We have been starving for them ever since we came here." + +But Betty was gone. Olive took her hand. "Betty," she said as they +walked very quickly towards the other wing of the house, "I like you +better in black than in white. Black seems to bring out the +wonderful--oh, I don't know what to call it!--the wonderful difference +between you and other people." + +"Don't talk about me now," said Betty. "I am only one, and we shall be +seven in a very short time. Seven in one! Isn't it curious? A sort of +body composed of seven people!" + +"There'll be eight before long. The Specialities are going to be the +most important people this term, that I am quite sure of," said Olive. +"Well, here's Susie's room, and it wants two minutes to eight." + +Susie greeted her guests with much cordiality. They all found seats. +Supper was laid on a round table in one corner of the room. Olive, being +an old member, was quite at home, and handed round cups of cocoa and +delicious cakes to each of the girls. They ate and chatted, and when +Martha West made her appearance there was a shout of welcome from every +one. + +"Hail to the new Speciality!" exclaimed each girl in the room, Betty +Vivian alone excepted. + +Martha was a heavily made girl, with a big, sallow face; quantities of +black hair, which grew low on her forehead, and which, as no effort on +her part would keep it from falling down on one side, gave her a +somewhat untidy appearance; she had heavy brows, too, which were in +keeping with the general contour of her face, and rather small gray +eyes. There was no one, however, in the whole school who was better +loved than Martha West. Big and ungainly though she was, her voice was +one of the sweetest imaginable. She had also great force of character, +and was regarded as one of the strong girls of the school. She was +always helping others, was the soul of unselfishness, and although not +exactly clever, was plodding and persevering. She was absolutely without +self-consciousness; and when her companions welcomed her in this cheery +manner she smiled broadly, showing a row of pearly white teeth, and then +sat down on the nearest chair. + +When supper was over, Margaret Grant came forward and stood by the +little center-table, on which lay the vellum-bound book of the rules of +the club. Margaret opened it with great solemnity, and called to Betty +Vivian to stand up. + +"Betty Vivian," she said, "we agreed a week ago to-day to admit you to +the full membership of a Speciality. According to our usual custom, we +sent you a copy of the rules in order that you might study them in their +fullness. We now ask you if you have done so?" + +"I have," replied Betty. "I have read them, I should think, thirty or +forty times." + +"Are you prepared, Betty Vivian, to accept our rules and become a member +of the Specialities, or do you prefer your full liberty and to return to +the ordinary routine of the school? We, none of us, wish you to adopt +the rules as part of your daily life unless you are prepared to keep +them in their entirety." + +"I wish to be a Speciality," replied Betty. Then she added slowly--and +as she spoke she raised her brilliant eyes and fixed them on Fanny +Crawford's face--"I am prepared to keep the rules." + +"Thank you, Betty! Then I think, members, Betty Vivian can be admitted +as a member of our little society. Betty, simple as our rules are, they +comprise much: openness of heart, sisterly love, converse with great +thoughts, pleasure in its truest sense (carrying that pleasure still +further by seeing that others enjoy it as well as ourselves), respect to +all our teachers, and, above all things, forgetting ourselves and living +for others. You see, Betty Vivian, that though the rules are quite +simple, they are very comprehensive. You have had a week to study them. +Again I ask, are you prepared to accept them?" + +"Yes, I am prepared," said Betty; and again she flashed a glance at +Fanny Crawford. + +"Then I, as head of this little society for the time being, admit you as +a member. Please, Betty, accept this little true-lovers' knot, and wear +it this evening in your dress. Now, girls, let us every one cheer Betty +Vivian, and take her to our hearts as our true sister in the highest +sense of the word." + +The girls flocked round Betty and shook hands with her. Amongst those +who did so was Fanny Crawford. She squeezed Betty's hand significantly, +and at the same moment put her finger to her lips. This action was so +quick that only Betty observed it; but it told the girl that, now that +she had "crossed the Rubicon," Fanny would not be the one to betray her. + +Betty sank down on a chair. She felt excited, elated, pleased, and +horrified. The rest of the evening passed as a sort of dream. She could +scarcely comprehend what she had done. She was a Speciality. She was +bound by great and holy rules, and yet in reality she was a far lower +girl than she had ever been in all her life before. + +The rules were read aloud in their fullness to Martha West, and the +usual week's grace was accorded her. Then followed the fun, during the +whole of which time Betty was made the heroine of the occasion, as +Martha would doubtless be that day week. The girls chatted a great deal +to-night, and Betty was told of all the privileges which would now be +hers. She had never known until that moment that Mrs. Haddo, when she +found what excellent work the Speciality Club did in the school, had +fitted up a charming sitting-room for its members. Here, in winter, the +fire burned all day. Fresh flowers were always to be seen. Here were to +be found such books as those of Ruskin, Tennyson, Browning--in short, a +fine collection of the greater writers. Betty was told that she was now +free to enter this room; that, being a Speciality, she would be exempt +from certain small and irksome duties in order to give her more time to +attend to those broad rules of life which she had now adopted as her +code. + +Betty listened, and all the time, as she listened, her heart sank lower +and lower. Fanny did not even pretend to watch Betty now. She had, so to +speak, done with her. Fanny felt as sure as though some angel in the +room were recording the fact that Betty was now well started on the +downward track. She felt ashamed of her as a cousin. She felt the +greatest possible contempt for her. But if she was herself to keep Rule +I., she must force these feelings out of sight, and tolerate Betty until +she saw the error of her ways. + +"The less I have to do with her in the future the better," thought +Fanny. "It would be exceedingly unpleasant for me if it were known that +I had allowed her to be admitted without telling Margaret what I knew. +But, somehow, I couldn't do it. I thought Betty herself would be great +enough to withstand a paltry temptation of this sort. How different +Martha West is! She will be a famous stand-by for us all." + +The evening came to an end. The girls went down to prayers. + +Betty was now a Speciality. She wore the beautiful little silver badge +shining in the folds of her black evening frock. But she did not enjoy +the music in the chapel nor Mr. Fairfax's rendering of the evening +prayers as she had done when last she was there. Betty had a curious +faculty, however, which she now exercised. Hers was a somewhat complex +nature, and she could shut away unpleasant thoughts when she so desired. +She was a Speciality. She might not have become one but for Fanny. Mrs. +Haddo's influence, though unspoken, might have held her back. Margaret +Grant might have kept her from doing what she herself would have +scorned to do. But Fanny! Fanny had managed to bring out the worst in +Betty; and the worst in a character like hers was very vigorous, very +strong, very determined while it was in the ascendant. Instead of +praying to-night, she turned her thoughts to the various and delightful +things which would now be hers in the school. She would be regarded on +all hands with added respect. She would have the entrée to the +Specialities' delightful sitting-room. She would be consulted by the +other girls of the upper school, for every one consulted the +Specialities on all manner of subjects. People would cease to speak of +her as "that new girl Betty Vivian;" but they would say when they saw +her approach, "Oh, she is one of the Specialities!" Her position in the +school to-night was assured. She was safe; and Fanny, with that swift +gesture, had indicated to her that she need not fear anything from her +lips. Fanny would be silent. No one else knew what Fanny knew. And, +after all, she had done no wrong, because her secret had nothing +whatever to do with the other members of the club. The wrong--the one +wrong--which she felt she had committed was in promising to love each +member as though she were her sister, especially as she had to include +Fanny Crawford in that number. But she would be kind to all, and perhaps +love might come--she was not sure. Fanny would be kind to her, of +course. In a sort of way they must be friends in the future. Oh, yes, it +was all right. + +She was startled when Olive Repton touched her. She rose from her knees +with a hot blush on her face. She had forgotten chapel, she had not +heard the words of the benediction. The girls streamed out, and went at +once to their respective bedrooms. + +Betty was glad to find her sisters asleep. After the exciting events of +that evening, even Dan and Beersheba had lost their charm. So weary was +she at that moment that she dropped her head on her pillow and fell +sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT + + +Certainly it was nice to be a Speciality. Even Fanny Crawford completely +altered her manner to Betty Vivian. There were constant and earnest +consultations amongst the members of the club in that charming +sitting-room. Betty, of course, was eagerly questioned, and Betty was +able to give daring and original advice. Whenever Betty spoke some one +laughed, or some one looked with admiration at her; and when she was +silent one or other of the girls said anxiously, "But do you approve, +Betty? If you don't approve we must think out something else." + +Betty soon entered into the full spirit of the thing, and one and all of +the girls--Fanny excepted--said that she was the most delightful +Speciality who had ever come to Haddo Court. During this time she was +bravely trying to keep her vows. She had bought a little copy of Jeremy +Taylor's "Holy Living," and read the required portion every day, but she +did not like it; it had to do with a life which at one time she would +have adored, but which now did not appeal to her. She liked that part of +each day which was given up to fun and frolic, and she dearly loved the +respect and consideration and admiration shown her by the other girls of +the school. + +It was soon decided that the next great entertainment of the +Specialities was to be given in Betty Vivian's bedroom. Each girl was to +subscribe three shillings, and the supper, in consequence, was to be +quite sumptuous. Fanny Crawford, as the most practical member, was to +provide the viands. She was to go into the village, accompanied by one +of the teachers, two days before the date arranged in order to secure +the most tempting cakes and pastry, and ginger-beer, and cocoa, and +potted meat for sandwiches. Betty wondered how the provisions could be +procured for so small a sum; but Fanny was by no means doubtful. + +Now, Betty had of worldly wealth the exact sum of two pounds ten +shillings; and when it is said that Betty possessed two pounds ten +shillings, this money was really not Betty's at all, but had to be +divided into three portions, for it was equally her sisters'. But as +Sylvia and Hester always looked upon Betty as their chief, and as +nothing mattered to them provided Betty was pleased, she gave three +shillings from this minute fund without even telling them that she had +done so. Then the invitations were sent round, and very neatly were they +penned by Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton. It was impossible to ask all +the girls of the school; but a select list from the girls in the upper +school was carefully made, each Speciality being consulted on this +point. + +Martha West, who was now a full-blown member, suggested Sibyl Ray at +once. + +Fanny gave a little frown of disapproval. "Martha," she said, "I must +say that I don't care for your Sibyl." + +"And I like her," replied Martha. "She is not your style, Fan; but she +just needs the sort of little help we can give her. We cannot expect +every one to be exactly like every one else, and Sibyl is not half bad. +It would hurt her frightfully if she were not invited to the first +entertainment after I have become a Speciality." + +"Well, that settles it," said Fanny in a cheerful tone; "she gets an +invitation of course." + +The teachers were never invited to these assemblies, but there was a +murmur of anticipation in the whole school when the invitations went +round. Who were to be the lucky ones? Who was to go? Who was not to go? +As a rule, it was so managed by the Specialities that the whole of the +upper school was invited once during the term to a delightful evening in +one of the special bedrooms. But the first invitation of the season--the +one after the admission of two new members, that extraordinary Betty +Vivian and dear, good old Martha West--oh, it was of intense interest to +know who were to go and who to stay behind! + +"I've got my invitation," said a fat young girl of the name of Sarah +Butt. + +"And I," "And I," "And I," said others. + +"I am left out," said a fifth. + +"Well, Janie, don't fret," said Sarah Butt; "your turn will come next +time." + +"But I did so want to see Betty Vivian! They say she is the life of the +whole club." + +"Silly!" exclaimed Sarah; "why, you see her every day." + +"Yes, but not as she is in the club. They all say that she is too +wonderful! Sometimes she sits down cross-legged and tells them stories, +and they get so excited they can't move. Oh, I say, do--do look! look +what is in the corner of your card, Sarah! 'After supper, story-telling +by Betty Vivian. Most of the lights down.' There, isn't it maddening! I +do call it a shame; they might have asked me!" + +"Well, I will tell you all the stories to-morrow," said Sarah. + +"You!" The voice was one of scorn. "Why, you can't tell a story to save +your life; whereas Betty, she looks a story herself all the time. She +has it in her face. I can never take my eyes off her when she is in the +room." + +"Well, I can't help it," answered Sarah. "I am glad I'm going, that is +all. The whole school could not be asked, for the simple reason that the +room wouldn't hold us. I shall be as green as grass when your invitation +comes, and now you must bear your present disappointment." + +Fanny Crawford made successful and admirable purchases. On the nights +when the Specialities entertained, unless it was midsummer, the girls +met at six-thirty, and the entertainment continued until nine. + +On that special evening Mrs. Haddo, for wise reasons all her own, +excused the Specialities and their guests from attending prayers in the +chapel. She had once made a little speech about this. "You will pray +earnestly in your rooms, dears, and thank God for your happy evening," +she had said; and from that moment the Specialities knew that they might +continue their enjoyment until nine o'clock. + +Oh, it was all fascinating! Betty was very grave. Her high spirits +deserted her that morning, and she went boldly to Mrs. Haddo--a thing +which few girls dared to do. + +Mrs. Haddo was seated by her fire. She was reading a new book which had +just been sent to her by post. "Betty, what do you want?" she said when +the girl entered. + +"May I take a very long walk all alone? Do you mind, Mrs. Haddo?" + +"Anywhere you like, dear, provided you do not leave the grounds." + +"But I want to leave the grounds, Mrs. Haddo." + +"No, dear Betty--not alone." + +Betty avoided the gaze of Mrs. Haddo, who looked up at her. Betty's +brilliant eyes were lowered, and the black, curling lashes lay on her +cheeks. + +Mrs. Haddo wanted to catch Betty's soul by means of her eyes, and so +draw her into communion with herself. "Betty, why do you want to walk +outside the grounds, and all alone?" + +"Restless, I suppose," answered Betty. + +"Is this club too exciting for you, my child?" + +"Oh no, I love it!" said Betty. Her manner changed at the moment. "And, +please, don't take my hand. I--oh, it isn't that I don't want to hold +your hand; but I--I am not worthy! Of course I will stay in the grounds +to please you. Good-bye." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A VERY EVENTFUL DAY + + +Having got leave to take her walk, Betty started off with vigor. The +fresh, keen air soothed her depressed spirits; and soon she was racing +wildly against the gale, the late autumn leaves falling against her +dress and face as she ran. She would certainly keep her word to Mrs. +Haddo, although her desire--if she had a very keen desire at that +moment--was again to vault over those hideous prison-bars, and reach the +farm, and receive the caresses of Dan and Beersheba. But a promise is a +promise, and this could not be thought of. She determined, therefore, to +tire herself out by walking. + +She had managed to avoid all her companions. The Specialities were very +much occupied making arrangements for the evening. The twins had found +friends of their own, and were happily engaged. No one noticed Betty as +she set forth. She walked as far as the deserted gardens. Then she +crossed the waste land, and stood for a minute looking at that poor +semblance of Scotch heather which grew in an exposed corner. She felt +inclined to kick it, so great was her contempt for the flower which +could not bloom out of its native soil. Then suddenly her mood changed. +She fell on her knees, found a bit of heather which still had a few +nearly withered bells on it; and, raising it tenderly to her lips, +kissed it. "Poor little exile!" she said. "Well, I am an exile too!" + +She rose and skirted the waste land; at one side there was a somewhat +steep incline which led through a plantation to a more cultivated part +of the extensive grounds. Betty had never been right round the grounds +of Haddo Court before, and was pleased at their size, and, on a day like +this, at their wildness. She tried to picture herself back in Scotland. +Once she shut her eyes for a minute, and bringing her vivid imagination +to her aid, seemed to see Donald Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane in their +cosy kitchen; while Donald said, "It'll be a braw day to-morrow;" or +perhaps it was the other way round, and Jean remarked, "There'll be a +guid sprinklin' o' snaw before mornin', or I am much mistook." + +Betty sighed, and walked faster. By-and-by, however, she stood still. +She had come suddenly to the stump of an old tree. It was a broken and +very aged stump, and hollow inside. Betty stood close to it. The next +moment, prompted by an uncontrollable instinct, she thrust in her hand +and pulled out a little sealed packet. She looked at it wildly for a +minute, then put it back again. It was quite safe in this hiding-place, +for she had placed it in a corner of the old stump where it was +sheltered from the weather, and yet could never by any possibility be +seen unless the stump was cut down. She had scarcely completed this +action before a voice from behind caused her to jump and start. + +"Whatever are you doing by that old stump of a tree, Betty?" + +Betty turned swiftly. The color rushed to her face, leaving it the next +instant paler than ever. She was confronted by the uninteresting and +very small personality of Sibyl Ray. + +"I am doing nothing," said Betty. "What affair is it of yours?" + +"Oh, I am not interested," said Sibyl. "I was just taking a walk all +alone, and I saw you in the distance; and I rushed up that steep path +yonder as fast as I could, hoping you would let me join you and talk to +you. You know I am going to be present at your Speciality party +to-night. I do admire you so very much, Betty! Then, just as I was +coming near, you thrust your hand down into that old stump, and you +certainly did take something out. Was it a piece of wood, or what? I saw +you looking at it, and then you dropped it in again. It looked like a +square piece of wood, as far as I could tell from the distance. What +were you doing with it? It was wood, was it not?" + +"If you like to think it was wood, it was wood," replied Betty. Here was +another lie! Betty's heart sank very low. "I wish you would go away, +Sibyl," she said, "and not worry me." + +"Oh, but mayn't I walk with you? What harm can I do? And I do admire you +so immensely! And won't you take the thing out of the tree again and let +me see it? I want to see it ever so badly." + +"No, I am sure I won't. You can poke for it yourself whenever you +please," said Betty. "Now, come on, if you are coming." + +"Oh, may I come with you really?" + +"I can't prevent you, Sibyl. As a matter of fact, I was going out for a +walk all alone; but as you are determined to bear me company, you must." + +Betty felt seriously alarmed. She must take the first possible +opportunity to get the precious packet out of its present hiding-place +and dispose of it elsewhere. But where? That was the puzzle. And how +soon could she manage this? How quickly could she get rid of Sibyl Ray? + +Sibyl's small, pale-blue eyes were glittering with curiosity. Betty felt +she must manage her. Then suddenly, by one of those quick transitions of +thought, Rule VI. occurred to her. It was her duty to be kind to Sibyl, +even though she did not like her. She would, therefore, now put forth +her charm for the benefit of this small, unattractive girl. She +accordingly began to chatter in her wildest and most fascinating way. +Sibyl was instantly convulsed with laughter, and forgot all about the +old stump of tree and the bit of wood that Betty had fished out, looked +at, and put back again. The whole matter would, of course, recur to +Sibyl by-and by; but at present she was absorbed in the great delight of +Betty's conversation. + +"Oh, Betty, I do admire you!" she said. + +"Well, now, listen to one thing," said Betty. "I hate flattery." + +"But it isn't flattery if I mean what I say. If I do admire a person I +say so. Now, I admire our darling Martha West. She has always been kind +to me. Martha is a dear, a duck; but, of course, she doesn't fascinate +in the way you do. Several of the other girls in my form--I'm in the +upper fifth, you know--have been talking about you and wondering where +your charm lay. For you couldn't be called exactly pretty; although, of +course, that very black hair of yours, and those curious eyes which are +no color in particular, and yet seem to be every color, and your pale +face, make you quite out of the common. We love your sisters too; they +are darlings, but neither of them is like you. Still, you're not exactly +pretty. You haven't nearly such straight and regular features as Olive +Repton; you're not as pretty, even, as Fanny Crawford. Of course Fan's a +dear old thing--one of the very best girls in the school; and she is +your cousin, isn't she, Betty?" + +"Yes." + +"Betty, it is delightful to walk with you! And isn't it just wonderful +to think that you've not been more than a few weeks in the school before +you are made a Speciality, and with all the advantages of one? Oh, it +does seem quite too wonderful!" + +"I am glad you think so," said Betty. + +"But it is very extraordinary. I don't think it has ever been done +before. You see, your arrival at the school and everything else was +completely out of the common. You didn't come at the beginning of term, +as most new girls do; you came when term was quite a fortnight old; and +you were put straight away into the upper school without going through +the drudgery, or whatever you may like to call it, of the lower school. +Oh, I do--yes, I do--call it perfectly wonderful! I suppose you are +eaten up with conceit?" + +"No, I am not," said Betty. "I am not conceited at all. Now listen, +Sibyl. You are to be a guest, are you not, at our Speciality party +to-night?" + +"Of course I am; and I am so fearfully excited, more particularly as you +are going to tell stories with the lights down. I'm going to wear a +green dress; it's a gauzy sort of stuff that my aunt has just sent me, +and I think it will suit me very well indeed. Oh, it is fun to think of +this evening!" + +"Yes, of course it's fun," said Betty. "Now, I tell you what. Why don't +you go into the front garden and ask the gardener for permission to get +a few small marguerite daisies, and then make them into a very simple +wreath to twine round your hair? The daisies would suit you so well; you +don't know how nice they'll make you look." + +"Will they?" said Sibyl, her eyes sparkling. "Do you really think so?" + +"Of course I think so. I have pictures of all the girls in my mind; and +I often shut my eyes and think how such a girl would look if she were +dressed in such a way, and how such another girl would look if she wore +something else." + +"And when you think of me?" said Sibyl. + +But Betty had never thought of Sibyl. She was silent. + +"And when you think of me?" repeated Sibyl, her face beaming all over +with delight. "You think of me, do you, darling Betty, as wearing green, +with a wreath of marguerites in my hair?" + +"Yes, that is how I think of you," said Betty. + +"Very well, I'll go and find the gardener. Mrs. Haddo always allows us +to have cut flowers that the gardener gives us." + +"Don't have the wreath too big," said Betty; "and be sure you get the +gardener to choose small marguerites. Now, be off--won't you?--for I +want to continue my walk." + +Sibyl, in wild delight, rushed into one of the flower-gardens. Betty +watched her till she was quite out of sight. Then, quick as thought, she +retraced her steps. She must find another hiding-place for the packet. +With Sibyl's knowledge, her present position was one of absolute danger. +Sibyl would tell every girl she knew all about Betty's action when she +stood by the broken stump of the old tree. She would describe how Betty +thrust in her hand and took something out, looked at it, and put it back +again. The girls would go in a body, and poke, and examine, and try to +discover for themselves what Betty had taken out of the trunk of the old +oak-tree. Betty must remove the sealed packet at once, or it would be +discovered. + +"What a horrible danger!" thought the girl. "But I am equal to it." + +She ran with all her might and main, and presently, reaching the tree, +thrust her hand in, found the brown packet carefully tied up and sealed, +and slipped it into her pocket. Quite close by was a little broken +square of wood. Betty, hating herself for doing so, dropped it into the +hollow of the tree. The bit of wood would satisfy the girls, for Sibyl +had said that Betty had doubtless found some wood. Having done this, she +set off to retrace her steps again, going now in the direction of the +deserted gardens and the patch of common. She had no spade with her, +but that did not matter. She went to the corner where the heather was +growing. Very carefully working round a piece with her fingers, she +loosened the roots; they had gone deep down, as is the fashion with +heather. She slipped the packet underneath, replaced the heather, kissed +it, said, "I am sorry to disturb you, darling, but you are doing a great +work now;" and then, wiping the mud from her fingers, she walked slowly +home. + +The packet would certainly be safe for a day or two under the Scotch +heather, which, as a matter of fact, no one thought of interfering with +from one end of the year to another. Before Betty left this corner of +the common she took great care to remove all trace of having disturbed +the heather. Then she walked back to the Court, her heart beating high. +The tension within her was so great as to be almost unendurable. But she +would not swerve from the path she had chosen. + +On the occasion of the Specialities' first entertainment, Betty Vivian, +by request, wore white. Her sisters, who of course would be amongst the +guests, also wore white. The little beds had been removed to a distant +part of the room, where a screen was placed round them. All the toilet +apparatus was put out of sight. Easy-chairs and elegant bits of +furniture were brought from the other rooms. Margaret Grant lent her own +lovely vases, which were filled with flowers from the gardens. The +beautiful big room looked fresh and fragrant when the Specialities +assembled to welcome their guests. Betty stood behind Margaret. Martha +West--a little ungainly as usual, but with her strong, firm, reliable +face looking even stronger and more reliable since she had joined the +great club of the school--was also in evidence. Fanny Crawford stood +close to Betty. Just once she looked at her, and then smiled. Betty +turned when she did so, and greeted that smile with a distinct frown of +displeasure. Yet every one knew that Betty was to be the heroine of the +evening. + +Punctual to the minute the guests arrived--Sibyl Ray in her vivid-green +dress, with the marguerites in her hair. + +No one made any comment as the little girl came forward; only, a minute +later, Fanny whispered to Betty, "What a ridiculous and conceited idea! +I wonder who put it into her head?" + +"I did," said Betty very calmly; "But she hasn't arranged them quite +right." She left her place, and going up to Sibyl, said a few words to +her. Sibyl flushed and looked lovingly into Betty's face. Betty then +took Sibyl behind the screen, and, lo and behold! her deft fingers put +the tiny wreath into a graceful position; arranged the soft, light hair +so as to produce the best possible effect; twisted a white sash round +the gaudy green dress, to carry out the idea of the marguerites; and +brought Sibyl back, charmed with her appearance, and looking for once +almost pretty. + +"What a wonder you are, Betty!" said Martha West in a pleased tone. +"Poor little Sib, she doesn't understand how to manage the flowers!" + +"She looks very nice now," said Betty. + +"It was sweet of you to do it for her," said Martha. "And, you know, she +quite worships you; she does, really." + +"There was nothing in my doing it," replied Betty. She felt inclined to +add, "For she was particularly obliging to me to-day;" but she changed +these words into, "I suggested the idea, so of course I had to see it +carried out properly." + +"The white sash makes all the difference," said Martha. "You are quite a +genius, Betty!" + +"Oh no," said Betty. She looked for a minute into Martha's small, gray, +very honest eyes, and wished with all her heart and soul that she could +change with her. + +The usual high-jinks and merriment went on while the eatables were +being discussed. But when every one had had as much as she could consume +with comfort, and the oranges, walnuts, and crackers were put aside for +the final entertainment, Margaret (being at present head-girl of the +Specialities) proposed round games for an hour. "After that," she said, +"we will ask Betty Vivian to tell us stories." + +"Oh, but we all want the stories now!" exclaimed several voices. + +Margaret laughed. "Do you know," she said, "it is only a little past +seven o'clock, and we cannot expect poor Betty to tell stories for close +on two hours? We'll play all sorts of pleasant and exciting games until +eight o'clock, and then perhaps Betty will keep her word." + +Betty had purposely asked to be excused from joining in these games, and +every one said she understood the reason. Betty was too precious and +valuable and altogether fascinating to be expected to rush about playing +Blind-Man's Buff, and Puss-in-the-Corner, and Charades, and Telegrams, +and all those games which schoolgirls love. + +The sound from the Vivians' bedroom was very hilarious for the next +three-quarters of an hour; but presently Margaret came forward and asked +all the girls if they would seat themselves, as Betty was going to tell +stories. + +"With the lights down! Oh, please, please, don't forget that! All the +lights down except one," said Susie Rushworth. + +"Yes, with all the lights down except one," said Margaret. "Betty, will +you come and sit here? We will cluster round in a semi-circle. We shall +be in shadow, but there must be sufficient light for us to see your +face." + +The lights were arranged to produce this effect. There was now only one +light in the room, and that streamed over Betty as she sat cross-legged +on the floor, her customary attitude when she was thoroughly at home and +excited. There was not a scrap of self-consciousness about Betty at +these moments. She had been working herself up all day for the time when +she might pour out her heart. At home she used to do so for the benefit +of Donald and Jean Macfarlane and of her little sisters. But, up to the +present, no one at school had heard of Betty's wild stories. At last, +however, an opportunity had come. She forgot all her pain in the +exercise of her strong faculty for narrative. + +"I see something," she began. She had rather a thrilling voice--not +high, but very clear, and with a sweet ring in it. "I see," she +continued, looking straight before her as she spoke, "a great, great, a +very great plain. And it is night, or nearly so--I mean it is dusk; for +there is never actual night in my Scotland in the middle of summer. I +see the great plain, and a girl sitting in the middle of it, and the +heather is beginning to come out. It has been asleep all the winter; but +it is coming out now, and the air is full of music. For, of course, you +all understand," she continued--bending forward so that her eyes shone, +growing very large, and at the same moment black and bright--"you all +know that the great heather-plants are the last homes left in England +for the fairies. The fairies live in the heather-bells; and during the +winter, when the heather is dead, the poor fairies are cold, being +turned out of their homes." + +"Where do they go, then, I wonder?" asked a muffled voice in the +darkened circle of listeners. + +"Back to the fairies' palace, of course, underground," said Betty. "But +they like the world best, they're such sociable little darlings; and +when the heather-bells are coming out they all return, and each fairy +takes possession of a bell and lives there. She makes it her home. And +the brownies--they live under the leaves of the heather, and attend to +the fairies, and dance with them at night just over the vast heather +commons. Then, by a magical kind of movement, each little fairy sets her +own heather-bell ringing, and you can't by any possibility imagine what +the music is like. It is so sweet--oh, it is so sweet that no music one +has ever heard, made by man, can compare to it! You can imagine for +yourselves what it is like--millions upon millions of bells of heather, +and millions upon millions of fairies, and each little bell ringing its +own sweet chime, but all in the most perfect harmony. Well, that is what +the fairies do." + +"Have you ever seen them?" asked the much-excited voice of Susie +Rushworth. + +"I see them now," said Betty. She shut her eyes as she spoke. + +"Oh, do tell us what they are like?" asked a girl in the background. + +Betty opened her eyes wide. "I couldn't," she answered. "No one can +describe a fairy. You've got to see it to know what it is like." + +"Tell us more, please, Betty?" asked an eager voice. + +"Give me a minute," said Betty. She shut her eyes. Her face was deadly +white. Presently she opened her eyes again. "I see the same great, vast +moor, and it is winter-time, and the moor from one end to the other is +covered--yes, covered--with snow. And there's a gray house built of +great blocks of stone--a very strong house, but small; and there's a +kitchen in that house, and an old man with grizzled hair sits by the +fire, and a dear old woman sits near him, and there are two dogs lying +by the hearth. I won't tell you their names, for their names are--well, +sacred. The old man and woman talk together, and presently girls come in +and join them and talk to them for a little bit. Then one of the girls +goes out all alone, for she wants air and freedom, and she is never +afraid on the vast white moor. She walks and walks and walks. Presently +she loses sight of the gray house; but she is not afraid, for fear never +enters her breast. She walks so fast that her blood gets very warm and +tingles within her, and she feels her spirits rising higher and higher; +and she thinks that the moor covered with snow is even more lovely and +glorious than the moor was in summer, when the fairy bells were ringing +and the fairies were dancing all over the place. + +"I see her," continued Betty; "she is tired, and yet not tired. She has +walked a very long way, and has not met one soul. She is very glad of +that; she loves great solitudes, and she passionately loves nature and +cold cannot hurt her when her heart is so warm and so happy. But +by-and-by she thinks of the old couple by the fireside and of the girls +she has left behind. She turns to go back. I see her when she turns." +Betty paused a minute. "The sky is very still," she continued. "The sky +has millions of stars blazing in its blue, and there isn't a cloud +anywhere; and she clasps her hands with ecstasy, and thanks God for +having made such a beautiful world. Then she starts to go home; but----" + +Up to this point Betty's voice was glad and triumphant. Now its tone +altered. "I see her. She is warm still, and her heart glows with +happiness; and she does not want anything else in all the world except +the gray house and the girls she left behind, and the dogs by the +fireside, and the old couple in the kitchen. But presently she discovers +that, try as she will, and walk as hard as she may, she cannot find the +gray stone house. She is not frightened--that isn't a bit her way; but +she knows at once what has happened, for she has heard of such things +happening to others. + +"It is midnight--a bitterly cold midnight--and she is lost in the snow! +She knows it. She does not hesitate for a single minute what to do, for +the old man in the gray house has told her so many stories about other +people who have been lost in the snow. He has told her how they fell +asleep and died, and she knows quite well that she must not fall asleep. +When the morning dawns she will find her way back right enough; but +there are long, long hours between now and the morning. She finds a +place where the snow is soft, and she digs and digs in it, and then lies +down in it and covers herself up. The snow is so dry that even with the +heat of her body it hardly melts at all, and the great weight of snow +over her keeps her warm. So now she knows she is all right, provided +always she does not go to sleep. + +"She is the sort of girls who will never, by any possibility, give in +while there is the most remote chance of her saving the situation. She +has covered every scrap of herself except her face, and she is--oh, +quite warm and comfortable! And she knows that if she keeps her thoughts +very busy she may not sleep. There is no clock anywhere near, there is +no sound whatever to break the deep stillness. The only way she can keep +herself awake is by thinking. So she thinks very hard. That girl has +often had a hard think--a very hard think--in the course of her life; +but never, never one like this before, when she buries herself in the +snow and forces her brain to keep her body awake. + +"She tries first of all to count the minutes as they pass; but that is +sleepy work, more particularly as she is tired, and really sometimes +almost forgets herself for a minute. So she works away at some stiff, +long sums in arithmetic, doing mental arithmetic as rapidly as ever she +can. And so one hour passes, perhaps two. At the end of the second hour +something very strange happens. All of a sudden she feels that +arithmetic is pure nonsense--that it never leads anywhere nor does any +one any good; and she feels also that never in the whole course of her +life has she lain in a snugger bed than her snow-bed. And she remembers +the fairies and their music in the middle of the summer night; +and--hark! hark!--she hears them again! Why have they left their palace +underground to come and see her? It is sweet of them, it is beautiful! +They sit on her chest, they press close to her face, they kiss her with +their wee lips, they bring comforting thoughts into her heart, they +whisper lovely things into her ears. She has not felt alone from the +very first; but now that the fairies have come she never, never could be +happier than she is now. And then, away from the fairies (who stay close +to her all the time), she lifts her eyes and looks at the stars; and oh, +the stars are so bright! And, somehow, she remembers that God is up +there; and she thinks about white-clad angels who came down once, +straight from the stars, by means of a ladder, to help a good man in a +Bible story; and she really sees the ladder again, and the angels going +up and coming down--going up and coming down--and she gives a cry and +says, 'Oh, take me too! Oh, take me too!' One angel more beautiful than +she could possibly describe comes towards her, and the fairies give a +little cry--for, sweet as they are, they have nothing to do with +angels--and disappear. The angel has his strong arms round her, and he +says, 'Your bed of snow is not so beautiful as where you shall lie in +the land where no trouble can come.' Then she remembers no more." + +At this point in her narrative Betty made a dramatic pause. Then she +continued abruptly and in an ordinary tone, "It is the dogs who find +her, and they dig her out of the snow, and the dear old shepherd and his +wife and some other people come with them; and so she is brought back to +the gray house, and never reaches the open doors where the angels ladder +would have led her through. She is sorry--for days she is terribly +sorry; for she is ill, and suffers a good bit of pain. But she is all +right again now; only, somehow, she can never forget that experience. I +think I have told you all I can tell you to-night." + +Instantly, at a touch, the lights were turned on again, and the room was +full of brilliancy. Betty jumped up from her posture on the floor. The +girls flocked round her. + +"But, oh Betty! Betty! say, please say, was it you?" + +"I am going to reveal no secrets," said Betty. "I said I saw the girl. +Well, I did see her." + +"Then she must have been you! She must have been you!" echoed voice +after voice. "And were you really nearly killed in the snow? And did you +fall asleep in your snow-bed? And did--oh, did the fairies come, and +afterwards the angels? Oh Betty, do tell!" + +But Betty's lips were mute. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL + + +If Betty Vivian really wished to keep her miserable secret, she had done +wisely in removing the little packet from its shelter in the trunk of +the old oak-tree; for of course Sibyl remembered it in the night, +although Betty's wonderful story had carried her thoughts far away from +such trivial matters for the time being. Nevertheless, when she awoke in +the night, and thought of the fairies in the heather, and of the girl +lying in the snow-bed, she thought also of Betty standing by the stump +of a tree and removing something from within, looking at it, and putting +it back again. + +Sibyl, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of telling her special +friends that there was a treasure hidden in the stump of the old tree. +In short, she repeated Betty's exact action, doing so in the presence of +Martha West. + +Martha was a girl who invariably kept in touch with the younger girls. +There are girls who in being removed from a lower to an upper school +cannot stand their elevation, and are apt to be a little queer and +giddy; they have not quite got their balance. Such girls could not fall +into more excellent hands than those of Martha. She heard Sibyl now +chatting to a host of these younger girls, and, catching Betty's name, +asked immediately what it was all about. Sibyl repeated the story with +much gusto. + +"And Betty did look queer!" she added. "I asked her if it was a piece of +wood, and she said 'Yes;' but, all the same, she didn't like me to see +her. Of course she's a darling--there's no one like her; and she +recovered herself in a minute, and walked with me a long way, and then +suggested that I should wear the marguerites. Of course I had to go into +the flower-garden to find Birchall and coax him to cut enough for me. +Then I had to get Sarah Butt to help me to make the wreath, for I never +made a wreath before in my life. But Sarah would do anything in the +world that Betty suggested, she is so frightfully fond of her." + +"We are all fond of her, I think," said Martha. + +"Well, then she went off for a walk by herself, and I don't think she +came in until quite late." + +"You don't know anything about it," said Martha. "Now, look here, girls, +don't waste your time talking rubbish. You are very low down in the +school compared to Betty Vivian, and, compared to Betty Vivian, you are +of no account whatever, for she is a Speciality, and therefore holds a +position all her own. Love her as much as you like, and admire her, for +she is worthy of admiration. But if I were you, Sibyl, I wouldn't tell +tales out of school. Let me tell you frankly that you had no right to +rush up to Betty when she was alone and ask her what she was doing. She +was quite at liberty to thrust her hand into an old tree as often as +ever she liked, and take some rubbish out, and look at it, and drop it +in again. You are talking sheer folly. Do attend to your work, or you'll +be late for Miss Skeene when she comes to give her lecture on English +literature." + +No girl could ever be offended by Martha, and the work continued +happily. But during recess that day Sibyl beckoned her companions away +with her; and she, followed by five or six girls of the lower fifth, +visited the spot where Betty had stood on the previous evening. Betty +was much taller than any of these girls, and they found when they +reached the old stump that it was impossible for them to thrust their +hands in. But this difficulty was overcome by Sibyl volunteering to sit +on Mabel Lee's shoulders--and, if necessary, even to stand on her +shoulders while the other girls held her firm--in order that she might +thrust her hand into the hollow of the oak-tree. This feat was +accomplished with some difficulty, but nothing whatever was brought up +except withered leaves and débris and a broken piece of wood much +saturated with rain. + +"This must have been what she saw," said Sibyl. "I asked her if it was +wood, and I think she said it was. Only, why did she look so very +queer?" + +The girls continued their walk, but Martha West stayed at home. +She had hushed the remarks made by the younger girls that morning, +nevertheless she could not get them out of her mind. Sibyl's story was +circumstantial. She had described Betty's annoyance and distress when +they met, Betty's almost confusion. She had then said that it was Betty +who suggested that she was to wear the marguerites. + +Now Martha, in her heart of hearts, thought this suggestion of Betty's +very far-fetched; and being a very shrewd, practical sort of girl, there +came an awful moment when she almost made up her mind that Betty had +done this in order to get rid of Sibyl. Why did she want to get rid of +her? Martha began to believe that she was growing quite uncharitable. + +At that moment, who should appear in sight, who should utter a cry of +satisfaction and seat herself cosily by Martha's side, but Fanny +Crawford! + +"This is nice," said Fanny with a sigh. "I did so want to chat with you, +Martha. I so seldom see you quite all by yourself." + +"I am always to be seen if you really wish to find me, Fanny," replied +Martha. "I am never too busy not to be delighted to see my friends." + +"Well, of course we are friends, being Specialities," was Fanny's +remark. + +"Yes," answered Martha, "and I think we were friends before. I always +liked you just awfully, Fan." + +"Ditto, ditto," replied Fanny. "It is curious," she continued, speaking +in a somewhat sententious voice, "how one is drawn irresistibly to one +girl and repelled by another. Now, I was always drawn to you, Matty; I +always liked you from the very, very first. I was more than delighted +when I heard that you were to become one of us." + +Martha was silent. It was not her habit to praise herself, nor did she +care to hear herself praised. She was essentially downright and honest. +She did not think highly of herself, for she knew quite well that she +had very few outward charms. + +Fanny, however, who was the essence of daintiness, looked at her now +with blue-gray eyes full of affection. "Martha," she said, "I have such +a lot to talk over! What did you think of last night?" + +"I thought it splendid," replied Martha. + +"And Betty--what did you think of Betty?" + +"Your cousin? She is very dramatic," said Martha. + +"Yes, that is it," replied Fanny; "she is dramatic in everything. I +doubt if she is ever natural or her true self." + +"Fanny!" + +"Oh, dear old Martha, don't be so frightfully prim! I don't intend to +break Rule No. I. Of course I love Betty. As a matter of fact, I have +loved her before any of you set eyes on her. She is my very own cousin, +and but for father's strong influence would never have been at this +school at all. Still, I repeat that she is dramatic and hardly ever +herself." + +"She puzzles me, I confess," said Martha, a little dubiously; "but +then," she added, "I can't help yielding to her charm." + +"That is it," said Fanny--"her charm. But look down deep into your +heart, Martha, and tell me if you think her charm healthy." + +"Well, I see nothing wrong about it." Then Martha became abruptly +silent. + +"For instance," said Fanny, pressing a little closer to her companion, +"why ever did she make your special protégé Sibyl Ray such a figure of +fun last night?" + +"I thought Sibyl looked rather pretty." + +"When she entered the room, Martha?" + +"Oh no; she was quite hideous then, poor little thing! But Betty soon +put that all right; she had very deft fingers." + +"I know," said Fanny. "But what I want to have explained is this: why +Betty, a girl who is more or less worshiped by half the girls in the +school, should trouble herself with such a very unimportant person as +Sibyl Ray, I want to know. Can you tell me?" + +"Even if I could tell you, remembering Rule No. I., I don't think I +would," said Martha. + +Fanny sat very still for a minute or two. Then she got up. "I don't +see," she remarked, "why Rule No. I. should make us unsociable each with +the other. The very object of our club is that we should have no +secrets, but should be quite open and above-board. Now, Martha West, +look me straight in the face!" + +"I will, Fanny Crawford. What in the world are you accusing me of?" + +"Of keeping something back from me which, as a member of the +Specialities, you have no right whatever to do." + +A slow, heavy blush crept over Martha's face. She got up. "I am going to +look over my German lesson," she said. "Fräulein will want me almost +immediately." Then she left Fanny, who stared after her retreating +figure. + +"I will find out," thought Fanny, "what Martha is keeping to herself. +That little horror Betty will sow all kinds of evil seed in the school +if I don't watch her. I did wrong to promise her, by putting my finger +to my lips, that I would be silent with regard to her conduct. I see it +now. But if Betty supposes that she can keep her secret to herself she +is vastly mistaken. Hurrah, there's Sibyl Ray! Sib, come here, child; I +want to have a chat with you." + +It was a bitterly cold and windy day outside; there were even +sleet-showers falling at intervals. Winter was coming on early, and with +a vengeance. + +"Why have you come in?" asked Fanny. + +"It's so bitterly cold out, Fanny." + +"Well, sit down now you are in. You are a nice little thing, you know, +Sib, although at present you are very unimportant. You know that, of +course?" + +"Yes," said Sibyl; "I am told it nearly every hour of the day." She +spoke in a wistful tone. "Sometimes," she added, "I could almost wish I +were back in the lower school, where I was looked up to by the smaller +girls and had a right good time." + +"We can never go back, Sib; that is the law of life." + +"Of course not." + +"Well, sit down and talk to me. Now, I have something to say to you. Do +you know that I am devoured with curiosity, and all about a small girl +like yourself?" + +"Oh Fanny," said Sibyl, immensely flattered, "I am glad you take an +interest in me!" + +"I must be frank," said Fanny. "Up to the present I have taken no +special interest in you, except in so far as you are Martha's protégé; +but when I saw you in that extraordinary dress last night I singled you +out at once as a girl with original ideas. Do look me in the face, Sib!" + +Sibyl turned. Fanny's face was exquisitely chiselled. Each neat little +feature was perfect. Her eyes were large and well-shaped, her brows +delicately marked, her complexion pure lilies and roses; her hair was +thick and smooth, and yet there were little ripples about it which gave +it, even in its schoolgirl form, a look of distinction. Sibyl, on the +contrary, was an undersized girl, with the fair, colorless face, +pale-blue eyes, the lack of eyebrows and eyelashes, the hair thin and +small in quantity, which make the most hopeless type of all as regards +good looks. + +"I wonder, Sib," said Fanny, "if you, you little mite, are really eaten +up with vanity?" + +"I--vain! Why should you say so?" + +"I only thought it from your peculiar dress last night." + +Sibyl colored and spoke eagerly. "Oh, but that wasn't me at all; it was +that quite too darling Betty!" + +"Do you mean my cousin, Betty Vivian?" + +"Of course, who else?" + +"Well, what had she to do with it?" + +"I will tell you if you like, Fanny. She didn't expect me to keep it a +secret. I met her when I was out----" + +"You--met Betty--when you were out?" + +"Yes." There was a kind of reserve in Sibyl's tone which made Fanny +scent a possible mystery. + +"Where did you meet her?" was the next inquiry. + +"Well, she was standing by the stump of an old tree which is hollow +inside. It is just at the top of the hill by the bend, exactly where the +hill goes down towards the 'forest primeval.'" + +"Can't say I remember it," said Fanny. "Go on, Sib. So Betty was +standing there?" + +"Yes, oh yes. I saw her in the distance. I was expecting to meet Clarice +and Mary Moss; but they failed me, although they had faithfully promised +to come. So when I saw Betty I could not resist running up to her; but +when I got quite close I stood still." + +"Well, you stood still. Why?" + +"Oh Fan, she was doing such a funny thing! She was bending down and +looking over into the hollow of the tree. Then, all of a sudden, she +thrust her hand in--far down--and took something out of the tree and +looked at it. I could just catch sight of what it was----" + +"Yes, go on. What was it? Don't be afraid of me, Sib. I have a lot of +chocolates in my pocket that I will give you presently." + +"Oh thank you, Fanny! It is nice to talk to you. I couldn't see very +distinctly what she had in her hand, only she was staring at it, and +staring at it; and then she dropped it in again, right down into the +depths of the tree; and I saw her bending more than ever, as though she +were covering it up." + +"But you surely saw what it was like?" + +"It might have been anything--I wasn't very near then. I ran up to her, +and asked her what it was." + +"And what did she say?" + +"Oh, she said it was a piece of wood, and that she had dropped it into +the tree." + +Fanny sat very still. A coldness came over her. She was nearly stunned +with what she considered the horror of Betty's conduct. + +"What is the matter?" asked Sibyl. + +"Nothing at all, Sib; nothing at all. And then, what happened?" + +"Betty was very cross at being disturbed." + +"That is quite probable," said Fanny with a laugh. + +"She certainly was, and I--I--I am afraid I annoyed her; but after a +minute or two she got up and allowed me to walk with her. We walked +towards the house, and she told me all kinds of funny stories; she +really made me scream with laughter. She is the jolliest girl! Then, all +of a sudden, we came in sight of the flower-gardens; and she asked me +what I was going to wear last night, and I told her about the green +chiffon dress which auntie had sent me; and then she suggested a wreath +of small marguerites, and told me to get Birchall to cut some for me. +She said they would be very becoming, and of course I believed her. +There's nothing in my story, is there, Fanny?" + +"That depends on the point of view," answered Fanny. + +"I don't understand you." + +"Nor do I mean you to, kiddy." + +"Well, there's one thing more," continued Sibyl, who felt much elated at +being allowed to talk to one of the most supercilious of all the +Specialities. "I couldn't get out of my head about Betty and the +oak-tree; so just now--a few minutes ago--I got some of my friends to +come with me, and we went to the oak-tree, and I stood on Mabel Lee's +shoulder, and I poked and poked amongst the débris and rubbish in the +hollow of the trunk, and there was nothing there at all--nothing except +just a piece of wood. So, of course, Betty spoke the truth--it was +wood." + +"How many chocolates would you like?" was Fanny's rejoinder. + +"Oh Fanny, are you going to give me some?" + +"Yes, if you are a good girl, and don't tell any one that you repeated +this very harmless and uninteresting little story to me about my Cousin +Betty. Of course she is my cousin, and I don't like anything said +against her." + +"But I wasn't speaking against darling Betty!" Sibyl's eyes filled with +tears. + +"Of course not, monkey; but you were telling me a little tale which +might be construed in different ways." + +"Yes, yes; only I don't understand. Betty had a perfect right to poke +her hand into the hollow of the tree, and to bring up a piece of wood, +and look at it, and put it back again; and I don't understand your +expression, Fanny, that it all depends on the point of view." + +"Keep this to yourself, and I will give you some more chocolates +sometime," was Fanny's answer. "I can be your friend as well as +Martha--that is, if you are nice, and don't repeat every single thing +you hear. The worst sin in a schoolgirl--at least, the worst minor +sin--is to be breaking confidences. No schoolgirl with a shade of honor +in her composition would ever do that, and certainly no girl trained at +Haddo Court ought to be noted for such a characteristic. Now, Sibyl, you +are no fool; and, when I talk to you, you are not to repeat things. I +may possibly want to talk to you again, and then there'll be more +chocolates and--and--other things; and as you are in the upper school, +and are really quite a nice girl, I shouldn't be at all surprised if I +invited you to have tea with me in my bedroom some night--oh, not quite +yet, but some evening not far off. Now, off with you, and let me see how +well you can keep an innocent little confidence between you and me!" + +Sibyl ran off, munching her chocolates, wondering a good deal at Fanny's +manner, but in the excitement of her school-life, soon forgetting both +her and Betty Vivian. For, after all, there was no story worth thinking +about. There was nothing in the hollow of the old tree but the piece of +wood, and nothing--nothing in the wide world--could be made interesting +out of that. + +Meanwhile, Fanny thought for a time. The first great entertainment of +the Specialities was over. Betty was now a full-blown member, and as +such must be treated in a manner which Fanny could not possibly have +assumed towards her before this event took place. Fanny blamed herself +for her weakness in consenting to keep Betty's secret. She had done so +on the spur of the moment, influenced by the curious look in the girl's +eyes, and wondering if she would turn to her with affection if she, +Fanny, were so magnanimous. But Betty had not turned to her with either +love or affection. Betty was precisely the Betty she had been before she +joined the club. It is true she was very much sought after and consulted +on all sorts of matters, and her name was whispered in varying notes of +admiration among the girls, and she was likely (unless a spoke were put +in her wheel) to rise to one of the highest positions in the great +school. Betty had committed one act of flagrant wickedness. Fanny was +not going to mince matters; she could not call it by any other name. +There were no extenuating circumstances, in her opinion, to excuse this +act of Betty's. The fact that she had first stolen the packet, and then +told Sir John Crawford a direct lie with regard to it, was the sort of +thing that Fanny could never get over. + +"One act of wickedness leads to another," thought Fanny. "Contrary to my +advice, my beseechings, she has joined our club. She has taken a vow +which she cannot by any possibility keep, which she breaks every hour of +every day; for she holds a secret which, according to Rule No. I., the +other Specialities ought to know. What was she doing by the old stump? +What did she take out and look at so earnestly? It was not a piece of +wood. That idea is sheer nonsense." + +Fanny thought and thought, and the more she thought the more +uncomfortable did she grow. "It is perfectly horrible!" she kept saying +to herself. "I loathe myself for even thinking about it, but I am afraid +I must put a spoke in her wheel. The whole school may be contaminated at +this rate. If Betty could do what she did she may do worse, and there +isn't a girl in the place who isn't prepared to worship her. Oh, of +course I'm not jealous; why should I be? I should be a very unworthy +member of the Specialities if I were. Nevertheless----" + +Just then Sylvia and Hetty Vivian walked through the great +recreation-hall arm in arm. + +Fanny called them to her. "Where's Betty?" she asked. + +"She told us she'd be very busy for half an hour in our room, and that +then she was going downstairs to have a sort of conference--with you, I +suppose, Fanny, and the rest of the Specialities." + +Sylvia gave a very impatient shrug of her shoulders. + +"Why do you look like that, Sylvia?" asked Fanny. + +"Well, the fact is, Hetty and I do hate our own Betty belonging to your +club. Whenever we want her now she is engaged; and she has such funny +talk all about committee meetings and private conferences in your odious +sitting-room. We don't like it a bit. We much, much preferred our Betty +before she joined the Specialities." + +"All the same," said Fanny, "you must have felt very proud of your Betty +last night." + +Hester laughed. "She wasn't half her true self," said the girl. "Oh, of +course she was wonderful, and much greater than others; but I wish you +could have heard her tell stories in Scotland. We used to have just one +blink of light from the fire, and we sat and held each other's hands, +and I tell you Betty made us thrill." + +"Well, now that you have reminded me," said Fanny, rising as she spoke, +"I must go and attend that committee meeting. I really forgot it, so I +am greatly obliged to you girls for reminding me. And you mustn't be +jealous of your sister; that is a very wrong feeling." + +The girls laughed and ran off, while Fanny slowly walked down the +recreation-hall and then ascended some stairs, until she found herself +in that particularly cosy and bright sitting-room which was set apart +for the Specialities. + +Martha West was there, also Susie Rushworth, the two Bertrams, and +Olive Repton. But Margaret Grant had not yet appeared, nor had Betty +Vivian. Fanny took her seat near Olive. The girls began to chat, and the +subject of last night's entertainment was discussed pretty fully. Most +of the girls present agreed that it was remarkably silly of Sibyl Ray to +wear marguerites in her hair, that they were very sorry for her, and +hoped she would not be so childish again. It was just at that moment +that Margaret Grant appeared, and immediately afterwards Betty Vivian. +The minutes of the last committee meeting were read aloud, and then +Margaret turned and asked the girls if they were thoroughly satisfied +with the entertainment of the previous night. They all answered in the +affirmative except Fanny, who was silent. Neither did Betty speak, for +she had been the chief contributor to the entertainment. + +"Well," continued Margaret, "I may as well say at once that I was +delighted. Betty, I didn't know that you possessed so great a gift. I +wish you would improvise as you did last night one evening for Mrs. +Haddo." + +Betty turned a little whiter than usual. Then she said slowly, "Alone +with her--and with you--I could." + +"I think she would love it," said Margaret. "It would surprise her just +to picture the scene as you threw yourself into it last night." + +"I could do it," said Betty, "alone with her and with you." + +There was not a scrap of vanity in Betty's manner. She spoke seriously, +just as one who, knowing she possesses a gift, accepts it and is +thankful. + +"I couldn't get it out of my head all night," continued Margaret, "more +particularly that part where the angels came. It was a very beautiful +idea, Betty dear, and I congratulate you on being able to conjure up +such fine images in your mind." + +It was with great difficulty that Fanny could suppress her feelings, +but the next instant an opportunity occurred for her to give vent to +them. + +"Now," said Margaret, "as the great object of our society is in all +things to be in harmony, I want to put it to the vote: How did the +entertainment go off last night?" + +"I liked every single thing about it," said Susie Rushworth; "the +supper, the games, and, above all things, the story-telling." + +The same feeling was expressed in more or less different words by each +girl in succession, until Fanny's turn came. + +"And you, Fanny--what did you think?" + +"I liked the supper and the games, of course," said Fanny. + +"And the story-telling, Fanny? You ought to be proud of having such a +gifted cousin." + +"I didn't like the story-telling, and Betty knows why I didn't like it." + +The unmistakable look of hatred on Fanny's face, the queer flash in her +eyes as she glanced at Betty, and Betty's momentary quiver as she looked +back at her, could not fail to be observed by each girl present. + +"Fanny, I am astonished at you!" said Margaret Grant in a voice of +marked displeasure. + +"You asked a plain question, Margaret. I should have said nothing if +nothing had been asked; but you surely don't wish me to commit myself to +a lie?" + +"Oh no, no!" said Margaret. "But sisterly love, and--and your own cousin +too!" + +"I want to say something in private to Betty Vivian; and I would +earnestly beg of you, Margaret, not to propose to Mrs. Haddo that Betty +should tell her any story until after I have spoken. I have my reasons +for doing this; and I do not think, all things considered, that I am +really breaking Rule No. I. in adopting this course of action." + +"This is most strange!" said Margaret. + +Betty rose and came straight up to Fanny. "Where and when do you want to +speak to me, Fanny?" she asked. + +"I will go with you now," said Fanny. + +"Then I think," said Margaret, "our meeting has broken up. The next +meeting of the Specialities will be held in Olive Repton's room on +Thursday next. There are several days between now and then; but +to-morrow at four o'clock I mean to give a tea to all the club here. I +invite you, one and all, to be present; and afterwards we can talk folly +to our hearts' content. Listen, please, girls: the next item on my +programme is that we invite dear Mr. Fairfax to tea with us, and ask him +a few questions with regard to the difficulties we find in the reading +of Jeremy Taylor's 'Holy Living.'" + +"I don't suppose, Margaret, it is absolutely necessary for me to attend +that meeting?" said Betty. + +"Certainly not, Betty. No one is expected to attend who does not wish +to." + +"You see, I have no difficulties to speak about," said Betty with a +light laugh. + +Margaret glanced at her with surprise. + +"Come, Betty," said Fanny; and the two left the room. + +"Where am I to go to?" asked Betty when they found themselves outside. + +"Out, if you like," said Fanny. + +"No, thank you. The day is very cold." + +"Then come to my room with me, will you, Betty?" + +"No," said Betty, "I don't want to go to your room." + +"I must see you somewhere by yourself," said Fanny. "I have something +important to say to you." + +"Oh, all right then," said Betty, shrugging her shoulders. "Your room +will do as well as any other place. Let's get it over." + +The girls ran upstairs. They presently entered Fanny's bedroom, which +was a small apartment, but very neat and cheerful. It was next door to +the Vivians' own spacious one. + +The moment they were inside Betty turned and faced Fanny. "Do you always +intend to remain my enemy, Fanny?" she asked. + +"Far from that, Betty; I want to be your truest friend." + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't talk humbug! If you are my truest friend +you will act as such. Now, what is the matter--what is up?" + +"I will tell you." + +"I am all attention," said Betty. "Pray begin." + +"I hurt your feelings downstairs just now by saying that I did not care +for your story-telling." + +"You didn't hurt them in the least, for I never expected you to care. +The story-telling wasn't meant for you." + +"But I must mention now why I didn't care," continued Fanny, speaking as +quickly as she could. "Had you been the Betty the rest of the school +think you I could have lost myself, too, in your narrative, and I could +have seen the picture you endeavored to portray. But knowing you as you +are, Betty Vivian, I could only look down into your wicked heart----" + +"What an agreeable occupation!" said Betty with a laugh which she tried +to make light, but did not quite succeed. + +Fanny was silent. + +After a minute Betty spoke again. "Do you spend all your time, Fanny, +gazing into my depraved heart?" + +"Whenever I think of you, Betty--and I confess I do think of you very +often--I remember the sin you have sinned, the lack of repentance you +have shown, and, above all things, your daring spirit in joining our +club. It is true that when you joined--after all my advice to you to the +contrary, my beseeching of you to withstand this temptation--I gave you +to understand that I would be silent. But my conscience torments me +because of that tacit promise I gave you. Nevertheless I will keep it. +But remember, you are in danger. You know perfectly well where the +missing packet is. It is--or was, at least--in the hollow stump of the +old oak-tree at the top of the hill, and you positively told Sibyl Ray a +lie about it when she saw you looking at it yesterday. Afterwards, in +order to divert her attention from yourself, you sent her to gather +marguerites to make a wreath for her hair--a most ridiculous thing for +the child to wear. What you did afterwards I don't know, and don't care +to inquire. But, Betty, the fact is that you, instead of being an +inspiring influence in this school, will undermine it--will ruin its +morals. You are a dangerous girl, Betty Vivian; and I tell you so to +your face. You are bound--bound to come to grief. Now, I will say no +more. I leave it to your conscience what to do and what not to do. There +are some fine points about you; and you could be magnificent, but you +are not. There, I have spoken!" + +"Thank you, Fanny," replied Betty in a very gentle tone. She waited for +a full minute; then she said, "Is that all?" + +"Yes, that is all." + +Betty went away to her own room. As soon as ever she entered, she went +straight to the looking-glass and gazed at her reflection. She then +turned a succession of somersaults from one end of the big apartment to +the other. Having done this, she washed her face and hands in ice-cold +water, rubbed her cheeks until they glowed, brushed her black hair, and +felt better. She ran downstairs, and a few minutes later was in the +midst of a very hilarious group, who were all chatting and laughing and +hailing Betty Vivian as the best comrade in the wide world. + +Betty was not only brilliant socially; at the same time she had fine +intellectual powers. She was the delight of her teachers, for she could +imbibe knowledge as a sponge absorbs water. On this particular day she +was at her best during a very difficult lesson at the piano from a +professor who came from London. Betty had always a passionate love of +music, and to-day she revelled in it. She had been learning one of +Chopin's Nocturnes, and now rendered it with exquisite pathos. The +professor was delighted, and in the midst of the performance Mrs. Haddo +came into the music-room. She listened with approval, and when the girl +rose, said, "Well done!" + +Another girl took her place; and Betty, running up to Mrs. Haddo, said, +"Oh, may I speak to you?" + +"Yes, dear; what is it? Come to my room for a minute, if you wish, +Betty." + +"It isn't important enough for that. Dear Mrs. Haddo, it's just that I +am mad for a bit of frolic." + +"Frolic, my child! You seem to have plenty." + +"Not enough--not enough--not nearly enough for a wild girl of +Aberdeenshire, a girl who has lived on the moors and loved them." + +"What do you want, dear child?" + +"I want most awfully, with your permission, to go with my two sisters +Sylvia and Hester to have tea with the Mileses. I want to pet those dogs +again, and I want to go particularly badly between now and next +Thursday." + +"And why especially between now and next Thursday?" + +"Ah, I can't quite give you the reason. There is a reason. +Please--please--please say yes!" + +"It is certainly against my rules." + +"But, dear Mrs. Haddo, it isn't against your rules if you give leave," +pleaded the girl. + +"You are very clever at arguing, Betty. I certainly have liberty to +break rules in individual cases. Well, dear child, it shall be so. I +will send a line to Mrs. Miles to ask her to expect you and your sisters +to-morrow. A servant shall accompany you, and will call again later on. +You can only stay about one hour at the farm. To-morrow is a +half-holiday, so it will be all right." + +"Oh, how kind of you!" said Betty. + +But again Mrs. Haddo noticed that Betty avoided looking into her eyes. +"Betty," she said, "this is a small matter--my yielding to the whim of +an impetuous girl in whom I take an interest. But, my dear child, I have +to congratulate you. You made a marvellous success--a marvellous +success--last night. Several of the girls in the school have spoken of +it, and in particular dear Margaret Grant. I wonder if you would +improvise for me some evening?" + +"Gladly!" replied Betty. And now for one minute her brilliant eyes were +raised and fixed on those of Mrs. Haddo. "Gladly," she repeated--and she +shivered slightly--"if you will hear me after next Thursday." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TEA AT FARMER MILES'S + + +"It's all right, girls!" said Betty in her most joyful tone. + +"What is all right, Betty and Bess?" asked Sylvia saucily. + +"Oh, kiss me, girls," said Betty, "and let's have a real frolic! +To-morrow is Saturday--a half-holiday, of course--and we're going to the +Mileses' to have tea." + +"The Mileses'!" + +"Yes, you silly children; those dear farmer-folk who keep the dogs." + +"Dan and Beersheba?" cried Hetty. + +"Yes, Dan and Beersheba; and we're going to have a real jolly time, and +we're going to forget dull care. It'll be quite the most delightful +sport we've had since we came to Haddo Court. What I should love most +would be to vault over the fence and go all by our lonesome selves. But +we must have a maid--a horrid, stupid maid; only, of course, she'll walk +behind, and she'll leave us alone when we get to the farm. She'll fetch +us again by-and-by--that'll be another nuisance. Still, somehow, I don't +know what there is about school, but I'm not game enough to go without +leave." + +"You are changed a good bit," said Hetty. "I think myself it's since you +were made a Speciality." + +"Perhaps so," said Betty thoughtfully. + +Sylvia nestled close to her sister; while Hetty knelt down beside her, +laid her elbows on Betty's knee, and looked up into her face. + +"I wonder," said Sylvia, "if you like being a Special, or whatever they +call themselves, Betty mine?" + +Betty did not speak. + +"Do you like it?" said Hester, giving her sister a poke in the side as +she uttered the words. + +"I can't quite tell you, girls; it's all new to me at present. +Everything is new and strange. Oh girls, England is a cold, cold +country!" + +"But it is declared by all the geography-books to be warmer than +Scotland," said Sylvia, speaking in a thoughtful voice. + +"I don't mean physical cold," said Betty, half-laughing as she spoke. + +"I begin to like school," said Hetty. "Lessons aren't really a bit +hard." + +"I think school is very stimulating," said Sylvia. "The teachers are all +so kind, and we are making friends by degrees. The only thing that Hetty +and I don't like is this, Bet, that we see so very little of you." + +"Although I see little of you I never forget you," was Betty's answer. + +"And then," continued Sylvia, "we sleep in the same room, which is a +great blessing. That is something to be thankful for." + +"And perhaps," said Betty, "we'll see more of each other in the future." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Oh, nothing--nothing." + +"Betty, you are growing very mysterious." + +"I hope not," replied Betty. "I should just hate to be mysterious." + +"Well, you are growing it, all the same," said Hester. "But, oh Bet, +you're becoming the most wonderful favorite in the school! I can't tell +you what the other girls say about you, for I really think it would make +you conceited. It does us a lot of good to have a sister like you; for +whenever we are spoken to or introduced to a new girl--I mean a girl we +haven't spoken to before--the remark invariably is, 'Oh, are you related +to Betty Vivian, the Speciality?' And then--and then everything is all +right, and the girls look as if they would do anything for us. We are +the moon and stars, you are the sun; and it's very nice to have a sister +like you." + +"Well, listen, girls. We're going to have a real good time to-morrow, +and we'll forget all about school and the lessons and the chapel." + +"Oh, but I do like the chapel!" said Sylvia in a thoughtful voice. "I +love to hear Mr. Fairfax when he reads the lessons; and I think if I +were in trouble about anything I could tell him, somehow." + +"Could you?" said Betty. She started slightly, and stared very hard at +her sister. "Perhaps one could," she said after a moment's pause. "Mr. +Fairfax is very wonderful." + +"Oh yes, isn't he?" said Hester. + +"But we won't think of him to-night or to-morrow," continued Betty, +rising to her feet as she spoke. "We must imagine ourselves back in +Scotland again. Oh, it will be splendid to have that time at the +Mileses' farm!" + +The rest of the evening passed without anything remarkable occurring. +Betty, as usual, was surrounded by her friends. The younger Vivian girls +chatted gaily with others. Every one was quite kind and pleasant to +Betty, and Fanny Crawford left her alone. As this was quite the very +best thing Fanny could do, Betty thanked her in her heart. But that +evening, just before prayer-time, Betty crossed the hall, where she had +been sitting surrounded by a group of animated schoolfellows, and went +up to Miss Symes. "Have I your permission, Miss Symes," she said, "not +to attend prayers in chapel to-night?" + +"Aren't you well, Betty dear?" asked Miss Symes a little anxiously. + +Betty remained silent for a minute. Then she said, "Physically I am +quite well; mentally I am not." + +"Dear Betty!" + +"I can't explain it," said Betty. "I would just rather not attend +prayers to-night. Do you mind?" + +"No, dear. You haven't perhaps yet been acquainted with the fact that +the Specialities are never coerced to attend prayers. They are expected +to attend; but if for any reason they prefer not, questions are not +asked." + +"Oh, thank you!" said Betty. She turned and went slowly and thoughtfully +upstairs. When she got to her own room she sat quite still, evidently +thinking very hard. But when her sisters joined her (and they all went +to bed earlier than usual), Betty was the first to drop asleep. + +As has already been stated, Betty's pretty little bed was placed between +Sylvia's and Hetty's; and now, as she slept, the two younger girls bent +across, clasped hands, and looked down at her small white face. They +could just get a glimmer of that face in the moonlight, which happened +to be shining brilliantly through the three big windows. + +All of a sudden, Sylvia crept very softly out of bed, and, running round +to Hester's side, whispered to her, "What is the matter?" + +"I don't know," replied Hester. + +"But something is," remarked Sylvia. + +"Yes, something is," said Hester. "Best not worry her." + +Sylvia nodded and returned to her own bed. + +On the following morning, however, all Betty's apparent low spirits had +vanished. She was in that wild state of hilarity when she seemed to +carry all before her. Her sisters could not help laughing every time +Betty opened her lips, and it was the same during recess. When many +girls clustered round her with their gay jokes, they became convulsed +with laughter at her comic replies. + +It was arranged by Mrs. Haddo that Betty and her two sisters were to +start for the Mileses' farm at three o'clock exactly. It would not take +them more than half an hour to walk there. Mrs. Miles was requested to +give them tea not later than four o'clock, and they were to be called +for at half-past four. Thus they would be back at Haddo Court about +five. + +"Only two hours!" thought Betty to herself. "But one can get a great +deal of pleasure into two hours." + +Betty felt highly excited. Her sisters' delight at being able to go +failed to interest her. As a rule, with all her fun and nonsense and +hilarity, Betty possessed an abundance of self-control. But to-day she +seemed to have lost it. + +The very staid-looking maid, Harris by name, who accompanied them, could +scarcely keep pace with the Vivian girls. They ran, they shouted, they +laughed. When they were about half-way to the Mileses' farm they came to +a piece of common which had not yet been inclosed. The day was dry and +comparatively warm, and the grass on the common was green, owing to the +recent rains. + +"Harris," said Betty, turning to the maid, "would you like to see some +Catharine wheels?" + +Harris stared in some amazement at the young lady. + +"Come along, girls, do!" said Betty. "Harris must have fun as well as +the rest of us. You like fun, don't you Harris?" + +"Love it, miss!" said Harris. + +"Well, then, here goes!" said Betty. "Harris, please hold our hats." + +The next instant the three were turning somersaults on the green grass +of the common, to the unbounded amazement of the maid, who felt quite +shocked, and shouted to the young ladies to come back and behave +themselves. Betty stopped at once when she heard the pleading note in +Harris's voice. + +"You hadn't ought to have done it," said Harris; "and if my missis was +to know! Oh, what shows you all three do look! Now, let me put your hats +on tidy-like. There, that's better!" + +"I feel much happier in my mind now, Harris--and that's a good thing, +isn't it?" said Betty. + +"Yes, miss, it's a very good thing. But I shouldn't say, to look at you, +that you knew the meaning of the least bit of unhappiness." + +"Of course I don't," said Betty; "nor does my sister Sylvia, nor does my +sister Hester." + +"We did up in Scotland for a time," said Hester, who could not +understand Betty at all, and felt more and more puzzled at her queer +behavior. + +"Well, now, we'll walk sober and steady," said Harris. "You may reckon +on one thing, missies--that I won't tell what you done on the common, +for if I did you'd be punished pretty sharp." + +"You may tell if you like, Harris," said Betty. "I shouldn't dream of +asking you to keep a secret." + +"I won't, all the same," said Harris. + +The walk continued without any more exciting occurrences; and when the +girls reached the farm they were greeted by Mrs. Miles, her two big +boys, and the farmer himself. Here Harris dropped a curtsy and +disappeared. + +"Oh, I must kiss you, Mrs. Miles!" said Betty. "And, please, this is my +sister Sylvia, and this is Hester. They are twins; but, having two sets +yourself, you said you did not mind seeing them and giving them tea, +even though they are twins." + +"'Tain't no disgrace, missie, as I've heerd tell on," said the farmer. + +"Oh Farmer Miles, I am glad to see you!" said Betty. "Fancy dear, kind +Mrs. Haddo giving us leave to come and have tea with you!--I do hope, +Mrs. Miles, you've got a very nice tea, for I can tell you I am hungry. +I've given myself an appetite on purpose; for I would hardly touch any +breakfast, and at dinner I took the very teeniest bit." + +"And so did I," said Sylvia in a low tone. + +"And I also," remarked Hester. + +"Well, missies, I ha' got the best tea I could think of, and right glad +we are to see you. You haven't spoken to poor Ben yet, missie." + +Here Mrs. Miles indicated her eldest son, an uncouth-looking lad of +about twelve years of age. + +"Nor Sammy neither," said the farmer, laying his hand on Sammy's broad +shoulder, and bringing the red-haired and freckled boy forward. + +"I am just delighted to see you, Ben; and to see you, Sammy. And these +are my sisters. And, please, Mrs. Miles, where are the twins?" + +"The twinses are upstairs, sound asleep; but they'll be down by +tea-time," said Mrs. Miles. + +"And, above all things, where are the dogs?" said Betty. + +"Now, missie," said the farmer, "them dogs has been very rampageous +lately, and, try as we would, we couldn't tame 'em; so we have 'em +fastened up in their kennels, and only lets 'em out at night. You shall +come and see 'em in their kennels, missie." + +"Oh, but they must be let out!" said Betty, tears brimming to her eyes. +"My sisters love dogs just as much as I do. They must see the dogs. Oh, +we must have a game with them!" + +"I wouldn't take it upon me, I wouldn't really," said the farmer, "to +let them dogs free to-day. They're that remarkable rampageous." + +"Well, take me to them anyhow," said Betty. + +The farmer, his wife, Ben and Sammy, and the three Vivian girls tramped +across the yard, and presently arrived opposite the kennels where Dan +and Beersheba were straining at the end of their chains. When they heard +footsteps they began to bark vociferously, but the moment they saw Betty +their barking ceased; they whined and strained harder than ever in their +wild rapture. Betty instantly flung herself on her knees by Dan's side +and kissed him on the forehead. The dog licked her little hand, and was +almost beside himself with delight. As to poor Beersheba, he very nearly +went mad with jealousy over the attention paid to Dan. + +"You see for yourself," said Betty, looking into the farmer's face, "the +dogs will be all right with me. You must let them loose while I am +here." + +"It do seem quite wonderful," said the farmer. "Now, don't it, wife?" + +"A'most uncanny, I call it," said Mrs. Miles. + +"But before you let them loose I must introduce my sisters to them," +said Betty. "Sylvia, come here. Sylvia, kneel by me." + +The girl did so. The dogs were not quite so much excited over Sylvia as +they were over Betty, but they also licked their hands and wagged their +tails in great delight. Hester went through the same form of +introduction; and then, somewhat against his will, the farmer gave the +dogs their liberty. Betty said, in a commanding tone, "To heel, good +boys, at once!" and the wild and savage dogs obeyed her. + +She paced up and down the yard in a state of rapture at her conquest +over these fierce animals. Then she whispered something to Sylvia, who +in her turn whispered to Mrs. Miles, who in her turn whispered to Ben; +the result of which was that three wicker chairs were brought from the +house, Betty and her sisters seated themselves, and the dogs sprawled in +ecstasy at their side. + +"Oh, we are happy!" said Betty. "Mrs. Miles, was your heart ever very +starvingly empty?" + +"Times, maybe," said Mrs. Miles, who had gone, like most of her sex, +through a chequered career. + +"And weren't you glad when it got filled up to the brim again?" + +"That I was," said Mrs. Miles. + +"My heart was a bit starved this morning," said Betty; "but it feels +full to the brim now. Please, dear, good Mrs. Miles, leave us five alone +together. Go all of you away, and let us stay alone together." + +"Meanin' by that you three ladies and them dogs?" + +"Yes, that is what I mean." + +The farmer bent and whispered something to his wife, the result of which +was that a minute later Betty and her sisters were alone with the +animals. They did not know, however, that the farmer had hidden himself +in the big barn ready to spring out should "them fierce uns," as he +termed the animals, become refractory. Then began an extraordinary +scene. Betty whispered in the dogs' ears, and they grovelled at her +feet. Then she sang a low song to them; and they stood upright, +quivering with rapture. The two girls kept behind Betty, who was +evidently the first in the hearts of these extraordinary dogs. + +"I could teach them no end of tricks. They could be almost as lively +and delightful as Andrew and Fritz," said Betty, turning to her sisters. + +"Oh yes," they replied. Then Sylvia burst out crying. + +"Silly Sylvia! What is the matter?" said Betty. + +"It's only that I didn't know my heart was hungry until--until this very +minute," said Sylvia. "Oh, it is awful to live in a house without dogs!" + +"I have felt that all along," said Betty. "But I suppose, after a +fashion, we've got to endure. Oh do stop crying, Sylvia! Let's make the +most of a happy time." + +The culmination of that happy time was when Mrs. Miles appeared on the +scene, accompanied by four little children--two very pretty little +girls, dressed in white, their short sleeves tied up with blue ribbons +for the occasion; and two little boys a year or two older. + +"These be the twinses," said Mrs. Miles. "These two be Moses and +Ephraim, and these two be Deborah and Anna. The elder of the twinses are +Moses and Ephraim, and the younger Deborah and Anna. Now, then children, +you jest drop your curtsies to the young ladies, and say you are glad to +see them." + +"But, indeed, they shall do nothing of the kind," said Betty. "Oh, +aren't they the sweetest darlings! Deborah, I must kiss you. Anna, put +your sweet little arms round my neck." + +The children were in wild delight, for all children took immediately to +Betty. But, lo and behold! one of the dogs gave an ominous growl. Was +not his idol devoting herself to some one else? In one instant the brute +might have sprung upon poor little Deborah had not Betty turned and laid +her hand on his forehead. Instantly he gave a sound between a groan and +a moan, and crouched at her feet. + +"There! I never!" said Mrs. Miles. "You be a reg'lar out-and-out +lion-tamer, miss." + +"I'm getting more and more hungry every minute," said Betty. "Will--will +tea be ready soon, Mrs. Miles?" + +"I was coming out to fetch you in, my loves." + +The whole party then migrated to the kitchen, which was ornamented +especially for the occasion. The long center-table was covered with a +snowy cloth, and on it were spread all sorts of appetizing viands--great +slabs of honey in the comb, cakes of every description, hot +griddle-cakes, scones, muffins, cold chicken, cold ham, and the most +delicious jams of every variety. Added to these good things was a great +bowl full of Devonshire cream, which Mrs. Miles had made herself from a +well-known Devonshire recipe that morning. + +"Oh, but doesn't this look good!" said Betty. She sat down with a twin +girl at each side of her, and with a dog resting his head on the lap of +each of the twins, and their beseeching eyes fixed on Betty's face. + +"I ha' got a treat for 'em afterwards, missie," said Mrs. Miles; "two +strong beef-bones. They shall eat 'em, and they'll never forget you +arter that." + +Betty became so lively now that at a whispered word from Sylvia she +began to tell stories--by no means the sort of stories she had told at +the Specialities' entertainment, but funny tales, sparkling with wit and +humor--tales quite within the comprehension of her intelligent but +unlearned audience. Even the farmer roared with laughter, and said over +and over to his wife, as he wiped the tears of enjoyment from his eyes, +"Well, that do cap all!" + +Meanwhile the important ceremony of eating the many good things provided +went steadily on, until at last even Betty had to own that she was +satisfied. + +All rose from their seats, and as they did so Mrs. Miles put a pretty +little basket into each girl's hand. "A few new-laid eggs, dearies," she +said, "and a comb of honey for each of you. You must ask Mrs. Haddo's +leave afore you eats 'em, but I know she won't mind. And there's some +very late roses, the last of the season, that I've put into the top of +your basket, Miss Betty." + +Alack and alas, how good it all was! How pleasant was the air, how +genial the simple life! How Betty and Sylvia and Hester rejoiced in it, +and how quickly it was over! + +Harris appeared, and at this signal the girls knew they must go. Betty +presented her canine darlings with a beef-bone each; and then, with a +hug to Mrs. Miles, a hearty hand-clasp to the farmer and the boys, and +further hugs to both sets of twins, the girls returned to Haddo Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GREAT DETERMINATION + + +The visit to the farm was long remembered by Betty Vivian. It was the +one bright oasis, the one brilliant spark of intense enjoyment, in a +dark week. For each day the shadow of what lay before her--and of what +she, Betty Vivian, had made up her mind to do--seemed to creep lower and +lower over her horizon, until, when Thursday morning dawned, it seemed +to Betty that there was neither sun, moon, nor stars in her heaven. + +But if Betty lacked much and was full of grave and serious thoughts, +there was one quality, admirable in itself, which she had to perfection, +and that was her undoubted bravery. To make up her mind to do a certain +thing was, with Betty Vivian, to do it. She had not quite made up her +mind on Saturday; but on Sunday morning she had very nearly done so, and +on Sunday evening she had quite done so. On Sunday evening, therefore, +she knelt rather longer than the others, struggling and praying in the +beautiful chapel; and when she raised her small white face, and met the +eyes of the chaplain fixed on her, a thrill went through her. He, at +least, would understand, and, if necessary, give her sympathy. But just +at present she did not need sympathy, or rather she would not ask for +it. She had great self-control, and she kept her emotions so absolutely +to herself that no one guessed what she was suffering. Every day, every +hour, she was becoming more and more the popular girl of the school; for +Betty had nothing mean in her nature, and could love frankly and +generously. She could listen to endless confidences without dreaming of +betraying them, and the girls got to know that Betty Vivian invariably +meant what she said. One person, however, she avoided, and that person +was Fanny Crawford. + +Thursday passed in its accustomed way: school in the morning, with +recess; school in the afternoon, followed by play, games of all sorts, +and many another delightful pastime. Betty went for a walk with her two +sisters; and presently, almost before they knew, they found themselves +surveying their three little plots of ground in the gardens, which they +had hitherto neglected. While they were so employed, Mrs. Haddo quite +unexpectedly joined them. + +"Oh, my dear girls, why, you have done nothing here--nothing at all!" + +Sylvia said, "We are going to almost immediately, Mrs. Haddo." + +And Hetty said, "I quite love gardening. I was only waiting until Betty +gave the word." + +"So you two little girls obey Betty in all things?" said Mrs. Haddo, +glancing at the elder girl's face. + +"We only do it because we love to," was the response. + +"Well, my dears, I am surprised! Why, there isn't a sight of your Scotch +heather! Has it died? What has happened to it?" + +"We made a burnt-offering of it," said Betty suddenly. + +"You did what?" said Mrs. Haddo in some astonishment. + +"You see," said Betty, "it was this way." She now looked full up at her +mistress. "The Scotch heather could not live in exile. So we burnt it, +and set all the fairies free. They are in Aberdeenshire now, and quite +happy." + +"What a quaint idea!" said Mrs. Haddo. "You must tell me more about this +by-and-by, Betty." + +Betty made no answer. + +"Meanwhile," continued Mrs. Haddo, who felt puzzled at the girl's +manner, she scarcely knew why, "I will tell a gardener to have the +gardens well dug and laid out in little walks. I will also have the beds +prepared, and then you must consult Birchall about the sort of things +that grow best in this special plot of ground. Let me see, this is +Thursday. I have no doubt Birchall could have a consultation with you on +the subject this very minute if you like to see him." + +"Oh yes, please!" said Sylvia. + +But Betty drew back. "Do you greatly mind if we do nothing about our +gardens until next week?" she asked. + +"If you prefer it, certainly," answered Mrs. Haddo. "The plots of ground +are your property while you stay at Haddo Court. You can neglect them, +or you can tend them. Some of the girls of this school have very +beautiful gardens, full of sweet, smiling flowers; others, again, do +nothing at all in them. I never praise those who cultivate their little +patch of garden-ground, and I never blame those who neglect it. It is +all a matter of feeling. In my opinion, the garden is meant to be a +delight; those who do not care for it miss a wonderful joy, but I don't +interfere." As Mrs. Haddo spoke she nodded to the girls, and then walked +quietly back towards the house. + +"Wasn't it funny of her to say that a garden was meant to be a +delight?" said Sylvia. "Oh Betty, don't you love her very much?" + +"Don't ask me," said Betty, and her voice was a little choked. + +"Betty," said Sylvia, "you seem to get paler and paler. I am sure you +miss Aberdeenshire." + +"Miss it!" said Betty; "miss it! Need you ask?" + +This was the one peep that her sisters were permitted to get into Betty +Vivian's heart before the meeting of the Specialities that evening. + +Olive Repton was quite excited preparing for her guests. School had +become much more interesting to her since Betty's arrival. Martha was +also a sort of rock of comfort to lean upon. Margaret, of course, was +always charming. Margaret Grant was Margaret Grant, and there never +could be her second; but the two additional members gave undoubted +satisfaction to the others--that is, with the exception of Fanny +Crawford, who had, however, been most careful not to say one word +against Betty since she became a Speciality. + +Olive's room was not very far from the Vivians', and as Betty on this +special night was hurrying towards the appointed meeting-place she came +across Fanny. Between Fanny and herself not a word had been exchanged +for several days. + +Fanny stopped her now. "Are you ill, Betty?" she said. + +Betty shook her head. + +"I wish to tell you," said Fanny, "that, after very carefully +considering everything, I have made up my mind that it is not my place +to interfere with you. If your conscience allows you to keep silent I +shall not speak. That is all." + +"Thank you, Fanny," replied Betty. She stood aside and motioned to Fanny +to pass her. Fanny felt, for some unaccountable reason, strangely +uncomfortable. The cloud which had been hanging over Betty seemed to +visit Fanny's heart also. For the first time since her cousin's arrival +she almost pitied her. + +Olive's room was very bright. She had a good deal of individual taste, +and as the gardeners were always allowed to supply the Specialities with +flowers for their weekly meetings and their special entertainments, +Olive had her room quite gaily decorated. Smilax hung in graceful +festoons from several vases and trailed in a cunning pattern round the +little supper-table; cyclamen, in pots, further added to the +decorations; and there were still some very beautiful white +chrysanthemums left in the green-house, a careful selection of which had +been made by Birchall that day for the young ladies' festivities. + +And now all the girls were present, and supper began. Hitherto, during +the few meetings of the Specialities that had taken place since she +became a member, Betty's voice had sounded brisk and lively; Betty's +merry, sweet laugh had floated like music in the air; and Betty's +charming face had won all hearts, except that of her cousin. But +to-night she was quite grave. She sat a little apart from the others, +hardly eating or speaking. Suddenly she got up, took a book from a +shelf, and began to read. This action on her part caused the other girls +to gaze at her in astonishment. + +Margaret said, "Is anything the matter, Betty? You neither eat nor +speak. You are not at all like our dear, lively Speciality to-night." + +"I don't want to eat, and I have nothing to say just yet," answered +Betty. "Please don't let me spoil sport. I saw this book of yours, +Olive, and I wanted to find a certain verse in it. Ah, here it is!" + +"What is the verse?" asked Olive. "Please read it aloud, Betty." + +Betty obeyed at once. + + "Does the road wind uphill all the way? + Yes, to the very end. + Will the day's journey take the whole long day? + From morn to night, my friend." + +There was a dead silence after Betty had read these few words of +Christina Rossetti. The girls glanced from one to another. For a minute +or so, at least, they could not be frivolous. Then Olive made a pert +remark; another girl laughed; and the cloud, small at present as a man's +hand, seemed to vanish. Betty replaced her book on Olive's book-shelf, +and sat quite still and quiet. She knew she was a wet blanket--not the +life and soul of the meeting, as was generally the case. She knew well +that Margaret Grant was watching her with anxiety, that Martha West and +also Fanny Crawford were puzzled at her conduct. As to the rest of the +Specialities, it seemed to Betty that they did not go as far down into +the root of things as did Margaret and Martha. + +This evening was to be one of the ordinary entertainments of the guild +or club. There was nothing particular to discuss. The girls were, +therefore, to enjoy themselves by innocent chatter and happy +confidences, and games if necessary. + +When, therefore, they all left the supper-table, Margaret, as president, +said, "We have no new member to elect to-night, therefore our six rules +need not be read aloud; and we have no entertainment to talk over, for +our next entertainment will not take place for some little time. I say, +therefore, girls, that the club is open to the amusement of all the +members. We are free agents, and can do what we like. Our object, of +course, will be to promote the happiness of each and all. Now, Susie +Rushworth, what do you propose that we shall do this evening?" + +Susie said in an excited voice that she would like to spend a good hour +over that exceedingly difficult and delightful game of "telegrams" and +added further that she had brought slips of paper and pencils for the +purpose. + +A similar question was asked of each girl, and each girl made a proposal +according to her state of mind. + +Betty was about the fourth girl to be asked. She rose to her feet and +said gravely, "I would propose that Susie Rushworth and the other +members of the Specialities have their games and fun afterwards; but I +have a short story to tell, and I should like to tell it first, if those +present are agreeable." + +Margaret felt that the little cloud as big as a man's hand had returned, +and that it had grown much bigger. A curious sense of alarm stole over +her. Martha, meanwhile, stared full at Betty, wondering what the girl +was going to do. Her whole manner was strange, aloof, and mysterious. + +"We will, of course, allow you to speak, Betty dear. We are always +interested in what you say," said Margaret in her gentlest tone. + +Betty came forward into the room. She stood almost in the center, +unsupported by any chair, her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes +fixed on Margaret Grant's face. Just for a minute there was a dead +silence, for the girl's face expressed tragedy; and it was impossible +for any one to think of "telegrams," or frivolous games, or of anything +in the world but Betty Vivian at the present moment. + +"I have something to say," she began. "It has only come to me very +gradually that it is necessary for me to say it. I think the necessity +for speech arose when I found I could not go to chapel." + +"My dear Betty!" said Margaret. + +"There were one or two nights," continued Betty, "when I could not +attend." + +"Betty," said the voice of Fanny Crawford, "don't you think this room is +a little hot, and that you are feeling slightly hysterical? Wouldn't +you rather--rather go away?" + +"No, Fanny," said Betty as she almost turned her back on the other girl. +Her nervousness had now left her, and she began to speak with her old +animation. "May I repeat a part of Rule No. I.: 'Each girl who is a +member of the Specialities keeps no secret to herself which the other +members ought to know'?" + +"That is perfectly true," said Margaret. + +"I _have_ a secret," said Betty. After having uttered these words she +looked straight before her. "At one time," she continued, "I thought I'd +tell. Then I thought I wouldn't. Now I am going to tell. I could have +told Mrs. Haddo had I seen enough of her--and you, Margaret, if ever you +had drawn me out. I could have told you two quite differently from the +manner in which I am going to tell that which I ought to speak of. I +stand now before the rest of you members of the Speciality Club as +guilty, for I have deliberately broken Rule No. I." + +"Go on, Betty," said Margaret. She pushed a chair towards the girl, +hoping she would put her hand upon it in order to steady herself. + +But Betty seemed to have gathered firmness and strength from her +determination to speak out. She was trembling no longer, nor was her +face so deadly pale. "I will tell you all my secret," she said. "Before +I came here I had great trouble. One I loved most dearly and who was a +mother to me, died. She died in a little lonely house in Scotland. She +was poor, and could not do much either for my sisters or myself. Before +her death she sent for me one day, and told me that we should be poor, +but she hoped we would be well-educated; and then she said that she was +leaving us girls something of value which was in a small, brown, sealed +packet, and that the packet was to be found in a certain drawer in her +writing-table. She told me that it would be of great use to us three +when we most needed it. + +"We were quite heartbroken when she died. I left her room feeling +stunned. Then I thought of the packet, and I went into the little +drawing-room where all my aunt's treasures were kept. It was dusk when I +went in. I found the packet, and took it away. I meant to keep it +carefully. I did keep it carefully. I still keep it carefully. I don't +know what is in it. + +"I have told you as much as I can tell you with regard to the packet, +but there is something else to follow. I had made up my mind to keep the +packet, being fully persuaded in my heart that Aunt Frances meant me to +do so; but when Sir John Crawford came to Aberdeenshire, and visited +Craigie Muir, and spent a night with us in the little gray house +preparatory to bringing us to Haddo Court, he mentioned that he had +received, amongst different papers of my aunt's, a document or letter--I +forget which--alluding to this packet. He said she was anxious that the +packet should be carefully kept for me and for my sisters, and he asked +me boldly and directly if I knew anything about it. I don't excuse +myself in the least, and, as a matter of fact, I don't blame myself. I +told him I didn't know anything about it. He believed me. You see, +girls, that I told a lie, and was not at all sorry. + +"We came here. I put the packet away into a safe hiding-place. Then, +somehow or other, you all took me up and were specially kind to me, and +I think my head was a bit turned; it seemed so charming to be a +Speciality and to have a great deal to do with you, Margaret, and indeed +with you all more or less. So I said to myself, I haven't broken Rule +No. I., for that rule says that 'no secret is to be kept by one +Speciality from another if the other ought really to know about it.' I +tried to persuade myself that you need not know about the packet--that +it was no concern of yours. But, somehow, I could not go on. There was +something about the life here, and--and Mrs. Haddo, and the chapel, and +you, Margaret, which made the whole thing impossible. I have not been +one scrap frightened into telling you this. But now I have told you. I +do possess the packet, and I did tell a lie about it. That is all." + +Betty ceased speaking. There was profound stillness in the room. + +Then Margaret said very gently, "Betty, I am sure that I am speaking in +the interests of all who love you. You will tell this story to-morrow +morning to dear Mrs. Haddo, and it will rest with her whether you remain +a member of the Specialities or not. Your frank confession to us, +although it is a little late in the day, and the peculiar circumstances +attending your gaining possession of the packet, incline us to be +lenient to you--if only, Betty, you will now do the one thing left to +you, and give the packet up--put it, in short, into Mrs. Haddo's hands, +so that she may keep it until Sir John Crawford, who is your guardian, +returns." + +Betty's face had altered in expression. The sweetness and penitence had +gone. "I have told you everything," she said. "I should have told you +long ago. I blame myself bitterly for not doing so. But I may as well +add that this story is not for Mrs. Haddo; that what I tell you in +confidence you cannot by any possibility relate to her--for that, +surely, must be against the rules of the club; also, that I will not +give the packet up, nor will I tell any one in this room where I have +hidden it." + +If Betty Vivian had looked interesting, and in the opinion of some of +the girls almost penitent, up to this moment, she now looked so no +longer. The expression on her face was bold and defiant. Her curious +eyes flashed fire, and a faint color came into her usually pale cheeks. +She had never looked more beautiful, but the spirit of defiance was in +her. She was daring the school. She meant to go on daring it. + +The girls were absolutely silent. Never before in their sheltered and +quiet lives had they come across a character like Betty's. Such a +character was bound to interest them from the very first. It interested +them now up to a point that thrilled them. They could scarcely contain +themselves. They considered Betty extremely wicked; but in their hearts +they admired her for this, and wondered at her amazing courage. + +Margaret, who saw deeper, broke the spell. "Betty," she said, "will you +go away now? You have told us, and we understand. We will talk this +matter over, and let you know our decision to-morrow. But, first, just +say once again what you have said already--that you will not give the +packet up, nor tell any one where you have hidden it." + +"I have spoken," answered Betty; "further words are useless." + +She walked towards the door. Susie Rushworth sprang to open it for her. +She passed out, and walked proudly down the corridor. The remaining +girls were left to themselves. + +Margaret said, "Well, I am bewildered!" + +The others said nothing at all. This evening was one of the most +exciting they had ever spent. What were "telegrams" or any stupid games +compared to that extraordinary girl and her extraordinary revelation? + +Margaret was, of course, the first to recover her self-control. "Now, +girls," she said, "we must talk about this; and, first, I want to ask a +question: Was there any member of the Specialities who knew of this--I +am afraid I must call it by its right name--this crime of Betty +Vivian's?" + +"I knew," said Fanny. Her voice was very low and subdued. + +"Then, Fanny, please come forward and tell us what you knew." + +"I don't think I can add to Betty's own narrative," said Fanny, "only I +happened to be a witness to the action. I was lying down on the sofa in +the little drawing-room at Craigie Muir when Betty stole in and took the +packet out of Miss Vivian's writing-table drawer. She did not see me, +and went away at once, holding the packet in her hand. I thought it +queer of her at the time, but did not feel called upon to make any +remark. You must well remember, girls, that I alone of all the +Specialities was unwilling to have Betty admitted as a member of the +club. I could see by your faces that you were surprised at my conduct. +You were amazed that I, her cousin, should have tried to stop Betty's +receiving this extreme honor. I did so because of that packet. The +knowledge that she had taken it oppressed me in a strange way at the +time, but it oppressed me much more strongly when my father said to me +that there was a little sealed packet belonging to Miss Vivian which +could not be found. I immediately remembered that Betty had taken away a +sealed packet. I asked him if he had spoken about it, and he said he +had; in especial he had spoken to Betty, who had denied all knowledge of +it." + +"Well," said Margaret, "she told us that herself to-night. You have not +added to or embellished her story or strengthened it in any way, Fanny." + +"I know that," said Fanny. "But I have to add now that I did not wish +her to join the club, and did my very utmost to dissuade her. When I saw +that it was useless I held my tongue; but you must all have noticed +that, although she is my cousin, we have not been special friends." + +"Yes, we have noticed it," said Olive gloomily, "and--and wondered at +it," she continued. + +"I am sorry for Betty, of course," continued Fanny. + +"It was very fine of her to confess when she did," said Margaret. + +"It would have been fine of her," replied Fanny, "if she had carried her +confession to its right conclusion--if what she told us she had told to +Mrs. Haddo and given up the packet. Now, you see, she refuses to do +either of these things; so I don't see that her confession amounts to +anything more than a mere spirit of bravado." + +"Oh no, I cannot agree with you there," said Margaret. "It is my opinion +(of course, not knowing all the circumstances) that Betty's sin +consisted in telling your father a lie--not in taking the little packet, +which she believed she had a right to keep. But we need not discuss her +sins, for we all of us have many--perhaps many more than poor dear Betty +Vivian. What we must consider is what we are to do at the present time. +The Specialities have hitherto kept constantly to their rules. I greatly +fear, girls, that we cannot keep Betty as a member of the club unless +she changes her mind with regard to the packet. If she does, I think I +must put it to the vote whether we will overlook this sin of hers and +keep her as one of the members, for we love her notwithstanding her +sin." + +"Yes, put it to the vote--put it to the vote!" said Susie Rushworth. + +Again all hands were raised except Fanny's. + +"Fan--Fanny Crawford, you surely agree with us?" said Margaret. + +"No, I do not," said Fanny. "I think if the club is worth anything we +ought not to have a girl in it who told a lie." + +"Ah," said Margaret, "don't you remember that very old story: 'Let him +who is without sin among you cast the first stone'?" Then she continued, +speaking in her sweet and noble voice, "I will own there is something +about Betty which most wonderfully attracts me." + +"That sort of charm is fatal," said Fanny. + +"But," continued Margaret, taking no notice of Fanny's remark, "that +sort of charm which she possesses, that sort of fascination--call it +what you will--may be at once her ruin or her salvation. If we +Specialities are unkind to her now, if we don't show her all due +compassion and tenderness, she may grow hard. We are certainly bound by +every honorable rule not to mention one word of this to Mrs. Haddo or to +any of the teachers. Are we, or are we not, to turn our backs on Betty +Vivian?" + +"If she confesses," said Fanny, "and returns the packet, you have +already decided by a majority of votes to allow her to retain her +position in the club." + +"Yes," said Margaret, "that is quite true. But suppose she does not +confess, suppose she sticks to her resolve to keep the packet and not +tell any one where she has hidden it, what then?" + +"Ah, what then?" said they all. + +Olive, the Bertrams, Susie, Martha, Margaret herself, looked full of +trouble. Fanny's cheeks were pink with excitement. She had never liked +Betty. In her heart of hearts she knew that she was full of uncharitable +thoughts against her own cousin. And how was it, notwithstanding Betty's +ignoble confession, the other girls still loved her? + +"What do you intend to do, supposing she does not confess?" said Fanny +after a pause. + +"In that case," answered Margaret, "having due regard to the rules of +the club, I fear we have no alternative--she must resign her membership, +she must cease to be a Speciality. We shall miss her, and beyond doubt +we shall still love her. But she must not continue to be a Speciality +unless she restores the packet." + +Fanny simulated a slight yawn. She knew well that Betty's days as a +Speciality were numbered. + +"She was so brilliant, so vivid!" exclaimed Susie. + +"There was no one like her," said Olive, "for suggesting all kinds of +lovely things. And then her story-telling--wasn't she just glorious!" + +"We mustn't think of any of those things," said Margaret. "But I think +we may all pray--yes, pray--for Betty herself. I, for one, love her +dearly. I love her notwithstanding what she said to-night." + +"I think it was uncommonly plucky of her to stand up and tell us what +she did," remarked Martha, speaking for the first time. "She needn't +have done it, you know. It was entirely a case of conscience." + +"Yes, that is it; it was fine of her," said Margaret. "Now, girls, +suppose we have a Speciality meeting to-morrow night? You know by our +rules we are allowed to have particular meetings. I will give my room +for the purpose; and suppose we ask Betty to join us there?" + +"Agreed!" said they all; and after a little more conversation the +Specialities separated, having no room in their hearts for games or any +other frivolous nonsense that evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AFTERWARDS + + +When Betty had made her confession, and had left Susie Rushworth's room, +she went straight to bed; she went without leave, and dropped +immediately into profound slumber. When she awoke in the morning her +head felt clear and light, and she experienced a sense of rejoicing at +what she had done. + +"I have told them, and they know," she said to herself. "I have given +them the whole story in a nutshell. I don't really care what follows." + +Mingled with her feeling of rejoicing was a curious sense of defiance. +Her sisters asked her what was the matter. She said "Nothing." They +remarked on her sound sleep of the night before, on the early time she +had retired from the Specialities' meeting. They again ventured to ask +if anything was the matter. She said "No." + +Then Sylvia began to break a very painful piece of information: +"Dickie's gone!" + +"Oh," said Betty, her eyes flashing with anger, "how can you possibly +have been so careless as to let the spider loose?" + +"He found a little hole just above the door in the attic, and crept into +it, and we couldn't get him out," said Sylvia. + +"No, he wouldn't come out," added Hetty, "though we climbed on two +chairs, one on top of the other, and poked at him with a bit of stick." + +"Oh, I dare say he's all right now," said Betty. "You will probably find +him again to-day. He's sure to come for his raw meat." + +"But don't you care, Bet? Won't it be truly awful if our own Dickie is +dead?" + +"Dead! He won't die," said Betty; "but there's quite a possibility he +may frighten some one. I know one person I'd like to frighten." + +"Oh Bet, who do you mean?" + +"That horrid girl--that cousin of ours, Fanny Crawford." + +"We don't like her either," said the twins. + +"She'd be scared to death at Dickie," said Betty. "She's a rare old +coward, you know. But never mind, don't bother; you'll probably find him +this morning when you go up with his raw meat. He's sure to come out of +his hole in order to get his food." + +"I don't think so," said Hester in a gloomy voice; "for there are lots +and lots of flies in that attic, and Dickie will eat them and think them +nicer than raw meat." + +"Well, it's time to go downstairs now," said Betty. + +She was very lively and bright at her lessons all day, and forgot Dickie +in the other cares which engrossed her mind. That said mind was in a +most curious state. She was at once greatly relieved and rebellious. +Sylvia and Hetty watched her, when they could, from afar. Betty's life +as a member of the Specialities separated her a good deal from her +sisters. She seldom saw them during the working-hours; but they were +quite happy, for they had made some friends for themselves, and the +three were always together at night. Betty was not specially reproachful +of herself on their account. She could not help being cleverer than +they, more brilliant, more able on all occasions to leap to a right +conclusion--to discover the meaning of each involved mystery as it was +presented to her. All the teachers remarked on her great intelligence, +on her curious and wonderful gift for dramatization. The girls in her +form were expected once a week to recite from Shakespeare; and Betty's +recitations were sufficiently striking to arrest the attention of the +entire room. She flung herself into the part. She was Desdemona, she was +Portia, she was Rosalind. She was whatever character she wished to +personate. Once she chose that of Shylock; and most uncanny became the +expression of her face, and her words were hurled forth with a defiance +worthy of the immortal Jew. + +All these things made Betty a great favorite with the teachers as well +as with the girls. She was, as a rule, neither cross nor bad-tempered. +She was not vain for her gifts. She was always ready to help the others +by every means in her power. + +During recess that day Betty received a small three-cornered note in +Margaret Grant's handwriting. She opened it, and saw that it was a +brief request that she, Betty Vivian, should meet Margaret and the other +members of the Speciality Club in Margaret's room at half-past seven +that evening. "Our meeting will be quite informal, but we earnestly beg +for your attendance." + +Betty slipped the note into her pocket. As she did so she observed that +Fanny Crawford's eyes were fixed on her. + +"Are you going to attend?" asked Fanny. + +"You will know," replied Betty, "when you go into the room to-night at +half-past seven and find me there or not there. Surely that is enough +for you!" + +"Thanks!" replied Fanny. Then, summoning a certain degree of courage, +she came a step nearer. "Betty, if I might consult with you, if I might +warn you----" + +"But as you may not consult with me, and as you may not warn me, there +is nothing to be done, is there?" said Betty. "Hallo!" she cried the +next minute, as a schoolgirl whose friendship she had made during the +last day or two appeared in sight, "I want to have a word with you, +Jessie. Forgive me, Fan; I am very much occupied just at present." + +"Her fall is certain," thought Fanny to herself. "I wonder how she will +like what lies before her to-night. I at least have done my best." + +Punctual to the hour, the Specialities met in Margaret's room. There was +no supper on this occasion, nor any appearance of festivity. The pretty +flowers which Margaret usually favored were conspicuous by their +absence. Even the electric light was used but sparingly. None of the +girls dressed for this evening, but wore their usual afternoon frocks. +Betty, however, wore white, and walked into the room with her head well +erect and her step firm. + +"Sit down, Betty, won't you?" said Margaret. + +"Thanks, Margaret!" answered Betty; and she sank into a chair. She chose +one that was in such a position that she could face the six girls who +were now prepared to judge her on her own merits. She looked at them +very quietly. Her face was pale, and her eyes not as bright as usual. + +"I am deputed by the others to speak to you, Betty," said Margaret. "We +will make no comment whatsoever with regard to what you told us last +night. It isn't for us to punish you for having told a lie. We have +ourselves done very wrong in our lives, and we doubtless have not been +tempted as you have been; and then, Betty Vivian, I can assure you that, +although you have been but a short time in the school, we all--I think I +may say all--love you." + +Betty's eyes softened. She hitched her chair round a little, so that she +no longer saw Fanny, but could look at Margaret Grant and Martha West, +who were sitting side by side. Susie's pretty face was fairly shining +with eagerness, and Olive's eyes were full of tears. The Bertrams +clasped each other's hands, and but for Margaret's restraining presence +would have rushed to Betty's there and then and embraced her. + +"But," said Margaret, "although we do love you--and I think will always +love you, Betty--we must do our duty by the club. You confessed a sin to +us--not at the time, as you ought to have done, but later on. No one +compelled you to confess what you did last night. There was no outside +pressure brought to bear on you. It must have been your conscience." + +"I told you so," said Betty. + +"Therefore," continued Margaret, "your conscience must be very +wide-awake, Betty, and you have done--well, so far--very nobly; so nobly +that nothing will induce us to ask you to withdraw from our club, +provided----" + +Betty's eyes brightened, and some of the tension in her face relaxed. + +"I have taken the votes of the members on that point," Margaret +continued, "therefore I know what I am speaking about. What we do most +emphatically require is that you carry your confession to its logical +conclusion--that what you have said to us you say to the kindest woman +in all the world, to dear Mrs. Haddo, and that you put the little packet +which has cost you such misery into Mrs. Haddo's hands. Don't speak for +a minute, please, Betty. We have been praying about you, all of us; we +have been longing--longing for you to do this thing. Please don't speak +for a minute. It is not in our power to turn you from the school, nor to +relate to Mrs. Haddo nor to any of the teachers what you have told us. +But we can dismiss you from the Speciality Club--that does lie in our +province; and we must do so, bitterly as we shall regret it, if you do +not carry your confession to its logical conclusion." + +"Then I must go," said Betty very gently. + +"Oh Betty!" exclaimed Olive; and she burst into a flood of weeping. +"Dear, dear, dear Betty, don't go--please don't go!" + +"We will all support you if you are nervous," continued Margaret. "I +think we may say we will all support you, and Mrs. Haddo is so sweet; +and then, if you want to see him, there's Mr. Fairfax, who could tell +you what to do better than we can. Don't decide now, dear Betty. Please, +please consider this question, and let us know." + +"But I have decided," said Betty. "I told you what I thought right. I +love the club, and every single member of it--except my cousin, Fanny +Crawford. I don't love Fanny, and she doesn't love me--I say so quite +plainly; therefore, once again, I break Rule I. You see, girls, I cannot +stay. I must become again an undistinguished member of this great +school. Don't suppose it will hurt my vanity; but it will touch deeper +things in me, and I shall never, never forget your kindness. I can by no +possibility do more than I have done. Good-bye, dear Margaret; I am +more than sorry that I have given you all this trouble." + +As Betty spoke she unclasped the little silver true-lover's knot from +the bosom of her dress and put it into Margaret's hand. Then she walked +out of the room, a Speciality no longer. + +When she had gone, the girls talked softly together. They were terribly +depressed. + +"We never had a member like her. What a pity our rules are so strict!" +said Olive. + +"Nonsense, Olive!" said Margaret. "We must do our best, our very best; +and even yet I have great hopes of Betty. She can be re-elected some +day, perhaps." + +"Oh, she is like no one else!" said one girl after another. + +The girls soon dispersed; but as Fanny was going to her room Martha West +joined her. "Fanny," she said, "I, as the youngest member of the +Specialities, would like to ask you a question. Why is it that your +cousin dislikes you so much?" + +"I can't tell," replied Fanny. "I have always tried to be kind to her." + +"But you don't cordially like her yourself!" + +"That is quite true," said Fanny; "but then I have seen her at home, +when you have not. She has great gifts of fascination; but I know her +for what she really is." + +"When you speak like that, Fanny Crawford, I no longer like you," +remarked Martha; and she walked away in the direction of her room. + +All the Speciality girls, including Betty, were present at prayers in +the chapel that evening. Betty sat a little apart from her companions, +she stood apart from them, she prayed apart from them. She seemed like +one isolated and alone. Her face was very white, her eyes large and dark +and anxious. From time to time the girls who loved her looked at her +with intense compassion. But Fanny gave her very different glances. +Fanny rejoiced in her discomfort, and heartily hoped that she would now +lose her prestige in the school. + +Until the advent of Betty Vivian, Fanny was rather a favorite at Haddo +Court. She was certainly not the least bit original. She was prim and +smug and self-satisfied to the last degree, but she always did the right +thing in the right way. She always looked pretty, and no one ever +detected any fault in her. Her mistresses trusted her, and some of the +girls thought it worth their while to become chums with her. + +Fanny, however, now saw at a glance that she was in the black looks of +the other Specialities. This fact angered her uncontrollably, and she +made up her mind to bring Betty to further shame. It was not sufficient +that she should be expelled from the Speciality Club; the usual formula +must be gone through. All the girls knew of this formula; and they all, +with the exception of Fanny, wished it not to be observed in the case of +Betty Vivian. But Fanny knew her power, and was resolved to use it. The +Speciality Club exercised too great an influence in the school for its +existence to be lightly regarded. A member of the club, as has been +said, enjoyed many privileges besides being accorded certain exemptions +from various irksome duties. It was long, long years since any member +had been dismissed in disgrace; it was certainly not within the memory +of any girl now in the school. But Fanny had searched the old annals, +and had come across the fact that about thirty years ago a Speciality +had done something which brought discredit on herself and the club, and +had therefore been expelled; she had also discovered that the fact of +her expulsion had been put up in large letters on a blackboard. This +board hung in the central hall, and generally contained notices of +entertainments or class-work of a special order for the day's programme. +Miss Symes wrote out this programme day by day. + +On the morning after Betty had been expelled from the Specialities, +Fanny ran up to Miss Symes. "By the way," she said, "I am afraid you +will have to do it, for it is the rule of the club." + +"I shall have to do what, my dear Fanny?" + +"You will just have to say, please, on the blackboard that Betty Vivian +is no longer a member of the Specialities." + +Miss Symes stopped writing. She was busily engaged notifying the hour of +a very important German lesson to be given by a professor who came from +town. "What do you mean, Fanny?" + +"What I say. By the rules of the club we can give no reasons, but must +merely state that Betty Vivian is no longer a member. It ought to be +known. Will you write it on the blackboard?" + +Miss Symes looked at Fanny with a curious expression on her face. "Thank +you for telling me," she said. She then crossed the great hall to where +Margaret and some other girls of the Specialities were assembled. She +told Margaret what Fanny had already imparted to her, and asked if it +was true. + +"It is true, alas!" said Margaret. + +"But I thought Betty was such a prime favorite with you all," said Miss +Symes; "and she really is such a sweet girl! I have never been more +attracted by any one." + +"I cannot give you any particulars, Miss Symes; but I think we have done +right," said Margaret. + +"If you have had any hand in it, dear, I make no doubt on the subject," +replied Miss Symes. "It is a sad pity. Fanny says it is one of your +rules that an expelled member has her name published on the blackboard, +the fact being also stated that she has been expelled." + +"Oh," said Margaret, "that is a very old rule. We don't want it to be +carried into effect in Betty's case." + +"But if it is a rule, dear, and if it has never been abolished----" + +"It has not been abolished," said Margaret. "It would distress Betty +very much." + +"Nevertheless, Margaret, if it is right to expel Betty it is right to +publish that fact on the blackboard, always provided it is a rule of the +Specialities." + +"I am afraid it is a rule," said Margaret. "But we are all unhappy about +her. We hate having her expelled." + +"Can I help you in any way, dear Margaret?" + +"No, Miss Symes; no one can help us, and the deed is done now." + +Miss Symes went very slowly to the blackboard, and wrote on it simply: +"Betty Vivian has resigned her membership of the Speciality Club." + +This notice caused flocks of girls to surround the blackboard during the +morning, and the news flew like wildfire all over the school. Betty +herself approached as an eager group were scrutinizing the words, saw +her name, read it calmly (her lips curling slightly with scorn), and +turned away. No one dared to question her, but all looked at her in +wonder. + +Betty went through her lessons with her accustomed force and animation, +and there was no difference to be observed between her manner of to-day +and that of yesterday. After school she very simply told her sisters +that she had withdrawn from the Specialities, and then begged of them +not to pursue the subject. "I am not going to explain," she said, "so +you needn't ask me. I shall have more time to devote to you in the +future, and that'll be a good thing." She then left them and went for a +long walk by herself. + +Now, it is one of those dreadful things which most surely happen to weak +human nature that when an evil and jealous and unkind thought gets into +the heart, that same thought, though quite unimportant at first, +gradually increases in dimensions until it overshadows all other +thoughts and gains complete and overwhelming mastery of the mind. Had +any one said to Fanny Crawford a fortnight or three weeks before the +Vivians' arrival at the school that she would have felt towards Betty as +she now did, Fanny would have been the first to recoil at the monstrous +fungus of hatred which existed in her mind. Had Betty been a very plain, +unattractive, uninteresting girl, Fanny would have patronized her, kept +her in her place, but at the same time been kind to her. But Fanny's +rage towards Betty now was almost breaking its bounds. Was not Fanny's +own father educating the Vivians? Was it not he who had persuaded Mrs. +Haddo to admit them to the school? She herself was the only daughter of +a rich and distinguished man. The Vivians were nobodies. Why should they +be fussed about, and talked of, and even loved--yes, loved--while she, +Fanny, was losing her friends? The thought was unbearable! Fanny had +managed by judicious precaution to get Betty to reveal part of her +secret, and Betty was no longer a member of the Specialities. Betty's +name was on the blackboard too, and by no means honorably mentioned. But +more things could be done. + +For Fanny felt that the school was turning against her--the upper +school, whose praise she so prized. The Specialities asked her boldly +why she did not love Betty Vivian. There would be no peace for Fanny +until Mrs. Haddo knew everything, and dismissed the Vivians to another +school. This she would, of course, do at once if she knew the full +extent of Betty's sin. Fanny felt that she must proceed very warily. +Betty had hidden the packet, and boldly declared that she would not give +it up to any one--that she would rather leave the Specialities than tell +her story to Mrs. Haddo and put the little sealed packet into her +keeping. Fanny's present aim, therefore, was to find the packet. She +wondered how she could accomplish this, and looked round her for a +ready tool. Presently she made up her mind that the one girl who might +help her was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was by no means strong-minded. Sibyl was +unpopular--she pined for notice. Sibyl adored Betty; but suppose--oh, +suppose!--Fanny could offer her, as a price for the dirty work she +wanted her to undertake, membership in the Speciality Club? Martha West +would be on Sibyl's side, for Martha was always friendly to the plain, +uninteresting, somewhat lonely girl. Fanny felt at once that the one +tool who could further her aims was Sibyl Ray. There was no time to +lose. + +Sibyl had been frightfully perturbed at seeing Betty's name on the +blackboard, and she was as eager to talk to Fanny as Fanny was pleased +to listen to her. + +"Oh Fan!" she said, running up to her on the afternoon of that same day, +"may I go for a very little walk with you? I do want to ask you about +poor darling Betty!" + +"Poor darling Betty indeed!" said Fanny. + +"Oh, but don't you pity her? What can have happened to cause her to be +no longer a member of the Specialities?" + +"Now, Sibyl, you must be a little goose! Do you suppose for a moment it +is within my power to enlighten you?" + +"I suppose it isn't; but I am very unhappy about her, and so are we all. +We are all fond of Betty. We think her wonderful." + +Fanny was silent. + +"'Tis good of you, Fan, to let me walk with you!" + +"I have something to say to you, Sibyl; but before I begin you must +promise me most faithfully that you won't repeat anything I am going to +say." + +"Of course not," said Sibyl. "As if I could!" + +"I don't suppose you would dare. You see, I am one of the older girls of +the school, and have been a Speciality for some little time, and it +wouldn't be at all to your advantage if you did anything to annoy me. I +should find out at once, for instance, if you whispered a syllable of +this to Martha West, Margaret Grant, or any other member of the +Speciality Club." + +"I won't! I won't! You may trust me, indeed you may," said Sibyl. + +"I think I may," answered Fanny, looking down at Sibyl's poor little +apology of a face. "I think you are the sort who would be faithful." + +Sibyl's small heart swelled with pride. "Betty was kind to me too," she +said; "and she did make me look nice--didn't she?--when she suggested +that I should wear the marguerites." + +"To tell you the truth, Sibyl, you were a figure of fun that night. +Betty was laughing in her sleeve at you all the time." + +Sibyl colored, and her small light-blue eyes contracted. "Betty laughing +at me! I don't believe it." + +"Of course she was, child. We all spoke of it afterwards. Why, you don't +know what you looked like when you came into the room in that green +dress, with that hideous wreath on your head." + +"I know," said Sibyl in a humble tone. "I couldn't make it look all +right; but Betty took me behind a screen, and managed it in a twinkling, +and put a white sash round my waist, and--oh, I felt nice anyhow!" + +"I am glad you felt nice," said Fanny, "for I can assure you it was more +than you looked." + +"Oh Fanny, don't hurt me! You know I can't afford very pretty dresses +like you. We are rather poor at home, and there are so many of us." + +"I don't want to hurt you, child; only, haven't you a grain of sense? +Don't you know perfectly well why Betty wanted you to wear the wreath of +marguerites?" + +"Just because she was sweet," said Sibyl, "and she thought I'd look +really nice in them." + +"That is all you know! Now, recall something, Sibyl." + +"Yes?" + +"Do you remember when you saw Betty stoop over that broken stump of the +old oak and take something out?" + +"Of course I do," said Sibyl. "It was a piece of wood. I found it the +next day." + +"Well, it wasn't a piece of wood," said Fanny. + +"What can you mean?" asked Sibyl. She stood perfectly still, staring at +her companion. Then she burst into a sort of frightened laugh. "But it +was a piece of wood, really," she added. "You are mistaken, Fanny. Of +course you know a great deal, but even you can't know more than I have +proved by my own eyesight. It looked in the distance like a small brown +piece of wood; and I asked Betty if it was, and she admitted it." + +"Just like her! just like her!" said Fanny. + +"Well, then, the very next day," continued Sibyl, "several girls and I +went to the old stump and poked and poked, and found it; so, you +see----" + +"I don't see," replied Fanny. "And now, if you will allow me, Sibyl, and +if you won't chatter quite so fast, I will tell you what I really do +know about this matter. I don't think for a single moment--in fact, I am +certain--that Betty Vivian did not trouble herself to poke amongst +withered leaves in the stump of the old oak-tree in order to produce a +piece of sodden wood. There was something else; and when you asked her +if it was a piece of wood she told you--remember, Sibyl, this is in +absolute confidence--an untruth. Oh, I am trying to put it mildly; but I +must mention the fact--Betty told you an untruth. Did you observe, or +did you not, that she was excited and looked slightly annoyed when you +suddenly called to her and ran up to her side?" + +"I--yes, I think she did look a little put out; but then she is very +proud, is Betty, and I am not her special friend, although I love her so +hard," replied Sibyl. + +"She walked with you afterwards, did she not?" + +"Yes." + +"She went towards the house with you?" + +"Of course. I have told you all that, Fanny." + +"When you both reached the gardens she suggested that you should wear +the marguerites in your hair?" + +"She did, Fanny; and I thought it was such a charming idea." + +"Did it not once occur to you that she wanted to get you out of the way, +that she did not care one scrap how you looked at the Speciality +entertainment?" + +"That certainly did not occur to me," answered Sibyl; then she added +stoutly, for she was a faithful little thing at heart, "and I don't +believe it either." + +"Well, believe it or not as you please; I know it to have been a fact. +And now I'll just tell you something. You must never, never repeat it; +if you do, I sha'n't speak to you again. I know what I am saying to be a +fact: I know the reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a Speciality." + +"Oh! oh!" said Sibyl. She colored deeply. + +"No longer a Speciality," repeated Fanny; "and I know the reason why; +only, of course, I can never say. But there's a vacancy in the +Speciality Club now for a girl who is faithful and zealous, and who can +prove herself my friend." + +Sibyl's heart began to beat very fast. "A vacancy in the Specialities!" +she said in a low tone. + +Fanny turned quickly round and faced her. "I could get you in if I +liked," she said. "Would it suit you to be a Speciality?" + +"Would it suit me?" said Sibyl. "Oh Fanny, it sounds like heaven! I +don't know what I wouldn't do--I don't know what I wouldn't do to become +a member of that club." + +"And Martha West would second any suggestions I made," continued Fanny. +"Of course I don't know that I could get you in; but I'd have a good +try, provided you help me now." + +"Fanny, what is it you want me to do?" + +"I want you, Sibyl, to use your intelligence; and I want you, all alone +and without consulting any one, to find out where Betty Vivian has put +the treasure which she told you was a piece of wood and which she hid in +the old oak stump. You can manage it quite well if you like." + +"I don't understand!" gasped Sibyl. + +"If you repeat a word of this conversation I shall use my influence to +have you boycotted in the school," said Fanny. "My power is great to +help or to mar your career in the school. If you do what I want--well, +my dear, all I can say is this, that I shall do my utmost to get you +into the club. You cannot imagine how nice it is when you are a member. +Think what poor Betty has lost, and think how you will feel when you are +a Speciality and she is not." + +"I don't know that I shall feel anything," replied Sibyl. "Somehow or +other, I don't like this thing you want me to do, Fanny." + +"Well, don't do it. I will get some one else." + +"And, in the second place," continued Sibyl, "even if I were willing to +do it, I don't know how. If Betty chooses to hide things--parcels or +anything of that sort--I can't find out where she puts them." + +"You can watch her," said Fanny. "Now, if you have any gumption about +you--and it is my strong belief that you have--you will be able to tell +me this time to-morrow something about Betty Vivian and her movements. +If by this time to-morrow you know nothing--why, I will relieve you of +the task, and you will be as you were before. But if, on the other hand, +you help me to save the honor of a great school--which is, I assure you, +at the present moment in serious peril--I shall do my utmost to get you +admitted to the Speciality Club. Now, I think that is all." + +As Fanny concluded she shouted to Susie Rushworth, who was going towards +the arbor at the top of the grounds, and Sibyl found herself all alone. +Fanny had taken her a good long way. They had passed through a +plantation of young fir-trees to one of the vegetable-gardens, and +thence through an orchard, where the grass was long and dank at this +time of year. Somehow or other, Sibyl felt chilled to the bone and very +miserable. She had never liked Fanny less than she did at this moment. +But she was not strong-minded, and Fanny was one of the most important +girls in the school. She was rich, her father was a man of great +distinction; she might be head-girl of the school, and probably would +when Margaret Grant left; she was also quite an old member of the +Specialities. Besides Fanny, even Martha West seemed to fade into +insignificance. It was as though the friend of the Prime Minister--the +greatest possible friend--had held out a helping hand to a struggling +nobody, and offered that nobody a dazzling position. Sibyl was that poor +little nobody, and Fanny's words were weighted with such power that the +girl trembled and felt herself shaking all over. + +Sibyl's love for Martha was innocent, pure, and good. Her admiration for +Betty was the generous and romantic affection which a little schoolgirl +gives to another girl older than herself who is both brilliant and +captivating. But, after all, Betty had lost her sceptre and laid down +her crown. Betty, for some extraordinary reason, was in disgrace, and +Fanny was in the zenith of her power. It would be magnificent to be a +Speciality! How those girls who thought little or nothing of Sibyl now +would admire her when she passed into that glorious state! She thought +of herself as joining the other Specialities in arranging programmes, in +devising entertainments; she thought of the privileges which would be +hers; she thought of that delightful private sitting-room into which she +had once dared to peep, and then shot out her little face again, +half-terrified at her own audacity. There was no one in the room at the +moment; but it did look cosy--the chairs so easy and comfortable, and +all covered with such a delicate shade of blue. Sibyl knew that blue +became her. She thought how nice she would look sitting in one of those +chairs and being hail-fellow-well-met with Margaret Grant, and Martha +her own friend, and all the others. Even Betty would envy her then. She +and Betty would change places. It would be her part to advise Betty what +to do and what to wear. Oh, it was a very dazzling prospect! And she +could gain the coveted distinction--but how? + +Sibyl felt her heart beating very fast. She had not been trained in a +high school of morals. Her father was a very hard-working clergyman with +a large family of eight children. Her mother was dead; her elder sisters +were earning their own living. Mrs. Haddo had heard of Sibyl, and had +taken her into the school on special terms, feeling sure that charity +was well expended in such a case. Mr. Ray was far too busy over his +numerous duties to look after Sibyl as her mother would have done had +she lived. The little girl was brought up anyhow, and her new life at +Haddo Court was a revelation to her in more ways than one. She was not +pretty; she was not clever; she was not strong-minded; she was very +easily influenced. A good girl could have done much for her--Martha had +done her very best; but a bad girl could do even more. + +While Sibyl was dallying with temptation, thinking to herself how +attractive it would be to feel such an important person as Fanny +Crawford, she looked down from the height where she was standing and saw +Betty Vivian walking slowly across the common. + +Betty was alone. Her head was slightly bent, but the rest of her young +figure was bolt upright. She was going towards the spot where those +sparse clumps of heather occupied their neglected position at one side +of the "forest primeval." + +When first Sibyl saw Betty her heart gave a great throb of longing to +rush to her, to fling her arms round her, to kiss her, to cling to her +side. But she suppressed that impulse. She loved Betty, but she was +afraid of her. Betty was the last sort of girl to put up with what she +considered liberties; Sibyl was a person to whom she was utterly +indifferent, and she would by no means have liked Sibyl to kiss her. +From Sibyl's vantage-ground, therefore, she watched Betty, herself +unseen. Then it suddenly occurred to her that she might continue to +watch her, but from a more favorable point of view. + +There was a little knoll at one end of the orchard, and there was a very +old gnarled apple-tree at the edge of the knoll. If Sibyl ran fast she +could climb into the apple-tree and look right down on to the common. No +sooner did the thought come to her than she resolved to act on it. +Knowledge is always power, and she need not tell Fanny anything at all +unless she liked. She could be faithful to poor Betty, who was in +disgrace, and at the same time she might know something about her. It +was so very odd that Betty was expelled from the Specialities. She could +not possibly have resigned, for had she done so there would have been a +great fuss, and everything would have been explained to the satisfaction +of the school; whereas that mysterious sentence on the blackboard left +the whole thing involved in darkest night. What had Betty done? Had she +really told a lie about what she had found in the old stump of oak? Was +it not a piece of wood after all? Had she really sent Sibyl into the +flower-garden to gather marguerites and make herself a figure of fun at +the Specialities' entertainment? Had she done it to get rid of her just +because--because she wanted--she wanted to remove something from the +stump of the old oak-tree? Oh, if Betty were that sort--if it were +possible--even Sibyl Ray felt that she could not love her any longer! It +was Fanny, after all, who was a noble girl. Fanny wanted to get to the +bottom of things. Fanny herself could not do what an unimportant little +girl like Sibyl could do. After all, there was nothing shabby in it. If +it were shabby, Fanny Crawford, the last girl in the school to do wrong, +would not have asked her to attend to the matter. + +Sibyl therefore climbed into the old apple-tree and perched amongst its +branches, and gazed eagerly down on the bit of common land. She was far +nearer to Betty than Betty had the least idea of. She saw her walk +towards the pieces of heather, but could not, from her point of view, +see what the plants were. She had really no idea that there was any +special heather in the grounds; she was not interested in a stupid thing +like heather. But she did see Betty go on her knees, and she did see her +pull up a root of some sort or other, and she did see her take something +out and look at it and put it back again. Then Betty returned very +slowly across the common towards the house. + +Sibyl was fairly panting now with excitement. Was there ever, ever in +all the world, such an easy way of becoming a Speciality? Betty had a +secret; and she, Sibyl, had found it out without the slightest +difficulty. Betty had hidden something in the old oak, and now she had +buried it under some plants at the edge of the common. Sibyl forgot +pretence, she forgot honor, she forgot everything but the luring voice +of Fanny Crawford and her keen desire to perfect her quest. At that time +of year few girls troubled themselves to walk across the "forest +primeval." It was a sort of place that was pleasant enough in warm days +of summer, but damp and dull and dreary at this season, when the girls +of Haddo Court preferred the upper walks, or the hockey-ground, or the +different places where the various games were played. Certainly the +"forest primeval" did not occupy much of their attention. + +It was getting a little dusk; but Sibyl, too excited to care, scrambled +down from her tree, and a few minutes later had dashed across the +common, and had discovered by the loosened earth the exact spot where +Betty had stooped. She was now beside herself with excitement. It was +her turn to go on her knees. She was doing good work; she was, according +to Fanny Crawford, saving the honor of the school. She poked and poked +with her fingers, and soon got up the already loosened roots of the +piece of heather. Down went her hard little hands into the cold clay +until at last they touched the tiny packet, which was sealed and tied +firmly with strong string. + +"Eureka! I have found it!" was Sibyl's exclamation. She slipped the +packet into her pocket, put the heather back into its place, tried to +give the disturbed earth the appearance of not having been disturbed at +all, and went back to the house. She was so excited she could scarcely +contain herself. + +The days were getting shorter. Tea was at half-past four, and a kind of +light supper at seven o'clock. The girls of the lower school had this +meal a little earlier. Sibyl was just in time for tea, which was always +served in the great refectory; and here the various members of the upper +school were all assembled--except the Specialities, who had tea in their +own private room. + +"Well, Sibyl, you are late!" said Sarah Butt. "I wanted to take a long +walk with you. Where have you been?" + +"I have been for a walk with Fanny Crawford," replied Sibyl with an +important air. + +Betty, who was helping herself to a cup of tea, glanced up at that +moment and fixed her eyes on Sibyl. Sibyl colored furiously and looked +away. Betty took no further notice of her, but began to chat with a girl +near her. Soon a crowd of girls collected round Betty, and laughed +heartily at her remarks. + +On any other occasion Sibyl would have joined this group, and been the +first to giggle over Betty's witticisms. But the little parcel in her +pocket seemed to weigh like lead. It was a weight on her spirits too. +She was most anxious to deliver it over to Fanny Crawford, and to keep +Fanny to her word, in order that she might be proposed as a Speciality +at the next meeting. She knew this would not be until Thursday. Oh, it +was all too long to wait! But she could put on airs already, for would +she not very soon cease to be drinking this weak tea in the refectory? +Would she not be having her own dainty meal in the Specialities' private +room? + +"How red you are, Sibyl!" was Sarah Butt's remark. "I suppose the cold +wind has caught your cheeks." + +"I wish you wouldn't remark on my appearance," said Sibyl. + +"Dear, dear! Hoity-toity! How grand we are getting all of a sudden!" + +"You needn't snub me in the way you do, Sarah. You'll be treating me +very differently before long." + +"Indeed, your Royal Highness! And may I ask how and why?" + +"You may neither ask how nor why; but events will prove," said Sibyl. +She raised her voice a little incautiously, and once again Betty looked +at her. There was something about Betty's glance, at once sorrowful and +aloof, which stung Sibyl. Just because she had done Betty a wrong she no +longer loved her half as much as she had done. After a pause, she said +in a distinct voice, "I am a very great friend of Fanny Crawford, and I +am going to see her now on special business." With these words she +marched out of the refectory. + +Some of the girls laughed. Betty was quite silent. No one dared question +Betty Vivian with regard to her withdrawal from the Speciality Club, +nor did she enlighten them. But when tea was over she went up to Sylvia +and Hetty and said a few words to them both. They looked at her in +amazement, but made no kind of protest. After speaking to her sisters, +Betty left the refectory. + +"What can be the matter with your Betty?" asked one of the girls, +addressing the twins. + +"There's nothing the matter with her," said Sylvia in a stout voice. + +"Why are your eyes so red, then?" + +"My eyes are red because Dickie's lost." + +"Who's Dickie?" + +"He is the largest spider I ever saw, and he grows bigger and fatter +every day. But he is lost. We brought him from Scotland. He'd sting any +one who tried to hurt him; so if any of you see him in your bedrooms or +hiding under your pillows you'd best shriek out, for he is a dangerous +sort, and ought not to be interfered with." + +"How perfectly appalling!" said the girl now addressed. "You really +oughtn't to keep horrid pets of that sort. And I loathe spiders." + +"Oh, well, you're not Scotch," replied Sylvia with a disdainful gesture. +"Dickie is a darling to those he loves, but very fierce to those he +hates." + +"And is that really why your eyes are so red?" continued the girl--Hilda +Morton by name. "Has it nothing to do with that wonderful sister of +yours, and the strange fact that she has been expelled from the +Speciality Club?" + +"She hasn't been expelled!" said Sylvia in a voice of fury. + +"Don't talk nonsense! The fact was mentioned on the blackboard. If you +don't believe it, you can come and see for yourself." + +"She has left the club, but was not expelled," said Sylvia. "And I hate +you, Hilda! You have no right to speak of my sister like that." + +Meanwhile two girls were pursuing their different ways. Betty was going +towards that wing of the building where Mr. Fairfax's suite of rooms was +to be found. She had never yet spoken to him. She wished to speak to him +now. The rooms occupied by the Fairfaxes formed a complete little +dwelling, with its own kitchen and special servants. These rooms +adjoined the chapel; but his family lived apart from the school. It was +understood, however, that any girl at Haddo Court was at liberty to ask +the chaplain a question in a moment of difficulty. + +Betty now rang the bell of the little house. A neat servant opened the +door. On inquiring if Mr. Fairfax were within, Betty was told "Yes," and +was admitted at once into that gentleman's study. + +The clergyman rose at her entrance. He recognized her face, spoke to her +kindly, said he was glad she had come to see him, and asked her to sit +down. "Is anything the matter, my dear? Is there any way in which I can +help you?" + +"I don't know," answered the girl. "I thought perhaps you could; it +flashed through my mind to-day that perhaps you could. You have seen me +in the chapel?" + +"Oh yes; yours is not the sort of face one is likely to forget." + +"I am not happy," said Betty. + +"I am sorry to hear that. But don't you agree with me that we poor human +creatures think too much of our own individual happiness and too little +of the happiness of others? It seems to me that the golden rule to live +by in this: Provided my brother is happy, all is well with me." + +"That is true to a certain extent," said Betty; "but--" She paused a +minute. Then she said abruptly, "I am not at all the cringing sort, and +I am not the girl to grumble, and I love Mrs. Haddo; and, sir, there +have been moments when your voice in chapel has given me great +consolation. I also love one or two of my schoolfellows. But the fact +is, there is something weighing on my conscience, and I cannot tell you +what it is. I cannot do the right thing, sir; and I do not see my way +ever to do what I suppose you would say was the right thing. I will tell +you this much about myself. You have heard of our Speciality Club?" + +"Of course I have." + +"The girls were very good to me when I came here--for I am a comparative +stranger in the school--and they elected me to be a Speciality." + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Fairfax. "That is a very great honor." + +"I know it is; and I was given the rules, and I read them all carefully. +But, sir, in a sudden moment of temptation, before I came to Haddo +Court, I did something which was wrong, and I am determined not to mend +my ways with regard to that matter. Nevertheless, I became a Speciality, +knowing that by so doing I should break the first rule of the club." + +Mr. Fairfax was too courteous ever to interrupt any one who came to him +to talk over a difficulty. He was silent now, his hands clasped tightly +together, his deep-set eyes fixed on Betty's vivid face. + +"I was a Speciality for about a fortnight," she continued--"perhaps a +little longer. But at the last meeting I made up my mind that I could +not go on, so I told the girls what I had done. It is unnecessary to +trouble you with those particulars, sir. After I had told them they +asked me to leave the room, and I went. They had a special meeting of +the club last night to consult over my case, and I was invited to be +present. I was then told that, notwithstanding the fact that I had +broken Rule No. I., I might continue to be a member of the club if I +would give up something which I possess and to which I believe I have a +full right, and if I would relate my story in detail to Mrs. Haddo. I +absolutely refused to do either of these things. I was then _expelled_ +from the club, sir--that is the only word to use; and the fact was +notified on the blackboard in the great hall to-day." + +"Well," said Mr. Fairfax when Betty paused, "I understand that you +repent, and you do not repent, and that you are no longer a Speciality." + +"That is the case, sir." + +"Can you not take me further into your confidence?" + +"There is no use," said Betty, shaking her head. + +"I am not surprised, Miss Vivian, that you are unhappy." + +"I am accustomed to that," said Betty. + +"May I ask what you have come to see me about?" + +"I wanted to know this: ought I, or ought I not, being unrepentant of my +sin, to come to the chapel with the other girls, to kneel with them, to +pray with them, and to listen to your words?" + +"I must leave that to yourself. If your conscience says, 'Come,' it is +not for me to turn you out. But it is a very dangerous thing to trifle +with conscience. Of course you know that. I can see, too, that you are +peculiarly sensitive. Forgive me, but I have often noticed your face, +and with extreme interest. You have good abilities, and a great future +before you in the upward direction--that is, if you choose. Although you +won't take me into your confidence, I am well aware that the present is +a turning-point in your career. You must at least know that I, as a +clergyman, would not repeat to any one a word of what you say to me. Can +you not trust me?" + +"No, no; it is too painful!" said Betty. "I see that, in your heart of +hearts, you think that I--I ought not--I ought _not_ to come to chapel. +I am indeed outcast!" + +"No, child, you are not. Kneel down now, and let me pray with you." + +"I cannot stand it--no, I cannot!" said Betty; and she turned away. + +When she had gone Mr. Fairfax dropped on his knees. He prayed for a long +time with fervor. But that night he missed Betty Vivian at prayers in +the beautiful little chapel. + +Meanwhile Betty--struggling, battling with herself, determined not to +yield, feeling fully convinced that the only wrong thing she had done +was telling the lie to Sir John Crawford and prevaricating to Sibyl--was +nothing like so much to be pitied as Sibyl Ray herself. + +Sibyl had lingered about the different corridors and passages until she +found Fanny, who was talking to Martha West. Sibyl was so startled when +the two girls came out of the private sitting-room that she almost +squinted, and Fanny at once perceived that the girl had something +important to tell her. She must not, however, appear to notice Sibyl +specially in the presence of Martha. + +Martha, on the contrary, went up at once to Sibyl and said in her +pleasant voice, "Why, my dear child, it is quite a long time since we +have met! And now, I wonder what I can do for you or how I can possibly +help you. Would you like to come and have a cosy chat with me in my +bedroom for a little? The fact is this," continued Martha: "we +Specialities are so terribly spoilt in the school that we hardly know +ourselves. Fancy having a fire in one's bedroom, not only at night, but +at this hour! Would you like to come with me, Sib?" + +At another moment Sibyl would have hailed this invitation with rapture. +On the present occasion she was about to refuse it; but Fanny said with +a quick glance, which was not altogether lost on Martha, "Of course go +with Martha, Sibyl. You are in great luck to have such a friend." + +Sibyl departed, therefore, very unwillingly, with the friend she had +once adored. Martha's bedroom was very plain and without ornaments, but +there were snug easy-chairs and the fire burned brightly. Martha invited +the little girl to sit down, and asked her how she was. + +"Oh, I am all right," said Sibyl. + +Martha looked at her attentively. "I don't quite understand you, Sib. +You have rather avoided me during the last day or two. Is it because I +am a Speciality? I do hope that will make no difference with my old +friends." + +"Oh no," said Sibyl. "There's nothing so wonderful in being a +Speciality, is there?" + +Martha stared. "Well, to me it is very wonderful," she said; "and I +cannot imagine how those other noble-minded girls think me good enough +to join them." + +"Oh Martha, are they so good as all that?" + +"They are," said Martha; and her tone was very gloomy. She was thinking +of Betty, whom she longed to comfort, whom she earnestly longed to help. + +"It's so queer about Betty," said Sibyl after a pause. "She seemed to be +such a very popular Speciality. Then, all of a sudden, she ceased to be +one at all. I can't understand it." + +"And you are never likely to, Sibyl. What happens in the club is only +known to its members." + +Sibyl grew red. What was coming over her? Two or three hours ago she was +a girl--weak, it is true; insignificant, it is true--with a passion for +Martha West and a most genuine love and admiration for Betty Vivian. Now +she almost disliked Betty; and she could not make out what charm she had +ever discovered in poor, plain Martha. She got up impatiently. "You will +forgive me, Martha," she said; "but I have lots of things I want to do. +I don't think I will stay just now. Perhaps you will ask me to come and +talk to you another day." + +"No, Sibyl, I sha'n't. When you want me you must try to find me +yourself. I don't understand what is the matter with you to-day." + +Sibyl grew that fiery red which always distressed her inexpressibly. The +next minute she had disappeared. She ran straight to Fanny's room, +hoping and trusting that she might find its inmate within. She was not +disappointed, for Fanny was there alone; she was fully expecting Sibyl +to come and see her. To Sibyl's knock she said, "Come in!" and the girl +entered at once. + +"Well?" said Fanny. + +"I have done what you wanted," said Sibyl. "I watched her, and I saw. +Afterwards I went to the place where she had hidden it. I took it. It is +in my pocket. Please take it from me. I have done what you wished. I +want to get rid of it, and never to think of it again. Fanny, when shall +I be elected a Speciality?" + +But Fanny did not speak. She had snatched the little packet from Sibyl's +hand and was gazing at it, her eyes almost starting from her head. + +"When shall I become a Speciality?" whispered Sibyl. + +"Don't whisper, child! The Vivians' room is next to mine. Sibyl, we must +keep this a most profound secret, I am awfully obliged to you! You have +been very clever and prompt. I don't wish to ask any questions at all. +Thank you, Sibyl, from my heart. I will certainly keep my promise, and +at the next meeting will propose you as a member. Whether you are +elected or not must, of course, depend on the votes of the majority. In +the meanwhile forget all this. Be as usual with your schoolfellows. Rest +assured of my undying friendship and gratitude. Keep what you have done +a profound secret; if anything leaks out there is no chance of your +becoming a Speciality. Now, good-bye Sibyl. I mustn't be seen to take +any special notice of you; people are very watchful in cases of this +sort. But remember, though I don't talk to you a great deal, I shall be +your true friend; and after you have become a member of our club there +will, of course, be no difficulty." + +"Oh, I should love to be a member!" said Sibyl. "I do so hate the tea in +the refectory, and you do seem to have such cosy times in your +sitting-room." + +Fanny smiled very slightly. "May I give you one word of warning?" she +said. "You made a very great mistake to-day when you did not seem +willing to pay Martha West a visit. Your election depends far more on +Martha than on me. Between now and Thursday--when I mean to propose you +as a member in place of Betty Vivian, who has forfeited her right for +ever--Martha will be your most valuable ally. I do not say you will be +elected--for the rules of the club are very strict, and we are most +exclusive--but I will do my utmost." + +"But you promised! I thought I was sure!" said Sibyl, beginning to +whimper. + +"Nonsense, nonsense, child! I said I would do my best. Now, keep up your +friendship with Martha--that is, if you are wise." + +Sibyl left the room. Her momentary elation was over, and she began to +hate herself for what she had done. In all probability she would not be +elected a Speciality, and then what reward would she have for acting the +spy? She had acted the spy. The plain truth seemed now to flash before +her eyes. She had been very mean and hard; and she had taken something +which, after all, did not belong to her at all, and given it to Fanny. +She could never get that something back. She felt that she did not dare +to look at Betty Vivian. Why should not Betty hide things if she liked +in the stump of an old oak-tree or under a bit of tiresome heather in +the "forest primeval?" After all, Betty had not said the thing was wood; +but when Sibyl had asked her she had said, "Have it so if you like." Oh! +Sibyl felt just now that she had been made a sort of cat's-paw, and that +she did not like Fanny Crawford one bit. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A TURNING-POINT + + +After this exciting day matters seemed to move rather languidly in the +school. Betty was beyond doubt in low spirits. She did not complain; she +did not take any one into her confidence. Even to her sisters she was +gloomy and silent. She took long walks by herself. She neglected no +duty--that is, no apparent duty--and her lessons progressed swimmingly. +Her two great talents--the one for music, the other for recitation--were +bringing her into special notice amongst the different teachers. She was +looked upon by the educational staff as a girl who might bring marked +distinction to the school. Thus the last few days of that miserable week +passed. + +On Tuesday evening Miss Symes had a little talk with Mrs. Haddo. + +"What is it, dear St. Cecilia?" asked the head mistress, looking +lovingly into the face of her favorite teacher. + +"I am anxious about Betty," was the reply. + +"Sit down, dear, won't you? Emma, I have been also anxious. I cannot +understand why that notice was put up on the blackboard, and why Betty +has left the club. Have you any clue, dear?" + +"None whatsoever," was Miss Symes's answer. "Of course I, as a teacher, +cannot possibly question any of the girls, and they are none of them +willing to confide in me." + +"We certainly cannot question them," said Mrs. Haddo. "But now I wish to +say something to you. Betty has been absent from evening prayers at the +chapel so often lately that I think it is my duty to speak to her on the +subject." + +"I have also observed that fact," replied Miss Symes. "Betty does not +look well. There is something, beyond doubt, weighing on her mind. She +avoids her fellow-pupils, whereas she used to be, I may almost say, the +favorite of the school. She scarcely speaks to any one now. When she +walks she walks alone. Even her dear little sisters are anxious about +her; I can see it, although they are far too discreet to say a word. +Poor Betty's little face seems to me to grow paler every day, and her +eyes more pathetic. Mrs. Haddo, can you not do something?" + +"You know, Emma, that I never force confidences; I think it a great +mistake. If a girl wishes to speak to me, she understands me well enough +to be sure I shall respect every word she says; otherwise, I think it +best to allow a girl of Betty Vivian's age to fight out her difficulties +alone." + +"As her teacher, I have nothing to complain of," said Miss Symes. "She +is just brilliant. She seems to leap over mental difficulties as though +they did not exist. Her intuition is something marvellous, and she will +grasp an idea almost as soon as it is uttered. I should like you to hear +her play; it is a perfect delight to teach her; her little fingers seem +to be endowed with the very spirit of music. And then that delightful +voice of hers thrills one when she recites aloud, as she does twice a +week in my recitation-class. As a matter of fact, dear Mrs. Haddo, I am +deeply attached to Betty; but I feel there is something wrong just now." + +"A turning-point," said Mrs. Haddo. "How often we come to them in life!" + +"God grant she may take the right turning!" was Miss Symes's remark. She +sat silent, gazing gloomily into the fire. + +"It is not like you, Emma, to be so despondent," said the head mistress. + +"I cannot help feeling despondent, for I think there is mischief afoot +and that Betty is suffering. I wonder if----" + +At that moment there came a tap at the door. Mrs. Haddo said, "Come in," +and Mr. Fairfax entered. + +"Ah," said Mrs. Haddo, "you are just the very man we want, Mr. Fairfax! +Please sit down." + +Mr. Fairfax immediately took the chair which was offered to him. "I have +come," he said, "to speak to you and to Miss Symes with regard to one of +your pupils--Betty Vivian." + +"How strange!" said Mrs. Haddo. "Miss Symes and I were talking about +Betty only this very moment. Can you throw any light on what is +troubling her?" + +"No," said Mr. Fairfax. "I came here to ask if you could." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, you know in my capacity as chaplain different things come to my +ears; but I am under a promise not to repeat them. I am, however, under +no promise in this instance. I was walking through the shrubbery +half-an-hour ago--I was, in fact, thinking out the little address I want +to give the dear girls next Sunday morning--when I suddenly heard a low +sob. I paused to listen; it was some way off, but I heard it quite +distinctly. I did not like to approach--you understand one's feeling of +delicacy in such a matter; but it came again, and was so very +heartrending that I could not help saying, 'Who is there? Is any one in +trouble?' To my amazement, a girl started to her feet; she had been +lying full-length, with her face downwards, on the damp grass. She came +up to me, and I recognized her at once. She was Betty Vivian. There was +very little light, but I could see that she was in terrible distress. +She could scarcely get out her words. 'It is lost!' she said--'lost! +Some one has stolen it!' And then she rushed away from me in the +direction of the house. I thought it my duty to come and tell you, Mrs. +Haddo. The girl's grief was quite remarkable and out of the common. The +tone in which she said, 'It is lost--lost!' was tragic." + +Mrs. Haddo sat very still for a minute. Then she said gently, "Would you +rather speak to her, or shall I?" + +"Under the circumstances," said Mr. Fairfax, "it is only right for me to +say something more. Betty Vivian came to see me some days ago, and said +that she had been expelled from the Specialities; and she asked me if, +under such conditions, she ought to attend evening prayers in the +chapel. I begged for her full confidence. She would not give it." + +"And what did you say about evening prayers?" + +"I said that was a matter between her own conscience and God. I could +not get anything further out of her; but since then you may have +observed that she has hardly attended chapel at all." + +"I certainly have noticed it," said Miss Symes. + +Mrs. Haddo did not speak for a minute. Then she said in an authoritative +voice, "Thank you, Mr. Fairfax; I am deeply obliged to you for having +come to me and taken me so far into your confidence. Emma, will you ask +Betty to come to me here? If she resists, bring her, dear; if she still +resists, I will go to her. Dear Mr. Fairfax, we must pray for this +child. There is something very seriously wrong; but she has won my +heart, and I cannot give her up. Will you leave me also, dear friend, +for I must see Betty by herself?" + +Miss Symes immediately left the room. The clergyman shortly afterwards +followed her example. + +Of all the teachers, Miss Symes was the greatest favorite in the upper +school. She went swiftly through the lounge, where the girls were +usually to be found at this hour chatting, laughing, amusing themselves +with different games; for this was the relaxation-hour of the day, when +every girl might do precisely what she liked. Miss Symes did not for a +moment expect to find Betty in such an animated, lively, almost noisy +group. To her amazement, however, she was attracted by peals of +laughter; and--looking in the direction whence they came, she perceived +that Betty herself was the center of a circle of girls, who were all +urging her to "take-off" different girls and teachers in the school. + +Betty was an inimitable mimic. At that very moment it seemed to Miss +Symes that she heard her own voice speaking--her own very gentle, +cultivated, high-bred voice. Amongst the girls who listened and roared +with laughter might have been seen Sarah Butt, Sibyl Ray, and several +more who had only recently been moved to the upper school. + +"Now, please, take-off Mademoiselle. Whoever you neglect, please bestow +some attention on Mademoiselle, dear Betty!" cried several voices. + +Betty drew herself up, perked her head a little to one side, put on the +very slightest suspicion of a squint, and spoke in the high-pitched, +rapid tone of the Frenchwoman. She looked her part, and she acted it. + +"And now Fräulein--Fräulein!" said another voice. + +But before Betty could change herself into a stout German Fräulein, Miss +Symes laid a quiet hand on her shoulder. "May I speak to you for a +minute, Betty?" + +"Why, certainly," said Betty, starting and reddening faintly. + +"Oh, dear St. Cecilia," exclaimed several of the girls, "don't take +Betty from us now! She is such fun!" + +"I was amusing the girls by doing a little bit of mimicry," said Betty. +"Miss Symes, did you see me mimicking you?" + +"I both saw and heard you, my dear. Your imitation was excellent." + +"Oh, please, dear St. Cecilia, don't say you are hurt!" cried Sarah +Butt. + +"Not in the least," said Miss Symes. "The gift of mimicry is a somewhat +dangerous one, but I don't think Betty meant it unkindly. I would ask +her, however, to spare our good and noble head mistress." + +"We begged of her to be Mrs. Haddo, but she wouldn't," said Sibyl. + +"Come, Betty," said Miss Symes. She took the girl's hand and led her +away. + +"What do you want with me?" said Betty. The brilliance in her eyes which +had been so remarkable a few minutes ago had now faded; her cheeks +looked pale; her small face wore a hungry expression. + +"Mrs. Haddo wants to see you, Betty." + +"Oh--but--must I go?" + +"Need you ask, Betty Vivian? The head mistress commands your presence." + +"Then I will go." + +"Remember, I trust you," said Miss Symes. + +"You may," answered the girl. She drew herself up and walked quickly and +with great dignity through the lounge into the great corridor beyond, +and so towards Mrs. Haddo's sitting-room. Here she knocked, and was +immediately admitted. + +"Betty, I wish to speak to you," said Mrs. Haddo. "Sit down, dear. You +and I have not had a chat for some time." + +"A very weary and long time ago!" answered Betty. All the vivacity which +had marked her face in the lounge had left it. + +But Mrs. Haddo, who could read character so rapidly and with such +unerring instinct, knew that the girl was, so to speak, on guard. She +was guarding herself, and was under a very strong tension. "I have +something to say to you, Betty," said Mrs. Haddo. + +Betty lowered her eyes. + +"Look at me, my child." + +With an effort Betty raised her eyes, glanced at Mrs. Haddo, and then +looked down again. "Wait, please, will you?" she said. + +"I am about to do so. You are unhappy." + +Betty nodded. + +"Will you tell me what is the matter?" + +Betty shook her head. + +"Do you think it is right for you to be unhappy in a school like mine, +and not to tell me--not to tell the one who is placed over you as a +mother would be placed were she alive--what is troubling you?" + +"It may be wrong," said Betty; "but even so, I cannot tell you." + +"You must understand," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking with great restraint +and extreme distinctness, "that it is impossible for me to allow this +state of things to continue. I know nothing, and yet in one sense I know +all. Nothing has been told me with regard to the true story of your +unhappiness, but the knowledge that you are unhappy reached me before +you yourself confirmed it. To-night Mr. Fairfax found you out of +doors--a broken rule, Betty, but I pass that over. He heard you sobbing +in the bitterness of your distress, and discovered that you were lying +face downwards on the grass in the fir-plantation. When he called you, +you went to him and told him you had lost something." + +"So I have," answered Betty. + +"Is it because of that you are unhappy?" + +"Yes, because of that--altogether because of that." + +"What have you lost, dear?" + +"Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you." + +"Betty, I ask you to do so. I have a right to know. I stand to you in +the place of a mother. I repeat that I have a right to know." + +"I cannot--I cannot tell you!" replied Betty. + +Mrs. Haddo, who had been seated, now rose, went over to the girl, and +put one hand on her shoulder. + +Betty shivered from head to foot. Then she sprang to her feet and moved +a little away. "Don't!" she said. "When you touch me it is like fire!" + +"My touch, Betty Vivian, like fire!" + +"Oh, you know that I love you!" sobbed poor Betty. + +"Prove it, then, dear, by giving me your confidence." + +"I would," said Betty, speaking rapidly, "if that which is causing me +suffering had anything at all to do with you. But it has nothing to do +with you, Mrs. Haddo, nor with the school, nor with the girls in the +school. It is my own private trouble. Once I had a treasure. The +treasure is gone." + +"You would, perhaps, like it back again?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Ah yes--yes! but I cannot get it. Some one has taken it. It is gone." + +"Once again, Betty, I ask you to give me your confidence." + +"I cannot." + +Mrs. Haddo resumed her seat. "Is that your very last--your +final--decision, Betty Vivian?" + +"It is, Mrs. Haddo." + +"How old are you, dear?" + +"I have told you. I was sixteen and a half when I came. I am rather more +now." + +"You are only a child, dear Betty." + +"Not in mind, nor in life, nor in circumstances," replied Betty. + +"We will suppose that all that is true," answered Mrs. Haddo. "We will +suppose, also, that you are cast upon the world friendless and alone. +Were such a thing to happen, what would you do?" + +Betty shivered. "I don't know," she replied. + +"Now, Betty, I cannot take your answer as final. I will give you a few +days longer; at the end of that time I will again beg for your +confidence. In the meanwhile I must say something very plainly. You came +to this school with your sisters under special conditions which you, my +poor child, had nothing to do with. But I must say frankly that I was +unwilling to admit you three into the school after term had begun, and +it was contrary to my rules to take girls straight into the upper school +who had never been in the lower school. Nevertheless, for the sake of my +old friend Sir John Crawford, I did this." + +"Not for Fanny's sake, I hope?" said Betty, her eyes flashing for a +minute, and a queer change coming over her face. + +"I have done what I did, Betty, for the sake of my dear friend Sir John +Crawford, who is your guardian and your sisters' guardian, and who is +now in India. I was unwilling to have you, my dears; but when you +arrived and I saw you, Betty, I thanked God, for I thought that I +perceived in you one whom I could love, whom I could train, whom I could +help. I was interested in you, very deeply interested, from the first. I +perceived with pleasure that my feelings towards you were shared by your +schoolfellows. You became a favorite, and you became so just because of +that beautiful birthright of yours--your keen wit, your unselfishness, +and your pleasant and bright ways. I did an extraordinary thing when I +admitted you into the school, and your schoolfellows did a thing quite +as extraordinary when they allowed you, a newcomer, to join that special +club which, more than anything else, has laid the foundation of sound +and noble morals in the school. You were made a Speciality. I have +nothing to do with the club, my dear; but I was pleased--nay, I was +proud--when I saw that my girls had such discernment as to select you as +one of their, I might really say august, number. You took your honors in +precisely the spirit I should have expected of you--sweetly, modestly, +without any undue sense of pride or hateful self-righteousness. Then, a +few days ago, there came a thunderclap; and teachers and girls were +alike amazed to find that you were no longer a member. By the rules of +the club we were not permitted to ask any questions----" + +"But I, as a late member, am permitted to tell you this much, Mrs. +Haddo. I was, and I think quite rightly, expelled from the club." + +"Betty!" + +"It is true," answered Betty. + +"And you will not tell me why?" + +"No more can I tell you why than I can explain to you what I have lost." + +"Betty, my poor child, there is a mystery somewhere. I am deeply puzzled +and terribly distressed. This is Wednesday evening. This day week, at +the same hour, I will send for you again and ask for your full and +absolute confidence. If you refuse to give it to me, Betty, I will not +expel you, my child; but I must send you from Haddo Court. I have an old +friend who will receive you until I can get into communication with Sir +John Crawford, for the sort of mystery which now exists is bad for the +school as a whole. You are intelligent enough to perceive that." + +"Yes, Mrs. Haddo, I am quite intelligent enough to perceive it." Betty +stood up as she spoke. + +"Have you anything more to say?" + +"Nothing," replied Betty. + +"This day week, then, my child. And one word before we part. The chapel +where Mr. Fairfax reads prayers--where God, I hope, is worshiped both in +spirit and in truth--is meant as much for the sorrowful, the erring, the +sinners, as for those who think themselves close to Him. For, Betty, the +God whom I believe in is a very present Help in time of trouble. I want +you to realize that at least, and not to cease attending prayers, my +dear." + +Betty bent her head. The next minute she went up to Mrs. Haddo, flung +herself on her knees by that lady's side, took her long white hand, +kissed it with passion, and left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NOT ACCEPTABLE + + +It was Thursday evening, and Fanny Crawford did not altogether like the +prospect which lay before her. Ever since Sibyl had put the little +sealed packet into her hands, that packet had lain on Fanny's heart with +the weight of lead. Now that she had obtained the packet she did not +want it; she did not dare to let any one guess how it had come into her +hands. Fanny the proud, the looked-up-to, the respected, the girl whose +conduct had hitherto been so immaculate, had stooped to employ another +girl to act as a spy. Fanny was absolutely in the power of that very +insignificant person, Sibyl Ray. Sibyl demanded her reward. Fanny must +do her utmost to get Sibyl admitted to the club. + +On that very evening, as Fanny was going towards the Bertrams' room, +where the meeting was to be held, she was waylaid by Sibyl. + +"You won't forget?--you have promised." + +"Of course I won't forget, Sibyl. What a tease you are!" + +"Can you possibly give me a hint afterwards? You might come to my room +just for an instant, or you might push a little note under the door. I +am so panting to know. I do so dreadfully want to belong to the club. I +have been counting up all the privileges. I shall go mad with joy if I +am admitted." + +"I will do my best for you; but whether I can tell you anything or not +to-night is more than I can possibly say," replied Fanny. "Now, do go +away, Sibyl; go away, and be quick about it!" + +"All right," said Sibyl. "Of course you know, or perhaps you don't know, +that Betty isn't well? The doctor came an hour ago, and he says she is +to be kept very quiet. I am ever so sorry for her, she is so--so----Oh +dear, I am almost sorry now that I took that little packet from under +the root of the Scotch heather!" + +"Go, Sibyl. If we are seen together it will be much more difficult for +me to get you elected," was Fanny's response; and at last, to Fanny's +infinite relief, Sibyl took her departure. + +All the other members of the club were present when Fanny made her +appearance. They were talking in low tones, and as Fanny entered she +heard Betty's name being passed from lip to lip. + +"She does look bad, poor thing!" said Olive. + +"Did you know," exclaimed Susie Rushworth, "that after doing that +splendid piece of recitation in the class to-day she fainted right off? +Miss Symes was quite terrified about her." + +"They say the doctor has been sent for," said Martha. "Oh dear," she +added, "I never felt so unhappy about a girl before in my life!" + +Fanny was not too gratified to hear these remarks. She perceived all too +quickly that, notwithstanding the fact that Betty was no longer a member +of the club, she still reigned in the hearts of the girls. + +"Well, Fan, here you are!" exclaimed Margaret. "Is there anything very +special for us to do to-night? I have no inclination to do anything. We +are all so dreadfully anxious about Betty and those darling little +twins. Do you know, the doctor has ordered them not to sleep in Betty's +room to-night; so Miss Symes is going to look after them. They are such +sweet pets! The doctor isn't very happy about Betty. Sometimes I think +we made a mistake--that we were cruel to Betty to turn her out of the +club." + +Fanny felt that if she did not quickly assert herself all would be lost. +She therefore said quietly, "I don't pretend to share your raptures with +regard to Betty Vivian, and I certainly think that if rules are worth +anything they ought not to be broken." + +"I suppose you are right," remarked Olive; "only, Betty seemed to make +an exception to every rule." + +"Well," said Fanny, "if we want a new member----" + +"Another Speciality?" said Margaret. + +"I was thinking," continued Fanny, her pretty pink cheeks glowing +brightly and her eyes shining, "that we might be doing a kindness to a +very worthy little girl who will most certainly not break any of the +rules." + +"Whom in the world do you mean?" asked Susie. + +"I suppose you will be surprised at my choice; but although seven is the +perfect number, there is no rule whatever against our having eight, +nine, ten, or even more members of the club." + +"There is no rule against our having twenty members, if those members +are worthy," said Margaret Grant. "But whom have you in the back of your +head, Fanny? You look so mysterious." + +"I cannot think of any one myself," said Martha West. + +When Martha said this Fanny made a little gesture of despair. "Well," +she said, "I have taken a fancy to her. I think she is very nice; and I +know she is poor, and I know she wants help, and I know that Mrs. Haddo +takes a great interest in her. I allude to that dear little thing, Sibyl +Ray. You, Martha, surely will support me?" + +"Sibyl Ray!" The girls looked at each other in unbounded astonishment. +Martha was quite silent, and her cheeks turned pale. + +After a long pause Margaret spoke, "May I ask, Fanny, what one single +qualification Sibyl Ray has for election to membership in the Speciality +Club?" + +"But what possible reason is there against her being a member?" retorted +Fanny. + +"A great many, I should say," was Margaret's answer. "In the first +place, she is too young; in the second place, she has only just been +admitted to the upper school." + +"You can't keep her out on that account," objected Fanny, "for she has +been longer in the upper school than Betty Vivian." + +"Oh, please don't mention Betty and Sibyl in the same breath!" was +Margaret's answer. + +"I do not," said Fanny, who was fast losing her temper. "Sibyl is a +good, straightforward, honorable girl. Betty is the reverse." + +"Oh Fanny," exclaimed Martha, "I wouldn't abuse my own cousin if I were +you!" + +"Nonsense!" said Fanny. "Whether she is a cousin, or even a sister, I +cannot be blind to her most flagrant faults." + +"Of course you have a right to propose Sibyl Ray as a possible member of +this club," said Margaret, "for it is one of our by-laws that any member +can propose the election of another. But I don't really think you will +carry the thing through. In the first place, what do you know about +Sibyl? I have observed you talking to her once or twice lately; but +until the last week or so, I think, you hardly knew of her existence." + +"That is quite true," said Fanny boldly; "but during the last few days I +have discovered that Sibyl is a sweet girl--most charming, most +unselfish, most obliging. She is very timid, however, and lacks +self-confidence; and I have observed that she is constantly snubbed by +girls who are not fit to hold a candle to her and yet look down upon +her, just because she is poor. Now, if she were made a member of the +club all that would be put a stop to, and she would have a great chance +of doing her utmost in the school. We should be holding out a helping +hand to a girl who certainly is neither beautiful nor clever, but who +can be made a fine character. Martha, you at least will stand up for +Sibyl? You have always been her close friend." + +"And I am fond of her still," said Martha; "but I don't look upon her at +all in the light in which you do, Fanny. Sibyl, at present, would be +injured, not improved, by her sudden elevation to the rank of a +Speciality. The only thing I would suggest is that you propose her again +in a year's time; and if during the course of that year she has proved +in any sense of the word what you say, I for one will give her my +cordial support. At present I cannot honestly feel justified in voting +for her, and I will not." + +"Well spoken, Martha!" said Margaret. "Fanny, your suggestion is really +ill-timed. We are all unhappy about Betty just now; and to see poor +little Sibyl--of course, no one wants to say a word against her--in +Betty's shoes would make our loss seem more irreparable than ever." + +Fanny saw that her cause was lost. She had the grace not to say anything +more, but sat back in her chair with her eyes fixed on Margaret's face. +Fanny began to perceive for the first time that some of the girls in +this club had immensely strong characters. Margaret Grant and Martha +West had, for instance, characters so strong that Fanny discovered +herself to be a very unimportant little shadow beside them. The Bertrams +were the sort of girls to take sides at once and firmly with what was +good and noble, Susie Rushworth was devoted to Margaret, and Olive had +been the prime favorite in the club until Betty's advent. Now it seemed +to Fanny that each one of the Specialities was opposed to her, that she +stood alone. She did not like the situation. She was so exceedingly +anxious; for, strong in the belief that she herself was a person of +great importance, and in the further belief that Martha would support +her, she had been practically sure of getting Sibyl admitted to the +club. Now Sibyl had no chance whatever, and Sibyl knew things which +might make Fanny's position in the school the reverse of comfortable. + +Fanny Crawford on this occasion sat lost in thought, by no means +inclined to add her quota to the entertainment of the others, and +looking eagerly for the first moment when she might escape from the +meeting. Games were proposed; but games went languidly, and once again +Betty and Betty's illness became the subject of conversation. + +When this took place Fanny rose impatiently. "There are no further +questions to be discussed to-night?" she asked, turning to Margaret. + +"None that I know of." + +"Then, if you will excuse me, girls, I will go. I must tell poor little +Sibyl----" + +"You don't mean to say you spoke to Sibyl about it?" interrupted Martha. + +"Well, yes, I did." Fanny could almost have bitten out her tongue for +having made this unwary admission. "She was so keen, poor little thing, +that I told her I would do my best for her. I must say, once and for +all, that I have never seen my sister members so hard and cold and +indifferent to the interests of a very deserving little girl before. I +am, of course, sorry I spoke to her on the matter." + +"You really did very wrong, Fan," said Margaret in an annoyed voice. +"You know perfectly well that we never allude to the possibility of a +girl being proposed for membership to that girl herself until we have +first made up our minds whether she is worthy or not. Now, you have +placed us at a great disadvantage; but, of course, you forgot yourself, +Fan. You must tell Sibyl that the thing is not to be thought of. You can +put it down to her age or any other cause you like." + +"Of course I must speak the truth," said Fanny, raising her voice to a +somewhat insolent tone. "The club does not permit the slightest vestige +of prevarication. Is that not so?" + +"Yes, it is certainly so." + +The next minute Fanny had left the room. It was one of the rules of the +club that gossip, in the ordinary sense of the world, with regard to any +member was strictly forbidden; so no one made any comment when Fanny had +taken her departure. There was a sense of relief, however, felt by the +girls who remained behind. The meeting was a sorrowful one, and broke up +rather earlier than usual. + +At prayers that night in the chapel Margaret Grant and the other girls +of the Specialities were startled when Mr. Fairfax made special mention +of Betty Vivian, praying God to comfort her in sore distress and to heal +her sickness. The prayer was extempore, and roused the girls to amazed +attention. + +Fanny was not present that night at chapel. She was so angry that she +felt she must give vent to her feelings to some one; therefore, why not +speak to Sibyl at once? + +Sibyl was not considered very strong, and though she did belong to the +upper school, usually went to bed before prayers. She was in her small +room to-night. It was a pretty, neatly furnished room in the west +wing--one of those usually given to a lower-school girl on first +entering the upper school. Sibyl had no intention, however, of going to +bed. She sat by her fire, her heart beating high, her thoughts full of +the privileges which would so soon be hers. She was composing, in her +own mind, a wonderful letter to send to her people at home; she pictured +to herself their looks of delight when they heard that this great honor +had been bestowed upon her. For, of course, Sibyl, as a member of the +lower school at Haddo Court, had heard much of the Specialities, and +what she had heard she had repeated; so that when she wanted to amuse +her select friends in her father's parish, she frequently gave them +some information on this most interesting subject. Now she was on the +point of being a member herself! How she would enjoy her Christmas +holidays! How she would be feted and fussed over and petted! How +carefully she would guard the secrets of the club, and how very high she +would hold her own small head! She a member of the great Haddo Court +School, and also a Speciality! + +While Sibyl was thus engaged, seeing pictures in the fire and smiling +quietly to herself, she suddenly heard a light tap at her room door. She +started to her feet, and the next minute she had flown across the room +and opened the door. Fanny stood without. + +"Oh, you dear, darling Fan!" exclaimed Sibyl. "You are good! Come in--do +come in! Is the meeting over? And--and--oh, Fanny! what have they said? +Has my name been put to the vote? Of course you and Martha would be on +my side, and you and Martha are so strong that you would carry the rest +of the members with you. Fan, am I to have a copy of the rules? +And--and--oh, Fan! is it settled? Do--do tell me!" + +"I wish you weren't quite so excited, Sibyl! Let me sit down; I have a +bad headache." + +Fanny sank languidly into the chair which Sibyl herself had been +occupying. There was only one easy-chair in this tiny room. Sibyl had, +therefore, to draw forward a hard and high one for herself. But she was +far too excited to mind this at the present moment. + +"And what a fearful blaze of light you have!" continued Fanny, looking +round fretfully. "Don't you know, Sibyl, that, unless we are occupied +over our studies, we are not allowed to turn on such a lot of light? +Here, let me put the room in shadow." + +"Let's have firelight only," laughed Sibyl, who was not quick at +guessing things, and felt absolute confidence in Fanny's powers. The +next instant she had switched off the light and was kneeling by Fanny's +side. "Now, Fanny--now, do put me out of suspense!" + +"I will," said Fanny. "I have come here for the purpose. I did what I +could for you, Sib. You must bear your disappointment as best you can. I +am truly sorry for you, but things can't be helped." + +"You are truly sorry for me--and--and--things can't be helped!" +exclaimed Sibyl, amazement in her voice. "What do you mean?" + +"Well, they won't have you at any price as a member of the Specialities; +and the person who spoke most strongly against you was your dear and +special friend, Martha West. I am not at liberty to quote a single word +of what she did say; but you are not to be a Speciality--at least, not +for a year. If at the end of a year you have done something +wonderful--the sort of thing which you, poor Sibyl, could never possibly +do--the matter may be brought up again for reconsideration. As things +stand, you are not to be elected; so the sooner you put the matter out +of your head the better." + +Sibyl turned very white. Then her face became suffused with small +patches of vivid color. + +Fanny was not looking at her; had she looked she might have perceived +that Sibyl's expression was anything but amiable at that moment. The +girl's extraordinary silence, however--the absence of all remark--the +absence, even, of any expression of sorrow--presently caused Fanny to +glance round at her. "Well," she said, "I thought I'd tell you at once. +You must put it out of your head. I think I will go to bed now. +Good-night, Sibyl. Sorry I couldn't do more for you." + +"Don't go!" said Sibyl. "What do you mean?" + +There was a quality in Sibyl's voice which made Fanny feel +uncomfortable. + +"I am much too tired," Fanny said, "to stay up any longer chatting with +an insignificant little girl like you. I could not even stay to the +conclusion of our meeting, and I certainly don't want to be seen in your +room. I did my best for you. I have failed. I am sorry, and there's an +end of it." + +"Oh no, there isn't an end of it!" said Sibyl. + +"What do you mean, Sibyl?" + +"I mean," said Sibyl, "that you have got to reward me for doing your +horrid--_horrid_, dirty work!" + +"You odious little creature! what do you mean? My dirty work! Sibyl, I +perceive that I was mistaken in you. I also perceive that Martha West +and the others were right. You are indeed unworthy to be a Speciality." + +"If all were known," said Sibyl, "I don't think I am half as unworthy as +you are, Fanny Crawford. Anyhow, if I am not to be made a Speciality, +and if every one is going to despise me and look down on me, why, I have +nothing to lose, and I may as well make an example of you." + +"You odious child! what _do_ you mean?" + +"Why, I can tell Mrs. Haddo as well as anybody else. Every one in the +school knows that Betty is ill to-night. Something seems to have gone +wrong with her head, and she is crying out about a packet--a lost +packet. Now, _you_ know how the packet was lost. You and I both know how +it was found--and lost again. You have it, Fanny. You are the one who +can cure Betty Vivian--Betty, who never was unkind to any one; Betty, +who did not mean me to be a figure of fun, as you suggested, on the +night of the entertainment; Betty, who has been kind to me, as she has +been kind to every one else since she came to the school. _You_ have +done nothing for me, Fanny; so I--I can take care of myself in future, +and perhaps Betty too." + +To say that Fanny was utterly amazed and horrified at Sibyl's speech--to +say that Fanny was thunderstruck when she perceived that this poor +little worm, as she considered Sibyl Ray, had turned at last--would be +but very inadequately to describe the situation. Fanny lost her headache +on the spot. Here was danger, grave and imminent; here was the +possibility of her immaculate character being dragged through the mud; +here was the terrible possibility of Fanny Crawford being seen in her +true colors. She had now to collect her scattered senses--in short, to +pull herself together. + +"Oh Sibyl," she said after a pause, "you frightened me for a minute--you +really did! Who would suppose that you were such a spirited girl?" + +"I am not spirited, Fanny; but I love Betty, notwithstanding all you +have tried to do to put me against her. And if I am not to be a +Speciality I would ever so much rather be Betty's friend than yours. +There! Now I have spoken. Perhaps you would like to go now, Fan, as your +head is aching so badly?" + +"It doesn't ache now," said Fanny; "your conduct has frightened all the +aches away. Sibyl, you really are the very queerest girl! I came here +to-night full of the kindest feelings towards you. You can ask Martha +West how I spoke of you at the club." + +"But she won't tell me. Anything that you say in the club isn't allowed +to be breathed outside it." + +"I know that. Anyhow, I have been doing my utmost to get the school to +see you in your true light. I have taken great notice of you, and you +have been proud to receive my notice. It is certainly true that I have +failed to get you what I hoped I could manage; but there are other +things----" + +"Other things!" said Sibyl. She stood in a defiant attitude quite +foreign to her usual manner. + +"Oh yes, my dear child, lots and lots of other things! For instance, in +the Christmas holidays I can have you to stay with me at Brighton. What +do you say to that? Don't you think that would be a feather in your cap? +I have an aunt who lives there, Aunt Amelia Crawford; and she generally +allows me--that is, when father cannot have me--to bring one of my +school-friends with me to stay in her lovely house. I had a letter from +her only yesterday, asking me which girl I would like to bring with me +this year. I thought of Olive--Olive is such fun; but I'd just as soon +have you--that is, if you would like to come." + +Alas for poor Sibyl! She was not proof against such a tempting bait. + +"As far as you are concerned," continued Fanny, who saw that she was +making way with Sibyl, and breaking down, as she expressed it, her silly +little defences, "you would gain far more prestige in being Aunt +Amelia's guest than if you belonged to twenty Speciality Clubs. Aunt +Amelia is good to the girls who come to stay with her as my friends. And +I'd help you, Sib; I'd make the best of your dresses. We'd go to the +theatre, and the pantomime, and all kinds of jolly things. We'd have a +rattling fine time." + +"Do you really mean it?" said Sibyl. + +"Yes--that is, if you will give me your solemn word that you will refer +no more to that silly matter about Betty Vivian. Betty Vivian had no +right to that packet. It belonged to my father, and I have got it back +for him. Don't think of it any more, Sibyl, and you shall be my guest +this Christmas. But if you prefer to make a fuss, and drag me into an +unpleasant position, and get yourself, in all probability, expelled from +the school, then you must do as you please." + +"But if I were expelled, you'd be expelled too," said Sibyl. + +Fanny laughed. "I think not," she said. "I think, without any undue +pride, that my position in the school is sufficiently strong to prevent +such a catastrophe. No; you would be cutting off your nose to spite your +face--that is all you would be doing with this nice little scheme of +yours. Give it up, Sibyl, and you shall come to Brighton." + +"It is dull at home at Christmas," said Sibyl. "We are so dreadfully +poor, and father has such a lot to do; and there are always those +half-starved, smelly sort of people coming to the house--the sort that +want coal-tickets, you know, and grocery-tickets; and--and--we have to +help to give great big Christmas dinners. We are all day long getting up +entertainments for those dull sort of people. I often think they are not +a bit grateful, and after being at a school like this I really feel +quite squeamish about them." + +Fanny laughed. She saw, or believed she saw, that her cause was won. +"You'll have nothing to make you squeamish at Aunt Amelia's," she said. +"And now I must say good-night. Sorry about the Specialities; but, after +the little exhibition you have just made of yourself, I agree with the +other girls that you are not fit to be a member. Now, ta-ta for the +present." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"IT'S DICKIE!" + + +Fanny went straight to her own room. "What a nasty time I have lived +through!" she thought as she was about to enter. Then she opened the +door and started back. + +The whole room had undergone a metamorphosis. There was a shaded light +in one corner, and the door between Fanny's room and Betty's was thrown +open. A grave, kind-looking nurse was seated by a table, on which was a +shaded lamp; and on seeing Fanny enter she held up her hand with a +warning gesture. The next minute she had beckoned the girl out on the +landing. + +"What is the meaning of this?" asked Fanny. "What are you doing in my +room?" + +"The doctor wished the door to be opened and the room to be given up to +me," replied the nurse. "My name is Sister Helen, and I am looking after +dear little Miss Vivian. We couldn't find you to tell you about the +necessary alterations, which were made in a hurry. Ah, I mustn't leave +my patient! I hear her calling out again. She is terribly troubled about +something she has lost. Do you hear her?" + +"I won't give it up! I won't give it up!" called poor Betty's voice. + +"I was asked to tell you," said Sister Helen, "to go straight to Miss +Symes, who has arranged another room for you to sleep in--that is, if +you _are_ Miss Crawford." + +"Yes, that is my name. Have my things been removed?" + +"I suppose so, but I don't know. I am going back to my patient." + +The nurse re-entered the room, closing the door on Fanny, who stood by +herself in the corridor. She heard Betty's voice, and Betty's voice +sounded so high and piercing and full of pain that her first feeling was +one of intense thankfulness that she had been moved from close proximity +to the girl. The next minute she was speeding down the corridor in the +direction of Miss Symes's room. Half-way there she met St. Cecilia coming +to meet her. + +"Ah, Fanny, dear," said Miss Symes, "I thought your little meeting would +have been over by now. Do you greatly mind sharing my room with me +to-night? I cannot get another ready for you in time. Dr. Ashley wishes +the nurse who is looking after Betty to have your room for the present. +There was no time to tell you, dear; but I have collected the few things +I think you will want till the morning. To-morrow we will arrange +another room for you. In the meantime I hope you will put up with me. I +have had a bed put into a corner of my room and a screen around it, so +you will be quite comfortable." + +"Thank you," said Fanny. She wondered what further unpleasantness was +about to happen to her on that inauspicious night. + +"You would like to go to bed, dear, wouldn't you?" said Miss Symes. + +"Yes, thank you." + +"Well, you shall do so. I cannot go for a couple of hours, as Mrs. Haddo +wants me to sit up with her until the specialist arrives from London." + +"The specialist from London!" exclaimed Fanny, turning first red and +then white. "Do you mean that Mrs. Haddo has sent for a London doctor?" + +"Indeed she has. My dear, poor little Betty is dangerously ill. Dr. +Ashley is by no means satisfied about her." + +By this time the two had reached Miss Symes's beautiful room. Fanny gave +a quick sigh. Then, like a flash, a horrible thought occurred to her. +Her room had to be given up to-morrow. Her things would be removed. +Among her possessions--put safely away, it is true, but still not _too_ +safely--was the little sealed packet. If that packet were found, Fanny +felt that the world would be at an end as far as she was concerned. + +"You don't look well yourself, Fanny," said Miss Symes, glancing kindly +at the girl. "Of course you are sorry about Betty; we are all sorry, for +we all love her. If you had been at prayers to-night you would have been +astonished at the gloom which was felt in our beautiful little chapel +when Mr. Fairfax prayed for her." + +"But she can't be as ill as all that?" said Fanny. + +"She is--very, very ill, dear. The child has evidently got a bad chill, +together with a most severe mental shock. We none of us can make out +what is the matter; but it is highly probable that the specialist--Dr. +Jephson of Harley Street--will insist on the Specialities being +questioned as to the reason why Betty was expelled from the club. It is +absolutely essential that the girl's mind should be relieved, and that +as soon as possible. She is under the influence now of a composing +draught, and, we greatly trust, may be more like herself in the morning. +Don't look too sad, dear Fanny! I can quite understand that you must +feel this very deeply, for Betty is your cousin; and somehow, +dear--forgive me for saying it--but you do not act quite the cousin's +part to that poor, sweet child. Now I must leave you. Go to bed, dear. +Pray for Betty, and then sleep all you can." + +"Where are the twins?" suddenly asked Fanny. + +"They are sleeping to-night in the lower school. It was necessary to put +the poor darlings as far from Betty as possible, for they are in a +fearful state about her. Now I will leave you, Fanny. I am wanted +elsewhere. When I do come to bed I will be as quiet as possible, so as +not to disturb you." + +Fanny made no answer, and the next minute Miss Symes had left her. + +Fanny now went over to the corner of the room where a snug little white +bed had been put up, a washhand-stand was placed and where a small chest +of drawers stood--empty at present, for only a few of Fanny's things had +been taken out of her own room. The girl looked round her in a +bewildered way. The packet!--the sealed packet! To-morrow all her +possessions would be removed into a room which would be got ready for +her. There were always one or two rooms to spare at Haddo Court, and +Fanny would be given a room to herself again. She was far too important +a member of that little community not to have the best possible done for +her. Deft and skillful servants would take her things out of the various +drawers and move them to another room. They would find the packet. Fanny +knew quite well where she had placed it. She had put it under a pile of +linen which she herself took charge of, and which was always kept in the +bottom drawer of her wardrobe. Fanny had put the packet there in a +moment of excitement and hurry. She had not yet decided what to do with +it; she had to make a plan in her own mind, and in the meantime it was +safe enough among Fanny's various and pretty articles of toilet. For it +was one of the rules of Haddo Court that each girl, be she rich or poor, +should take care of her own underclothing. All that the servants had to +do was to see that the things were properly aired; but the girls had to +mend their own clothes and keep them tidy. + +Absolute horror filled Fanny's mind now. What was she to do? She was so +bewildered that for a time she could scarcely think coherently. Then she +made up her mind that, come what would, she must get that packet out of +her own bedroom before the servants came in on the following day. She +was so absorbed with the thought of her own danger that she had no time +to think of the very grave danger which assailed poor little Betty +Vivian. If she had disliked Betty before, she hated her now. Oh, how +right she had been when, in her heart of hearts, she had opposed Betty's +entrance into the school! What trouble those three tiresome, wild, +uncontrollable girls had brought in their wake! And now Betty--Betty, +who was so adored--Betty, who, in Fanny's opinion, was both a thief and +a liar--was dangerously ill; and she (Fanny) would in all probability +have to appear in a most sorry position. For, whatever Betty's sin, +Fanny knew well that nothing could excuse her own conduct. She had spied +on Betty; she had employed Sibyl Ray as a tool; she had got Sibyl to +take the packet from under the piece of heather; and that very night she +had excited the astonishment of her companions in the Speciality Club by +proposing a ridiculously unsuitable person for membership as poor Sibyl. + +"Things look as black as night," thought Fanny to herself. "I don't want +to go to bed. I wish I could get out of this. How odious things are!" + +Just then she heard footsteps outside her door--footsteps that came up +close and waited. Then, all of a sudden, the door was flung violently +open, and Sylvia and Hester entered. They had been crying so hard that +their poor little faces were disfigured almost beyond recognition. +Sylvia held a small tin box in her hand. + +"What are you doing, girls? You had better go to bed," said Fanny. + +Neither girl took the slightest notice of this injunction. They looked +round the room, noting the position of the different articles of +furniture. Then Sylvia walked straight up to the screen behind which +Fanny's bed was placed. With a sudden movement she pulled down the +bedclothes, opened the little tin box, and put something into Fanny's +bed. + +"It's Dickie!" said Sylvia. "I hope you will like his company. Come, +Hetty." + +Before Fanny could find words the girls had vanished. But the look of +hatred on Sylvia's face, the look of defiance and horror on Hetty's, +Fanny was not likely to forget. They shut the door somewhat noisily +behind them. Then, all of a sudden, Hetty opened it again, pushed in her +small face, and said, "You had better be careful. His bite is +dangerous!" + +The next instant quick feet were heard running away from Miss Symes's +room, in the center of which Fanny stood stunned and really frightened. +What had those awful children put into her bed? She had heard vague +rumors of a pet of theirs called Dickie, but had never been interested +enough even to inquire about him. Who was Dickie? What was Dickie? Why +was his bite dangerous? Why was he put into her bed? Fanny, for all her +careful training, for all her airs and graces, was by no means +remarkable for physical courage. She approached the bed once or twice, +and went back again. She was really afraid to pull down the bedclothes. +At last, summoning up courage, she did so. To her horror, she saw an +enormous spider, the largest she had ever beheld, in the center of the +bed! This, then, was Dickie! He was curled up as though he were asleep. +But as Fanny ventured to approach a step nearer it seemed to her that +one wicked, protruding eye fastened itself on her face. The next instant +Dickie began to run, and when Dickie ran he ran towards her. Fanny +uttered a shriek. It was the culmination of all she had lived through +during that miserable evening. One shriek followed another, and in a +minute Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton ran into the room. + +"Oh, save me! Save me!" said Fanny. "Those little horrors have done it! +I don't know where it is! Oh, it is such an odious, dangerous, awful +kind of reptile! It's the biggest spider I ever saw in all my life, and +those horrible twins came and put it into my bed! Oh, girls, what I am +suffering! Do have pity on me! Do help me to find it! Do help me to kill +it!" + +"To kill Dickie!" said Susie. "Why, the poor little twins were +heartbroken for two or three days because they thought he was lost. I +for one certainly won't kill Dickie." + +"Nor I," said Olive. + +"Oh, dear! what shall I do?" said poor Fanny. "I really never was in +such miserable confusion and wretchedness in my life." + +"Do, Fanny, cease to be such a coward!" said Susie. "I must say I am +surprised at you. The poor little twins are almost beside +themselves--that is, on account of darling Betty. Betty is so ill; and +they think--the twins do----I mean, they have got it into their heads +that you--you don't like Betty, although she is your cousin and the very +sweetest girl in all the world. But as to your being afraid of a spider! +We'll have a good hunt for him, and find him. Fanny, I never thought you +could scream out as you did. What a mercy that Miss Symes's room is a +good way off from poor darling Betty's!" + +"Do try to think of some one besides Betty for a minute!" said Fanny; +"and you find that horror and put him into his box, or put him into +anything, only don't have him loose in the room." + +"Well, we'll have a good search," said both the girls, "and we may find +him." + +But this was a thing easier said than done; for if there was a knowing +spider anywhere in the world, that spider was Dickie of Scotland. Dickie +was not going to be easily caught. Perhaps Dickie had a secret sense of +humor and enjoyed the situation--the terror of the one girl, the efforts +of the others to put him back into captivity. In vain Susie laid baits +for Dickie all over the room--bits of raw meat, even one or two dead +flies which she found in a corner. But Dickie had secured a hiding-place +for himself, and would not come out at present. + +"I can't sleep in the room--that's all!" said Fanny. "I really +can't--that's flat." + +"Oh, stop talking for a minute!" said Olive suddenly. "There! didn't you +hear it? Yes, that is the sound of the carriage coming back from the +station. Dr. Jephson has come. Oh, I wonder what he will say about her!" + +"Don't leave me, girls, please!" said Fanny. "I never was so utterly +knocked to bits in my whole life!" + +"Well, we must go to bed or we'll be punished," said Susie. + +"Susie, you are not a bit afraid of reptiles; won't you change rooms +with me?" asked Fanny. + +"I would, only it's against the rules," said Susie at once. + +Olive also shook her head. "It's against the rules, Fanny; and, really, +if I were you I'd pull myself together, and on a night like this, when +the whole house is in such a state of turmoil, I'd try to show a spark +of courage and not be afraid of a poor little spider." + +"A _little_ spider! You haven't seen him," said Fanny. "Why, he's nearly +as big as an egg! I tell you he is most dangerous." + +"That's the doctor! Oh, I wonder what he is going to say!" exclaimed +Olive. "Come, Susie," she continued, turning to her companion, "we must +go to bed. Good-night, Fanny; good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A TIME OF DANGER + + +Fanny was left alone with Dickie. It was really awful to be quite alone +in a room where a spider nearly the size of an egg had concealed +himself. If Dickie would only come out and show himself Fanny thought +she could fight him; but he was at once big enough to bite and terrify +her up to the point of danger, and small enough effectually to hide his +presence. Fanny was really nervous; all the events of the day had +conspired to make her so. She, who, as a rule, knew nothing whatever +about nerves, was oppressed by them now. There had been the meeting of +the Specialities; there had been the blunt refusal to make Sibyl one of +their number. Then there was the appalling fact that she (Fanny) was +turned out of her bedroom. There was also the unpleasantness of Sibyl's +insurrection; and last, but not least, a spider had been put into her +bed by those wicked girls. + +Oh, what horrors all the Vivians were! What turmoil they had created in +the hitherto orderly, happy school! "No wonder I hate them!" thought +Fanny. "Well, I can't sleep here--that's plain." She stood by the fire. +The fire began to get low; the hour waxed late. There was no sound +whatever in the house. Betty's beautiful room was in a distant wing. The +doctors might consult in the adjoining room that used to be Fanny's as +much as they pleased, but not one sound of their voices or footsteps +could reach the girl. The other schoolgirls had gone to bed. They were +all anxious, all more or less unhappy; but, compared to Fanny, they were +blessed with sweet peace, and could slumber without any sense of +reproach. + +Fanny found herself turning cold. She was also hungry. She looked at the +clock on the mantelpiece; the hour was past midnight. As a rule, she was +in bed and sound asleep long before this time. Her cold and hunger made +her look at the fire; it was getting low. + +Mrs. Haddo was so determined to give the girls of her school every +possible comfort that she never allowed them to feel cold in the house. +The passages were therefore heated in winter-time with steam, and each +bedroom had its own cheery fire. The governesses were treated almost +better than the pupils. But then people were not expected to sit up all +night. + +Fanny opened the coal-hod, intending to put fresh coals on the dying +fire; but, to her distress, found that the hod was empty. This happened +to be a mistake on the part of the housemaid who had charge of this +special room. + +Fanny felt herself growing colder and colder, and yet she dared not go +to bed. She had turned on all the electric lights, and the room itself +was bright as day. Suddenly she heard the sound of wheels crunching on +the gravel outside. She rushed to the window, and was relieved to +observe that the doctor's carriage was bowling down the avenue. The +doctors had therefore gone. Miss Symes would come to bed very soon now. +Perhaps Miss Symes would know how to catch Dickie. Anyhow, Fanny would +not be alone. She crouched in her chair near the dying embers of the +fire. The minutes ticked slowly on until at last it was a quarter to one +o'clock. Then Miss Symes opened the door and came in. She hardly noticed +the fact that Fanny was up, and the further fact that her fire was +nothing but embers did not affect her in the very least. Her eyes were +very bright, and there were red spots on each cheek. The expression on +her face brought Fanny to the momentary consciousness that they were all +in a house where the great Angel of Death might enter at any moment. + +Miss Symes sat down on the nearest chair, folded her hands on her lap, +and looked at Fanny. "Well," she said, "have you nothing to ask me?" + +"I am a very miserable girl!" said Fanny. "To begin with, I am hungry, +for I scarcely ate any supper to-night; I did not care for the food +provided by the Specialities. Hours and hours have passed by, and I +could not go to bed." + +"And why not, Fanny?" asked Miss Symes. "Why did you stay up against the +rules? And why do you think of yourself in a moment like the present?" + +"I am sorry," said Fanny; "but one must always think of one's self--at +least, I am afraid _I_ must. Not that I mean to be selfish," she added, +seeing a look of consternation spread over Miss Symes's face. "The fact +is this, St. Cecilia, I have had the most horrible fright. Those ghastly +little creatures the twins--the Vivian twins--brought a most enormous +spider into your room, hid it in the center of my bed, and then ran away +again. I never saw such a monster! I was afraid to go near the creature +at first; and when I did it looked at me--yes, absolutely looked at me! +I turned cold with horror. Then, before I could find my voice, it began +to run--and towards me! Oh, St. Cecilia, I screamed! I did. Susie and +Olive heard me, and came to the rescue. Of course they knew that the +spider was Dickie, that horrid reptile those girls brought from +Scotland. He has hidden himself somewhere in the room. The twins +themselves said that his bite was dangerous, so I am quite afraid to go +to bed; I am, really." + +"Come, Fanny, don't talk nonsense!" said Miss Symes. "The poor little +twins are to be excused to-night, for they are really beside themselves. +I have just left the poor little children, and Martha West is going to +spend the night with them. Martha is a splendid creature!" + +"I cannot possibly go to bed, Miss Symes." + +"But you really must turn in. We don't want to have more illnesses in +the house than we can help; so, my dear Fanny, get between the sheets +and go to sleep." + +"And you really think that Dickie won't hurt me?" + +"Of course not; and you surely can take care of yourself. If you are +nervous you can keep one of the electric lights on. Now, do go to bed. I +am going to change into a warm dressing-gown, for I want to help the +nurse in Betty's room." + +"And how is Betty?" asked Fanny in a low tone. "Why is there such a +frightful fuss about her? Is she so very ill?" + +"Yes, Fanny; your cousin, Betty Vivian, is dangerously ill. No one can +quite account for what is wrong; but that her brain is affected there is +not the slightest doubt, and the doctor from London says that unless she +gets relief soon he fears very much for the result. The child is +suffering from a very severe shock, and to-morrow Mrs. Haddo intends to +make most urgent inquiries as to the nature of what went wrong. But I +needn't talk to you any longer about her now. Go to bed and to sleep." + +While Miss Symes was speaking she was changing her morning-dress and +putting on a very warm woolen dressing-gown. The next minute she had +left the room without taking any further notice of Fanny. Fanny, +terrified, cold, afraid to undress, but unable from sheer sleepiness to +stay up any longer, got between the sheets and soon dropped into +undisturbed slumber. If Dickie watched her in the distance he left her +alone. There were worse enemies waiting to spy on poor Fanny than even +Dickie. + +In a school like Haddo Court dangerous illness must affect each member +of the large and as a rule deeply attached family. Betty Vivian had come +like a bright meteor into the midst of the school. She had delighted +her companions; she had fascinated them; she had drawn forth love. She +could do what no other girl had ever done in the school. No one supposed +Betty to be free from faults, but every one also knew that her faults +were exceeded by her virtues. She was loved because she was lovable. The +only one who really hated her was her cousin Fanny. + +Now, Fanny knew well that inquiries would be made; for the favorite must +not be ill if anything could be done to save her, nor must a stone be +left unturned to effect her recovery. + +Fanny awoke the next morning with a genuine headache, fearing she knew +not what. The great gong which always awoke the school was not sounded +that day; but a servant came in and brought Fanny's hot water, waking +her at the same time. Fanny rubbed her eyes, tried to recall where she +was, and then asked the woman how Miss Vivian was. + +"I don't know, miss. It's a little late, but if you are quick you'll be +down in hall at the usual time." + +Fanny felt that she hated the woman. As she dressed, however, she forgot +all about her, so intensely anxious was she to recover the packet from +its hiding-place in her own bedroom. She wondered much if she could +accomplish this, and presently, prompted by the motto, "Nothing venture, +nothing win," tidied her dress, smoothed back her hair, washed her face, +tried to look as she might have looked on an ordinary morning, and +finding that she had quite ten minutes to spare before she must appear +in hall, ran swiftly in the direction of her own room. + +She was sufficiently early to know that there was very little chance of +her meeting another girl en route, and even if she did she could easily +explain that she was going to her room to fetch some article of wardrobe +which had been forgotten. + +She reached the room. The door was shut. Very softly she turned the +handle; it yielded to her pressure, and she went in. + +The nurse turned at once to confront her. "You mustn't come in here, +miss." + +"I just want to fetch something from one of my drawers; I won't make the +slightest noise," said Fanny. "Please let me in." + +Sister Helen said nothing further. Fanny softly opened one of the +drawers. She knew the exact spot where the packet lay hidden. A moment +later she had folded it up in some of her under-linen and conveyed it +outside the room without Sister Helen suspecting anything. As soon as +she found herself in the corridor she removed the packet from its +wrappings and slipped it into her inner pocket. It must stay on her +person for the present, for in no other place could it possibly be safe. +When she regained Miss Symes's room she found that lady already there. +She was making her toilet. + +"Why, Fanny," she said, "what have you been doing? You haven't, surely, +been to your own room! Did Sister Helen let you in?" + +"She didn't want to; but I required some--some handkerchiefs and things +of that sort," said Fanny. + +"Well, you haven't brought any handkerchiefs," said Miss Symes. "You +have only brought a couple of night-dresses." + +"Sister Helen rather frightened me, and I just took these and ran away," +answered the girl. Then she added, lowering her voice, "How is Betty +to-day?" + +"You will hear all about Betty downstairs. It is time for you to go into +the hall. Don't keep me, Fanny." + +Fanny, only too delighted, left the room. Now she was safe. The worst of +all could not happen to her. When she reached the great central hall, +where the girls usually met for a few minutes before breakfast, she +immediately joined a large circle of girls of the upper school. They +were talking about Betty. Among the group was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was +crying, and when Fanny appeared she turned abruptly aside as though she +did not wish to be seen. Fanny, who had been almost jubilant at having +secured the packet, felt a new sense of horror at Sibyl's tears. Sibyl +was the sort of girl to be very easily affected. + +As Fanny came near she heard Susie Rushworth say to Sibyl, "Yes, it is +true; Betty has lost something, and if she doesn't find it she will--the +doctor, the great London doctor, says that she will--die." + +Sibyl gave another great, choking sob. + +Fanny took her arm. "Sibyl," she said, "don't you want to come for a +walk with me during recess this morning?" + +"Oh, I don't know, Fanny!" said poor Sibyl, raising her eyes, streaming +with tears, to Fanny's face. + +"Well, I want you," said Fanny. Then she added in a low tone, "Don't +forget Brighton and Aunt Amelia, and the excellent time you will have, +and the positive certainty that before a year is up you will be a +Speciality. Don't lose all these things for the sake of a little +sentiment. Understand, too, that doctors are often wrong about people. +It is ridiculous to suppose that a strong, hearty girl like Betty Vivian +should have her life in danger because you happened to find----" + +"Oh, don't!" said Sibyl. "I--I _can't_ bear it! I saw Sylvia and Hetty +last night. I can't bear it!" + +"You are a little goose, Sibyl! It's my opinion you are not well. You +must cling to me, dear, and I will pull you through--see if I don't." + +As Fanny took her usual place at the breakfast-table Susie Rushworth +said to her, "You really are kind to that poor little Sibyl, Fan. After +all, we must have been a little hard on her last night. She certainly +shows the greatest distress and affection for poor dear Betty." + +"I said she was a nice child. I shouldn't be likely to propose her for +the club if she were not," said Fanny. + +Susie said nothing more. All the girls were dull, grave, distressed. The +twins were nowhere to be seen. Betty's sweet face, Betty's sparkling +eyes, Betty's gay laugh, were conspicuous by their absence. Miss Symes +did not appear at all. + +When breakfast was over, and the brief morning prayers had been gone +through by Mr. Fairfax--for these prayers were not said in the +chapel--Mrs. Haddo rose and faced the school. "Girls," she said, "I wish +to let you all know that one of your number--one exceedingly dear to us +all--is lying now at the point of death. Whether God will spare her or +not depends altogether on her mind being given a certain measure of +relief. I need not tell you her name, for you all know it, and I believe +you are all extremely grieved at what has occurred. It is impossible for +any of you to help her at this moment except by being extra quiet, and +by praying to God to be good to her and her two little sisters. I +propose, therefore, to make a complete alteration in the arrangements of +to-day. I am going to send the whole of the upper school--with the +exception of the members of the Speciality Club--to London by train. Two +of the teachers, Mademoiselle and Miss Oxley, will accompany you. You +will all be driven to the station, and win return to-night--having, I +hope, enjoyed a pleasant day. By that time there may be good news to +greet you. No lessons to-day for any of the upper school; so, girls, go +at once and get ready." + +All the girls began now to leave the great hall, with the exception of +the Specialities and Sibyl Ray. + +"Go, Sibyl!" said Fanny. "What are you lingering for?" + +"Yes, Sibyl, be quick; don't delay!" said Mrs. Haddo, speaking rather +sharply. "You will all be back in time to-night to hear the latest +report of dear Betty, and we trust we may have good news to tell you." + +Sibyl went with extreme slowness and extreme unwillingness. But for the +fact that Fanny kept her eye fixed on Sibyl she might have refused to +budge. As it was, she left the hall; and a very few minutes later +wagonettes and motors appeared in view, and the girls of the upper +school drove to the railway station. + +As Fanny saw Sibyl driving off with the others she became conscious of a +new sense of relief. She had been so anxious with regard to Sibyl that +she had not had time to wonder why the Specialities were not included in +the entertainment. Now, however, her thoughts were turned into a +different channel. + +Susie Rushworth came up to Fanny. "Fanny," she said, "you and I, and the +Bertrams, and Olive, and Margaret, and Martha are all to go immediately +to Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room." + +"What for?" asked Fanny. + +"I expect that she will explain. We are to go, and at once." + +Fanny did not dare to say any more. They all went slowly together in the +direction of that beautiful room where Mrs. Haddo, usually so bright, so +cheery, so full of enthusiasm, invited her young pupils to meet her. But +there was no smile of welcome on that lady's fine face on the present +occasion. She did not even shake hands with the girls as they +approached. All she did was to ask them to sit down. + +Fanny took her place between Olive and one of the Bertrams. She could +not help noticing a great change in their manner towards her. As a rule +she was a prime favorite, and to sit next Fanny Crawford was considered +a very rare honor. On this occasion, however, the girls rather edged +away from Fanny. + +Mrs. Haddo seated herself near the fire. Then she turned and spoke to +Margaret Grant. "Margaret," she said, "I ask you, in the name of the +other members of your club, to give me full and exact particulars with +regard to your expulsion of Betty Vivian. I must know, and fully, why +Betty was expelled. Pause a minute before you speak, dear. For long +years I have allowed this club to exist in the school, believing much in +its good influence--in its power to ennoble and raise the impressionable +character of a young girl. I have not interfered with it; on the +contrary, I have been proud of it. To each girl who became a Speciality +I immediately granted certain privileges, knowing well that no girl +would be lightly admitted to a club with so high an aim and so noble a +standard. + +"When Betty first came I perceived at once that she was fearless, very +affectionate, and possessed a strong, pronounced, willful character; I +saw, in short, that she was worth winning and loving. I liked her +sisters also; but Betty was superior to her sisters. I departed from +several established customs when I admitted the Vivians to this school, +and I will own that I had my qualms of conscience notwithstanding the +fact that my old friend Sir John Crawford was so anxious for me to have +them here. Nevertheless, when first I saw Betty I knew that he was right +and I was wrong. That such a girl might stir up deep interest, and +perhaps even bring sorrow into the school, I knew was within the bounds +of probability; but I did not think it possible that she could ever +disgrace it. I own I was a little surprised when I was told that so new +a girl was made a member of your club; but as you, Margaret, were +secretary, and as Susie Rushworth and my dear friend Fanny were members, +I naturally had not a word to say, and only admired your discernment in +reading aright that young character. + +"Then there came the news--the terrible news--that Betty was expelled; +and since then there has been confusion, sorrow, and now this most +alarming illness. The girl is dying of a broken heart. She has lost +something that she treasures. Margaret, the rules of the club must give +place to the greater rules of the school; and I demand a full +explanation from you of the exact reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a +member of the Specialities." + +Margaret looked round at the other members. All their faces were white. +No one spoke for a minute. + +Then Fanny rose and said, "Is it fair, for Betty's sake, that we should +break our own rules? The reason of her being no longer a member is at +present known only to the rest of us. Is it right that it should be made +public property?" + +"It must be made _my_ property, Fanny Crawford; and I do not ask you, +much as I esteem your father's friendship, to dictate to me in this +matter." + +Fanny sat down again. She felt the little packet in her pocket. That, at +least, was secure; that, at least, would not rise up and betray her. + +Margaret gave a very simple explanation of the reason why Betty could +not remain in the club. She said that Betty had taken the rules and +studied them carefully; had most faithfully promised to obey them; and +then, a fortnight later, had stood up and stated that she had broken +Rule No. I., for she had a secret which she had not divulged to the +other members. + +"And that secret, Margaret?" asked Mrs. Haddo. + +"She had, she said, a packet--a sealed packet of great value--that she +did not wish any one in the school to know about. It had been given to +her by one she loved. She was extremely reticent about it, and seemed to +be in great trouble. She explained why she had not spoken of it at first +by saying that she did not think that the secret concerned any one in +the school, but since she had joined the club she had felt that she +ought to tell. We asked her all the questions we could; and she +certainly gave us to understand that the packet was hers by right, but +that, rather than give it up, she had told an untruth about it to +Fanny's father, Sir John Crawford. We were very much stunned and +distressed at her revelation, and we begged of her to go with the story +to you, and also to put the packet in your charge, and tell you what she +had already told us. This she emphatically refused to do, saying that +she would never give the packet up under any conditions whatever. We had +a special meeting of the club on the following night, when we again +asked Betty what she meant to do. She said her intention was to keep +firmly to her resolve that she would never give up the packet nor tell +where she had hidden it. We then felt it to be our bounden duty to ask +her to withdraw from the club. She did so. I think that is all." + +"Only," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking in a voice of great distress, "that +the poor, unhappy child seems to have lost the packet--which contained +nobody knows what, but some treasure which she prized--and that the loss +and the shock together are affecting her life to the point of danger. +Girls, do any of you know--have you any clue whatsoever to--where the +packet is now? Please remember, dear girls, that Betty's life--that +beautiful, vivid young life--depends on that packet being restored. +Don't keep it a secret if you have any clue whatsoever to give me, for I +am miserable about this whole thing." + +"Indeed we wouldn't keep it a secret," said Margaret. "How could we? +We'd give all the world to find it for her. Who can have taken it?" + +"Some one has, beyond doubt," said Mrs. Haddo. "Children, this is a +terrible day for me. I have tried to be kind to you all. Won't you help +me now in my sorrow?" + +The girls crowded round her, some of them kneeling by her side, some of +them venturing to kiss her hand; but from every pair of lips came the +same words, "We know nothing of the packet." Even Fanny, who kept it in +her pocket, and who heartily wished that it was lying at the bottom of +the sea, repeated the same words as her companions. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A RAY OF HOPE + + +A few minutes later the Speciality girls had left Mrs. Haddo's room. +There were to be no lessons that day; therefore they could spend their +time as they liked best. But an enforced holiday of this kind was no +pleasure to any of them. + +Martha said at once that she was going to seek the twins. "I have left +them in my room," she said. "They hardly slept all night. I never saw +such dear, affectionate little creatures. They are absolutely +broken-hearted. I promised to come to them as soon as I could." + +"Have you asked them to trust you--to treat you as a true friend?" asked +Fanny Crawford. + +"I have, Fanny; and the strange thing is, that although beyond doubt +they know pretty nearly as much about Betty's secret and about the lost +packet as she does herself, poor child, they are just as reticent with +regard to it. They will not tell. Nothing will induce them to betray +Betty. Over and over again I have implored of them, for the sake of her +life, to take me into their confidence; but I might as well have spoken +to adamant. They will not do it." + +"They have exactly the same stubborn nature," said Fanny. + +The other girls looked reproachfully at her. + +Then Olive said, "You have never liked your cousins, Fanny; and it does +pain us all that you should speak against them at a moment like the +present." + +"Then I will go away," said Fanny. "I can see quite well that my +presence is uncongenial to you all. I will find my own amusements. But I +may as well state that if I am to be tortured and looked down on in the +school, I shall write to Aunt Amelia and ask her to take me in until +father writes to Mrs. Haddo about me. You must admit, all of you, that +it has been a miserable time for me since the Vivians came to the +school." + +"You have made it miserable yourself, Fanny," was Susie's retort. + +Then Fanny got up and went away. A moment later she was joined by Martha +West. + +"Fanny, dear Fanny," said Martha, "won't you tell me what is changing +you so completely?" + +"There is nothing changing me," said Fanny in some alarm. "What do you +mean, Martha?" + +"Oh, but you look so changed! You are not a bit what you used to be--so +jolly, so bright, so--so very pretty. Now you have a careworn, anxious +expression. I don't understand you in the very least." + +"And I don't want you to," said Fanny. "You are all bewitched with +regard to that tiresome girl; even I, your old and tried friend, have no +chance against her influence. When I tell you I know her far better than +any of you can possibly do, you don't believe me. You suspect me of +harboring unkind and jealous thoughts against her; as if I, Fanny +Crawford, could be jealous of a nobody like Betty Vivian!" + +"Fanny, you know perfectly well that Betty will never be a nobody. There +is something in her which raises her altogether above the low standard +to which you assign her. Oh, Fanny, what is the matter with you?" + +"Please leave me alone, Martha. If you had spent the wretched night I +have spent you might look tired and worn out too. I was turned out of my +bedroom, to begin with, because Sister Helen required it." + +"Well, surely there was no hardship in that?" said Martha. "I, for +instance, spent the night gladly with dear little Sylvia and Hester; we +all had a room together in the lower school. Do you think I grumbled?" + +"Oh, of course you are a saint!" said Fanny with a sneer. + +"I am not, but I think I am human; and just at present, for some +extraordinary reason, you are not." + +"Well, you haven't heard the history of my woes. I had to share Miss +Symes's room with her." + +"St. Cecilia's delightful room! Surely that was no great hardship?" + +"Wait until you hear. St. Cecilia was quite kind, as she always is; and +I was told that I could have a room to myself to-night. I found, to +begin with, however, that most of the clothes I wanted had been left +behind in my own room. Still, I made no complaint; although, of course, +it was not comfortable, particularly as Miss Symes intended to sit up in +order to see the doctors. But as I was preparing to get into bed, those +twins--those horrid girls that you make such a fuss about, +Martha--rushed into the room and put an awful spider into the center of +my bed, and when I tried to get rid of it, it rushed towards me. Then I +screamed out, and Susie and Olive came in. But we couldn't catch the +spider nor find it anywhere. You don't suppose I was likely to go to bed +with _that_ thing in the room? The fire went nearly out. I was hungry, +sleepy, cold. I assure you I have my own share of misery. Then Miss +Symes came in and ordered me to bed. I went, but hardly slept a wink. +And now you expect me to be as cheerful and bright and busy as a bee +this morning!" + +"Oh, not cheerful, poor Fanny!--we can none of us be that with Betty in +such great danger; but you can at least be busy, you can at least help +others." + +"Thank you," replied Fanny; "self comes first now and then, and it does +on the present occasion;" and Fanny marched to Miss Symes's room. + +Martha looked after her until she disappeared from view; then, with a +heavy sigh, she went towards her own room. Here a fire was burning. Some +breakfast had been brought up for the twins, for they were not expected +to appear downstairs that morning. The untasted breakfast, however, +remained on the little, round table beside the fire, and Sylvia and +Hetty were nowhere to be seen. + +"Where have they gone?" thought Martha. "Oh, I trust they haven't been +so mad as to go to Betty's room!" + +She considered for a few minutes. She must find the children, and she +must not trouble any one else in the school about them. Dr. Ashley had +paid his morning visit, and there was quietness in the corridor just +outside Betty's room. Martha went there and listened. The high-strung, +anxious voice was no longer heard crying aloud piteously for what it +could not obtain. The door of the room was slightly ajar. Martha +ventured to peep in. Betty was lying with her face towards the wall, her +long, thick black hair covering the pillow, and one small hand flung +restlessly outside the counterpane. + +Sister Helen saw Martha, and with a wave of her hand, beckoned the girl +not to come in. Martha retreated to the corridor. Sister Helen followed +her. + +"What do you want, dear?" said the nurse. "You cannot possibly disturb +Betty. She is asleep. Both the doctor and I most earnestly hope that she +may awake slightly better. Dr. Jephson is coming to see her again this +evening. If by that time her symptoms have not improved he is going to +bring another brain specialist down with him. Dr. Ashley is to wire him +in the middle of the day, stating exactly how Betty Vivian is. If she is +the least bit better, Dr. Jephson will come alone; if worse, he will +bring Dr. Stephen Reynolds with him. Why, what is the matter? How pale +you look!" + +"You think badly of Betty, Sister Helen?" + +Sister Helen did not speak for a moment except by a certain look +expressed in her eyes. "Another nurse will arrive within an hour," she +said, "and then I shall be off duty for a short time. What can I do for +you? I mustn't stay whispering here." + +"I have come to find dear Betty's little sisters." + +"Oh, they left the room some time ago." + +"Left the room!" said Martha. "Oh, Sister Helen, have they been here?" + +"Yes, both of them, poor children. I went away to fetch some hot water. +Betty was lying very quiet; she had not spoken for nearly an hour. I +hoped she was dropping asleep. When I came back I saw a sight which +would bring tears to any eyes. Her two little sisters had climbed on to +the bed and were lying close to her, one on each side. They didn't +notice me at all; but as I came in I heard one of them say, 'Don't fret, +Bettina; we are going now, at once, to find it.' And then the other +said, 'And we won't come back until we've got it.' There came the ghost +of a smile over my poor little patient's face. She tried to speak, but +was too weak. I went up to one of the little girls and took her arm, and +whispered to her gently; and then they both got up at once, as meekly as +mice, and said, 'Betty, we won't come back until we've found it.' And +poor little Betty smiled again. For some extraordinary reason their +visit seemed to comfort her; for she sighed faintly, turned on her side, +and dropped asleep, just as she is now. I must go back to her at once, +Miss--Miss----" + +"West," replied Martha. "Martha West is my name." + +The nurse said nothing further, but returned to the sickroom. Martha +went very quickly back to her own. She felt she had a task cut out for +her. The twins had in all probability gone out. Their curious reticence +had been the most painful part of poor Martha's night-vigil. She had to +try to comfort the little girls who would not confide one particle of +their trouble to her. At intervals they had broken into violent fits of +sobbing, but they had never spoken; they had not even mentioned Betty's +name. By and by, towards morning, they each allowed Martha to clasp one +arm around them, and had dropped off into an uneasy slumber. + +Now they were doubtless out of doors. But where? Martha was by no means +acquainted with the haunts of the twins. She knew Sibyl Ray fairly well, +and had always been kind to her; but up to the present the younger +Vivian girls had not seemed to need any special kindness. They were +hearty, merry children; they were popular in the school, and had made +friends of their own. She wanted to seek for them now, but it never +occurred to her for a single moment where they might possibly be +discovered. + +The grounds round Haddo Court were very extensive, and Martha did not +leave a yard of these grounds unexplored, yet nowhere could she find the +twins. At last she came back to the house, tired out and very miserable. +She ran once more to her own room, wondering if they were now there. The +room was quite empty. The housemaid had removed the breakfast-things and +built up the fire. Martha had been told as a great secret that the +Vivians possessed an attic, where they kept their pets. She found the +attic, but it was empty. Even Dickie had forsaken it, and the different +caterpillars were all buried in their chrysalis state. Martha quickly +left the Vivians' attic. She wandered restlessly and miserably through +the lower school, and visited the room where she had slept, or tried to +sleep, the night before. Nowhere could she find them. + +Meanwhile Sylvia and Hester had done a very bold deed. They were +reckless of school rules at a moment like the present. Their one and +only desire was to save Betty at any cost. They knew quite well that +Betty had hidden the packet, but where they could not tell. Betty had +said to them in her confident young voice, "The less you know the +better;" and they had trusted her, as they always would trust her as +long as they lived, for Betty, to them, meant all that was noble and +great and magnificent in the world. + +It flashed now, however, through Sylvia's little brain that perhaps +Betty had taken the lost treasure to Mrs. Miles to keep. She whispered +her thought to Hester, who seized it with sudden rapture. + +"We can, at least, confide in Mrs. Miles," said Hetty; "and we can tell +the dogs. Perhaps the dogs could scent it out; dogs are such wonders." + +"We will go straight to Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +Betty had told them with great glee--ah, how merry Betty was in those +days!--how she had first reached the farm, of her delightful time with +Dan and Beersheba, of her dinner, of her drive back. Had not they +themselves also visited Stoke Farm? What a delightful, what a glorious, +time they had had there! That indeed was a time of joy. Now was a time +of fearful trouble. But they felt, poor little things! though they could +not possibly confide either in kind Martha West or in any of their +school-friends, that they might confide in Mrs. Miles. + +Accordingly they managed to vault over the iron railings, get on to the +roadside, and in course of time to reach Stoke Farm. The dogs rushed out +to meet them. But Dan and Beersheba were sagacious beasts. They hated +frivolity, they hated unfeeling people, but they respected great sorrow; +and when Hetty said with a burst of tears, "Oh, Dan, Dan, darling Dan, +Betty, your Betty and ours, is so dreadfully ill!" Dan fawned upon the +little girl, licked her hands, and looked into her face with all the +pathos in the world in his brown doggy eyes. Beersheba, of course, +followed his brother's example. So the poor little twins, accompanied by +the dogs, entered Mrs. Miles's kitchen. + +Mrs. Miles sprang up with a cry of rapture and surprise at the sight of +them. "Why, my dears! my dears!" she said. "And wherever is the elder of +you? Where do she be? Oh, then it's me is right glad to see you both!" + +"We want to talk to you, Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +"And we want to kiss you, Mrs. Miles," said Hester. + +Then they flung themselves upon her and burst into floods of most bitter +weeping. + +Mrs. Miles had not brought up a large family of children for nothing. +She was accustomed to childish griefs. She knew how violent, how +tempestuous, such griefs might be, and yet how quickly the storms would +pass, the sunshine come, and how smiles would replace tears. She treated +the twins, therefore, now, just as though they were her own children. +She allowed them to cry on her breast, and murmured, "Dear, dear! Poor +lambs! poor lambs! Now, this is dreadful bad, to be sure! But don't you +mind how many tears you shed when you've got Mrs. Miles close to you. +Cry on, pretties, cry on, and God comfort you!" + +So the children, who felt so lonely and desolate, did cry until they +could cry no longer. Then Mrs. Miles immediately did the sort of thing +she invariably found effectual in the case of her own children. She put +the exhausted girls into a comfortable chair each by the fire, and +brought them some hot milk and a slice of seed-cake, and told them they +must sip the milk and eat the cake before they said any more. + +Now, as a matter of fact, Sylvia and Hetty were, without knowing it in +the least, in a starving condition. From the instant that Betty's +serious illness was announced they had absolutely refused all food, +turning from it with loathing. Supper the night before was not for them, +and breakfast had remained untasted that morning. Mrs. Miles had +therefore done the right thing when she provided them with a comforting +and nourishing meal. They would have refused to touch the cake had one +of their schoolfellows offered it, but they obeyed Mrs. Miles just as +though she were their real mother. + +And while they ate, and drank their hot milk, the good woman went on +with her cooking operations. "I am having a fine joint to-day," she +said: "corned beef that couldn't be beat in any county in England, and +that's saying a good deal. It'll be on the table, with dumplings to +match and a big apple-tart, sharp at one o'clock. I might ha' guessed +that some o' them dear little missies were coming to dinner, for I +don't always have a hot joint like this in the middle o' the week." + +The girls suddenly felt that of all things in the world they would like +corned beef best; that dumplings would be a delicious accompaniment; and +that apple-tart, eaten with Mrs. Miles's rich cream, would go well with +such a dinner. They became almost cheerful. Matters were not quite so +black, and they had a sort of feeling that Mrs. Miles would certainly +help them to find the lost treasure. + +Having got her dinner into perfect order, and laid the table, and put +everything right for the arrival of her good man, Mrs. Miles shut the +kitchen door and drew her chair close to the children. + +"Now you are warm," she said, "and fed, you don't look half so miserable +as you did when you came in. I expect the good food nourished you up a +bit. And now, whatever's the matter? And where is that darling, Miss +Betty? Bless her heart! but she twined herself round us all entirely, +that she did." + +It would be wrong to say that Sylvia did not burst into fresh weeping at +the sound of Betty's name. + +But Hester was of stronger mettle. "We have come to you," she said--"Oh, +Sylvia, do stop crying! it does no manner of good to cry all the +time--we have come to you, Mrs. Miles, to help us to save Betty." + +"Lawk-a-mercy! and whatever's wrong with the dear lamb?" + +"We are going to tell you everything," said Hester. "We have quite made +up our minds. Betty is very, very ill." + +"Yes," said Sylvia, "she is so ill that Dr. Ashley came to see her twice +yesterday, and then again a third time with a great, wonderful special +doctor from London; and we were not allowed to sleep in her room last +night, and she's--oh, she's dreadfully bad! + +"They whispered in the school," continued Sylvia in a low tone--"I +heard them; they _did_ whisper it in the school--that perhaps Betty +would--would _die_. Mrs. Miles, that can't be true! God doesn't take +away young, young girls like our Betty. God couldn't be so cruel." + +"We won't call it cruelty," said Mrs. Miles; "but God does do it, all +the same, for His own wise purposes, no doubt. We'll not talk o' that, +my lambs; we'll let that pass by. The thing is for you to tell me what +has gone wrong with that bonny, strong-looking girl. Why, when she was +here last, although she was a bit pale, she looked downright healthy and +strong enough for anything. Eh, my dear dears! you can't mention her +name even now to Dan and Beersheba that they ain't took with fits o' +delight about her, dancing and scampering like half-mad dogs, and +whining for her to come to them. There, to be sure! they know you belong +to her, and they're lying down as contented as anything at your feet. I +don't expect, somehow, your sister will die, my loves, although gels as +young as she have passed into the Better Land. Oh, dear, I'm making you +cry again! It's good corned beef and dumplings you want. You mustn't +give way, my dears; people who give way in times o' trouble ain't worth +their salt." + +"We thought perhaps you'd help us," said Sylvia. + +"Help you, darlings! That I will! I'd help you to this extent--I'd help +you even to the giving up o' the custom o' Haddo Court. Now, what can I +do more than that?" + +"Oh, but your help--the help you can give us--won't do you any harm," +said Hester. "We'll tell you about Betty, for we know that you'll never +let it out--except, indeed, to your husband. We don't mind a bit his +knowing. Now, this is what has happened. You know we had great +trouble--or perhaps you don't know. Anyhow, we had great trouble--away, +away in beautiful Scotland. One we loved died. Before she died she left +something for Betty to take care of, and Betty took what she had left +her. It was only a little packet, quite small, tied up in brown paper, +and sealed with a good many seals. We don't know what the packet +contained; but we thought perhaps it might be money, and Betty said to +us that it would be a very good thing for us to have some money to fall +back upon in case we didn't like the school." + +"Now, whatever for?" asked Mrs. Miles. "And who could dislike a school +like Haddo Court?" + +"Of course we couldn't tell," said Sylvia, "not having been there; but +Betty, who is always very wise, said it was best be on the safe side, +and that perhaps the packet contained money, and if it did we'd have +enough to live on in case we chose to run away." + +"Oh, missies, did I ever hear tell o' the like! To run away from a +beautiful school like Haddo Court! Why, there's young ladies all over +England trying to get into it! But you didn't know, poor lambs! Well, go +on; tell me the rest." + +"There was a man who was made our guardian," continued Sylvia, "and he +was quite kind, and we had nothing to say against him. His name is Sir +John Crawford." + +"Miss Fanny's father, bless her!" said Mrs. Miles; "and a pretty young +lady she do be." + +"Fanny Crawford is our cousin," said Sylvia, "and we hate her most +awfully." + +"Oh, my dear young missies! but hate is a weed--a noxious weed that +ought to be pulled up out o' the ground o' your hearts." + +"It is taking deep root in mine," said Sylvia. + +"And in mine," said Hester. + +"But please let us tell you the rest, Mrs. Miles. Sir John Crawford had +a letter from our dear aunt, who left the packet for Betty; and we +cannot understand it, but she seemed to wish Sir John Crawford to take +care of the packet for the present. He looked for it everywhere, and +could not find it. Was he likely to when Betty had taken it? Then he +asked Betty quite suddenly if she knew anything about it, and Betty +stood up and said 'No.' She told a huge, monstrous lie, and she didn't +even change color, and he believed her. So we came here. Well, Betty was +terribly anxious for fear the packet should be found, and one night we +helped her to climb down from the balcony out of our bedroom. No one saw +her go, and no one saw her return, and she put the packet away +somewhere--we don't know where. Well, after that, wonderful things +happened, and Betty was made a tremendous fuss of in the school. There +was no one like her, and she was loved like anything, and we were as +proud as Punch of her. But all of a sudden everything changed, and our +Betty was disgraced. There were horrid things written on a blackboard +about her. She was quite innocent, poor darling! But the things +were written, and Betty is the sort of girl to feel such disgrace +frightfully. We were quite preparing to run away with her, for +we thought she wouldn't care to stay much longer in the +school--notwithstanding your opinion of it, Mrs. Miles. But all of a +sudden Betty seemed to go right down, as though some one had felled her +with an awful blow. She kept crying out, and crying out, that the packet +was lost. Anyhow, she thinks it is lost; she hasn't an idea where it can +be. And the doctors say that Betty's brain is in such a curious state +that unless the packet is found she--she may die. + +"So we went to her, both of us, and we told her we would go and find +it," continued Sylvia. "We have got to find it. That is what we have +come about. We don't suppose for a minute that it was right of Betty to +tell the lie; but that was the only thing she did wrong. Anyhow, we +don't care whether she did right or wrong; she is our Betty, the most +splendid, the very dearest girl in all the world, and she sha'n't die. +We thought perhaps you would help us to find the packet." + +"Well," said Mrs. Miles, "that's a wonderful story, and it's a queer +sort o' job to put upon a very busy farmer's wife. _Me_ to find the +packet?" + +"Yes; you or your husband, whichever of you can or will do it. It is +Betty's life that depends upon it. Couldn't your dogs help us? In +Scotland we have dogs that scent anything. Are yours that sort?" + +"They haven't been trained," said Mrs. Miles, "and that's the simple +truth. Poor darlings! you must bear up as best you can. It's a very +queer story, but of course the packet must be found. You stay here for +the present, and I'll go out and meet my husband as he comes along to +his dinner. I reckon, when all's said and done, I'm a right good wife +and a right good mother, and that there ain't a farm kept better than +ours anywhere in the neighborhood, nor finer fowls for the table, nor +better ducks, nor more tender geese and turkeys. Then as to our +pigs--why, the pigs themselves be a sight. And we rears horses, too, and +very good many o' them turn out. And in the spring-time we have young +lambs and young heifers; in fact, there ain't a young thing that can be +born that don't seem to have a right to take up its abode at Stoke Farm. +And I does for 'em all, the small twinses being too young and the old +twinses too rough and big for the sort o' work. Well, my dears, I'm good +at all that sort o' thing; but when it comes to dertective business I am +nowhere, and I may as well confess it. I am sorry for you, my loves; but +this is a job for the farmer and not for me, for he's always down on the +poachers, and very bitter he feels towards 'em. He has to be sharp and +sudden and swift and knowing, whereas I have to be tender and loving and +petting and true. That's the differ between us. He's more the person for +this 'ere job, and I'll go and speak to him while you sit by the kitchen +fire." + +"Do, please, please, Mrs. Miles!" said both the twins. + +Then she left them, and they sat very still in the warm, silent kitchen; +and by and by Sylvia, worn out with grief, and not having slept at all +during the previous night, dropped into an uneasy slumber, while Hetty +stroked her sister's hand and Dan's head until she also fell asleep. + +The dogs, seeing that the girls were asleep, thought that they might do +the same. When, therefore, Farmer Miles and his wife entered the +kitchen, it was to find the two girls and the dogs sound asleep. + +"Poor little lambs! Do look at 'em!" said Mrs. Miles. "They be wore out, +and no mistake." + +"Let's lay 'em on the sofa along here," said Miles. "While they're +having their sleep out you get the dinner up, wife, and I'll go out and +put on my considering-cap." + +The farmer had no sooner said this than--whispering to the dogs, who +very unwillingly accompanied him--he left the kitchen. He went into the +farmyard and began to pace up and down. Mrs. Miles had told her story +with some skill, the farmer having kept his attention fixed on the +salient points. + +Miss Betty--even he had succumbed utterly to the charms of Miss +Betty--had lost a packet of great value. She had hidden it, doubtless in +the grounds of Haddo Court. She had gone had gone to look for it, and it +was no longer there. Some one had stolen it. Who that person could be +was what the farmer wanted to "get at," as he expressed it. "Until you +can get at the thief," he muttered under his breath, "you are nowhere at +all." + +But at present he was without any clue, and, true man of business that +he was, he felt altogether at a loose end. Meanwhile, as he was pacing +up and down towards the farther edge of the prosperous-looking farmyard, +Dan uttered a growl and sprang into the road. The next minute there was +a piercing cry, and Farmer Miles, brandishing his long whip, followed +the dog. Dan was holding the skirts of a very young girl and shaking +them ferociously in his mouth. His eyes glared into the face of the +girl, and his whole aspect was that of anger personified. Luckily, +Beersheba was not present, or the girl might have had a sorry time of +it. With a couple of strides the farmer advanced towards her; dealt some +swift lashes with his heavy whip on the dog's head, which drove him +back; then, taking the girl's small hand, he said to her kindly, "Don't +you be frightened, miss; his bark's a sight worse nor his bite." + +"Oh, he did terrify me so!" was the answer; "and I've been running for +such a long time, and I'm very, very tired." + +"Well, miss, I don't know your name nor anything about you; but this +land happens to be private property--belonging to me, and to me alone. +Of course, if it weren't for that I'd have no right to have fierce dogs +about ready to molest human beings. It was a lucky thing for you, miss, +that I was so close by. And whatever be your name, if I may be so bold +as to ask, and where be you going now?" + +"My name is Sibyl Ray, and I belong to Haddo Court." + +"Dear, dear, dear! seems to me, somehow, that Haddo Court and Stoke Farm +are going to have a right good connection. I don't complain o' the +butter, and the bread, and the cheese, and the eggs, and the fowls as we +sarve to the school; but I never counted on the young ladies taking +their abode in my quarters." + +"What do you mean, and who are you?" said Sibyl in great amazement. + +"My name, miss, is Farmer Miles; and this house"--he pointed to his +dwelling--"is my homestead; and there are two young ladies belonging to +your school lying fast asleep at the present moment in my wife's +kitchen, and they has given me a problem to think out. It's a mighty +stiff one, but it means life or death; so of course I have, so to speak, +my knife in it, and I'll get the kernel out afore I'm many hours older." + +Sibyl, who had been very miserable before she started, who had endured +her drive with what patience she could, and whose heart was burning +with hatred to Fanny and passionate, despairing love for Betty Vivian, +was so exhausted now that she very nearly fainted. + +The farmer looked at her out of his shrewd eyes. "Being a member o' the +school, Miss Ray," he said, "you doubtless are acquainted with them +particularly charming young ladies, the Misses Vivian?" + +"Indeed I know them all, and love them all," said Sibyl. + +"Now, that's good hearing; for they be a pretty lot, that they be. And +as to the elder, I never see'd a face like hers--so wonderful, and with +such a light about it; and her courage--bless you, miss! the dogs +wouldn't harm _her_. It was fawning on her, and licking her hand, and +petting her they were. Is it true, miss, that Miss Betty is so mighty +bad?" + +"It is true," said Sibyl; "and I wonder----Oh; please don't leave me +standing here alone on the road. I am so miserable and frightened! I +wonder if it's Sylvia and Hester who are in your house?" + +"Yes, they be the missies, and dear little things they be." + +"And have they told you anything?" asked Sibyl. + +"Well, yes; they have set me a conundrum--a mighty stiff one. It seems +that Miss Betty Vivian has lost a parcel, and she be that fretted about +it that she's nigh to death, and the little uns have promised to get it +back for her; and, poor children! they've set me on the job, and how +ever I'm to do it I don't know." + +"I think perhaps I can help you," said Sibyl suddenly. "I'll tell you +this much, Farmer Miles. I can get that packet back, and I'd much rather +get it back with your help than without it." + +"Shake hands on that, missie. I wouldn't like to be, so to speak, in a +thing, and then cast out o' it again afore the right moment. But +whatever do you mean?" + +"You shall know all at the right time," said Sibyl. "Mrs. Haddo is so +unhappy about Betty that she wouldn't allow any of the upper-school +girls to have lessons to-day, so she sent them off to spend the day in +London. I happened to be one of them, and was perfectly wretched at +having to go; so while I was driving to the railway station in one of +the wagonettes I made up my mind. I settled that whatever happened I'd +never, never, never endure another night like the last; and I couldn't +go to London and see pictures or museums or whatever places we were to +be taken to while Betty was lying at death's door, and when I knew that +it was possible for me to save her. So when we got to the station there +was rather a confusion--that is, while the tickets were being +bought--and I suddenly slipped away by myself and got outside the +station, and ran, and ran, and ran--oh, so fast!--until at last I got +quite beyond the town, and then I found myself in the country; and all +the time I kept saying, and saying, 'I will tell. She sha'n't die; +nothing else matters; Betty shall not die.'" + +"Then what do you want me to help you for, missie?" + +"Because," said Sibyl, holding out her little hand, "I am very weak and +you are very strong, and you will keep me up to it. Please do come with +me straight back to the school!" + +"Well, there's a time for all things," said the farmer; "and I'm willing +to give up my arternoon's work, but I'm by no means willing to give up +my midday meal, for we farmers don't work for nothing--as doubtless you +know, missie. So, if you'll come along o' me and eat a morsel, we'll set +off afterwards, sure and direct, to Haddo Court; and I'll keep you up to +the mark if you're likely to fail." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE + + +Sylvia and Hetty had awakened when the farmer brought Sibyl Ray into the +pleasant farmhouse kitchen. The twin-boys were absent at school, and +only the little twins came down to dinner. The beef, potatoes, +dumplings, apple-tart and cream were all A1, and Sibyl was just as glad +of the meal as were the two Vivian girls. + +The Vivians did not know Sibyl very well, and had not the least idea +that she guessed their secret. She rather avoided glancing at them, and +was very shy and retiring, and stole up close to the farmer when the +dogs were admitted. But Dan and Beersheba knew what was expected of +them. Any one in the Stoke Farm kitchen had a right to be there; and +were they going to waste their precious time and affection on the sort +of girl they would love to bite, when Sylvia and Hetty were present? So +they fawned on the twin-girls, taking up a good deal of their attention; +and by and by the dinner came to an end. + +When it was quite over the farmer got up, wiped his mouth with a big, +red-silk handkerchief, and, going up to the Vivian twins, said quietly, +"You can go home, whenever you like; and I think the job you have put +upon me will be managed. Meanwhile, me and this young party will make +off to Haddo Court as fast as we can." + +As this "young party" happened to be Sibyl Ray, the girls looked up in +astonishment; but the farmer gave no information of any kind, not even +bestowing a wink on his wife, who told the little twins when he had left +the kitchen accompanied by Sibyl that she would be ready to walk back +with them to the school in about half an hour. + +"You need have no frets now, my loves," she said. "The farmer would +never have said words like he've spoken to you if he hadn't got his +knife right down deep into the kernel. He's fond o' using that +expression, dears, when he's nailed a poacher, and he wouldn't say no +less nor no more for a job like you've set him to." + +During their walk the farmer and Sibyl hardly exchanged a word. As they +went up the avenue they saw that the place was nearly empty. The day was +a fine one; but the girls of the lower school had one special +playground some distance away, and the girls of the upper school were +supposed to be in London. Certainly no one expected Sibyl Ray to put in +an appearance here at this hour. + +As they approached quite close to the mansion, Sibyl turned her very +pale face and stole her small hand into that of the farmer. "I am so +frightened!" she said; "and I know quite well this is going to ruin me, +and I shall have to go back home to be a burden to father, who is very +poor, and who thinks so much of my being educated here. But I--I will do +it all the same." + +"Of course you will, missie; and poverty don't matter a mite." + +"Perhaps it doesn't," said Sibyl. + +"Compared to a light heart, it don't matter a gossoon, as they say in +Ireland," remarked the farmer. + +Sibyl felt suddenly uplifted. + +"I'll see you through, missie," he added as they came up to the wide +front entrance. + +A doctor's carriage was standing there, and it was quite evident that +one or two doctors were in the house. + +"Oh," said Sibyl with a gasp, "suppose we are betrayed!" + +"No, we won't be that," said the farmer. + +Sibyl pushed open the door, and then, standing in the hall, she rang a +bell. A servant presently appeared. + +Before Sibyl could find her voice Farmer Miles said, "Will you have the +goodness to find Mrs. Haddo and tell her that I, Farmer Miles of the +Stoke Farm, have come here accompanied by one o' her young ladies, who +has something o' great importance to tell her at once?" + +"Perhaps you will both come into Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room?" +said the girl. + +The farmer nodded assent, and he and Sibyl entered. When they were +inside the room Sibyl uttered a faint sigh. The farmer took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead. + +"What a lot o' fal-lals, to be sure!" he said, looking round in a by no +means appreciative manner. + +Sibyl and the farmer had to wait for some little time before Mrs. Haddo +made her appearance. When she did so a great change was noticeable in +her face; it was exceedingly pale. Her lips had lost their firm, their +even noble, expression of self-restraint; they were tremulous, as though +she had been suffering terribly. Her eyes were slightly red, as though +some of those rare tears which she so seldom shed had visited them. She +looked first at Farmer Miles and then in great amazement at Sibyl. + +"Why are you here, Sibyl Ray?" she said. "I sent you to London with the +other girls of the upper school this morning. What are you doing here?" + +"Perhaps I can tell you best, ma'am, if you will permit me to speak," +said the farmer. + +"I hope you will be very brief, Farmer Miles. I could not refuse your +request, but we are all in great trouble to-day at the school. One of +our young ladies--one greatly beloved by us all--is exceedingly, indeed +I must add most dangerously, ill." + +"It's about her we've come," said the farmer. + +Here Mrs. Haddo sank into a seat. "Why, what do you know about Miss +Betty Vivian?" + +"Ah, I met her myself, not once, but twice," said Miles; "and I love +her, too, just as the wife loves her, and the big twins, and the little +twins, and the dogs--bless 'em! We all love Miss Betty Vivian. And now, +ma'am, I must tell you that Miss Betty's little sisters came to see the +good wife this morning." + +Mrs. Haddo was silent. + +"They told their whole story to the good wife. A packet has been lost, +and Miss Betty lies at death's door because o' the grief o' that loss. +The little uns--bless 'em!--thought that the wife could find the packet. +That ain't in her line; it's mothering and coddling and loving as is in +her line. So she put the job on me; and, to be plain, ma'am, I never +were more flabbergasted in the whole o' my life. For to catch a poacher +is one thing, and to catch a lost packet--nobody knowing where it be nor +how it were lost--is another." + +"Well, why have you come to me?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Because, ma'am, I've got a clue, and a big one; and this young lady's +the clue." + +"You, Sibyl Ray--you?" + +"Yes," said Sibyl. + +"Speak out now, missie; don't be frightened. There are miles worse +things than poverty; there's disgrace and heart-burnings. Speak you out +bold, missie, and don't lose your courage." + +"I was miserable," said Sibyl. "I didn't want to go to town, and when I +got to the station I slipped away; and I got into the lane outside Stoke +Farm and a dog came out and frightened me, and--and--then this man +came--this kind man----" + +"Well, go on, Sibyl," said Mrs. Haddo; "moments are precious just now." + +"I--took the packet," said Sibyl. + +"_You_--took--the packet?" + +"Yes. I don't want to speak against another. It was my fault--or mostly +my fault. I did love Betty, and it didn't matter at all to me that she +was expelled from the Specialities; I should love her just as much if +she were expelled from fifty Specialities. But Fanny--she--she--put me +against her." + +"Fanny! What Fanny do you mean?" + +"Fanny Crawford." + +Mrs. Haddo rose at once and rang her bell. When the servant appeared she +said, "Send Miss Crawford here immediately, and don't mention that any +one is in my study. Now, Sibyl, keep the rest of your story until Fanny +Crawford is present." + +In about five minutes' time Fanny appeared. She was very white, and +looked rather worn and miserable. "Oh, dear!" she said as she entered, +"I am so glad you have sent for me, Mrs. Haddo; and I do trust I shall +have a room to myself to-night, for I didn't sleep at all last night, +and----Why, whatever is the matter? Sibyl, what are you doing here? And +who--who is that man?" + +"Sit down, Fanny--or stand, just as you please," said Mrs. Haddo; "only +have the goodness not to speak until Sibyl has finished her story. Now, +Sibyl, go on. You had come to that part where you explained that Fanny +put you against Betty Vivian. No, Fanny, you do not go towards the door. +Stay quietly where you are." + +Fanny, seeing that all chance of exit was cut off, stood perfectly +still, her eyes fixed on the ground. + +"Now, Sibyl, go on." + +"Fanny was very anxious about the packet, and she wanted me to watch," +continued Sibyl, "so that I might discover where Betty had hidden it. I +did watch, and I found that Betty had put it under one of the plants of +wild-heather in the 'forest primeval.' I saw her take it out and look at +it and put it back again, and when she was gone I went to the place and +took the packet out myself and brought it to Fanny. I don't know where +the packet is now." + +"Fanny, where is the packet?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Sibyl is talking the wildest nonsense," said Fanny. "How can you +possibly believe her? I know nothing about Betty Vivian or her +concerns." + +"Perhaps, miss," said the farmer, coming forward at that moment, "that +pointed thing sticking out o' your pocket might have something to do +with it. You will permit me, miss, seeing that the young lady's life is +trembling in the balance." + +Before either Mrs. Haddo or Fanny could utter a word Farmer Miles had +strode across the room, thrust his big, rough hand into Fanny's neat +little pocket, and taken out the brown paper-packet. + +"There, now," he said, "that's the kernel of the nut. I thought I'd do +it somehow. Thank you kindly, ma'am, for listening to me. Miss Sibyl +Ray, you may be poor in the future, but at least you'll have a light +heart; and as to the dirty trick you did, I guess you won't do a second, +for you have learned your lesson. I'll be wishing you good-morning now, +ma'am," he added, turning to Mrs. Haddo, "for I must get back to my +work. It's twelve pounds o' butter the cook wants sent up without fail +to-night, ma'am; and I'm much obliged for the order." + +The farmer left the room. Fanny had flung herself on a chair and covered +her face with her hands. Sibyl stood motionless, awaiting Mrs. Haddo's +verdict. + +Once again Mrs. Haddo rang the bell. "Send Miss Symes to me," she said. + +Miss Symes appeared. + +"The doctor's last opinion, please, Miss Symes?" + +"Dr. Ashley says that Betty is much the same. The question now is how to +keep up her strength. He thinks it better to have two specialists from +London, as, if she continues in such intense excitement, further +complications may arise." + +"Do you know where Betty's sisters are?" was Mrs. Haddo's next inquiry. + +"I haven't seen them for some time, but I will find out where they are." + +"As soon as ever you find them, send them straight to me. I shall be +here for the present." + +Miss Symes glanced in some wonder from Sibyl to Fanny; then she went out +of the room without further comment. + +When she was quite alone with the girls Mrs. Haddo said, "Fanny, a fresh +bedroom has been prepared for you, and I shall be glad if you will go +and spend the rest of this day there. I do not feel capable of speaking +to you at present. As to you, Sibyl, your conduct has been bad enough; +but at the eleventh hour--and, we may hope, in time--you have made +restitution. You may, therefore, rejoin the girls of the lower school." + +"Of the lower school?" said Sibyl. + +"Yes. Your punishment is that you return to the lower school for at +least a year, until you are more capable of guiding your own conduct, +and less likely to be influenced by the wicked passions of girls who +have had more experience than yourself. You can go to your room also for +the present, and to-morrow morning you will resume your duties in the +lower school." + +Fanny and Sibyl both turned away, neither of them saying a word to the +other. They had scarcely done so before Miss Symes came in, her face +flushed with excitement, and accompanied by the twins. + +"My dear girls, where have you been?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"With Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +"I cannot blame you, under the circumstances, although you have broken a +rule. My dears, thank God for His mercies. Here is the lost packet." + +Sylvia grasped it. + +Hester rushed towards Sylvia and laid her hand over her sister's. "Oh! +oh!" she said. + +"Now, girls, can I trust you? I was told what took place this +morning--how you went to Betty without leave, and promised to return +with the packet. Is Betty awake at present, Miss Symes?" + +"Yes," said Miss Symes, "she has been awake for a long time." + +"Will you take the girls up to Betty's room? Do not go in yourself. Now, +girls, I trust to your wisdom, and to your love of Betty, to do this +thing very quietly." + +"You may trust us," said Hetty. + +They left the room. They followed Miss Symes upstairs. They entered the +beautiful room where Betty was lying, her eyes shining brightly, fever +high on her cheeks. + +It was Hetty who put the packet into her hand. "Here it is, Betty +darling. We said we'd find it for you." + +Then a wonderful thing happened; for Betty looked at the packet, then +she smiled, then she raised it to her lips and kissed it, then she put +it under her pillow. Finally she said, "Oh, I am sleepy! Oh, I am +tired!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +RESTORATION + + +Notwithstanding the fact that the lost packet was restored, Betty's life +hung in the balance for at least another twenty-four hours. During that +time she tossed and sighed and groaned. The fever ran high, and her +little voice kept on saying, "Oh, that I could find the packet!" + +It was in this emergency that Miss Symes came to the rescue. She called +Sylvia and Hester to her, and desired Hester to stand at one side of +Betty's little, narrow, white bed, and Sylvia to place herself at the +other. + +Betty did not seem even to know her sisters. Her eyes were glassy, her +cheeks deeply flushed, and there was a look of intense restlessness and +great pain in her face. "Oh, that I might find the packet!" she +murmured. + +"Do what your heart prompts you, Sylvia," said Miss Symes. + +Sylvia immediately pushed her hand under Betty's pillow, and, taking up +the lost packet, took one of the girl's little, feverish hands and +closed her fingers round the brown-paper parcel. + +"It is found, Bettina! it is found!" said Sylvia. "Here it is. You need +not fret any more." + +"What! what!" said Betty. Into her eyes there crept a new expression, +into her voice a new note. "Oh, I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. + +But here Hetty threw in a word of affection and entreaty. "Why, +Bettina," she said, "it is in your hand. Feel it, darling! feel it! We +got it back for you, just as we said we would. Feel it, Bettina! feel +it!" + +Betty felt. Her fingers were half-numbed; but she was able to perceive +the difference between the brown paper and the thick, strong cord, and +again the difference between the thick cord and the sealing-wax. "How +many seals are there?" she asked in a breathless, eager voice, turning +and looking full at her sisters. + +"Eight in all," said Sylvia, speaking rapidly: "two in front, two at +each side, and two, again, fastening down the naps at the back." + +"I knew there were eight," said Betty. "Let me feel them." + +Sylvia conducted Betty's fingers over the unbroken seals. + +"Count for me, darling, silly Sylvia!" said Betty. + +Sylvia began to count: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. + +"It is my lost packet!" said Betty with a cry. + +"It is, Betty! it is!" + +"And is any one going to take it from me?" + +"No one, Betty, ever again." + +"Let me hold it in my hand," said Betty. + +Sister Helen came up with a restorative; and when Betty had taken the +nourishing contents of the little, white china cup, she again made use +of that extraordinary expression, "Oh, I am so sleepy! Oh, I am tired!" + +Still holding the packet in her hand, Betty dropped off into slumber; +and when she came to herself the doctors said that the crisis was past. + +Betty Vivian recovered very slowly, during which time the rules of the +school were altogether relaxed, not only in her favor, but also in favor +of the twins, Sylvia and Hetty. They were allowed to spend some hours +every day with Betty, and although they spoke very little, they were +able to comfort their sister immensely. At last Betty was well enough to +leave her bed and creep to any easy-chair, where she would sit, feeling +more dead than alive; and, by slow degrees, the girls of the school whom +she loved best came to see her and comfort her and fuss over her. +Margaret Grant looked very strong and full of sympathy; Martha West had +that delightful voice which could not but attract all who heard her +speak. Susie Rushworth, the Bertrams, Olive, and all the other +Specialities, with the exception of Fanny, came to visit Betty, who, in +her turn, loved to see them, and grew better each day, and stronger, and +more inclined to eat the good, nourishing food which was provided for +her. + +All this time she had never once spoke of Fanny Crawford. The other +Speciality girls were rather nervous on this account. They wondered how +Betty would feel when she heard what had happened to Fanny; for Fanny, +after spending a whole day and night in the small and somewhat dismal +bedroom prepared for her by Mrs. Haddo's orders, refused to appear at +prayers the following morning, and, further, requested that her +breakfast should be taken up to her. + +Betty's life was still hanging in the balance, although the doctors were +not nearly so anxious as they had been the day before. Fanny was biding +her time. She knew all the rules of the school, having spent so many +years there. She also knew well what desolation awaited her in the +future in this bright and pleasant school; for, during that painful day +and that terrible night, and this, if possible, more dreadful morning, +no one had come near her but the servant who brought her meals, no one +had spoken to her. To all appearance she, one of the prime favorites of +the school and Sir John Crawford's only daughter, was forgotten as +though she had never existed. To Fanny's proud heart this sense of +desertion was almost intolerable. She could have cried aloud but that +she did not dare to give way; she could have set aside Mrs. Haddo's +punishment, but in her heart of hearts she felt convinced that none of +the girls would take her part. All the time, however, she was making up +her mind. Her nicely assorted garments--her pretty evening frocks, her +day-dresses of summer and winter, her underclothing, her jackets, her +hats, gloves, and handkerchiefs--had all been conveyed to the small, +dull room which she was now occupying. To herself she called it +Punishment Chamber, and felt that she could not endure the life there +even for another hour. + +Being well acquainted with the usual routine of the school, Fanny busied +herself immediately after breakfast in packing her different belongings +into two neat cane trunks which she had desired a servant to bring to +her from the box-room. Having done this, she changed the dress she was +wearing for a coat and skirt of neat blue serge and a little cap to +match. She wrote out labels at her desk and gummed them on the trunks. +She examined the contents of her purse; she had two or three pounds of +her own. She could, therefore, do pretty much what she pleased. + +But although Fanny Crawford had acted perhaps worse than any other girl +had acted in the school before, she scorned to run away. She would go +openly; she would defy Mrs. Haddo. Mrs. Haddo could not possibly keep a +girl of Fanny's age--for she would soon be seventeen--against her will. +Having packed her trunks, Fanny went downstairs. The rest of the upper +school were busy at their lessons. Sibyl Ray, who had returned to the +lower school, was of course nowhere in sight. Fanny marched bravely down +the corridor, along which she had hurried yesterday in nameless fear +and trepidation. She knocked at Mrs. Haddo's door. Mrs. Haddo said, +"Come in," and she entered. + +"Oh, it's you, Fanny Crawford! I haven't sent for you." + +"I know that," replied Fanny. "But I cannot stay any longer in disgrace +in one room. I have had enough of it. I wish to tell you, Mrs. Haddo, +that Haddo Court is no longer the place for me. I suppose I ought to +repent of what I have done; and, of course, I never for a moment thought +that Betty would be so absurd and silly to get an illness which would +nearly kill her. As a matter of fact, I do not repent. The wicked person +was Betty Vivian. She first stole the packet, and then told a lie about +it. I happened to see her steal it, for I was saying at Craigie Muir at +the time. When Miss Symes told me that the Vivians were coming to the +school I disliked the idea, and said so; but I wouldn't complain, and my +dislike received no attention whatsoever. Betty has great powers of +fascination, and she won hearts here at once. She was asked to join the +Specialities--an unheard-of-thing for a new girl at the school. I begged +and implored of her not to join, referring her to Rule No. I., which +prohibits any girl who is in possession of such a secret as Betty had to +become a member. She would not listen to me; she _would_ join. Then she +became miserable, and confessed what she had done, but would not carry +her confession to its logical conclusion--namely, confession to you and +restoration of the lost packet." + +"I wish to interrupt you for a minute here, Fanny," said Mrs. Haddo. +"Since your father left he has sent me several letters of the late Miss +Vivian's to read. In one of them she certainly did allude to a packet +which was to be kept safely until Betty was old enough to appreciate it; +but in another, which I do not think your father ever read, Miss Vivian +said that she had changed her mind, and had put the packet altogether +into Betty's charge. I do not wish to condone Betty's sins; but her only +sin in this affair was the lie she told, which was evidently uttered in +a moment of swift temptation. She had a right to the packet, according +to this letter of Miss Frances Vivian's." + +Fanny stood very still. "I didn't know that," she replied. + +"I dare say you didn't; but had you treated Betty differently, and been +kind to her from the first, she would probably have explained things to +you." + +"I never liked her, and I never shall," said Fanny with a toss of her +head. "She may suit you, Mrs. Haddo, but she doesn't suit me. And I wish +to say that I want you to send me, at once, to stay with my aunt Amelia +at Brighton until I can hear from my father with regard to my future +arrangements. If you don't send me, I have money in my pocket, and will +go in spite of you. I don't like your school any longer. I did love it, +but now I hate it; and it is all--all because of Betty Vivian." + +"Oh, Fanny, what a pity!" said Mrs. Haddo. Tears filled her eyes. But +Fanny would not look up. + +"May I go?" said Fanny. + +"Yes, my dear. Anderson shall take you, and I will write a note to your +aunt. Fanny, is there no chance of your turning to our Divine Father to +ask Him to forgive you for your sins of cruelty to one unhappy but very +splendid girl?" + +"Oh, don't talk to me of her splendor!" said Fanny. "I am sick of it." + +"Very well, I will say no more." + +Mrs. Haddo sank into the nearest chair. After a minute's pause she +turned to her writing-table and wrote a letter. She then rang her bell, +and desired Anderson to get ready for a short journey. + +About three o'clock that day Fanny, accompanied by Anderson, with her +trunks and belongings heaped on top of a station-cab, drove from Haddo +Court never to return. There were no girls to say farewell; in fact, not +one of her friends even knew of her departure until Mrs. Haddo mentioned +it on the following morning. + +"Fanny did right to go," she said. "And now we will try to live down all +that has been so painful, and turn our faces once again towards the +light." + + * * * * * + +Betty recovered all in good time; but it was not until Christmas had +long passed that she first asked for Fanny Crawford. When she heard that +Fanny had gone, a queer look--half of pleasure, half of pain--flitted +across her little face. + +"You're glad, aren't you? You're very, very glad, Bettina?" whispered +Sylvia in her sister's ear. + +"No, I am not glad," replied Betty. "If I had known she was going I +might have spoken to her just once. As it is, I am sorry." + +"Oh Bettina, why?" + +"Because she has lost the influence of so noble a woman as dear Mrs. +Haddo, and of so faithful a friend as Margaret Grant, and of so dear a +girl as Martha West. Oh, why did I ever come here to upset things? And +why did I ever tell that wicked, wicked lie?" + +"You have repented now, poor darling, if any one ever did!" said both +the twins. + +As they spoke Mrs. Haddo entered the room. "Betty," she said, "I wish to +tell you something. You certainly did exceedingly wrong when you told +Sir John Crawford that you knew nothing of the packet. But I know you +did not steal it, dear, for I hold a letter in my hand from your aunt, +in which she told Sir John that she had given the packet absolutely into +your care. Sir John could never have read that letter; but I have read +it, dear, and I have written to him on the subject." + +"Then I may keep the packet?" asked Betty in a very low voice. + +"Yes, Betty." + +"And it will read me a lesson," said Betty. "Oh, thank you! thank you!" +Then she sprang to her feet and kissed Mrs. Haddo's white hands first, +and then pressed a light kiss on that good lady's beautiful lips. "God +will help me to do better in the future," she added. + +And she was helped. + + THE END + + + + +The Girl Scouts Series + +BY EDITH LAVELL + +A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by an author of wide +experience in Scouts' craft, as Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia. + +Clothbound, with Attractive Color Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLEN'S SCHOOL + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP + THE GIRL SCOUTS' GOOD TURN + THE GIRL SCOUTS' CANOE TRIP + THE GIRL SCOUTS' RIVALS + + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY + +A Series of Outdoor Stories for Girls 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The Winnebagos go Camping. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; + or, The Wohelo Weavers. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; + or, The Magic Garden. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS; + or, The House of the Open Door. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON ELLEN'S ISLE; + or, The Trail of the Seven Cedars. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD; + or, Glorify Work. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS DO THEIR BIT; + or, Over the Top with the Winnebagos. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; + or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT CAMP KEEWAYDIN; + or, Down Paddles. + + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +BY CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +For Girls 12 to 16 Years + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +Splendid stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES; + or Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks' Tour with the Glee Club. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summerer's Cruise Through the Panama + Canal. + + +The Mildred Series + +BY MARTHA FINLEY + +For Girls 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +A Companion Series to the famous "Elsie" books by the same author. + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELAND + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS + MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER + + +Marjorie Dean High School Series + +BY PAULINE LESTER + +Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean College Series + +These are clean, wholesome stories that will be of great interest to all +girls of high school age. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR + + +Marjorie Dean College Series + +BY PAULINE LESTER. + +Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean High School Series. + +Those who have read the Marjorie Dean High School Series will be eager +to read this new series, as Marjorie Dean continues to be the heroine in +these stories. + +All Clothbound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE FRESHMAN + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SOPHOMORE + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE JUNIOR + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SENIOR + + +The Radio Boys Series + +BY GERALD BRECKENRIDGE + +A new series of copyright titles for boys of all ages. + +Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE RADIO BOYS ON THE MEXICAN BORDER + THE RADIO BOYS ON SECRET SERVICE DUTY + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE REVENUE GUARDS + THE RADIO BOYS' SEARCH FOR THE INCA'S TREASURE + THE RADIO BOYS RESCUE THE LOST ALASKA EXPEDITION + + +The Ranger Boys Series + +BY CLAUDE H. LA BELLE + +A new series of copyright titles telling of the adventures of three boys +with the Forest Rangers in the state of Maine. + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE RANGER BOYS TO THE RESCUE + THE RANGER BOYS FIND THE HERMIT + THE RANGER BOYS AND THE BORDER SMUGGLERS + THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES + THE RANGER BOYS AND THEIR REWARD + + +The Boy Troopers Series + +BY CLAIR W. HAYES + +Author of the Famous "Boy Allies" Series. + +The adventures of two boys with the Pennsylvania State Police. + +All Copyrighted Titles + +Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + THE BOY TROOPERS ON THE TRAIL + THE BOY TROOPERS IN THE NORTHWEST + THE BOY TROOPERS ON STRIKE DUTY + THE BOY TROOPERS AMONG THE WILD MOUNTAINEERS + + +The Golden Boys Series + +BY L. P. WYMAN, PH.D. + +Dean of Pennsylvania Military College. + +A new series of instructive copyright stories for boys of High School +Age. + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE GOLDEN BOYS AND THEIR NEW ELECTRIC CELL + THE GOLDEN BOYS AT THE FORTRESS + THE GOLDEN BOYS IN THE MAINE WOODS + THE GOLDEN BOYS WITH THE LUMBER JACKS + THE GOLDEN BOYS ON THE RIVER DRIVE + + +The Boy Allies + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +With the Navy + +BY ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser, "The Sylph," and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; or, Striking the First Blow + at the German Fleet. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; or, Sweeping the Enemy from the + Sea. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; or, The Naval Raiders of + the Great War. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEA; or, The Last Shot of + Submarine D-16. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; or, The Vanishing Submarine. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the + Czar. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT JUTLAND: or, The Greatest Naval Battle of + History. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH UNCLE SAM'S CRUISERS; or, Convoying the + American Army Across the Atlantic. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE SUBMARINE D-32; or, The Fall of the Russian + Empire. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE VICTORIOUS FLEETS; or, The Fall of the + German Navy. + + +The Boy Allies + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +With the Army + +BY CLAIR W. HAYES + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of good, healthy action that every +boy loves. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; or, Through Lines of Steel. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; or, Twelve Days Battle Along the + Marne. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; or, A Wild Dash Over the + Carpathians. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the + Aisne. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; or, With the Italian Army in the + Alps. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; or, The Struggle to Save a + Nation. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE SOMME; or, Courage and Bravery Rewarded. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT VERDUN; or, Saving France from the Enemy. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES; or, Leading the + American Troops to the Firing Line. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH HAIG IN FLANDERS; or, The Fighting Canadians of + Vimy Ridge. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH PERSHING IN FRANCE; or, Over the Top at Chateau + Thierry. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE GREAT ADVANCE; or, Driving the Enemy + Through France and Belgium. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH MARSHAL FOCH; or, The Closing Days of the Great + World War. + + +The Boy Scouts Series + +BY HERBERT CARTER + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +New Stories of Camp Life + + THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMPFIRE; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox + Patrol. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; or, Marooned Among the + Moonshiners. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; or, Scouting through the Big Game + Country. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The New Test for the Silver + Fox Patrol. + + THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; or, The Search for the Lost + Tenderfoot. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver + Mine. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; or, Marooned Among the Game-Fish + Poachers. + + THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator + Swamp. + + THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA; A story of Burgoyne's + Defeat in 1777. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; or, The Silver Fox Patrol + Caught in a Flood. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; or, Caught Between Hostile + Armies. + + THE BOY SCOUTS AFOOT IN FRANCE; or, With The Red Cross Corps at the + Marne. + + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +BY WINN STANDISH + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boys. His fondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a +chord of sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS; or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been O. K.'d by Chadwick, the Nestor +of American Sporting journalism. + +JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS; or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy's hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE; or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wrestling, and +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy's life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +Publishers + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +114-120 EAST 23rd STREET NEW YORK + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +1. Chapter VIII, A New Member, had a major typesetter's error in the +edition this etext was done from--the text for Rule I. was inadvertently +inserted for Rule IV. The staff of the Rare Books Collection at Marriott +Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City were kind enough to research +their version of the text, and provide the correction, from the original +1909 edition from W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh. + +2. Minor changes have been made to ensure consistent usage of +punctuation. + +3. A Table of Contents has been added for the reader's convenience. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Vivian, by L. T. 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T. Meade. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + hr.large {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.small {width: 20%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + hr.medium {width: 45%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} + hr.double1 {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em;} + hr.double2 {width: 65%; margin-top: 0.1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 108%; + } + td {vertical-align: top;} + + div.centered {text-align:center;} /*work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:left;} /* work around for IE problem part 2 */ + + .bookads {font-size: 200%; line-height: 1.5em;} + .bookads2 {font-size: 125%; line-height: 1.5em;} + .block {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} /* block indent */ + .block2 {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} /* block indent */ + + .gap {margin-top: 6em} + .smallgap {margin-top: 1.5em} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: .7em; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .clear {clear: both;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 5em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: -4em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: left; margin-left: -4em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 5em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1.25em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Vivian, by L. T. Meade + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Betty Vivian + A Story of Haddo Court School + +Author: L. T. Meade + +Release Date: May 18, 2008 [EBook #25510] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY VIVIAN *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, the Marriott Library Rare Book +Collection at the University of Utah, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;"> +<img src="images/icover.jpg" class="ispace" width="318" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<h1>Betty Vivian<br /> +<i>A Story of Haddo Court School</i></h1> + +<h2>By MRS. L. T. MEADE</h2> + +<p class="center">Author of</p> + +<p class="center">“The Harmon Girls,” “The Princess of the Revels,” “Aylwyn’s<br /> +Friends,” “The School Queens,” “Seven Maids,” Etc.</p> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 274px;"> +<img src="images/i001.jpg" width="274" height="150" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">A. L. BURT, COMPANY, PUBLISHERS<br /> +NEW YORK</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">Chapter</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">Page</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left">YES OR NO</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left">WAS FANNY ELATED?</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left">GOING SOUTH</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left">RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left">THE VIVIANS’ ATTIC</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left">A CRISIS</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left">SCOTCH HEATHER</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VIII.</td> +<td align="left">A NEW MEMBER</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left">STRIVING FOR A DECISION</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left">RULE I. ACCEPTED</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"> A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left">A VERY EVENTFUL DAY</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left">A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left">TEA AT FARMER MILES’S</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left">A GREAT DETERMINATION</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left">AFTERWARDS</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVII.</td> +<td align="left">A TURNING-POINT</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left">NOT ACCEPTABLE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIX.</td> +<td align="left">“IT’S DICKIE!”</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XX.</td> +<td align="left">A TIME OF DANGER</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXI.</td> +<td align="left">A RAY OF HOPE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXII.</td> +<td align="left">FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XXIII.</td> +<td align="left">RESTORATION</td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p><h2>BETTY VIVIAN</h2> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>YES OR NO</h3> + +<p>Haddo Court had been a great school for girls for many generations. In +fact, for considerably over a century the Court had descended from +mother to daughter, who invariably, whatever her husband’s name, took +the name of Haddo when she became mistress of the school. The reigning +mistress might sometimes be unmarried, sometimes the reverse; but she +was always, in the true sense of the word, a noble, upright, generous +sort of woman, and one slightly in advance of her generation. There had +never been anything low or mean known about the various head mistresses +of Haddo Court. The school had grown with the times. From being in the +latter days of the eighteenth century a rambling, low old-fashioned +house with mullioned windows and a castellated roof, it had gradually +increased in size and magnificence; until now, when this story opens, it +was one of the most imposing mansions in the county.</p> + +<p>The locality in which Haddo Court was situated was not very far from +London; but for various reasons its name will be withheld from the +reader, although doubtless the intelligent girl who likes to peruse +these pages will be easily able to discover its whereabouts. Haddo +Court, although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>within a measurable distance of the great metropolis, +had such large grounds, and such a considerable area of meadow and +forest land surrounding it, that it truly seemed to the girls who lived +there that they were in the heart of the country itself. This was indeed +the case; for from the Court you could see no other house whatsoever, +unless it were the picturesque abode of the head gardener or that of the +lodge-keeper.</p> + +<p>The school belonged to no company; it was the sole and undivided +possession of the head mistress. It combined the advantages of a +first-class high school with the advantages that the best type of +private school affords. Its rooms were lofty and abundantly supplied +with bright sunshine and fresh air. So popular was the school, and such +a tone of distinction did it confer upon the girls who were educated +there, that, although Mrs. Haddo did not scruple to expect high fees +from her pupils, it was as difficult to get into Haddo Court as it was +for a boy to become an inmate of Winchester or Eton. The girl whose +mother before her had been educated at the Court usually put down her +little daughter’s name for admission there shortly after the child’s +birth, and even then she was not always certain that the girl could be +received; for Mrs. Haddo, having inherited, among other virtues from a +long line of intelligent ancestors, great firmness of character, made +rules which she would allow no exception to break.</p> + +<p>The girls at Haddo Court might number one hundred and fifty; but nothing +would induce her, on any terms whatsoever, to exceed that number. She +had a staff of the most worthy governesses, many of whom had been +educated at the Court itself; others who bore testimony to the lamented +and much-loved memory of the late Miss Beale of Cheltenham; and others, +again, who had taken honors of the highest degree at the two +universities.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo never prided herself on any special gift; but she was well +aware of the fact that she could read character <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>with unerring instinct; +consequently she never made a mistake in the choice of her teachers. The +Court was now so large that each girl, if she chose, could have a small +bedroom to herself, or two sisters might be accommodated with a larger +room to share together. There was every possible comfort at the Court; +at the same time there was an absence of all that was enervating. +Comforts, Mrs. Haddo felt assured, were necessary to the proper growth +and development of a young life; but she disliked luxuries for herself, +and would not permit them for her pupils. The rooms were therefore +handsomely, though somewhat barely, furnished. There were no superfluous +draperies and few knick-knacks of any sort. There was, however, in each +bedroom a little book shelf with about a dozen of the best and most +suitable books—generally a copy of Ruskin’s “Sesame and Lilies,” of +Carlyle’s “Sartor Resartus,” of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”; also one or +two books by the best writers of the present day. Works of E. V. Lucas +were not forgotten in that collection, and Mrs. Ewing’s “Jackanapes” was +a universal favorite.</p> + +<p>The girls had one special library where classical works and books of +reference were found in abundance; also standard novels, such as the +best works of Thackeray and Dickens. In addition to this was a smaller +library where the girls were allowed to have their own private +possessions in the shape of books and drawings. This room was only used +by the girls of the upper school, and was seldom interfered with either +by the head mistress or the various teachers.</p> + +<p>Out of one hundred and fifty girls it would be impossible to describe +more than a few; but at the time when this story opens there was in the +upper school a little band of devoted friends who adored each other, who +had high aims and ambitions, who almost worshiped Mrs. Haddo, and, as +far as possible, endeavored to profit by her excellent training. The +names of the girls in question were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>Susie Rushworth, who was seventeen +years of age, and would in a year’s time be leaving the Court; Fanny +Crawford, her cousin and special friend—Fanny and Susie were much of +the same age, Fanny being a little the younger of the two—two sisters +named Mary and Julia Bertram; Margaret Grant, who was tall, dark, and +stately, and Olive Repton, everybody’s favorite, a bright-eyed, +bewitching little creature, with the merriest laugh, a gay manner, and +with brilliant powers of repartee and a good-natured word for every +one—she was, in short, the life of the upper school.</p> + +<p>None of these girls was under sixteen years of age; all were slightly +above the average as regards ability, and decidedly above the average as +regards a very high standard of morals. They had all been brought up +with care. They knew nothing of the vanities of the world, and their +great ambition in life was to walk worthily in the station in which they +were born. They were all daughters of rich parents—that is, with the +exception of Olive Repton, whose mother was a widow, and who, in +consequence, could not give her quite so many advantages as her +companions received. Olive never spoke on the subject, but she had wild, +impossible dreams of earning her own living by and by. She was not +jealous nor envious of her richer schoolfellows. She was thoroughly +happy, and enjoyed her life to the utmost.</p> + +<p>Among the teachers in the school was a certain Miss Symes, an +Englishwoman of very high attainments, with lofty ideas, and the +greatest desire to do the utmost for her pupils. Miss Symes was not more +than six-and-twenty. She was very handsome—indeed, almost +beautiful—and she had such a passion for music and such a lovely voice +that the girls liked to call her Saint Cecilia. Miss Arundel was another +teacher in the school. She was much older than Miss Symes, but not so +highly educated. She only occasionally came into the upper school—her +work <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>was more with the girls of the lower school—but she was kind and +good-natured, and was universally popular because she could bear being +laughed at, and even enjoyed a joke against herself. Such a woman would +be sure to be a favorite with most girls, and Mary Arundel was as happy +in her life at the Court as any of her pupils. There were also French +and German governesses, and a lady to look after the wardrobes of the +older girls, and attend to them in case of any trifling indisposition.</p> + +<p>Besides the resident teachers there was the chaplain and his wife. The +chaplain had his own quarters in a distant wing of the school. His name +was the Reverend Edmund Fairfax. He was an elderly man, with white hair, +a benign expression of face, and gentle brown eyes. His wife was a +somewhat fretful woman, who often wished that her husband would seek +preferment and leave his present circumscribed sphere of action. But +nothing would induce the Reverend Edmund Fairfax to leave Mrs. Haddo so +long as she required him; and when he read prayers morning and evening +in the beautiful old chapel, which had been built as far back as the +beginning of the eighteenth century, the girls loved to listen to his +words, and even at times shyly confided their little troubles to him.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of things at Haddo Court when this story opens. Mrs. +Haddo was a woman of about thirty-eight years of age. She was tall and +handsome, of a somewhat commanding presence, with a face which was +capable, in repose, of looking a little stern; but when that same face +was lit up by a smile, the heart of every girl in the school went out to +her, and they thought no one else like her.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was a widow, and had no children of her own. Her late husband +had been a great friend of Mr. Fairfax. At his death she had, after +careful reflection, decided to carry on the work which her mother had so +successfully conducted before her. Everything was going <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>well, and there +was not a trace of care or anxiety on Mrs. Haddo’s fine face.</p> + +<p>There came a day, however, when this state of things was doomed to be +altered. There is no Paradise, no Garden of Eden, without its serpent, +and so Janet Haddo was destined to experience. The disturbing element +which came into the school was brought about in the most natural way. +Sir John Crawford, the father of one of Mrs. Haddo’s favorite pupils, +called unexpectedly to see the good lady.</p> + +<p>“I have just got the most exciting piece of news for you,” he said.</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” replied Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>She never allowed herself to be greatly disturbed, but her heart did +beat a trifle faster when she saw how eager Sir John appeared.</p> + +<p>“I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order not to lose a +moment,” continued the good baronet. “I don’t want to see Fanny at +present. This has nothing whatever to do with Fanny. I have come to tell +you that a wonderful piece of news has reached me.”</p> + +<p>“What can that be?” asked Mrs. Haddo. She spoke with that gracious calm +which always seemed to pervade her presence and her words.</p> + +<p>“Do relieve my mind at once!” said Sir John. “Is it possible that +you—you, Mrs. Haddo, of Haddo Court—have at the present moment three +vacancies in your school?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo laughed. “Is that all?” she said. “But they can be filled up +to-morrow ten times over, if necessary.”</p> + +<p>“But you <i>have</i> three vacancies—three vacancies in the upper school? It +is true—I see it is true by your face. Please assure me on that point +without delay!”</p> + +<p>“It happens to be true,” said Mrs. Haddo, “although I do not want the +matter mentioned. My three dear young pupils, the Maitlands, have been +unable to return to school <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>owing to the fact that their father has been +made Governor of one of the West India Islands. He has insisted on +taking his family out with him; so I have lost dear Emily, Jane, and +Agnes. I grieve very much at their absence. They all came to see me last +week to say good-bye; and we had quite a trying time, the children are +so affectionate. I should have greatly loved to keep them longer; but +their father was determined to have them with him, so there was nothing +to be done but submit.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Mrs. Haddo, what is one person’s loss is another person’s gain!”</p> + +<p>“I don’t understand you, Sir John,” was the good lady’s reply.</p> + +<p>“If you have three vacancies, you can take three more girls. You can +take them into the school at once, can you not?”</p> + +<p>“I can, certainly; but, as a matter of fact, I am in no hurry. I shall +probably be obliged to fill up the vacancies next term from the list of +girls already on my books. I shall, as my invariable custom is, promote +some girls from the lower school to the upper, and take three new little +girls into the lower school. But there is really no hurry.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but there is every hurry, my friend—every hurry! I want you to +take three—three <i>orphan</i> girls—three girls who have neither father +nor mother; I want you to take them at once into the upper school. They +are not specially well off; but I am their guardian, and your terms +shall be mine. I have just come from the death-bed of their aunt, one of +my dearest friends; she was in despair about Betty and Sylvia and Hester +Vivian. They are three sisters. They have been well educated; and, +although I don’t know them personally, any girl brought up by Frances +Vivian, my dear friend who has just passed away, could not but be in all +respects a desirable inmate of any school. I am forced to go to India +immediately, and must ask you to look after Fanny for me during the next +vacation. Now, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>if you would only take the Vivians I should go away with +a light heart. Do you say ‘Yes,’ my dear friend! Remember how many of my +name have been educated at Haddo Court. You cannot refuse me. I am +certain you will not.”</p> + +<p>“I never take girls here on the plea of friendship—even for one like +yourself, Sir John. I must know much more about these children before I +agree to admit them into my school.”</p> + +<p>Sir John’s face became very red, and just for a minute he looked almost +angry.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Mrs. Haddo,” he said then, “do banish that alarmingly severe +expression from your face and look kindly on my project! I can assure +you that Frances Vivian, after whom my own Fanny has been called, had +the finest character in the world. Ah, my dear friend, I have you +now—her own sister was educated here. Now, isn’t that guarantee enough? +Look back on the past, refer to the old school-books, and you will see +the name of Beatrice Vivian in the roll-call.”</p> + +<p>“What can you tell me about the girls themselves?” said Mrs. Haddo, who +was evidently softened by this reference to the past. “I remember +Beatrice Vivian,” she continued, before the baronet had time to speak. +“She was a very charming girl, a little older than myself, and she was +undoubtedly a power for good in the school.”</p> + +<p>“Then, surely, that makes it quite all right?” said Sir John. “Mrs. +Haddo, you must pity me. I have to place these girls somewhere in a week +from now. I am responsible for them. They are homeless; they are young; +they are good-looking.”</p> + +<p>“Tell me something about their characters and dispositions,” said Mrs. +Haddo.</p> + +<p>“I can tell you nothing. I only saw Betty for two or three minutes; she +was in a state of wild, tempestuous grief, poor child! I tried to +comfort her, but she rushed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>away from me. Sylvia was nearly as bad; +while as to poor Hetty, she was ill with sorrow.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I will think the matter over and let you know,” said Mrs. Haddo. +“I never decide anything hastily, so I cannot say more at present.”</p> + +<p>The baronet rose. “I had best have a peep at Fanny before I go,” he +said. “I am only going as far as London to-night, so you can wire your +decision—‘Yes’ or ‘No’—to the Ritz Hotel. Poor Fanny! she will be in +trouble when she hears that I cannot receive her at Christmas; but I +leave her in good hands here, and what can any one do more?”</p> + +<p>“Please promise me one thing, Sir John,” said Mrs. Haddo. “Do not say +anything to Fanny about the Vivians. Allow me to tell her when I have +decided that they are to come to the school. If I decide against it, she +need never know. Now, shall I ring and ask one of the servants to send +her to you? Believe me, Sir John, I will do my very utmost to oblige you +in this matter; but I must be guided by principle. You know what this +school means to me. You know how earnestly I have at heart the welfare +of all my children, as I call the girls who live at Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, yes, I know; but I think, somehow, that you will agree to my +request.”</p> + +<p>“Send Miss Crawford here,” said Mrs. Haddo to a servant who appeared at +that moment, and a minute later Fanny entered the room. She gave a cry +of delight when she saw her father, and Mrs. Haddo at once left them +alone together.</p> + +<p>The day was a half-holiday, and the head mistress was glad of the fact, +for she wanted to have a little time to think over Sir John’s request. +Haddo Court had hitherto answered so admirably because no girl, even if +her name had been on the books for years, was admitted to the school +without the head mistress having a personal interview, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>first with her +parents or guardians, and afterwards with the girl herself. Many an +apparently charming girl was quietly but courteously informed that she +was not eligible for the vacancy which was to be filled, and Mrs. Haddo +was invariably right in her judgment. With her shrewd observation of +character, she saw something lacking in that pretty, or careless, or +even thoughtful, or sorrowful face—something which might <i>aspire</i>, but +could never by any possibility <i>attain</i>, to what the head mistress +desired to inculcate in the young lives around her—and now Mrs. Haddo +was asked to receive three girls under peculiar circumstances. They were +orphans and needed a home. Sir John Crawford was one of her oldest +friends. The Crawfords had always been associated with Haddo Court, and +beautiful Beatrice Vivian had received her education there. Surely there +could not be anything wrong in admitting three young girls like the +Vivians to the school? But yet there was her invariable rule. Could she +possibly see them? One short interview would decide her. She looked +round the beautiful home in which had grown up the fairest specimens of +English girlhood, and wondered if, for once, she might break her rule.</p> + +<p>Sir John Crawford had gone to the Ritz Hotel. There he was to await Mrs. +Haddo’s telegram. But she would not telegraph; she would go to London +herself. She took the first train from the nearest station, and arrived +unexpectedly at the “Ritz” just as Sir John was sitting down to dinner.</p> + +<p>“I see by your face, my dear, good friend, that you are bringing me the +best of news!” said the eager man, flushing with pleasure as Mrs. Haddo +took a seat by his side. “You will join me at dinner, of course?”</p> + +<p>“No, thank you, Sir John. I shall have supper at the Court on my return. +I will tell you at once what I have come about. I have, as you must know +well, never admitted a girl into my school without first seeing her and +judging <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>for myself what her character was likely to be. I should +greatly like to help you in the present case, which is, I will admit, a +pressing one; and girls of the name of Vivian, and also related to you, +have claims undoubtedly on Haddo Court. Nevertheless, I am loath to +break my rule. Is it possible for me to see the girls?”</p> + +<p>“I fear it is not,” said Sir John. “I did not tell you that poor Frances +died in the north of Scotland, and I could not possibly get the girls up +to London in time for you to interview them and then decide against +them. It must be ‘Yes’ or ‘No’—an immediate ‘Yes’ or ‘No,’ Mrs. Haddo; +for if you say ‘No’ and I pray God you won’t—I must see what is the +next best thing I can do for them. Poor children! they are very lonely +and unhappy; but, of course, there <i>are</i> other schools. Perhaps you +could recommend one, if you are determined to refuse them without an +interview?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo could never tell afterwards why a sudden fit of weakness and +compassion overcame her. Perhaps it was the thought of the other +schools; for she was a difficult woman to please, and fastidious and +perhaps even a little scornful with regard to some of the teaching of +the present day. Perhaps it was the sight of Sir John’s troubled face. +Perhaps it was the fact that there never was a nicer girl in the school +than Beatrice Vivian—Beatrice, who was long in her grave, but who had +been loved by every one in the house; Beatrice, whom Mrs. Haddo herself +remembered. It was the thought of Beatrice that finally decided the good +lady.</p> + +<p>“It <i>is</i> against my rule,” she said, “and I hope I am not doing wrong. I +will take the children; but I make one condition, Sir John, that if I +find they do not fulfill the high expectations which are looked for in +every girl who comes to Haddo Court, I do my best to place them +elsewhere.”</p> + +<p>“You need not be afraid,” said Sir John. His voice <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>shook with delight +and gratitude. “You will never regret this generous act; and, believe +me, my dear friend, there is no rule, however firm, which is not +sometimes better broken than kept.”</p> + +<p>Alas, poor Sir John! he little knew what he was saying.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>WAS FANNY ELATED?</h3> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo slept very little that night. Miss Symes, who adored the head +mistress, could not help noticing that something was the matter with +her; but she knew Mrs. Haddo’s nature far too well to make any +inquiries. The next day, however, Miss Symes was called into the head +mistress’s presence.</p> + +<p>“I want to speak to you all alone,” said Mrs. Haddo. “You realize, of +course, Emma, how fully I trust you?”</p> + +<p>“You have always done so, dear Mrs. Haddo,” replied the young teacher, +her beautiful face flushing with pleasure.</p> + +<p>“Well, now, I am going to trust you more fully still. You noticed, or +perhaps you did not, that Sir John Crawford, Fanny’s father, called to +see me yesterday?”</p> + +<p>“Fanny herself told me,” replied Miss Symes. “I found the poor, dear +child in floods of tears. Sir John Crawford is going to India +immediately, and Fanny says she is not likely to see him again for a +year.”</p> + +<p>“We will cheer her up all we can,” said Mrs. Haddo. “I have many schemes +for next Christmas which will, I am sure, give pleasure to the girls who +are obliged to stay here. But time enough for all that later on. You +know, of course, Emma, that there are three vacancies in the upper +school?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>“Caused by the absence of the dear young Maitlands,” replied Miss Symes. +“I cannot tell you how much we miss them.”</p> + +<p>“We do miss them,” said Mrs. Haddo, who paused and looked attentively at +Miss Symes. “I don’t suppose,” she continued, “that there is any teacher +in the school who knows so much about the characters of the girls as you +do, my dear, good Emma.”</p> + +<p>“I think I know most of their characters,” said Miss Symes; “characters +in the forming, as one must assuredly say, but forming well, dear Mrs. +Haddo. And who can wonder at that, under your influence?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo’s face expressed a passing anxiety.</p> + +<p>“Is anything wrong?” said Miss Symes.</p> + +<p>“Why do you ask me, Emma? Have you—noticed anything?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, certainly. I have noticed that you are troubled, dear friend; and +Mary Arundel has also observed the same.”</p> + +<p>“But the girls—the girls have said nothing about it?” inquired Mrs. +Haddo.</p> + +<p>“No; but young girls cannot see as far into character as older people +can.”</p> + +<p>“Well, now,” said Mrs. Haddo, “I will be frank with you. What I say to +you, you can repeat to Mary Arundel. I feel proud to call you both my +flag lieutenants, who always hold the banner of high principle and +virtue aloft, and I feel certain you will do so to the end. Emma, Sir +John Crawford came to see me yesterday on a very important matter; and, +partly to oblige him, partly because of an old memory, partly also +because it seemed to me that I must trust and hope for the best in +certain emergencies, I have agreed to do what I never did +before—namely, to take three girls into the school—yes, into the upper +school, in place of the three Maitlands. These girls are called Betty, +Sylvia, and Hester Vivian. They are the nieces <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>of that dear woman, +Beatrice Vivian, who was educated at this school years ago. I expect +them to arrive here on Monday next. In the meantime you must prepare the +other girls for their appearance on the scene. Do not blame me, Emma, +nor look on me with reproachful eyes. I quite understand what you are +thinking, that I have broken a rule which I have always declared I would +never break—namely, I am taking these girls without having first +interviewed them. Such is the case. Now, I want you, in particular, to +tell Fanny Crawford that they are coming. Fanny is their cousin. Sir +John is their guardian. Sir John knows nothing whatever about their +disposition, but I gather from some conversation which I had with him +last night that Fanny is acquainted with them. Observe, dear, how she +takes the news of their coming. If dear Fanny looks quite happy about +them, it will certainly be a rest to my mind.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I will talk to her,” said Miss Symes, rising. “And now, please, +dear Mrs. Haddo, don’t be unhappy. You have done, in my opinion, the +only thing you could do; and girls with such high credentials must be +all right.”</p> + +<p>“I hope they will prove to be all that is desirable,” said Mrs. Haddo. +“You had better have a talk with Miss Ludlow with regard to the rooms +they are to occupy. Poor children! they are in great trouble, having +already lost both their parents, and are now coming to me because their +aunt, Miss Vivian, has just died. It might comfort them to be in that +large room which is near Fanny’s. It will hold three little beds and the +necessary furniture without any crowding.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, it would do splendidly,” said Miss Symes. “I will speak to Miss +Ludlow. I suppose, now, I ought to return to my school duties?”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes was not at all uneasy at what Mrs. Haddo had told her. Hers +was a gentle and triumphant sort of nature. She trusted most people. She +had a sublime <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>faith in the good, not the bad, of her fellow-creatures. +Still, Mrs. Haddo had done a remarkable thing, and Miss Symes owned to +herself that she was a little curious to see how Fanny Crawford would +take the news of the unexpected advent of her relatives.</p> + +<p>It was arranged that the Vivians were to arrive at Haddo Court on the +following Monday. To-day was Wednesday, and a half-holiday. +Half-holidays were always prized at Haddo Court; and the girls were now +in excellent spirits, full of all sorts of schemes and plans for the +term which had little more than begun, and during which they hoped to +achieve so much. Fanny Crawford, in particular, was in earnest +conversation with Susie Rushworth. They were forming a special plan for +strengthening what they called the bond of union in the upper school. +Fresh girls were to be admitted, and all kinds of schemes were in +progress. Susie had a wonderfully bright face, and her eager words fell +on Miss Symes’s ears as she approached the two girls.</p> + +<p>“It’s all very fine for you, Susie,” Fanny was heard to say; “but this +term seems to me quite intolerable. You will be going home for +Christmas, but I shall have to stay at the school. Oh, of course, I love +the school; but we are all proud of our holidays, and father had all but +promised to take me to Switzerland in order to get some really good +skating. Now everything is knocked on the head; but I suppose I must +submit.”</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t help overhearing you, Fanny,” said Miss Symes, coming up to +the girls at that moment; “but you must look on the bright side, my +love, and reflect that a year won’t be long in going by. I know, of +course, to what you were alluding—your dear father’s sudden departure +for India.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, St. Cecilia,” replied Fanny, looking up into Miss Symes’s face; +“and I am sure neither Susie nor I mind in the least your overhearing +what we were talking about. Do we Susie?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>“No,” replied Susie; “how could we? St. Cecilia, if you think you have +been playing the spy, we will punish you by making you sing for us +to-night.”</p> + +<p>Here Susie linked her hand lovingly through Miss Symes’s arm. Miss Symes +bent and kissed the girl’s eager face.</p> + +<p>“I will sing for you with pleasure, dear, if I have a moment of time to +spare. But now I have come to fetch Fanny. I want to have a little talk +with her all by herself. Fan, will you come with me?”</p> + +<p>Fanny Crawford raised her pretty, dark eyebrows in some surprise. What +could this portend? There was a sort of code of honor at the school that +the girls were never to be disturbed by the teachers during the +half-holiday hours.</p> + +<p>“Come, Fanny,” said Miss Symes; and the two walked away in another +direction for some little distance.</p> + +<p>The day was a glorious one towards the end of September. Miss Symes +chose an open bench in a part of the grounds where the forest land was +more or less cleared away. She invited Fanny to seat herself, and took a +place by her side.</p> + +<p>“Now, my dear,” she said, “I have a piece of news for you which will, I +think, please you very much.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, what can please me when father is going?” said Fanny, her eyes +filling with tears.</p> + +<p>“Nevertheless, this may. You have, of course, heard of—indeed, I have +been given to understand that you know—your cousins, the Vivians?”</p> + +<p>Fanny’s face flushed. It became a vivid crimson, then the color faded +slowly from her cheeks; and she looked at Miss Symes, amazement in her +glance. “My cousins—the Vivians!” she exclaimed. “Do you mean +Betty—Betty and her sisters?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I think Betty is the name of one of the girls.”</p> + +<p>“There are three,” said Fanny. “There’s Betty, who is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>about my age; and +then there are the twins, Sylvia and Hetty.”</p> + +<p>“Then, of course, you <i>do</i> know them, dear?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I know them. I went to stay with them in Scotland for a week +during last holidays. My cousin—their aunt, Miss Vivian—was very ill, +however, and we had to keep things rather quiet. They lived at a place +called Craigie Muir—quite beautiful, you know, but very, very wild.”</p> + +<p>“That doesn’t matter, dear.”</p> + +<p>“Well, why are you speaking to me about them? They are my cousins, and I +spent a week with them not very long ago.”</p> + +<p>“You observed how ill Miss Vivian was?”</p> + +<p>“I used to hear that she was ill; Sylvia used to tell me. Betty couldn’t +stand anything sad or depressing, so I never spoke to her on the +subject.”</p> + +<p>“And you—you liked your cousins? You appreciated them, did you not, +Fanny?”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t know them very well,” said Fanny in a slightly evasive voice.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes felt her heart sink within her. She knew Fanny Crawford well. +She was the last girl to say a word against another; at the same time +she was exceedingly truthful.</p> + +<p>“Well, dear,” said Miss Symes, “your father came here yesterday in order +to——”</p> + +<p>“To see me, of course,” interrupted Fanny; “to tell me that he was going +to India. Poor darling dad! It was a terrible blow!”</p> + +<p>“Sir John came here on other business also, Fanny. He wanted to see Mrs. +Haddo. You know that poor Miss Vivian is dead?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes,” said Fanny. Then she added impulsively, “Betty will be in a +terrible state!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p><p>“It may be in your power to comfort her, dear.”</p> + +<p>“To comfort Betty Vivian! What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“It has just been arranged between Mrs. Haddo and your father, who is +now the guardian of the girls, that they are all three to come here as +pupils in the school. They will arrive here on Monday. You are glad, are +you not, Fan?”</p> + +<p>Fanny started to her feet. She stood very still, staring straight before +her.</p> + +<p>“You are glad—of course, Fanny?”</p> + +<p>Fanny then turned and faced her governess. “Do you want the truth, +or—or—a lie?”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, my dear, how can you speak to me in that tone? Of course I want +the truth.”</p> + +<p>“Then I am not glad.”</p> + +<p>“But, my dear, consider. Those poor girls—they are orphans almost in a +double sense. They are practically alone in the world. They are your +cousins. You must have a very strong reason for saying what you have +said—that you are not glad.”</p> + +<p>“I am not glad,” repeated Fanny.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes was silent. She felt greatly disturbed. After a minute she +said, “Fanny, is there anything in connection with the Vivians which, in +your opinion, Mrs. Haddo ought to know?”</p> + +<p>“I won’t tell,” said Fanny; and now her voice was full of agitation. She +turned away and suddenly burst out crying.</p> + +<p>“My dear child! my dear child! you are upset by the thought of your +father’s absence. Compose yourself, my love. Don’t give way, Fanny, +dear. Try to have that courage that we all strive to attain at Haddo +Court.”</p> + +<p>Fanny hastily dashed away her tears. Then she said, after a pause, “Is +it fixed that they are to come?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is quite fixed.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Symes, you took me at first by surprise, but when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>the Vivians +arrive you will see that I shall treat them with the affection due to +cousins of my own; also, that I will do my utmost to make them happy.”</p> + +<p>“I am sure of it, my love. You are a very plucky girl!”</p> + +<p>“And you won’t tell Mrs. Haddo that I seemed distressed at the thought +of their coming?”</p> + +<p>“Do you really wish me not to tell her?”</p> + +<p>“I do, most earnestly.”</p> + +<p>“Now, Fanny, I am going to trust you. Mrs. Haddo has been more or less +driven into a corner over this matter. Your dear, kind father has been +suddenly left in sole charge of those three young girls. He could not +take them to India with him, and he had no home to offer them in this +country. Mrs. Haddo, therefore, contrary to her wont, has agreed to +receive them without the personal interview which she has hitherto +thought essential.”</p> + +<p>Fanny smiled. “Oh, can I ever forget that interview when my turn came to +receive it? I was at once more frightened and more elated than I +believed it possible for any girl to be. I loved Mrs. Haddo on the spot, +and yet I shook before her.”</p> + +<p>“But you don’t fear her now, dear?”</p> + +<p>“I should fear her most frightfully if I did anything wrong.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, look down deep into your heart, and tell me if, in keeping +something to yourself which you evidently know concerning your cousins, +you are doing right or wrong.”</p> + +<p>“I will answer your question to-morrow,” replied Fanny. “Now, may I go +back to the others; they are waiting for me?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, you may go, dear.”</p> + +<p>“The Vivians come here on Monday?” said Fanny as she rose.</p> + +<p>“Yes, dear, on Monday. By the way, Miss Ludlow is arranging to give them +the blue room, next to yours. You don’t object, do you?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p><p>“No,” said Fanny. The next minute the girl was out of sight.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes sat very still. What was the matter? What was Fanny Crawford +trying to conceal?</p> + +<p>That evening Mrs. Haddo said to Miss Symes, “You have told Fanny that +her cousins are coming?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“And how did she take it?”</p> + +<p>“Fanny is very much upset about her father’s absence,” was Miss Symes’s +unexpected answer.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo looked attentively at the English teacher. Their eyes met, +but neither uttered a single word.</p> + +<p>The next day, after school, Fanny went up to Miss Symes. “I have been +thinking over everything,” she said, “and my conscience is not going to +trouble me; for I know, or believe I know, a way by which I may help +them all.”</p> + +<p>“It is a grand thing to help those who are in sorrow, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“I will do my best,” said the girl.</p> + +<p>That evening, to Miss Symes’s great relief, she heard Fanny’s merry +laugh in the school. The girls who formed the Specialities, as they were +called, had met for a cheerful conference. Mary and Julia Bertram were +in the highest spirits; and Margaret Grant, with her beautiful +complexion and stately ways, had never been more agreeable. Olive +Repton, the pet and darling of nearly the whole of the upper school, was +making the others scream with laughter.</p> + +<p>“There can be nothing very bad,” thought Miss Symes to herself. “My dear +friend will soon see that the charitable feeling which prompted her to +receive those girls into the house was really but another sign of her +true nobility of character.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Fanny, who was told not to keep the coming of the Vivians in +any way a secret, was being eagerly questioned with regard to them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p><p>“So you really saw them at their funny home, Craigie Muir?” exclaimed +Olive.</p> + +<p>“Yes; I spent a week there,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“And had a jolly good time, I guess?” cried Julia Bertram.</p> + +<p>“Not such a very good time,” answered Fanny, “for Miss Vivian was ill, +and we had to be very quiet.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! don’t let’s bother about the time Fanny spent in that remote part +of Scotland,” said Olive. “Do tell us about the girls themselves, Fan. +It’s so unusual for any girls to come straight into the upper school, +and also to put in an appearance in the middle of term. Are they very +Scotch, to begin with?”</p> + +<p>“No, hardly at all,” replied Fanny. “Miss Vivian only took the pretty +little cottage in which they live a year ago.”</p> + +<p>“I am glad they are not too Scotch,” remarked Susie; “they will get into +our ways all the sooner if they are thoroughly English.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t see that for a single moment,” remarked Olive. “For my part, I +love Scotch lassies; and as to Irish colleens, they’re simply adorable.”</p> + +<p>“Well, well, go on with your description, Fan,” exclaimed Julia.</p> + +<p>“I can tell you they are quite remarkable-looking,” replied Fanny. +“Betty is the eldest. She is a regular true sort of Betty, up to no end +of larks and fun; but sometimes she gets very depressed. I think she is +rather dark, but I am not quite sure; she is also somewhat tall; and, +oh, she is wonderfully pretty! She can whistle the note of every bird +that ever sang, and is devoted to wild creatures—the moor ponies and +great Scotch collies and sheep-dogs. You’ll be sure to like Betty +Vivian.”</p> + +<p>“Your description does sound promising,” remarked Susie; “but she will +certainly have to give up her wild ways at Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>“What about the others?” asked Olive.</p> + +<p>“Sylvia and Hetty? I think they are two years younger than Betty. They +are not a bit like her. They are rather heavy-looking girls, but still +you would call them handsome. They are twins, and wonderfully like each +other. Sylvia is very tender-hearted; but Hetty—I think Hetty has the +most force of character. Now, really,” continued Fanny, rising from her +low chair, where her chosen friends were surrounding her, “I can say +nothing more about them until they come. You can’t expect me, any of +you, to overpraise my own relations, and, naturally, I shouldn’t abuse +them.”</p> + +<p>“Why, of course not, you dear old Fan!” exclaimed Olive.</p> + +<p>“I must go and write a letter to father,” said Fanny; and she went +across the room to where her own little desk stood in a distant corner.</p> + +<p>After she had left them, Olive bent forward, looked with her merry, +twinkling eyes full into Susie Rushworth’s face, and said, “Is the dear +Fan <i>altogether</i> elated at the thought of her cousins’ arrival? I put it +to you, Susie, as the most observant of us all. Answer me truthfully, or +for ever hold your peace.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will hold my peace,” replied Susie, “for I cannot possibly say +whether Fan is elated or not.”</p> + +<p>“Now, don’t get notions in your head, Olive,” said Mary Bertram. “That +is one of your faults, you know. I expect those girls will be downright +jolly; and, of course, being Fan’s relations, they will become members +of the Specialities. That goes without saying.”</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t go without saying at all,” remarked Olive. “The +Specialities, as you know quite well, girls, have to stand certain +tests.”</p> + +<p>“It is my opinion,” said Susie, “that we are all getting too high and +mighty for anything. Perhaps the Vivians will teach us to know our own +places.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>GOING SOUTH</h3> + +<p>It was a rough stone house, quite bare, only one story high, and without +a tree growing anywhere near it. It stood on the edge of a vast Scotch +moor, and looked over acres and acres of purple heather—acres so +extensive that the whole country seemed at that time of year to be +covered with a sort of mantle of pinky, pearly gold, something between +the violet and the saffron tones of a summer sunset.</p> + +<p>Three girls were seated on a little stone bench outside the lonely, +neglected-looking house. They were roughly and plainly dressed. They +wore frocks of the coarsest Scotch tweed; and Scotch tweed, when it is +black, can look very coarse, indeed. They clung close together—a +desolate-looking group—Betty, the eldest, in the middle; Sylvia +pressing up to her at one side; Hetty, with her small, cold hand locked +in her sister’s, on the other.</p> + +<p>“I wonder when Uncle John will come,” was Hetty’s remark after a pause. +“Jean says we are on no account to travel alone; so, if he doesn’t come +to-night, we mayn’t ever reach that fine school after all.”</p> + +<p>“I am not going to tell him about the packet. I have quite made up my +mind on that point,” said Betty, dropping her voice.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Bet!” The other two looked up at their elder sister.</p> + +<p>She turned and fixed her dark-gray eyes first on one face, then on the +other. “Yes,” she said, nodding emphatically; “the packet is sure to +hold money, and it will be a safe-guard. If we find the school +intolerable we’ll have the wherewithal to run away.”</p> + +<p>“I’ve read in books that school life is very jolly sometimes,” remarked +Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Not <i>that</i> school,” was Betty’s rejoinder.</p> + +<p>“But why not that school, Betty?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p><p>Betty shrugged her shoulders. “Haven’t you heard that miserable +creature, Fanny Crawford, talk of it? I shouldn’t greatly mind going +anywhere else, for if there’s a human being whom I cordially detest, it +is my cousin, Fanny Crawford.”</p> + +<p>“I hear the sound of wheels!” cried Sylvia, springing to her feet.</p> + +<p>“Ah, and there’s Donald coming back,” said Betty; “and there is Uncle +John! No chance of escape, girls! We have got to go through it. Poor old +David!”—here she alluded to the horse who was tugging a roughly made +dogcart up the very steep hill—“he’ll miss us, perhaps; and so will +Fritz and Andrew, the sheep-dogs. Heigh-ho! there’s no good being too +sorrowful. That money is a rare comfort!”</p> + +<p>By this time the old white horse, and Donald, who was driving, and the +gentleman who sat at the opposite side of the dogcart, drew up at the +top of the great plateau. The gentleman alighted and walked swiftly +towards the three girls. They rose simultaneously to meet him.</p> + +<p>In London, and in any other part of the south of England, the weather +was warm at this time of the year; but up on Craigie Muir it was cold, +and the children looked desolate as they turned in their coarse clothes +to meet their guardian.</p> + +<p>Sir John came up to them with a smile. “Now, my dears, here I am—Betty, +how do you do? Kiss your uncle, child.”</p> + +<p>Betty raised her pretty lips and gave the weather-beaten cheek of Sir +John Crawford an unwilling kiss. Sylvia and Hetty clasped each other’s +hands, clung a little more closely together, and remained mute.</p> + +<p>“Come, come,” said Sir John; “we mustn’t be miserable, you know! I hope +that good Jean has got you something for supper, for the air up here +would make any one hungry. Shall we go into the house? We all have to +start at cockcrow in the morning. Donald knows, and has arranged, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>he +tells me, for a cart to hold your luggage. Let’s come in, children. I +really should be glad to get out of this bitter blast.”</p> + +<p>“It is just lovely!” said Betty. “I am drinking it in all I can, for I +sha’n’t have any more for many a long day.”</p> + +<p>Sir John, who had the kindest face in the world, accompanied by the +kindest heart, looked anxiously at the handsome girl. Then he thought +what a splendid chance he was giving his young cousins; for, although he +allowed them to call him uncle, the relationship between them was not +quite so close.</p> + +<p>They all entered the sparsely furnished and bare-looking house. Six deal +boxes, firmly corded with great strands of rope, were piled one on top +of the other in the narrow hall.</p> + +<p>“Here’s our luggage,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“My dear children—those deal boxes! What possessed you to put your +things into trunks of that sort?”</p> + +<p>“They are the only trunks we have,” replied Betty. “And I think supper +is ready,” she continued; “I smell the grouse. I told Jean to have +plenty ready for supper.”</p> + +<p>“Good girl, good girl!” said Sir John. “Now I will go upstairs and wash +my hands; and I presume you will do the same, little women. Then we’ll +all enjoy a good meal.”</p> + +<p>A few minutes later Sir John Crawford and the three Misses Vivian were +seated round a rough table, on which was spread a very snowy but coarse +cloth. The grouse were done to a turn. There was excellent coffee, the +best scones in the world, and piles of fresh butter. In addition, there +was a small bottle of very choice Scotch whiskey placed on the +sideboard, with lemons and other preparations for a comforting drink by +and by for Sir John.</p> + +<p>The girls were somewhat silent during the meal. Even Betty, who could be +a chatterbox when she pleased, vouchsafed but few remarks.</p> + +<p>But when the supper-things had been cleared away Sir <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>John said +emphatically, turning to the three girls, “You got my telegram, with its +splendid news?”</p> + +<p>“We got your telegram, Uncle John,” said Hetty.</p> + +<p>“With its splendid news?” repeated Sir John.</p> + +<p>Hetty pursed up her firm lips; Sylvia looked at him and smiled; Betty +crossed the room and put a little black kettle on the peat fire to boil.</p> + +<p>“You would like some whisky-punch?” Betty said. “I know how to make it.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, my dear; I should very much. And do you three lassies object +to a pipe?”</p> + +<p>“Object!” said Betty. “No; Donald smokes every night; and +since—since——” Her voice faltered; her face grew pale. After a +minute’s silence she said in an abrupt tone, “We go into the kitchen +most nights to talk to Donald while he smokes.”</p> + +<p>“Then to-night you must talk to me. I can tell you, my dears, you are +the luckiest young girls in the whole of Great Britain to have got +admitted to Haddo Court; and my child Fan will look after you. You +understand, dears, that everything you want you apply to me for. I am +your guardian, appointed to that position by your dear aunt. You can +write to me yourselves, or ask Fan to do so. By the way, I have been +looking through some papers in a desk which belonged to your dear aunt, +and cannot find a little sealed packet which she left there. Do you know +anything about it, any of you?”</p> + +<p>“No, uncle, nothing,” said Betty, raising her dark-gray eyes and fixing +them full on his face.</p> + +<p>“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter,” said Sir John; “but in a special +letter to me she mentioned the packet. I suppose, however, it will turn +up. Now, my dears, you are in luck. When you get over your very natural +grief——”</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t!” said Betty. “Get over it? We’ll never get over it!”</p> + +<p>“My dear, dear child, time softens all troubles. If it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>did not we +couldn’t live. I admire you, Betty, for showing love for one so +worthy——”</p> + +<p>“If you don’t look out, Uncle John,” suddenly exclaimed Hetty, “you’ll +have Betty howling; and when she begins that sort of thing we can’t stop +her for hours.”</p> + +<p>Sir John raised his brows and looked in a puzzled way from one girl to +the other. “You will be very happy at Haddo Court,” he said; “and you +are in luck to get there. Now, off to bed, all three of you, for we have +to make an early start in the morning.” Sir John held out his hand as he +spoke. “Kiss me, Betty,” he said to the eldest girl.</p> + +<p>“Are you my uncle?” she inquired.</p> + +<p>“No; your father and I were first cousins. But, my poor child, I stand +in the place of father and guardian to you now.”</p> + +<p>“I’d rather not kiss you, if you don’t mind,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“You must please yourself. Now go to bed, all of you.”</p> + +<p>The girls left the little sitting-room. It was their fashion to hold +each other’s hands, and in a chain of three they now entered the +kitchen.</p> + +<p>“Jean,” said Betty, “<i>he</i> says we are to go to bed. I want to ask you +and Donald a question, and I want to ask it quickly.”</p> + +<p>“And what is the question, my puir bit lassie?” asked Jean Macfarlane.</p> + +<p>“It is this,” said Betty—“you and Donald can answer it quickly—if we +want to come back here you will take us in, won’t you?”</p> + +<p>“Take you in, my bonny dears! Need you ask? There’s a shelter always for +the bit lassies under this roof,” said Donald Macfarlane.</p> + +<p>“Thanks, Donald,” said Betty. “And thank you, Jean,” she added. “Come, +girls, let’s go to bed.”</p> + +<p>The girls went up to the small room in the roof which they occupied. +They slept in three tiny beds side by side. The beds were under the +sloping roof, and the air of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>room was cold. But Betty, Sylvia, and +Hetty were accustomed to cold, and did not mind it. The three little +beds touched each other, and the three girls quickly undressed and got +between the coarse sheets. Betty, as the privileged one, was in the +middle. And now a cold little hand was stretched out from the left bed +towards her, and a cold little hand from the right bed did ditto.</p> + +<p>“Betty,” said Sylvia in a choking voice, “you will keep us up? You are +the brave one.”</p> + +<p>“Except when I cry,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but, Betty,” said Hetty, “you will promise not to! It’s awful when +you do! You will promise, won’t you?”</p> + +<p>“I will try my best,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“How long do you think, Betty, that you and Hetty and I will be able to +endure that awful school?” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“It all depends,” said Betty. “But we’ve got the money to get away with +when we like. It was left for our use. Now, look, here, girls. I am +going to tell you a tremendous secret.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes! oh, yes!” exclaimed the other two. “Betty, you’re a perfect +darling; you are the most heroic creature in the world!”</p> + +<p>“Listen; and don’t talk, girls. I told a lie to-night about that packet; +but no one else will know about it. There was one day—now don’t +interrupt me, either of you, or I’ll begin howling, and then I can’t +stop—there was one day when Auntie Frances was very ill. She sent for +me, and I went to her; and she said, ‘I am able to leave you so very +little, my children; but there is a nest-egg in a little packet in the +right-hand drawer of my bureau. You must always keep it—always until you +really want it.’ I felt so bursting all round my heart, and so choky in +my throat, that I thought I’d scream there and then; but I kept all my +feelings in, and went away, and pretended to dearest auntie that I +didn’t feel it a bit. Then, you know, she, she—died.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p><p>“She was very cold,” said Sylvia. “I saw her—I seem to see her still. +Her face made me shiver.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t!” said Betty in a fierce voice. “Do you want me to howl all night +long?”</p> + +<p>“I won’t! I won’t!” said Sylvia. “Go on, Betty darling—heroine that you +are!”</p> + +<p>“Well, I went to her bureau straight away, and I took the packet. As a +matter of fact, I already knew quite well that it was there; for I had +often opened auntie’s bureau and looked at her treasures, so I could lay +my hands on it at once. I never mean to part with the packet. It’s +heavy, so it’s sure to be full of gold—plenty of gold for us to live on +if we don’t like that beastly school. When Sir John—or Uncle John, as +he wants us to call him——”</p> + +<p>“He’s no uncle of mine,” said Hetty.</p> + +<p>“I like him, for my part,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Don’t interrupt me,” said Betty. “When Uncle John asked me about the +packet I said ‘No,’ of course; and I mean to say ‘No’ again, and again, +and again, and again, if ever I’m questioned about it. For didn’t auntie +say it was for us? And what right has he to interfere?”</p> + +<p>“It does sound awfully interesting!” exclaimed Sylvia. “I do hope you’ve +put it in a very, very safe place, Betty?”</p> + +<p>Betty laughed softly. “Do you remember the little, old-fashioned pockets +auntie always wore inside her dress—little, flat pockets made of very +strong calico? Well, it’s in one of those; and I mean to secure a safer +hiding-place for it when I get to that abominable Court. Now perhaps +we’d better go to sleep.”</p> + +<p>“Yes; I am dead-sleepy,” responded Sylvia.</p> + +<p>By and by her gentle breathing showed that she was in the land of +slumber. Hetty quickly followed her twin-sister’s example. But Betty lay +wide awake. She was lying flat on her back, and looking out into the +sort of twilight which still seemed to pervade the great moors. Her eyes +were wide open, and wore a startled, fixed expression, like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>the eyes of +a girl who was seeing far beyond what she appeared to be looking at.</p> + +<p>“Yes, I have done right,” she said to herself. “There must always be an +open door, and this is my open door; and I hope God, and auntie up in +heaven, will forgive me for having told that lie. And I hope God, and +auntie up in heaven, will forgive me if I tell it again; for I mean to +go on telling it, and telling it, and telling it, until I have spent all +that money.”</p> + +<p>While Betty lay thinking her wild thoughts, Sir John Crawford, +downstairs, made a shrewd and careful examination of the different +articles of furniture which had been left in the little stone house by +his old friend, Miss Frances Vivian. Everything was in perfect order. +She was a lady who abhorred disorder, who could not endure it for a +single moment. All her letters and her neatly receipted bills were tied +up with blue silk, and laid, according to date, one on top of the other. +Her several little trinkets, which eventually would belong to the girls, +were in their places. Her last will and testament was also in the drawer +where she had told Sir John he would find it. Everything was in +order—everything, exactly as the poor lady had left it, with the +exception of the little sealed packet. Where was it? Sir John felt +puzzled and distressed. He had not an idea what it contained; for Miss +Vivian, in her letter to him, had simply asked him to take care of it +for her nieces, and had not made any comment with regard to its +contents. Sir John certainly could not accuse the girls of purloining +it. After some pain and deliberate thought, he decided to go out and +speak to the old servants, who were still up, in the kitchen. They +received him respectfully, and yet with a sort of sour expression which +was natural to their homely Scotch faces.</p> + +<p>Donald rose silently, and asked the gentleman if he would seat himself.</p> + +<p>“No, Donald,” replied Sir John in his hearty, pleasant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>voice; “I cannot +stay. I am going to bed, being somewhat tired.”</p> + +<p>“The bit chamber is no’ too comfortable for your lordship,” said Jean, +dropping a profound curtsey.</p> + +<p>“The chamber will do all right. I have slept in it before,” said Sir +John.</p> + +<p>“Eh, dear, now,” said Jean, “and you be easy to please.”</p> + +<p>“I want you, Jean Macfarlane, to call the young ladies and myself not +later than five o’clock to-morrow morning, and to have breakfast ready +at half-past five; and, Donald, we shall require the dogcart to drive to +the station at six o’clock. Have you given orders about the young +ladies’ luggage? It ought to start not later than four to-morrow morning +to be in time to catch the train.”</p> + +<p>“Eh, to be sure,” said Donald. “It’s myself has seen to all that. Don’t +you fash yourself, laird. Things’ll be in time. All me and my wife wants +is that the bit lassies should have every comfort.”</p> + +<p>“I will see to that,” said Sir John.</p> + +<p>“We’ll miss them, puir wee things!” exclaimed Jean; and there came a +glint of something like tears into her hard and yet bright blue eyes.</p> + +<p>“I am sure you will. You have, both of you, been valued servants both to +my cousin and her nieces. I wish to make you a little present each.” +Here Sir John fumbled in his pocket, and took out a couple of +sovereigns.</p> + +<p>But the old pair drew back in some indignation. “Na, na!” they +exclaimed; “it isn’t our love for them or for her as can be purchased +for gowd.”</p> + +<p>“Well, as you please, my good people. I respect you all the more for +refusing. But now, may I ask you a question?”</p> + +<p>“And whatever may that be?” exclaimed Jean.</p> + +<p>“I have looked through your late mistress’s effects——”</p> + +<p>“And whatever may ‘effects’ be?” inquired Donald.</p> + +<p>“What she has left behind her.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p><p>“Ay, the laird uses grand words,” remarked Donald, turning to his wife.</p> + +<p>“Maybe,” said Jean; “but its the flavor of the Scotch in the speech that +softens my heart the most.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Sir John quickly, “there’s one little packet I cannot find. +Miss Vivian wrote to me about it in a letter which I received after her +death. I haven’t an idea what it contained; but she seemed to set some +store by it, and it was eventually to be the property of the young +ladies.”</p> + +<p>“Puir lambs! Puir lambs!” said Jean.</p> + +<p>“I have questioned them about it, but they know nothing.”</p> + +<p>“And how should they, babes as they be?” said Jean.</p> + +<p>“You’ll not be offended, Jean Macfarlane and Donald Macfarlane, if I ask +you the same question?”</p> + +<p>Jean flushed an angry red for a moment; but Donald’s shrewd face +puckered up in a smile.</p> + +<p>“You may ask, and hearty welcome,” he said; “but I know no more aboot +the bit packet than the lassies do, and that’s naucht at all.”</p> + +<p>“Nor me no more than he,” echoed Jean.</p> + +<p>“Do you think, by any possibility, any one from outside got into the +house and stole the little packet?”</p> + +<p>“Do I think!” exclaimed Jean. “Let me tell you, laird, that a man or +woman as got in here unbeknownst to Donald and me would go out again +pretty quick with a flea in the ear.”</p> + +<p>Sir John smiled. “I believe you,” he said. He went upstairs, feeling +puzzled. But when he laid his head on his pillow he was so tired that he +fell sound asleep. The sleep seemed to last but for a minute or two when +Jean’s harsh voice was heard telling him to rise, for it was five +o’clock in the morning. Then there came a time of bustle and confusion. +The girls, with their faces white as sheets, came down to breakfast in +their usual fashion—hand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>linked within hand. Sir John thought, as he +glanced at them, that he had never seen a more desolate-looking little +trio. They hardly ate any of the excellent food which Jean had provided. +The good baronet guessed that their hearts were full, and did not worry +them with questions.</p> + +<p>The pile of deal boxes had disappeared from the narrow hall and was +already on its way to Dunstan Station, where they were to meet a local +train which would presently enable them to join the express for London. +There was a bewildered moment of great anguish when Jean caught the +lassies to her breast, when the dogs clustered round to be embraced and +hugged and patted. Then Donald, leading the horse (for there was no room +for him to ride in the crowded dogcart), started briskly on the road to +Dunstan, and Craigie Muir was left far behind.</p> + +<p>By and by they all reached the railway station. The luggage was piled up +on the platform. Sir John took first-class tickets to London, and the +curious deal boxes found their place in the luggage van. Donald’s +grizzly head and rugged face were seen for one minute as the train +steamed out of the station. Betty clutched at the side of her dress +where Aunt Frances’ old flat pocket which contained the packet was +secured. The other two girls looked at her with a curious mingling of +awe and admiration, and then they were off.</p> + +<p>Sir John guessed at the young people’s feelings, and did not trouble +them with conversation. By and by they left the small train and got into +a compartment reserved for them in the London express. Sir John did +everything he could to enliven the journey for his young cousins. But +they were taciturn and irresponsive. Betty’s wonderful gray eyes looked +out of the window at the passing landscape, which Sir John was quite +sure she did not see; Sylvia and Hester were absorbed in watching their +sister. Sir John had a queer kind of feeling that there was something +wrong with the girls’ dress; that very coarse black serge, made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>with no +attempt at style; the coarse, home-made stockings; the rough, hobnailed +boots; the small tam-o’-shanter caps, pushed far back from the little +faces; the uncouth worsted gloves; and then the deal boxes! He had a +kind of notion that things were very wrong, and that the girls did not +look a bit at his own darling Fanny looked, nor in the least like the +other girls he had seen at Haddo Court. But Sir John Crawford had been a +widower for years, and during that time had seen little of women. He had +not the least idea how to remedy what looked a little out of place even +at Craigie Muir, but now that they were flying south looked much worse. +Could he possibly spare the time to spend a day in a London hotel, and +buy the girls proper toilets, and have their clothes put into regulation +trunks? But no, in the first place, he had not the time; in the second, +he would not have the slightest idea what to order.</p> + +<p>They all arrived in London late in the evening. Sylvia and Hetty had +been asleep during the latter part of the journey, but Betty still sat +bolt upright and wide awake. It was dusk now, and the lamp in the +carriage was lit. It seemed to throw a shadow on the girl’s miserable +face. She was very young—only the same age as Sir John’s dear Fanny; +and yet how different, how pale, how full of inexpressible sadness was +that little face! Those gray eyes of hers seemed to haunt him! He was +the kindest man on earth, and would have given worlds to comfort her; +but he did not know what to do.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT</h3> + +<p>Having made up her mind to receive the Vivian girls, Mrs. Haddo arranged +matters quite calmly and to her entire satisfaction. There was no fuss +or commotion of any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>kind; and when Sir John appeared on the following +morning, with the six deal boxes and the three girls dressed in their +coarse Highland garments, they were all received immediately in Mrs. +Haddo’s private sitting-room.</p> + +<p>“I have brought the girls, Mrs. Haddo,” said Sir John. “This is Betty. +Come forward, my dear, and shake hands with your new mistress.”</p> + +<p>“How old are you?” asked Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“I was sixteen my last birthday, and that was six months ago, and one +fortnight and three days,” replied Betty in a very distinct voice, +holding herself bolt upright, and looking with those strange eyes full +into Mrs. Haddo’s face. She spoke with extreme defiance. But she +suddenly met a rebuff—a kind of rebuff that she did not expect; for +Mrs. Haddo’s eyes looked back at her with such a world of love, +sympathy, and understanding that the girl felt that choking in her +throat and that bursting sensation in her heart which she dreaded more +than anything else. She instantly lowered her brilliant eyes and stood +back, waiting for her sisters to speak.</p> + +<p>Sylvia came up a little pertly. “Hetty and I are twins,” she said, “and +we’ll be fifteen our next birthday; but that’s not for a long time yet.”</p> + +<p>“Well, my dears, I am glad to welcome you all three, and I hope you will +have a happy time in my school. I will not trouble you with rules or +anything irksome of that sort to-day. You will like to see your cousin, +Fanny Crawford. She is busy at lessons now; so I would first of all +suggest that you go to your room, and change your dress, and get tidy +after your journey. You have come here nice and early; and in honor of +your arrival I will give, what is my invariable custom, a half-holiday +to the upper school, so that you may get to know your companions.”</p> + +<p>“Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here,” said Betty, but Betty +would not raise her eyes. She was standing very still, her hands locked +tightly together. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>Mrs. Haddo walked to the bell and rang it. A servant +appeared.</p> + +<p>“Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here,” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>The English governess with the charming, noble face presently appeared.</p> + +<p>“Miss Symes,” said Mrs. Haddo, “may I introduce you to Sir John +Crawford?”</p> + +<p>Sir John bowed, and the governess bent her head gracefully.</p> + +<p>“And these are your new pupils, the Vivians. This is Betty, and this +little girl is Sylvia. Am I not right, dear?”</p> + +<p>“No; I am Hester,” said the girl addressed as Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“This is Hetty, then; and this is Sylvia. Will you take them to their +room and do what you can for their comfort? If they like to stay there +for a little they can do so. I will speak to you presently, if you will +come to me here.”</p> + +<p>The girls and Miss Symes left the presence of the head mistress. The +moment they had done so Mrs. Haddo gave a quick sigh. “My dear Sir +John,” she said, “what remarkable, and interesting, and difficult, and +almost impossible girls you have intrusted to my care!”</p> + +<p>“I own they are not like others,” said Sir John; “but you have admitted +they are interesting.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Mrs. Haddo, speaking slowly. “I shall manage them yet. The +eldest girl, Betty, is wonderful. What a heart! what a soul! but, oh, +very hard to get at!”</p> + +<p>“I thought, perhaps,” said Sir John, fidgeting slightly, “that you would +object to the rough way they are clothed. I really don’t like it myself; +at least, I don’t think it’s quite the fashion.”</p> + +<p>“Their clothes do not matter at all, Sir John.”</p> + +<p>“But the less remarkable they look the better they will get on in the +school,” persisted Sir John; “so, of course, you will get what is +necessary.”</p> + +<p>“Naturally, Miss Symes and I will see to that.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>“They led a very rough life in the country,” continued Sir John, “and +yet it was a pure and healthy life—out all day long on those great +moors, and with no one to keep them company except a faithful old +servant of Miss Vivian’s and his wife. They made pets of dogs and +horses, and were happy after their fashion. You will do what you can for +them, will you not, Mrs. Haddo?”</p> + +<p>“Having accepted them into my school, I will do my utmost. I do not mind +simple manners, for the noblest natures are to be found among such +people; nor do I mind rough, ungainly clothing, for that, indeed, only +belongs to the outward girl and can quickly be remedied. I will keep +these girls, and do all that woman can for them, provided I see no +deceit in any of them; but that, you will clearly understand, Sir John, +is in my opinion an unpardonable sin.”</p> + +<p>“Do they look like girls who would deceive any one?” was Sir John’s +rejoinder.</p> + +<p>“I grant you they do not. Now, you must be very busy, so you must cast +the girls from your mind. You would like to see Fanny. I know she is +dying to have a talk with you.”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Miss Symes had conducted the girls upstairs. The room they +entered was much grander than any room they had ever seen before. It was +large—one of the largest bedrooms in the great house. It had three +noble windows which reached from floor to ceiling, and were of French +style, so that they could be opened wide in summer weather to admit the +soft, warm air. There was a great balcony outside the windows, where the +girls could sit when they chose. The room itself was called the blue +room; the reason of this was that the color on the walls was pale blue, +whereas the paint was white. The three little beds stood in a row, side +by side. There was a very large wardrobe exactly facing the beds, also a +chest of large drawers for each girl, while the carpet was blue to match +the walls. A bright fire <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>was burning in the cheerful, new-fashioned +grate. Altogether, it would have been difficult to find a more charming +apartment than the blue room at Haddo Court.</p> + +<p>“Are we to sleep here?” asked Betty.</p> + +<p>“Yes, my dear child. These are your little beds; and Anderson, the +schoolroom maid, will unpack your trunks presently. I see they have been +brought up.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes slightly started, for the six wooden trunks, fastened by +their coarse ropes, were standing side by side in another part of the +room.</p> + +<p>“Why do you look at our trunks like that?” asked Sylvia, who was not +specially shy, and was quick to express her feelings.</p> + +<p>But Betty came to the rescue. “Never mind how she looks,” remarked +Betty; “she can look as she likes. What does it matter to us?”</p> + +<p>This speech was so very different from the ordinary speech of the +ordinary girl who came to Haddo Court that Miss Symes was nonplussed for +a moment. She quickly, however, recovered her equanimity.</p> + +<p>“Now, my dears, you must make yourselves quite at home. You must not be +shy, or lonely, or unhappy. You must enter—which I hope you will do +very quick—into the life of this most delightful house. We are all +willing and anxious to make you happy. As to your trunks, they will be +unpacked and put away in one of the attics.”</p> + +<p>“I wish we could sleep in an attic,” said Betty then in a fierce voice. +“I hate company-rooms.”</p> + +<p>“There is no attic available, my dear; and this, you must admit, is a +nice room.”</p> + +<p>“I admit nothing,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“I think it’s a nice room,” said Hester; “only, of course, we are not +accustomed to it, and that great fire is so chokingly hot. May we open +all the windows?”</p> + +<p>“Certainly, dears, provided you don’t catch cold.”</p> + +<p>“Catch cold!” said Sylvia in a voice of scorn. “If you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>had ever lived +on a Scotch moor you wouldn’t talk of catching cold in a stuffy little +hole of a place like this.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes had an excellent temper, but she found it a trifle difficult +to keep it under control at that moment. “I must ask you for the keys of +your trunks,” she said; “for while we are at dinner, which will be in +about an hour’s time, Anderson will unpack them.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks,” said Betty, “but we’d much rather unpack our own trunks.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes was silent for a minute. “In this house, dear, it is not the +custom,” she said then. She spoke very gently. She was puzzled at the +general appearance, speech, and get-up of the new girls.</p> + +<p>“And we can, of course, keep our own keys,” continued Betty, speaking +rapidly, her very pale face glowing with a faint tinge of color; +“because Mrs.——What is the name of the mistress?”</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Haddo,” said Miss Symes in a tone of great respect.</p> + +<p>“Well, whatever her name is, she said we were to be restricted by no +rules to-day. She said so, didn’t she, Sylvia? Didn’t she, Hetty?”</p> + +<p>“She certainly did,” replied the twins.</p> + +<p>“Then, if it’s a rule for the trunks to be unpacked by some one else, it +doesn’t apply to us to-day,” said Betty. “If you will be so very kind, +Miss——”</p> + +<p>“Symes is my name.”</p> + +<p>“So very kind, Miss Symes, as to go away and leave us, we’ll begin to +unpack our own trunks and put everything away by dinner-time.”</p> + +<p>“Very well,” said Miss Symes quite meekly. “Is there anything else I can +do for your comfort?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” remarked Sylvia in a pert tone; “you can go away.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes left the room. When she did so the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>younger girls looked +at their elder sister. Betty’s face was very white, and her chest was +working ominously.</p> + +<p>Sylvia went up to her and gave her a sudden, violent slap between the +shoulders. “Now, don’t begin!” she said. “If you do, they’ll all come +round us. It isn’t as if we could rush away to the middle of the moors, +and you could go on with it as long as you liked. Here, if you howl, +you’ll catch it; for they’ll stand over you, and perhaps fling water on +your head.”</p> + +<p>“Leave me alone, then, for a minute,” said Betty. She flung herself flat +on the ground, face downwards, her hair falling about her shoulders. She +lay as still as though she were carved in stone. The twin girls watched +her for a minute. Then very softly and carefully Sylvia approached the +prone figure, pushed her hand into Betty’s pocket (a very coarse, +ordinary pocket it was, put in at the side of her dress by Jean’s own +fingers), and took out a bunch of keys.</p> + +<p>Sylvia held up the keys with a glad smile. “Now let’s begin,” she said. +“It’s an odious, grandified room, and Betty’ll go mad here; but we can’t +help it—at least, for a bit. And there’s always the packet.”</p> + +<p>At these words, to the great relief of her younger sisters, Betty stood +upright. “There’s always the packet,” she said. “Now let’s begin to +unpack.”</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fact that there were six deal trunks—six trunks of +the plainest make, corded with the coarsest rope—there was very little +inside them, at least as far as an ordinary girl’s wardrobe is +concerned; for Miss Frances Vivian had been very poor, and during the +last year of her life had lived at Craigie Muir in the strictest +economy. She was, moreover, too ill to be greatly troubled about the +girls’ clothing; and by and by, as her illness progressed, she left the +matter altogether to Jean. Jean was to supply what garments the young +ladies required, and Jean set about the work with a right good will. So +the coarsest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>petticoats, the most clumsy stockings, the ugliest jackets +and blouses and skirts imaginable, presently appeared out of the little +wooden trunks.</p> + +<p>The girls sorted them eagerly, putting them pell-mell into the drawers +without the slightest attempt at any sort of order. But if there were +very few clothes in the trunks, there were all sorts of other things. +There were boxes full of caterpillars in different stages of chrysalis +form. There was also a glass box which contained an enormous spider. +This was Sylvia’s special property. She called the spider Dickie, and +adored it. She would not give it flies, which she considered cruel, but +used to keep it alive on morsels of raw meat. Every day, for a quarter +of an hour, Dickie was allowed to take exercise on a flat stone on the +edge of the moor. It was quite against even Jean Macfarlane’s advice +that Dickie was brought to the neighborhood of London. But he was here. +He had borne his journey apparently well, and Sylvia looked at him now +with worshiping eyes.</p> + +<p>In addition to the live stock, which was extensive and varied, there +were also all kinds of strange fossils, and long, trailing pieces of +heather—mementos of the life which the girls lived on the moor, and +which they had left with such pain and sorrow. They were all busy +worshiping Dickie, and envying Sylvia’s bravery in bringing the huge +spider to Haddo Court, when there came a gentle tap at the door.</p> + +<p>Betty said crossly, “Who’s there?”</p> + +<p>A very refined voice answered, “It’s I;” and the next minute Fanny +Crawford entered the room. “How are you all?” she said. Her eyes were +red, for she had just said good-bye to her father, and she thoroughly +hated the idea of the girls coming to the school.</p> + +<p>“How are you, Fan?” replied Betty, speaking in a careless tone, just +nodding her head, and looking again into the glass box. “He is very +hungry,” she continued. “By <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>the way, Fan, will you run down to the +kitchen and get a little bit of raw meat?”</p> + +<p>“Will I do what?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Well, I suppose there is a kitchen in the house, and you can get a bit +of raw meat. It’s for Dickie.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Fanny, coming forward on tiptoe and peeping into the box, +“you can’t keep that terror here—you simply won’t be allowed to have +it! Have you <i>no</i> idea what school-life is like?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Betty; “and what is more, I don’t want you to tell me. Dickie +darling, I’d let you pinch my finger if it would do you any good. +Sylvia, what use are you if you can’t feed your own spider? If Fan won’t +oblige her cousins when she knows the ways of the house, I presume you +have a pair of legs and can use them? Go to the kitchen at once and get +a piece of raw meat.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know where it is,” said Sylvia, looking slightly frightened.</p> + +<p>“Well, you can ask. Go on; ask until you find. Now, be off with you!”</p> + +<p>“You had better not,” said Fanny. “Why, you will meet all the girls +coming out of the different classrooms!”</p> + +<p>“What do girls matter,” said Betty in a withering voice, “when Dickie is +hungry?”</p> + +<p>Sylvia gathered up her courage and departed. Betty laid the glass box +which contained the spider on the dressing-table.</p> + +<p>If Fanny had not been slightly afraid of these bold northern cousins of +hers, she would have dashed the box out on the balcony and released poor +Dickie, giving him back to his natural mode of life. “What queer dresses +you are wearing!” she said. “Do, please, change them before lunch. You +were not dressed like this when I saw you last. You were never +fashionable, but this stuff——”</p> + +<p>“You’d best not begin, Fan, or I’ll howl,” said Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>“Hush! do hush, Fanny!” exclaimed Hester. “Don’t forget that we are in +mourning for darling auntie.”</p> + +<p>“But have you really no other dresses?”</p> + +<p>“There’s nothing wrong with these,” said Hester; “they’re quite +comfortable.”</p> + +<p>Just at that moment there came peals of laughter proceeding from several +girls’ throats. The room-door was burst open, and Sylvia entered first, +her face very red, her eyes bright and defiant, and a tiny piece of raw +meat on a plate in her hand. The girls who followed her did not belong +to the Specialities, but they were all girls of the upper school. Fanny +thanked her stars that they were not particular friends of hers. They +were choking with laughter, and evidently thought they had never seen so +good a sight in their lives.</p> + +<p>“Oh, this is too delicious!” said Sibyl Ray, a girl who had just been +admitted into the upper school. “We met this—this young lady, and she +said she wanted to go to the kitchen to get some raw meat; and when I +told her I didn’t know the way she just took my hand and drew me along +with her, and said, ‘If you possessed a Dickie, and he was dying of +hunger, you wouldn’t hesitate to find the kitchen.’”</p> + +<p>“Well, I’m not going to interfere,” said Fanny; “but I think you know +the rules of the house, Sibyl, and that no girl is allowed in the +kitchen.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t go in,” said Sibyl; “catch me! But I went to the beginning of +the corridor which leads to the kitchen. <i>She</i> went in, though, boldly +enough, and she got it. Now, we do want to see who Dickie is. Is he a +dog, or a monkey, or what?”</p> + +<p>“He’s a spider—<i>goose</i>!” said Sylvia. “And now, please, get out of the +way. He won’t eat if you watch him. I’ve got a good bit of meat, Betty,” +she continued. “It’ll keep Dickie going for several days, and he likes +it all the better when it begins to turn. Don’t you Dickie?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p><p>“If you don’t all leave the room, girls,” said Fanny, “I shall have to +report to Miss Symes.”</p> + +<p>The girls who had entered were rather afraid of Fanny Crawford, and +thought it best to obey her instructions. But the news with regard to +the newcomers spread wildly all over the house; so much so that when, in +course of time, neat-looking Fanny came down to dinner accompanied by +her three cousins, the whole school remained breathless, watching the +Vivians as they entered. But what magical force is there about certain +girls which raises them above the mere accessories of dress? Could there +be anything uglier than the attire of these so-called Scotch lassies? +And was there ever a prouder carriage than that of Betty Vivian, or a +more scornful expression in the eye, or a firmer set of the little lips?</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo, who always presided at this meal, called the strangers to +come and sit near her; and though the school had great difficulty in not +bursting into a giggle, there was not a sound of any sort whatever as +the three obeyed. Fanny sat down near her friend, Susie Rushworth. Her +eyes spoke volumes. But Susie was gazing at Betty’s face.</p> + +<p>At dinner, the girls were expected to talk French on certain days of the +week, and German on others. This was French day, and Susie murmured +something to Fanny in that tongue with regard to Betty’s remarkable +little face. But Fanny was in no mood to be courteous or kind about her +relatives. Susie was quick to perceive this, and therefore left her +alone.</p> + +<p>When dinner came to an end, Mrs. Haddo called the three Vivians into her +private sitting-room. This room was even more elegant than the beautiful +bedroom which they had just vacated. “Now, my dears,” she said, “I want +to have a talk with you all.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia and Hester looked impatient, and shuffled from one ungainly clad +foot to the other; but Mrs. Haddo fixed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>her eyes on Betty’s face, and +again there thrilled through Betty’s heart the marvelous sensation that +she had come across a kindred soul. She was incapable, poor child, of +putting the thought into such words; but she felt it, and it thawed her +rebellious spirit.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo sat down. “Now,” she said, “you call this school, and, having +never been at school before, you doubtless think you are going to be +very miserable?”</p> + +<p>“If there’s much discipline we shall be,” said Hester, “and Betty will +howl.”</p> + +<p>“<i>Don’t</i> talk like that!” said Betty; and there was a tone in her voice +which silenced Hetty, to the little girl’s own amazement.</p> + +<p>“There will certainly be discipline at school,” said Mrs. Haddo, “just +as there is discipline in life. What miserable people we should be +without discipline! Why, we couldn’t get on at all. I am not going to +lecture you to-day. As a matter of fact, I never lecture; and I never +expect any young girl to do in my school what I would not endeavor to do +myself. Above all things, I wish to impress one thing upon you. If you +have any sort of trouble—and, of course, dears, you will have +plenty—you must come straight to me and tell me about it. This is a +privilege I permit to very few girls, but I grant it to you. I give you +that full privilege for the first month of your stay at Haddo Court. You +are to come to me as you would to a mother, had you, my poor children, a +mother living.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t! It makes the lump so bad!” said Betty, clasping her rough little +hand against her white throat.</p> + +<p>“I think I have said enough on that subject for the present. I am very +curious to hear all about your life on the moors—how you spent your +time, and how you managed your horses and dogs and your numerous pets.”</p> + +<p>“Do you really want to hear?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Certainly; I have said so.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know,” said Hetty, “that Sylvia <i>would</i> bring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Dickie here. +Betty and I were somewhat against it, although he is a darling. He is +the most precious pet in the world, and Sylvia would not part with him. +We sent her to the kitchen before dinner to get a bit of raw meat for +him. Would you like to see him?”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was silent for a minute. Then she said gently, “Yes, very +much. He is a sort of pet, I suppose?”</p> + +<p>“He is a spider,” said Betty—“a great, enormous spider. We captured him +when he was small, and we fed him—oh, not on little flies—that would be +cruel—but on morsels of raw meat. Now he is very big, and he has wicked +eyes. I would rather call him Demon than Dickie; but Sylvia named him +Dickie when he was but a baby thing, so the name has stuck to him. We +love him dearly.”</p> + +<p>“I will come up to your room presently, and you shall show him to me. +Have you brought other pets from the country?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, stones and shells and bits of the moor.”</p> + +<p>“Bits of the moor, my dear children!”</p> + +<p>“Yes; we dug pieces up the day before yesterday and wrapped them in +paper, and we want to plant them somewhere here. We thought they would +comfort us. We’d like it awfully if you would let one of the dogs come, +too. He is a great sheep-dog, and such a darling! His name is Andrew. I +think Donald Macfarlane would part with him if you said we might have +him.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid I can’t just at present, dear; but if you are really good +girls, and try your very best to please me, you shall go back to Donald +Macfarlane in the holidays, and perhaps I will go with you, and you will +show me all your favorite haunts.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, will you?” said Betty. Her eyes grew softer than ever.</p> + +<p>“You are quite a dear for a head mistress,” said Sylvia. “We’ve always +read in books that they are such horrors. It is nice for you to say you +will come.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><p>“Well, now, I want to say something else, and then we’ll go up to your +room and see Dickie. I am going to take you three girls up to town +to-morrow to buy you the sort of dresses we wear in this part of the +world. You can put away these most sensible frocks for your next visit +to Craigie Muir. Not a word, dears. You have said I am a very nice head +mistress, and I hope you will continue to think so. Now, let us come up +to your room.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>THE VIVIANS’ ATTIC</h3> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was genuinely interested in Dickie. She never once spoke of +him as a horror. She immediately named the genus to which he belonged in +the spider tribe, and told the girls that they could look up full +particulars with regard to him and his ways in a large book she had +downstairs called “Chambers’s Encyclopedia.” She suggested, however, +that they should have a little room in one of the attics where they +could keep Dickie and his morsels of meat, and the different boxes which +contained the caterpillars. She volunteered to show this minute room to +the young Vivians at once.</p> + +<p>They looked at her, as she spoke, with more and more interest and less +and less dislike. Even Sylvia’s little heart was melted, and Hetty at +once put out her hand and touched Mrs. Haddo’s. In a moment the little +brown hand was held in the firm clasp of the white one, which was +ornamented with sparkling rings.</p> + +<p>As the children and Mrs. Haddo were leaving the blue room, Mrs. Haddo’s +eyes fell upon the deal trunks. “What very sensible trunks!” she said. +“And so you brought your clothes in these?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” replied Betty. “Donald Macfarlane made them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>for us. He can do +all sorts of carpentering. He meant to paint them green; but we thought +we’d like them best just as they are unpainted.”</p> + +<p>“They are strong, useful boxes,” replied Mrs. Haddo. “And now come with +me and I will show you the room which shall be your private property and +where you can keep your pets. By the way,” she added, “I am exceedingly +particular with regard to the neatness of the various rooms where my +pupils sleep; and these bits of heather and these curious stones—oh, I +can tell you plenty about their history by and by—might also be put +into what we will call ‘the Vivians’ attic.’”</p> + +<p>“Thank you so much!” said Betty. She had forgotten all about +howling—she had even forgotten for the minute that she was really at +school; for great Mrs. Haddo, the wonderful head mistress, about whom +Fanny had told so many stories, was really a most agreeable +person—nearly, very nearly, as nice as dear Aunt Frances.</p> + +<p>The little attic was presently reached; the pets were deposited there; +and then—wonderful to relate!—Mrs. Haddo went out herself with the +girls and chose the very best position in the grounds for them to plant +the pieces of heather, with their roots and surrounding earth. She gave +to each girl a small plot which was to be her very own, and which no +other girl was to have anything whatever to do with. When presently she +introduced them into the private sitting-room of the upper school, +Betty’s eyes were shining quite happily; and Sylvia and Hetty, who +always followed her example, were looking as merry as possible.</p> + +<p>Fanny Crawford, being requested to do so by Susie Rushworth, now +introduced the Vivians to the Specialities. Mary and Julia Bertram shook +hands with them quite warmly. Margaret Grant smiled for a minute as her +dark, handsome eyes met those of Betty; while Olive Repton said in her +most genial tone, “Oh, do sit down, and tell us all about your life!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, please—<i>please</i>, tell us all about your life!” exclaimed another +voice; and Sibyl Ray came boldly forward and seated herself in the midst +of the group, which was known in the school as the Specialities.</p> + +<p>But here Margaret interfered. “You shall hear everything presently, +Sibyl,” she said; “but just now we are having a little confab with dear +Fanny’s friends, so do you mind leaving us alone together?”</p> + +<p>Sibyl colored angrily. “I am sure I don’t care,” she said; “and if you +are going to be stuck-up and snappish and disagreeable just because you +happen to call yourselves the Specialities, you needn’t expect <i>me</i> to +take an interest in you. I am just off for a game of tennis, and shall +have a far better time than you all, hobnobbing in this close room.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, the room is very close,” exclaimed Betty. Then she added, “I do +not think I shall like the South of England at all; it seems to be +without air.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you’ll soon get over that!” laughed Susie. “Besides,” she +continued, “winter is coming; and I can tell you we find winter very +cold, even here.”</p> + +<p>“I am glad of that,” said Betty. “I hate hot weather; unless, indeed,” +she added, “when you can lie flat on your back, in the centre of one of +the moors, and watch the sky with the sun blazing down on you.”</p> + +<p>“But you must never lie anywhere near a flat stone,” exclaimed Sylvia, +“or an adder may come out, and that isn’t a bit jolly!”</p> + +<p>Sibyl had not yet moved off, but was standing with her mouth slightly +gaping and her round eyes full of horror.</p> + +<p>“Do go! do go, Sibyl!” said Mary Bertram; and Sibyl went, to tell +wonderful stories to her own special friends all about these oddest of +girls who kept monstrous spiders—spiders that had to be fed on raw +meat—and who themselves lay on the moors where adders were to be found.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p><p>“Now tell us about Dickie,” said Susie, who was always the first to make +friends.</p> + +<p>But Betty Vivian, for some unaccountable reason, no longer felt either +amiable or sociable. “There’s nothing to tell,” she replied, “and you +can’t see him.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, please, Betty, don’t be disagreeable!” exclaimed Fanny. “We can see +him any minute if we go to your bedroom.”</p> + +<p>“No, you can’t,” said Betty, “for he isn’t there.”</p> + +<p>Fanny burst out laughing. “Ah,” she said, “I thought as much! I thought +Mrs. Haddo would soon put an end to poor Dickie’s life!”</p> + +<p>“Then you thought wrong!” exclaimed Sylvia with flashing eyes, “for Mrs. +Haddo loves him. She was down on her knees looking——Oh, what is the +matter, Betty?”</p> + +<p>“If you keep repeating our secrets with Mrs. Haddo I shall pinch you +black and blue to-night,” was Betty’s response.</p> + +<p>Sylvia instantly became silent.</p> + +<p>“Well, tell us about the moor, anyhow,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“And let’s go out!” cried Olive. “The day is perfectly glorious; and, of +course,” she continued, “we are all bound to make ourselves agreeable to +you three, for we owe our delightful half-holiday to you. But for you +Vivians we’d be toiling away at our lessons now instead of allowing our +minds to cool down.”</p> + +<p>“Do minds get as hot as all that?” asked Hester.</p> + +<p>“Very often, indeed, at this school,” said Olive with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>“Well, I, for one, shall be delighted to go out,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Then you must run upstairs and get your hats and your gloves,” said +Fanny, who seemed, for some extraordinary reason, to wish to make her +cousins uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>Betty looked at her very fiercely for a minute; then she beckoned to her +sisters, and the three left the room in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>their usual fashion—each girl +holding the hand of another.</p> + +<p>“Fan,” said Olive the moment the door had closed behind them, “you don’t +like the Vivians! I see it in your face.”</p> + +<p>“I never said so,” replied Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Fan, dear—not with the lips, of course; but the eyes have spoken +volumes. Now, I think they are great fun; they’re so uncommon.”</p> + +<p>“I have never said I didn’t like them,” repeated Fanny, “and you will +never get me to say it. They are my cousins, and of course I’ll have to +look after them a bit; but I think before they are a month at the school +you will agree with me in my opinion with regard to them.”</p> + +<p>“How can we agree in an opinion we know nothing about?” said Margaret +Grant.</p> + +<p>Fanny looked at her, and Fanny’s eyes could flash in a very significant +manner at times.</p> + +<p>“Let’s come out!” exclaimed Susie Rushworth. “The girls will follow us.”</p> + +<p>This, however, turned out not to be the case. Susie, the Bertrams, +Margaret Grant, Olive Repton, waited for the Vivians in every imaginable +spot where they it likely the newcomers would be.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, the very instant the young Vivians had left the +sitting-room, Betty whispered in an eager tone, first to one sister and +then to the other, “We surely needn’t stay any longer with Fanny and +those other horrid girls. Never mind your hats and gloves. Did we ever +wear hats and gloves when we were out on the moors at Craigie Muir? +There’s an open door. Let’s get away quite by ourselves.”</p> + +<p>The Vivians managed this quite easily. They raced down a side-walk until +they came to an overhanging oak tree of enormous dimensions. Into this +tree they climbed, getting up higher and higher until they were lost to +view in the topmost branches. Here they contrived to make a cozy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>nest +for themselves, where they sat very close together, not talking much, +although Betty now and then said calmly, “I like Mrs. Haddo; she is the +only one in the whole school I can tolerate.”</p> + +<p>“Fan’s worse than ever!” exclaimed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t let’s talk of her!” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“It will be rather fun going to London to-morrow,” said Hester.</p> + +<p>“Fun!” exclaimed Betty. “I suppose we shall be put into odious +fashionable dresses, like those stuck-up dolls the other girls. But I +don’t think, try as they will, they’ll ever turn <i>me</i> into a fashionable +lady. How I do hate that sort!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, and so do I,” said Sylvia; while Hetty, who always echoed her +sisters’ sentiments, said ditto.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Haddo was kind about Dickie,” said Betty after a thoughtful pause.</p> + +<p>“And it is nice,” added Sylvia, “to have the Vivian attic.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, dear!” said Hester; “I wish all those girls would keep out of +sight, for then I’d dash back to the house and bring out the pieces of +heather and plant them right away. They ought not to be long out of the +ground.”</p> + +<p>“You had best go at once,” said Betty, giving Hester a somewhat vigorous +push, which very nearly upset the little girl’s balance. “Go boldly back +to the house; don’t be afraid of any one; don’t speak to any one unless +it happens to be Mrs. Haddo. Be sure you are polite to her, for she is a +lady. Go up to the Vivian attic and bring down the clumps of heather, +and the little spade we brought with us in the very bottom of the fifth +trunk.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, and there’s the watering-can; don’t forget that!” cried Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Yes, bring the watering-can, too. You had best find a pump, or a well, +or something, so that you can fill it up to the brim. Bring them all +along; and then just whistle ‘Robin Adair’ at the foot of this tree, and +we two will come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>swarming down. Now, off with you; there’s no time to +lose!”</p> + +<p>Hester descended without a word. She was certainly born without a scrap +of fear of any kind, and adventure appealed to her plucky little spirit. +Betty settled herself back comfortably against one of the forked +branches of the tree where she had made her nest.</p> + +<p>“If we are careful, Sylvia, we can come up here to hide as often as we +like. I rather fancy from the shape of those other girls that they’re +not specially good at climbing trees.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean by their shape?” asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Oh, they’re so squeezed in and pushed out; I don’t know how to explain +it. Now, <i>we</i> have the use of all our limbs; and I say, you silly little +Sylvia, won’t we use them just!”</p> + +<p>“I always love you, Betty, when you call me ‘silly little Sylvia,’ for I +know you are in a good humor and not inclined to howl. But, before Hetty +comes back, I want to say something.”</p> + +<p>“How mysterious you look, Sylvia! What can you have to say that poor +Hetty’s not to hear? I am not going to have secrets that are not shared +among us three, I can tell you. We share and share alike—we three. We +are just desolate orphans, alone in the world; but at least we share and +share alike.”</p> + +<p>“Of course, of course,” said Sylvia; “but I saw—and I don’t think Hetty +did——”</p> + +<p>“And what did you see?”</p> + +<p>“I saw Fan looking at us; and then she came rather close. It was that +time when we were all stifling in that odious sitting-room; Fan came and +sat very close to you, and I saw her put her hand down to feel your +dress. I know she felt that flat pocket where the little sealed packet +is.”</p> + +<p>Betty’s face grew red and then white.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p><p>“And don’t you remember,” continued Sylvia, “that Fan was with us on the +very, very day when darling auntie told us about the packet—the day +when you came out of her room with your eyes as red as a ferret’s; and +don’t you remember how you couldn’t help howling that day, and how far +off we had to go for fear darlingest auntie would hear you? And can’t +you recall that Fan crept after us, just like the horrid sneak that she +is? And I know she heard you say, ‘That packet is mine; it belongs to +all of us, and I—I <i>will</i> keep it, whatever happens.’”</p> + +<p>“She may do sneaky things of that sort every hour of every day that she +likes,” was Betty’s cool rejoinder. “Now, don’t get into a fright, silly +little Sylvia. Oh, I say, hark! that’s Hester’s note. She is whistling +‘Robin Adair’!”</p> + +<p>Quick as thought, the girls climbed down from the great tree and stood +under it. Hester was panting a little, for she had run fast and her arms +were very full.</p> + +<p>“I saw a lot of <i>them</i> scattered everywhere!” she exclaimed; “but I +don’t <i>think</i> they saw me, but of course I couldn’t be sure. Here’s the +heather; its darling little bells are beginning to droop, poor sweet +pets! And here’s the spade; and here’s the watering-can, brimful of +water, too, for I saw a gardener as I was coming along, and I asked him +to fill it for me, and he did so at once. Now let’s go to our gardens +and let’s plant. We’ve just got a nice sod of heather each—one for each +garden. Oh, do let’s be quick, or those dreadful girls will see us!”</p> + +<p>“There’s no need to hurry,” said Betty. “I rather think I can take care +of myself. Give me the watering-can. Sylvia, take the heather; and, +Hetty—your face is perfectly scarlet, you have run so fast—you follow +after with the spade.”</p> + +<p>The little plots of ground which had been given over to the Vivian girls +had been chosen by Mrs. Haddo on the edge of a wild, uncultivated piece +of ground. The girls of Haddo Court were proud of this piece of land, +which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>some of them—Margaret Grant, in particular—were fond of calling +the “forest primeval.” But the Vivians, fresh from the wild Scotch +moors, thought but poorly of the few acres of sparse grass and tangled +weed and low under-growth. It was, however, on the very edge of this +piece of land that the three little gardens were situated. Mrs. Haddo +did nothing by halves; and already—wonderful to relate—the gardens had +been marked out with stakes and pieces of stout string, and there was a +small post planted at the edge of the center garden containing the words +in white paint: <span class="smcap">The Vivians’ Private Gardens</span>.</p> + +<p>Even Betty laughed. “This is good!” she said. “Girls, that is quite a +nice woman.”</p> + +<p>The twins naturally acknowledged as very nice indeed any one whom Betty +admired.</p> + +<p>Betty here gave a profound sigh. “Come along; let’s be quick,” she said. +“We’ll plant our heather in the very center of each plot. I’ll have the +middle plot, of course, being the eldest. You, silly Sylvia, shall have +the one on the left-hand side; and you, Het, the one on the right-hand +side. I will plant my heather first.”</p> + +<p>The others watched while Betty dug vigorously, and had soon made a hole +large enough and soft enough to inclose the roots of the wild Scotch +heather. She then gave her spade to Sylvia, who did likewise; then +Hetty, in her turn, also planted a clump of heather. The contents of the +watering-can was presently dispersed among the three clumps, and the +girls turned back in the direction of the house.</p> + +<p>“She <i>is</i> nice!” said Betty. “I will bring her here the first day she +has a minute to spare and show her the heather. She said she knew all +about Scotch heather, and loved it very much. I shouldn’t greatly mind, +for my part, letting her know about the packet.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, better not!” said Hester in a frightened tone. “Remember, she is +not the only one in that huge prison of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>house.” Here she pointed to +the great mansion which constituted the vast edifice, Haddo Court. “She +is by no means the only one,” continued Hester. “If she were, I could be +happy here.”</p> + +<p>“You are right, Het; you are quite a wise, small girl,” said Betty. “Oh, +dear,” she added, “how I hate those monstrous houses! What would not I +give to be back in the little, white stone house at Craigie Muir!”</p> + +<p>“And with darling Jean and dearest old Donald!” exclaimed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Yes, and the dogs,” said Hester. “Oh, Andrew! oh, Fritz! are you +missing us as much as we miss you? And, David, you darling! are you +pricking up your ears, expecting us to come round to you with some +carrots?”</p> + +<p>“We’d best not begin too much of this sort of talk,” said Betty. “We’ve +got to make up our minds to be cheerful—that is, if we wish to please +Mrs. Haddo.”</p> + +<p>The thought of Mrs. Haddo was certainly having a remarkable effect on +Betty; and there is no saying how soon she might, in consequence, have +been reconciled to her school-life but for an incident which took place +that very evening. For Fanny Crawford, who would not tell a tale against +another for the world, had been much troubled since she heard of her +cousins’ arrival. Her conscientious little mind had told her that they +were the last sort of girls suitable to be in such a school as Haddo +Court. She had found out something about them. She had not meant to spy +on them during her brief visit to Craigie Muir, but she had certainly +overheard some of Betty’s passionate words about the little packet; and +that very evening, curled up on the sofa in the tiny sitting-room at +Craigie Muir Cottage, she had seen Betty—although Betty had not seen +her—creep into the room in the semi-darkness and remove a little sealed +packet from one of Miss Vivian’s drawers. As Fanny expressed it +afterwards, she felt at the moment as though her tongue would cleave to +the roof of her mouth. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>She had tried to utter some sound, but none +would come. She had never mentioned the incident to any one; and as she +scarcely expected to see anything more of her cousins in the future, she +tried to dismiss it from her thoughts. But as soon as ever she was told +in confidence by Miss Symes that the Vivian girls were coming to Haddo +Court, she recalled the incident of what she was pleased to regard as +the stolen packet. It had haunted her while she was at Craigie Muir; it +had even horrified her. Her whole nature recoiled against what she +considered clandestine and underhand dealings. Nevertheless she could +not, she would not, tell. But she had very nearly made up her mind to +say something to the girls themselves—to ask Betty why she had taken +the packet, and what she had done with it. But even on this course she +was not fully decided.</p> + +<p>On the morning of that very day, however, just before Fanny bade her +father good-bye, he had said to her, “Fan, my dear, there’s a trifle +worrying me, although I don’t suppose for a single moment you can help +me in the matter.”</p> + +<p>“What is it, father?” asked the girl.</p> + +<p>“Well, the fact is this. I am going, as you know, to India for the next +few years, and it is quite possible that as the cottage at Craigie Muir +will belong to the Vivian girls—for poor Frances bought it and allowed +those Scotch folk the Macfarlanes to live there—it is, I say, quite +possible that you may go to Craigie Muir for a summer holiday with your +cousins. The air is superb, and would do you much good, and of course +the girls would be wild with delight. Well, my dear, if you go, I want +you to look round everywhere—you have good, sharp eyes in your head, +Fan, my girl—and try if you can find a little sealed packet which poor +Frances left to be taken care of by me for your three cousins.”</p> + +<p>“A sealed packet?” said Fanny. She felt herself turning very pale.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p><p>“Yes. Do you know anything about it?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, father!” said poor Fanny; and her eyes filled with tears.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter, my child?”</p> + +<p>“I—I’d so much rather not talk about it, please.”</p> + +<p>“Then you do know something?”</p> + +<p>“Please, please, father, don’t question me!”</p> + +<p>“I won’t if you don’t wish it; but your manner puzzles me a good deal. +Well, dear, if you can get it by any chance, you had better put it into +Mrs. Haddo’s charge until I return. I asked those poor children if they +had seen it, and they denied having done so.”</p> + +<p>Fanny felt herself shiver, and had to clasp her hands very tightly +together.</p> + +<p>“I also asked that good shepherd Donald Macfarlane and his wife, and +they certainly knew nothing about it. I can’t stay with you any longer +now, my little girl; but if you do happen to go to Craigie Muir you +might remember that I am a little anxious on the subject, for it is my +wish to carry out the directions of my dear cousin Frances in all +particulars. Now, try to be very, very good to your cousins, Fan; and +remember how lonely they are, and how differently they have been brought +up from you.”</p> + +<p>Fanny could not speak, for she was crying too hard. Sir John presently +went away, and forgot all about the little packet. But Fanny remembered +it; in fact, she could not get it out of her head during the entire day; +and in the course of the afternoon, when she found that the Vivian girls +joined the group of the Specialities, she forced a chair between Betty +and Olive Repton, and seated herself on it, and purposely, hating +herself all the time for doing so, felt Betty’s pocket. Beyond doubt +there was something hard in it. It was not a pocket-handkerchief, nor +did it feel like a pencil or a knife or anything of that sort.</p> + +<p>“I shall know no peace,” thought Fanny to herself, “until I get that +unhappy girl to tell the truth and return <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>the packet to me. I shall be +very firm and very kind, and I will never let out a single thing about +it in the school. But the packet must be given up; and then I will +manage to convey it to Mrs. Haddo, who will keep it until dear father +returns.”</p> + +<p>But although Fan intended to act the part of the very virtuous and +proper girl, she did not like her cousins the more because of this +unpleasant incident. Fanny Crawford had a certain strength of character; +but it is sad to relate that she was somewhat overladen with +self-righteousness, and was very proud of the fact that nothing would +induce <i>her</i> to do a dishonorable thing. She sadly lacked Mrs. Haddo’s +rare and large sympathy and deep knowledge of life, and Fanny certainly +had not the slightest power of reading character.</p> + +<p>That very evening, therefore, when the Vivian girls had gone to their +room, feeling very tired and sleepy, and by no means so unhappy as they +expected, Fanny first knocked at their door and then boldly entered. +Each girl had removed her frock and was wearing a little, rough, gray +dressing-gown, and each girl was in the act of brushing out her own very +thick hair.</p> + +<p>“Brushing-hair time!” exclaimed Fanny in a cheerful tone. “I trust I am +not in the way.”</p> + +<p>“We were going to bed,” remarked Betty.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Betty, what a reproachful tone!” Fanny tried to carry matters off +with a light hand. “Surely I, your own cousin, am welcome? Do say I am +welcome, dear Betty! and let me bring my brush and comb, and brush my +hair in your room.”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Betty; “you are not welcome, and we’d all much rather that +you brushed your hair in your own room.”</p> + +<p>“You certainly are sweetly polite,” said Fanny, with a smile on her face +which was not remarkable for sweetness. She looked quite calmly at the +girls for a moment. Then she said, “This day, on account of your +arrival, rules are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>off, so to speak, but they begin again to-morrow +morning. To-morrow evening, therefore, I cannot come to your bedroom, +for it would be breaking rules.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, how just awfully jolly!” exclaimed Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Thanks,” said Fanny. She paused again for a minute. Then she added, +“But as rules are off, I may as well say that I have come here to-night +on purpose. Just before father left, he told me that there was a little +sealed packet”—Betty sat plump down on the side of her bed; Sylvia and +Hetty caught each others hands—“a little sealed packet,” continued +Fanny, “which belonged to poor Miss Vivian—your aunt Frances—and which +father was to take charge of for you.”</p> + +<p>“No, he wasn’t,” said Betty; “you make a mistake.”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, Betty! Father never makes a mistake. Anyhow, he has Miss +Vivian’s letter, which proves the whole thing. Now, the packet cannot be +found. Father is quite troubled about it. He says he has not an idea +what it contains, but it was left to be placed under his care. He asked +you three about it, and you said you knew nothing. He also asked the +servants in that ugly little house——”</p> + +<p>“How dare you call it ugly?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Well, well, pray don’t get into a passion! Anyhow, you all denied any +knowledge of the packet. Now, I may as well confess that, although I +have not breathed the subject to any one, I saw you, Betty, with my own +eyes, take it out of Miss Vivian’s drawer. I was lying on the sofa in +the dark, or almost in the dark, and you never noticed me; but I saw you +open the drawer and take the packet out. That being the case, you <i>do</i> +know all about it, and you have told a lie. Please, Betty, give me the +packet, and I will take it to-morrow to Mrs. Haddo, and she will look +after it for you until father returns; and I promise you faithfully that +I will never tell a soul what you did, nor the lie you told father about +it. Now, Betty, do be sensible. Give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>it to me, without any delay. I +felt it in the pocket under your dress to-day, so you can’t deny that +you have it.”</p> + +<p>Fanny’s face was very red when she had finished speaking, and there were +two other faces in that room which were even redder; but another face +was very pale, with shining eyes and a defiant, strange expression about +the lips.</p> + +<p>The three Vivians now came up to Fanny, who, although older than the two +younger girls, was built much more slightly, and, compared with them, +had no muscle at all. Betty was a very strong girl for her age.</p> + +<p>“Come,” said Betty, “we are not going to waste words on you. Just march +out of this!”</p> + +<p>“I—what do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“March! This is our room, our private room, and therefore our castle. If +you like to play the spy, you can; but you don’t come in here. Go +along—be quick—out you go!”</p> + +<p>A strong hand took Fanny forcibly by her right arm, and a strong hand +took her with equal force by her left, then two very powerful hands +pushed from behind; so that Fanny Crawford, who considered herself one +of the most dignified and lady-like girls in the school, was summarily +ejected. She went into her room, looked at the cruel marks on her arms +caused by the angry girls, and burst into tears.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes came in and found Fanny crying, and did her best to comfort +the girl. “What is wrong, dear?” she said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t—don’t ask me!” said poor Fanny.</p> + +<p>“You are fretting about your father, darling.”</p> + +<p>“It’s not that,” said Fanny; “and I can’t ever tell you, dear St. +Cecilia. Oh, please, leave me! Oh, oh, I am unhappy!”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes, finding she could do no good, and believing that Fanny must +be a little hysterical on account of her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>father, went away. When she +had gone Fanny dried her eyes, and stayed for a long time lost in +thought. She had meant to be good, after her fashion, to the Vivian +girls; but, after their treatment of her, she felt that she understood +for the first time what hate really meant. If she could not force the +girls to deliver up the packet, she might even consider it her duty to +tell the whole story to Mrs. Haddo. Never before in the annals of that +great school had a Speciality been known to tell a story of another +girl. But Fanny reflected that there were great moments in life which +required that a rule should be broken.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>A CRISIS</h3> + +<p>The Specialities had made firm rules for themselves. Their numbers were +few, for only those who could really rise to a high ideal were permitted +to join.</p> + +<p>The head of the Specialities was Margaret Grant. It was she who first +thought of this little scheme for bringing the girls she loved best into +closer communion each with the other. She had consulted Susie Rushworth, +Fanny Crawford, Mary and Julia Bertram, and Olive Repton. Up to the +present there were no other members of the Speciality Club. These girls +managed it their own way. They had their private meetings, their earnest +conversations, and their confessions each to make to the other. They +swore eternal friendship. They had all things in common—that is, +concealments were not permitted amongst the Specialities; and the +influence of this small and apparently unimportant club did much towards +the formation of the characters of its members.</p> + +<p>Now, as poor Fanny sat alone in her pretty room she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>thought, and +thought again, over what had occurred. According to the rules of the +club to which she belonged, she ought to consult the other girls with +regard to what the Vivians had done. <i>The</i> great rule of the +Specialities was “No secrets.≵ Each must know all that the others knew. +Never before in the annals of the school had there been a secret of such +importance—in short, such a horrible secret—to divulge. Fanny made up +her mind that she could not do it.</p> + +<p>There was to be a great meeting of the Specialities on the following +evening. They usually met in each other’s bedrooms, taking the task of +offering hospitality turn and turn about. At these little social +gatherings they had cocoa, tempting cakes, and chocolate creams; here +they laughed and chatted, sometimes having merely a merry evening, at +others discussing gravely the larger issues of life. Fanny was the one +who was to entertain the Specialities on the following evening, and she +made preparations accordingly. Sir John had brought her a particularly +tempting cake from Buzzard’s, a couple of pounds of the best chocolate +creams, a tin of delicious cocoa, and, last but not least, a beautiful +little set of charming cups and saucers and tiny plates, and real silver +spoons, also little silver knives. Notwithstanding her grief at parting +from her father, Fanny was delighted with her present. Hitherto there +had been no attempt at style in these brief meetings of the friends. But +Fanny’s next entertainment was to be done properly.</p> + +<p>There was no secret about these gatherings. Miss Symes had been told +that these special girls wanted to meet once a week between nine and ten +o’clock in their respective bedrooms. She had carried the information to +Mrs. Haddo, who had immediately given the desired permission, telling +the girls that they might hold their meeting until the great bell rang +for chapel. Prayers were always read at a quarter to ten in the +beautiful chapel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>belonging to Haddo Court, but only the girls of the +upper school attended in the evening. Fanny would have been in the +highest spirits to-night were it not for the Vivians, were it not for +the consciousness that she was in possession of a secret—a really +terrible secret—which she must not tell to her companions. Yes, she +must break her rule; she must not tell.</p> + +<p>She lay down on her bed at last and fell asleep, feeling tired and very +miserable. She was horrified at Betty’s conduct with regard to the +little packet, and could not feel a particle of sympathy for the other +girls in the matter.</p> + +<p>It was soon after midnight on that same eventful night. The great clock +over the stables had struck twelve, and sweet chimes had come from the +other clock in the little tower of the chapel. The whole house was +wrapped in profound slumber. Even Mrs. Haddo had put away all cares, and +had laid her head on her pillow; even the Rev. Edmund Fairfax and his +wife had put out the lights in their special wing of the Court, and had +gone to sleep.</p> + +<p>It was shortly after the clocks had done their midnight work that Betty +Vivian raised herself very slowly and cautiously on her elbow, and +touched Sylvia on her low, white forehead. The little girl started, +opened her eyes, and was about to utter an exclamation when Betty +whispered, “Don’t make a sound, silly Sylvia! It’s only me—Betty. I +want you to get very wide awake. And now you are wide awake, aren’t +you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, oh yes,” said Sylvia; “but I don’t know where I am. Oh yes, of +course I remember; I am in——”</p> + +<p>“You are in prison!” whispered Betty back to her. “Now, lie as still as +a statue while I waken Hester.”</p> + +<p>Soon the two little sisters were wide awake.</p> + +<p>“Now, both of you creep very softly into my bed. We can all squeeze up +together if we try hard.”</p> + +<p>“Lovely, darlingest Betty!” whispered Sylvia.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p><p>“You are nice, Bet!” exclaimed Hester.</p> + +<p>“Now I want to speak,” said Betty. “You know the packet?”</p> + +<p>The two younger girls squeezed Betty’s hands by way of answer.</p> + +<p>“You know how <i>she</i> spoke to-night?”</p> + +<p>Another squeeze of Betty’s hands, a squeeze which was almost ferocious +this time.</p> + +<p>“Do you think,” continued Betty, “that she is going to have her way, and +we are going to give it up to her?”</p> + +<p>“Of course not,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“I might,” said Betty—“I <i>might</i> have asked Mrs. Haddo to look after it +for me; but never now—never! Girls, we’ve got to bury it!”</p> + +<p>“Oh Bet!” whispered Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“We can’t!” said Hester with a sort of little pant.</p> + +<p>“We can, and we will,” said Betty. “I’ve thought it all out. I am going +to bury it my own self this very minute.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, how—where? Betty, what do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“You must help me,” said Betty. “First of all, I am going to get up and +put on my thick skirt of black serge. I won’t make a sound, for that +creature Fan sleeps next door. Lie perfectly still where you are while I +am getting ready.”</p> + +<p>The girls obeyed. It was fearfully exciting, lying like this almost in +the dark; for there was scarcely any moon, and the dim light in the +garden could hardly be called light at all. Betty moved mysteriously +about the room, and presently came up to her two sisters.</p> + +<p>“Now, you do exactly what you are told.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Betty, we will.”</p> + +<p>“I am going, first of all,” said Betty, “to fetch the little spade.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Bet, you’ll wake the house!”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Betty. She moved towards the door. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>was a very observant +girl, and had noticed that no door creaked in that well-conducted +mansion, that no lock was out of order. She managed to open the door of +her bedroom without making the slightest sound. She managed to creep +upstairs and reach the Vivian attic. She found the little spade and +brought it down again. She re-entered the beautiful big bedroom and +closed the door softly.</p> + +<p>“Here’s the spade!” she whispered to her sisters. “Did you hear me +move?”</p> + +<p>“No, Bet. Oh, you are wonderful!”</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Betty, “we must take the sheets off our three beds. The +three top sheets will do. Sylvia, begin to knot the sheets together. +Make the knots very strong, and be quick about it.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia obeyed without a word.</p> + +<p>“Hester, come and help me,” said Betty now. She took the other twin’s +hand and led her to one of the French windows. The window happened to be +a little open, for the night was a very warm and balmy one. Betty pushed +it wider open, and the next minute she was standing on the balcony.</p> + +<p>“Go back,” she whispered, speaking to Hester, “and bring Sylvia out with +the sheets!”</p> + +<p>In a very short time Sylvia appeared, dragging what looked like a +tangled white rope along with her.</p> + +<p>“Now, then,” said Betty, “you’ve got to let me down to the ground by +means of these sheets. I am a pretty good weight, you know, and you +mustn’t drop me; for if you did I might break my leg or something, and +that would be horrid. You two have got to hold one end of these knotted +sheets as firmly as ever you can, and not let go on any account. Now, +then—here goes!”</p> + +<p>The next instant Betty had clutched hold of one of the sheets herself, +and had climbed over the somewhat high parapet of the balcony. A minute +later, still firmly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>holding the white rope, she was gradually letting +herself down to the ground, hand over hand. By-and-by she reached the +bottom. When she did this she held up both hands, which the girls, as +they watched her from above, could just see. She was demanding the +little spade. Sylvia flung it on the soft grass which lay beneath. Betty +put her hand, making a sort of trumpet of it, round her lips, and +whispered up, “Stay where you are till I return.”</p> + +<p>She then marched off into the shrubbery. She was absent for about twenty +minutes, during which time both Sylvia and Hetty felt exceedingly cold. +She then came back, fastened the little spade securely into the broad +belt of her dress, and, aided by her sisters, pulled herself up and up, +and so on to the balcony once more.</p> + +<p>The three girls re-entered the bedroom. Not a soul in that great house +had heard them, or seen them, or knew anything about their adventure.</p> + +<p>“It is quite safe now—poor, beautiful darling!” whispered Betty. +“Girls, we must smooth out these sheets; they <i>do</i> look rather dragged. +And now we’ll get straight into bed.”</p> + +<p>“I am very cold,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“You’ll be warm again in a minute,” replied Betty; “and what does a +little cold matter when I have saved <i>It</i>? No, I am not going to tell +you where it is; just because it’s safer, dear, dearest, for you not to +know.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, it’s safer,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>The three sisters lay down again. By slow degrees warmth returned to the +half-frozen limbs of the poor little twins, and they dropped asleep. But +Betty lay awake—warm, excited, triumphant.</p> + +<p>“I’ve managed things now,” she thought; “and if every girl in the school +asks me if I have a little packet, and if every teacher does likewise, +I’ll be able truthfully to say ‘No.’”</p> + +<p>Early the next morning Mrs. Haddo announced her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>intention to take the +Vivians to London. School-work was in full swing that day; and Susie, +Margaret, Olive, and the other members of the Specialities rather envied +the Vivians when they saw them driving away in Mrs. Haddo’s most elegant +landau to the railway station.</p> + +<p>Sibyl Ray openly expressed her sentiments on the occasion. She turned to +her companion, who was standing near. “I must say, and I may as well say +it first as last, that I do not understand your adorable Mrs. Haddo. Why +should she make such a fuss over common-looking girls like those?”</p> + +<p>“Do you call the Vivians common-looking girls?” was Martha West’s +response.</p> + +<p>“Of course I do, and even worse. Why, judging from their dress, they +might have come out of a laborer’s cottage.”</p> + +<p>“Granted,” replied Martha; “but then,” she added, “they have something +else, each of them, better than dress.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, if you begin to talk in enigmas I for one shall cease to be your +friend,” answered Sibyl. “What have they got that is so wonderful?”</p> + +<p>“It was born in them,” replied Martha. “If you can’t see it for +yourself, Sibyl, I am not able to show it to you.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo took the girls to London and gave them a very good day. It is +true they spent a time which seemed intolerably long to Betty in having +pretty white blouses and smartly made skirts and neat little jackets +fitted on. They spent a still more intolerable time at the dressmaker’s +in being measured for soft, pretty evening-dresses. They went to a +hairdresser, who cut their very thick hair and tied it with broad black +ribbon. They next went to a milliner and had several hats tried on. They +went to a sort of all-round shop, where they bought gloves, boots, and +handkerchiefs innumerable, and some very soft black cashmere and even +black silk stockings. Oh, but <i>they</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>didn’t care; they thought the +whole time wasted. Nevertheless they submitted, and with a certain +grace; for was not the precious packet safe—so safe that no one could +possibly discover its whereabouts? And was not Betty feeling her queer, +sensitive heart expanding more and more under Mrs. Haddo’s kind +influence?</p> + +<p>“Now, my dears,” said that good lady, “we will go back to Miss Watts the +dressmaker at three o clock; but we have still two hours to spare. +During that time we’ll have a little lunch, for I am sure you must be +hungry; and afterwards I will take you to the Wallace Collection, which +I think you will enjoy.”</p> + +<p>“What’s a collection?” asked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“There are some rooms not far from here where beautiful things are +collected—pictures and other lovely things of all sorts and +descriptions. I think that you, at least, Betty, will love to look at +them.”</p> + +<p>Betty afterwards felt, deep down in her heart, that this whole day was a +wonderful dream. She was starvingly hungry, to begin with, and enjoyed +the excellent lunch that Mrs. Haddo ordered at the confectioners. She +felt a sense of curious joy and fear as she looked at one or two of the +great pictures in the Wallace Collection, and so excited and uplifted +was she altogether that she scarcely noticed when they returned to the +shops and the coarse, ugly black serges were exchanged for pretty coats +and skirts of the finest cloth, for neat little white blouses, for +pretty shoes and fine stockings. She did not even object to the hat, +which, with its plume of feathers, gave a look of distinction to her +little face. She was not elated over her fine clothes, neither was she +annoyed about them.</p> + +<p>“Now, Miss Watts,” said Mrs. Haddo in a cheerful tone, “you will hurry +with the rest of the young ladies’ things, and send them to me as soon +as ever you can. I shall want their evening-dresses, without fail, by +the beginning of next week.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>They all went down into the street. Sylvia found herself casting shy +glances at Betty. It seemed to her that her sister was changed—that she +scarcely knew her. Dress did not make such a marked difference in +Hetty’s appearance; but Hetty too looked a different girl.</p> + +<p>“And now we are going to the Zoological Gardens,” said Mrs. Haddo, +“where we may find some spiders like Dickie, and where you will see all +sorts of wonderful creatures.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Mrs. Haddo!” exclaimed Betty.</p> + +<p>They spent an hour or two in that place so fascinating for children, and +arrived back at Haddo Court just in time for supper.</p> + +<p>“We have had a happy day, have we not?” said Mrs. Haddo, looking into +Betty’s face and observing the brightness of her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Very happy, and it was you who gave it to us,” answered the girl.</p> + +<p>“And to-morrow,” continued Mrs. Haddo, “must be just as happy—just as +happy—because lessons will begin; and to an intelligent and clever girl +there is nothing in the world so delightful as a difficulty conquered +and knowledge acquired.”</p> + +<p>That evening, when the Vivian girls entered the room where supper was +served, every girl in the upper school turned to look at them. The +change in their appearance was at once complete and arresting. They +walked well by nature. They were finely made girls, and had not a scrap +of self-consciousness.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I say, Fan,” whispered Susie in her dear friend’s ear, “your +cousins will boss the whole school if this sort of thing goes on. To be +frank with you, Fan, I have fallen in love with that magnificent Betty +myself. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”</p> + +<p>“You ought not to whisper in English, ought you?” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>was Fanny’s very +significant response, uttered in the German tongue.</p> + +<p>Susie shrugged her shoulders. The Specialities generally sat close to +each other; and she looked down the table now, and saw that Margaret, +and the Bertrams, and Olive Repton were equally absorbed in watching the +Vivian girls. Nothing more was said about them, however; and when the +meal came to an end Miss Symes took them away with her, to give them +brief directions with regard to their work for the morrow. She also +supplied them with a number of new books, which Betty received with +rapture, for she adored reading, and hitherto had hardly been able to +indulge in it. Miss Symes tried to explain to the girls something of the +school routine; and she showed each girl her own special desk in the +great schoolroom, where she could keep her school-books, and her +different papers, pens, pencils, ink, etc.</p> + +<p>“I cannot tell until to-morrow what forms you will be in, my dears; but +I think Betty will probably have a good deal to do with me in her daily +tuition; whereas you, Sylvia, and you, Hester, will be under the charge +of Miss Oxley. I must introduce you to Miss Oxley to-morrow morning. And +now you would like, I am sure, to go to bed. Mrs. Haddo says that you +needn’t attend prayers to-night, for you have had a long and tiring day; +so you may go at once to your room.”</p> + +<p>The girls thanked Miss Symes, and went. They heard voices busily +conversing in Fanny’s room—eager voices, joined to occasional peals of +merry laughter. But they were too tired, too sleepy, and, it may be +added, too happy, to worry themselves much over these matters. They were +very quickly in bed and sound asleep.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Fanny was much enjoying the unstinted praise which her friends +were bestowing on the beautiful tea-set which her father had given her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p><p>“Oh, but it is perfectly lovely!” exclaimed Olive. “Why, Fan, you are in +luck; it’s real old Crown Derby!”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Fanny; “I thought it was. Whenever father does a thing he +does it well.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll be almost afraid to drink out of it, Fanny!” exclaimed Julia +Bertram. “Fancy, if I were to drop one of those little jewels of cups! +Don’t the colors just sparkle on them! Oh, if I were to drop it, and it +got broken, I don’t think I’d ever hold up my head again!”</p> + +<p>“Well, dear Julia, don’t drop it,” said Fanny, “and then you will feel +all right.”</p> + +<p>Cocoa was already prepared; the rich cake graced the center of the +board; the chocolate creams were certainly in evidence; and the girls +clustered round, laughing and talking. Fanny was determined to choke +back that feeling of uneasiness which had worried her during the whole +of that day. She could not tell the Specialities what her cousins had +done; she could not—she would not. There must be a secret between them. +She who belonged to a society of whom each member had to vow not to have +a secret from any other member, was about to break her vow.</p> + +<p>The girls were in high spirits to-night, and in no mood to talk +“sobersides,” as Mary Bertram sometimes called their graver discussions.</p> + +<p>But when the little meal of cocoa and cake had come to an end, Margaret +said, “I want to make a proposal.”</p> + +<p>“Hush! hush! Let the oracle speak!” cried Olive, her pretty face beaming +with mirth.</p> + +<p>“Oh Olive, don’t be so ridiculous!” said Margaret. “You know perfectly +well I am no oracle; but I have a notion in my head. It is this: why +should not those splendid-looking girls, the Vivians, join the +Specialities? They did look rather funny, I will admit, yesterday; but +even then one could see that clothes matter little or nothing to them. +But now that they’re dressed like the rest of us, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>they give distinction +to the whole school. I don’t think I ever saw a face like Betty’s. Fan, +you, of course, will second my proposal that Betty Vivian, even if her +sisters are too young, should be asked to become a Speciality?”</p> + +<p>Fanny felt that she was turning very pale. Susie Rushworth gazed at her +in some wonder.</p> + +<p>“I propose,” exclaimed Margaret Grant, “that Miss Betty Vivian shall be +invited to join our society and to become a Speciality. I further +propose that we ask her to join our next meeting, which takes place this +day week, and is, by the way, held in my room. Now, who will second my +suggestion?”</p> + +<p>“You will, of course, Fan,” said Susie. “Betty is your cousin, so you +are the right person to second Margaret’s wish.”</p> + +<p>Fanny’s face grew yet paler. After a minute she said, “Just because +Betty is my cousin I would rather some one else seconded Margaret +Grant’s proposal.”</p> + +<p>All the girls looked at her in astonishment.</p> + +<p>“Very well; I second it,” responded Susie.</p> + +<p>“Girls,” said Margaret, “will you all agree? Those who do <i>not</i> agree, +please keep their hands down. Those who <i>do</i> agree, please hold up +hands. Now, then, is Betty Vivian to be invited to join the +Specialities? Which has it—the ‘ayes’ or the ‘noes’?”</p> + +<p>All the girls’ hands, with one exception, were eagerly raised in favor +of Betty Vivian. Fanny sat very still, her hands locked one inside the +other in her lap. Something in her attitude and in the expression of her +face caused each of her companions to gaze at her in extreme wonder.</p> + +<p>“Why, Fanny, what is the meaning of this?” asked Margaret.</p> + +<p>“I cannot explain myself,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Cannot—and you a Speciality! Don’t you know that we have no secrets +from one another?”</p> + +<p>“That is true,” said Fanny, speaking with a great effort. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>“Well, then, +I will explain myself. I would rather Betty Vivian did not join our +club.”</p> + +<p>“But why, dear—why?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Fanny, why?” echoed Susie.</p> + +<p>“What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!” cried Olive Repton.</p> + +<p>“The most striking-looking girl I ever saw!” said Julia Bertram. “Why, +Fan, what is your reason for this?”</p> + +<p>“Call it jealousy if you like,” said Fanny; “call it any name under the +sun, only don’t worry me about it.”</p> + +<p>As she spoke she rose deliberately and left the room, her companions +looking after her in amazement.</p> + +<p>“What does this mean?” said Julia.</p> + +<p>“I can’t understand it a bit,” said Margaret. Then she added after a +pause, “I suppose, girls, you fully recognize that the Speciality Club +is supposed to be a club without prejudice or favor, and that, as the +‘ayes’ have carried the day, Miss Betty Vivian is to be invited to +join?”</p> + +<p>“Of course she must be invited to join,” replied Susie; “but it is very +unpleasant all the same. I cannot make out what can ail Fanny Crawford. +She hasn’t been a bit herself since those girls arrived.”</p> + +<p>The Specialities chatted a little longer together, but the meeting was +not convivial. Fanny’s absence prevented its being so; and very soon the +girls broke up, leaving the pretty cups and saucers and the remains of +the feast behind them. The chapel bell rang for prayers, and they all +trooped in. But Fanny Crawford was not present. This, in itself, was +almost without precedent, for girls were not allowed to miss prayers +without leave.</p> + +<p>As each Speciality laid her head on her pillow that night she could not +but reflect on Fanny’s strange behavior, and wondered much what it +meant. As to Fanny herself, she lay awake for hours. Some of the girls +and some of the mistresses thought that she was grieving for her father; +but, as a matter of fact, she was not even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>thinking of him. Every +thought of her mind was concentrated on what she called her present +dilemma. It was almost morning before the tired girl fell asleep.</p> + +<p>At half-past six on the following day the great gong sounded through the +entire upper school. Betty started up in some amazement, her sisters in +some alarm.</p> + +<p>By-and-by a kind-looking woman, dressed as a sort of housekeeper or +upper servant, entered the room. “Can I help you to dress, young +ladies?” she said.</p> + +<p>The girls replied in the negative. They had always dressed themselves.</p> + +<p>“Very well,” replied the woman. “Then I will come to fetch you in +half-an-hour’s time, so that you will be ready for prayers in chapel.”</p> + +<p>Perhaps Betty Vivian never, as long as she lived, forgot that first day +when she stood with her sisters in the beautiful little chapel and heard +the Reverend Edmund Fairfax read prayers. He was a delicate, +refined-looking man, with a very intellectual face and a beautiful +voice. Mrs. Haddo had begged of him to accept the post of private +chaplain to her great school for many reasons. First, because his health +was delicate; second, because she knew she could pay him well; and also, +for the greatest reason of all, because she was quite sure that Mr. +Fairfax could help her girls in moments of difficulty in their spiritual +life, should such moments arise.</p> + +<p>Prayers came to an end; breakfast came to an end. The Vivians passed a +very brisk examination with some credit. As Miss Symes had predicted, +Betty was put into her special form, in which form Susie Rushworth and +Fanny Crawford also had their places. The younger Vivians were allowed +to remain in the upper school, but were in much lower forms. Betty took +to her work as happily (to use a well-known expression) as a duck takes +to water. Her eyes were bright with intelligence while she listened <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>to +Miss Symes, who could teach so charmingly and could impart knowledge in +such an attractive way.</p> + +<p>In the middle of the morning there was the usual brief period when the +girls might go out and amuse themselves for a short time. Betty wanted +to find her sisters; but before she could attempt to seek for them she +felt a hand laid on her arm, and, glancing round, saw that Fanny +Crawford was by her side.</p> + +<p>“Betty,” said Fanny, “I want to speak to you, and at once. We have only +a very few minutes; will you, please, listen?”</p> + +<p>“Is it really important?” asked Betty. “For, if it is not, I do want to +say something to Sylvia. She forgot to give Dickie his raw meat this +morning.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, aren’t you just hopeless!” exclaimed Fanny. “You think of that +terrible spider when—when——Oh, I don’t know what to make of you!”</p> + +<p>“And I don’t know what to make of you, Fanny!” retorted Betty. “What are +you excited about? What is the matter?”</p> + +<p>“Listen!—do listen!” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Well, I am listening; but you really must be quick in getting out +whatever’s troubling you.”</p> + +<p>“You have heard of the Specialities, haven’t you?” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Good gracious, no!” exclaimed Betty. “The Specialities—what are they?”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing <i>what</i> about them. They are people—girls; they are +not things.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, girls! What a funny name to give girls! I haven’t heard of them, +Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“You won’t be long at Haddo Court without hearing a great deal about +them,” remarked Fanny. “I am one, and so is Susie Rushworth, and so are +the Bertrams, and so is that handsome girl Margaret Grant. You must +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>have noticed her; she is so dark and tall and stately. And so, also, is +dear little Olive Repton——”</p> + +<p>“And so is—and so is—and so is—” laughed Betty, putting on her most +quizzical manner.</p> + +<p>“You must listen to me. The Specialities—oh, they’re not like any other +girls in the school, and it’s the greatest honor in the world to be +asked to belong to them. Betty, it’s this way. Margaret Grant is the +sort of captain of the club—I don’t know how to express it exactly; but +she is our head, our chief—and she has taken a fancy to you; and last +night we had a meeting in my bedroom——”</p> + +<p>“Oh, that was what the row was about!” exclaimed Betty. “If we hadn’t +been hearty sleepers and girls straight from the Scotch moors, you would +have given us a very bad night.”</p> + +<p>“Never mind about that. Margaret Grant proposed last night that you +should be asked to join.”</p> + +<p>“<i>I</i> asked to join?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, you, Betty. Doesn’t it sound absurd? And they all voted for +you—every one of them, with the exception of myself.”</p> + +<p>“And it’s a great honor, isn’t it?” said Betty, speaking very quietly.</p> + +<p>“Oh yes—immense.”</p> + +<p>“Then, of course, you wouldn’t vote—would you, dear little Fan?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t talk like that! We shall be returning to the schoolroom in a few +minutes, and Margaret is sure to talk to you after dinner. You are +elected by the majority, and you are to be invited to attend the next +meeting. But I want you to refuse—yes, I do, Betty; for you can’t +join—you know you can’t. With that awful, awful lie on your conscience, +you can’t be a Speciality. I shall go wild with misery if you join. +Betty, you must say you won’t.”</p> + +<p>Betty looked very scornfully at Fanny. “There are some people in the +world,” she said, “who make me feel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>very wicked, and I am greatly +afraid you are one. Now, let me tell you plainly and frankly that if you +had said nothing I should probably not have wished to become that +extraordinary thing, a Speciality; but because you are in such a mortal +funk I shall join your club with the utmost pleasure. So now you know.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>SCOTCH HEATHER</h3> + +<p>Betty was true to her word. After school that day, Margaret Grant and +Olive Repton came up to her and asked her in a very pretty manner if she +would become a member of their Speciality Club.</p> + +<p>“Of course,” said Margret, “you don’t know anything about us or our +rules at present; but we think we should like you to join, so we are +here now to invite you to come to our next meeting, which will take +place on Thursday of next week, at eight o’clock precisely, in my +bedroom.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know where your bedroom is,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“But I know where yours is!” exclaimed Olive; “so I will fetch you, +Betty, and bring you to Margaret’s room. Oh, I am sure you will enjoy +it—we have such fun! Sometimes we give quite big entertainments—that +is, when we invite the other girls, which we do once or twice during the +term. By the way, that reminds me that you will be most useful in that +respect, for you and your sisters have the largest bedroom in the house. +You will, of course, lend us your room when your turn comes; but that is +a long way off.”</p> + +<p>“I am so glad you are coming!” said Margaret. “You are the sort of girl +we want in our club. And now, please, tell me about your life in +Scotland.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><p>“I will with pleasure,” replied Betty. She looked full up into +Margaret’s face as she spoke.</p> + +<p>Margaret was older than Betty, and taller; and there was something about +her which commanded universal respect.</p> + +<p>“I don’t mind telling you,” said Betty—“nor you,” she added as Olive’s +dancing blue eyes met hers; “for a kind of intuition tells me that you +would both love my wild moors and my beautiful heather. Oh, I say, do +come, both of you, and see our three little plots of garden! There’s +Sylvia’s plot, and Hester’s, and mine; and we have a plant of heather, +straight from Craigie Muir, in the midst of each. Our gardens are quite +bare except for that tiny plant. Do, <i>do</i> come and see it!”</p> + +<p>Margaret laughed.</p> + +<p>Olive said, “Oh, what fun!” and the three began to walk quickly under +the trees in the direction of the Vivians’ gardens.</p> + +<p>As they passed under the great oak-trees Betty looked up, and her eyes +danced with fun. “Are you good at climbing trees?” she asked of +Margaret.</p> + +<p>“I used to be when I was very, very young; but those days are over.”</p> + +<p>“There are a few very little girls in the lower school who still climb +one of the safest trees,” remarked Olive.</p> + +<p>Betty’s eyes continued to dance. “You give me delightful news,” she +said. “I am so truly glad none of you do anything so vulgar as to climb +trees.”</p> + +<p>“But why, Betty?” asked Margaret.</p> + +<p>“I have my own reasons,” replied Betty. “You can’t expect me to tell you +everything right away, can you?”</p> + +<p>“You must please yourself,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>Olive looked at Betty in a puzzled manner; and the three girls were +silent, only that they quickened their steps, crunching down some broken +twigs as they walked.</p> + +<p>By-and-by they reached the three bare patches of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>ground, which were +railed in in the simple manner which Mrs. Haddo had indicated, and in +the center of which stood the wooden post with the words, “<span class="smcap">The Vivians’ +Private Gardens</span>,” painted on it.</p> + +<p>“How very funny!” exclaimed Olive.</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is rather funny,” remarked Betty. “Did you ever in the whole +course of your existence see anything uglier than these three patches of +ground? There is nothing whatever planted in them except our darling +Scotch heather; and oh, by the way, I don’t believe the precious little +plants are thriving! They are drooping like anything! Oh dear! oh dear! +I think I shall die if they die!” As she spoke she flung herself on the +ground, near the path.</p> + +<p>“Of course you won’t, Betty,” said Margaret. “Besides, why should they +die? They only want watering.”</p> + +<p>“I’ll run and fetch a canful of water,” said Olive, who was extremely +good-natured.</p> + +<p>Betty made no response. She was still lying on the ground, resting on +her elbows, while her hands tenderly touched the faded and drooping +bells of the wild heather. She had entered her own special plot. Olive +had disappeared to fetch the water, but Margaret still stood by Betty’s +side.</p> + +<p>“Do you think they’ll do?” said Betty at last, glancing at her +companion.</p> + +<p>Margaret noticed that her eyes were full of tears. “I don’t think they +will,” she said after a pause. “But I’ll tell you what we must do, +Betty: we must get the right sort of soil for them—just the sandy soil +they want. We’ll go and consult Birchall; he is the oldest gardener in +the place, and knows something about everything. For that matter, we are +sure to get the sort of sand we require on this piece of waste +ground—our ‘forest primeval,’ as Olive calls it.”</p> + +<p>“Oh dear!” said Betty, dashing away the tears from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>her eyes, “you are +funny when you talk of a thing like that”—she waved her hand in the +direction of the uncultivated land—“as a ‘forest primeval.’ It is the +poorest, shabbiest bit of waste land I ever saw in my life.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s walk across it,” said Margaret. “Olive can’t be back for a minute +or two.”</p> + +<p>“Why should we walk across it?”</p> + +<p>“I want to show you where some heather grows. It is certainly not rich, +nor deep in color, nor beautiful, like yours; but it has grown in that +particular spot for two or three years. I am quite sure that Birchall +will say that the soil round that heather is the right sort of earth to +plant your Scotch heather in.”</p> + +<p>“Well, come, and let’s be very quick,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>The girls walked across the bit of common. Margaret pointed out the +heather, which was certainly scanty and poor.</p> + +<p>Betty looked at it with scorn. “I think,” she said after a pause, “I +don’t want to consult Birchall.” Then she added after another pause, “I +think, on the whole, I’d much rather have no heather than plants like +those. You are very kind, Margaret; but there are some things that can’t +be transplanted, just as there are some hearts—that break—yes, +break—if you take them from home. That poor heather—once, doubtless, +it was very flourishing; it is evidently dying now of a sort of +consumption. Let’s come back to our plots of ground, please, Margaret.”</p> + +<p>They did so, and were there greeted by Olive, who had a large can of +cold water standing by her side, and was eagerly talking to Sylvia and +Hester. Betty marched first into the center plot of ground.</p> + +<p>“I’ve got lots of water,” said Olive in a cheerful tone, “so we’ll do +the watering at once. Sylvia and Hester say that they must have a third +each of this canful; but of course we can get a second can if we want +it.”</p> + +<p>“No!” said Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p><p>Sylvia, who was gazing with lack-lustre eyes at the fading heather, now +started and looked full at her sister. Hester, who always clung to +Sylvia in moments of emotion, caught her sister’s hand and held it very +tight.</p> + +<p>“No,” said Betty again; “I have made a discovery. Scotch heather does +not grow here in this airless sort of place. Sylvia and Hester, Margaret +was good enough to show me what she calls heather. There are a few +straggling plants just at the other side of that bit of common. I don’t +want ours to die slowly. Our plants shall go at once. No, we don’t water +them. Sylvia, go into your garden and pull up the plant; and, Hester, +you do likewise Go, girls; go at once!”</p> + +<p>“But, Betty——” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“You had better not cross her now,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Margaret started when Sylvia addressed her in this tone.</p> + +<p>Betty’s face was painfully white, except where two spots of color blazed +in each cheek. As her sisters stooped obediently to pull up their +heather, Betty bent and wrenched hers from the ground by which it was +surrounded, which ground was already dry and hard. “Let’s make a +bonfire,” she said. “I sometimes think,” she added, “that in each little +bell of heather there lives the wee-est of all the fairies; and perhaps, +if we burn this poor, dear thing, the little, wee fairies may go back to +their ain countree.”</p> + +<p>“It all seems quite dreadful to me,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“It is right,” replied Betty; “and I have a box of matches in my +pocket.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, have you?” exclaimed Olive. “If—if Mrs. Haddo knew——”</p> + +<p>But Betty made no response. She set her sisters to collect some dry +leaves and bits of broken twigs; and presently the bonfire was erected +and kindled, and the poor heather from the north country had ceased to +exist.</p> + +<p>“Now, you must see <i>our</i> gardens,” said Margaret, “for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>you must have +gardens, you know. Olive and I will show you the sort of things that +grow in the south, that flourish here, and look beautiful.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot see them now,” replied Betty. She brushed past Margaret, and +walked rapidly across the common.</p> + +<p>Sylvia’s face turned very white, and she clutched Hetty’s hand still +more tightly.</p> + +<p>“What is she going to do? What is the matter?” said Margaret, turning to +the twins.</p> + +<p>“She can’t help it,” said Sylvia; “she must do it. She is going to +howl.”</p> + +<p>“To do what?” said Margaret Grant.</p> + +<p>“Howl. Did you never howl? Well, perhaps you never did. Anyhow, she must +get away as far as possible before she begins, and we had better go back +to the house. You wouldn’t like the sound of Betty’s howling.”</p> + +<p>“But are you going to let her howl, as you call it, alone?”</p> + +<p>“Let her? We have no voice in the matter,” replied Hester. “Betty always +does exactly what she likes. Let’s go quickly; let’s get away. It’s the +best thing she can do. She’s been keeping in that howling-fit for over a +week, and it must find vent. She’ll be all right when you see her next. +But don’t, on any account, ever again mention the heather that we +brought from Craigie Muir. She may get over its death some day, but not +yet.”</p> + +<p>“Your sister is a very strange girl,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“Every one says that,” replied Sylvia. “Don’t they, Het?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; we’re quite tired of hearing it,” said Hetty. “But do let’s come +quickly. Which is the farthest-off part of the grounds—the place where +we are quite certain not to hear?”</p> + +<p>“You make me feel almost nervous,” said Margaret. “But come along, if +you wish to.”</p> + +<p>The four girls walked rapidly. At last they found a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>little summer-house +which was built high up on the very top of a rising mound. From here you +could get a good view of the surrounding country; and very beautiful it +was—at least, for those whose eyes were trained to observe the rich +beauty of cultivated land, of flowing rivers, of forests, of carefully +kept trees. Very lonely indeed was the scene from Haddo Court +summer-house; for, in addition to every scrap of land being made to +yield its abundance, there were pretty cottages dotted here and +there—each cottage possessing its own gay flower-garden, and, in most +cases, its own happy little band of pretty boys and girls.</p> + +<p>As soon as the four girls found themselves in the summer-house, Margaret +began to praise the view to Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Sylvia looked round to right and to left. “<i>We</i> don’t admire that sort +of thing,” she said. “Do we, Hetty?”</p> + +<p>Hetty shook her head with vehemence. “Oh no, no,” she said. Then, coming +a little closer to Margaret, she looked into her face and continued, +“Are you the sort of kind girl who will keep a secret?”</p> + +<p>Margaret thought of the Speciality Club. But surely this poor little +secret belonging solely to the Vivians need not be related to any one +who was not in sympathy with them. “I never tell tales, if that is what +you mean,” she said.</p> + +<p>“Then that is all right,” remarked Sylvia. “And are you the same sort of +girl, Olive? You look very kind.”</p> + +<p>“It wouldn’t be hard to be kind to one like you,” was Olive’s response.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Sylvia smiled, and Hetty came close to Olive and looked into +her face.</p> + +<p>“Then we want you,” continued Sylvia, “never, never to tell about the +burnt sacrifice of the Scotch heather, nor about the flight of the +fairies back to Scotland. It tortured Betty to have to do it; but she +thought it right, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>therefore it was done. There are some people, +however, who would not understand her; and we would much rather be able +to tell our own Betty that you will never speak of it, when she has come +back to herself and has got over her howling.”</p> + +<p>“Of course we’ll never tell,” said Olive; and Margaret nodded her head +without speaking.</p> + +<p>“I think you are just awfully nice,” said Sylvia. “We were so terrified +when we came to this school. We thought we’d have an awful time. We +still speak of it as a prison, you know. Do you speak of it to your +dearest friend as a prison?”</p> + +<p>“Prison!” said Margaret. “There isn’t a place in the world I love as I +love Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p>“Then you never, never lived in a dear little gray stone house on a wild +Scotch moor; and you never had a man like Donald Macfarlane to talk to, +nor a woman like Jean Macfarlane to make scones for you; and you never +had dogs like our dogs up there, nor a horse like David. I pity you from +my heart!”</p> + +<p>“I never had any of those things,” said Margaret; “but I shall like to +hear about them from you.”</p> + +<p>“And so shall I like to hear about them,” said Olive.</p> + +<p>“We will tell you, if Betty gives us leave,” said one of the twins. “We +never do anything without Betty’s leave. She is the person we look up +to, and obey, and follow. We’d follow her to the world’s end; we’d die +for her, both of us, if it would do her any good.”</p> + +<p>Margaret took Sylvia’s hand and began to smooth it softly. “I wish,” she +said then in a slow voice, “that I had friends to love me as you love +your sister.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps you aren’t worthy,” said Sylvia. “There is no one living like +Betty in all the world, and we feel about her as we do because she is +Betty.”</p> + +<p>“But, all the same,” said Hester, frowning as she spoke, “our Betty has +got an enemy.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>“An enemy, my dear child! What do you mean? You have just been praising +her so much! Did any one take a dislike to her up in that north +country?”</p> + +<p>“It may have begun there,” remarked Hetty; “but the sad and dreadful +thing is that the enemy is in this house. Sylvia and I don’t mind your +knowing. We rather think you like her, but we don’t. Her name is Fanny +Crawford.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, really, though, that is quite nonsense!” said Margaret, flushing +with annoyance. “Poor dear Fanny, there is not a better or sweeter girl +in the school!”</p> + +<p>Sylvia laughed. “That is your point of view,” she said. “She is our +enemy; she is not yours. Oh, hurrah! hurrah! I see Betty! She is coming +back, walking very slowly. She has got over the worst of the howls. We +must both go and meet her. Don’t be anywhere about, please, either of +you. Keep quite in the shade, so that she won’t see you; and the next +time you meet talk to her as though this had never happened.”</p> + +<p>The twins dashed out of sight. They certainly could run very fast.</p> + +<p>When they had gone Margaret looked at Olive. “Well,” she said, “that +sort of scene rather takes one’s breath away. What do you think, Olive?”</p> + +<p>“It was exceedingly trying,” said Olive.</p> + +<p>“All the same,” said Margaret, “I feel roused up about those girls in +the most extraordinary manner. Didn’t you notice, too, what Sylvia said +about poor Fanny? Isn’t it horrid?”</p> + +<p>“Of course it isn’t true,” was Olive’s remark.</p> + +<p>“We have made up our minds not to speak evil of any one in the school,” +said Margaret after a pause; “but I cannot help remembering that Fanny +did not wish Betty to become a Speciality. And don’t you recall how +angry she was, and how she would not vote with the ‘ayes,’ and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>would +not give any reason, and although she was hostess she walked out of the +room?”</p> + +<p>“It’s very uncomfortable altogether,” said Olive. “But I don’t see that +we can do anything.”</p> + +<p>“Well, perhaps not yet,” said Margaret; “but I may as well say at once, +Olive, that I mean to take up those girls. Until to-day I was only +interested in Betty, but now I am interested in all three; and if I can, +without making mischief, I must get to the bottom of what is making poor +little Betty so bitter, and what is upsetting the equanimity of our dear +old Fan, whom we have always loved so dearly.”</p> + +<p>Just at that moment Fanny Crawford herself and Susie Rushworth appeared, +walking together arm in arm. They saw Margaret and Olive, and came to +join them. Susie was in her usual high spirits, and Fanny looked quite +calm and collected. There was not even an allusion made to the Vivian +girls. Margaret was most thankful, for she certainly did not wish the +little episode she had witnessed to reach any one’s ears but her own and +Olive’s. Susie was talking eagerly about a great picnic which Mrs. Haddo +had arranged for the following Saturday. The whole school, both upper +and lower, were to go. Mr. Fairfax and his wife, most of the teachers, +and Mrs. Haddo herself would also accompany the girls. They were all +going to a place about twenty miles away; and Mrs. Haddo, who kept two +motor-cars of her own, had made arrangements for the hire of several +more, so that the party could quickly reach their place of rendezvous +and thus have a longer time there to enjoy themselves.</p> + +<p>“She does things so well, doesn’t she?” said Susie. “There never was her +like. Do you know, there was a sort of insurrection in the lower school +early this morning, for naughty sprites had whispered that all the small +children were to go in ordinary carriages and dogcarts and wagonettes. +Then came the news that Mrs. Haddo <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>meant each girl in the school to +have an equal share of enjoyment; and, lo and behold! the cloud has +vanished, and the little ones are making even merrier than the older +girls.”</p> + +<p>“I wish I felt as amiable as I used to feel,” said Fanny at that moment.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but, Fan, why don’t you?” asked Olive. “You ought to feel more and +more amiable every day—that is, if training means anything.”</p> + +<p>“Training is all very well,” answered Fanny, “and you may think you are +all right; but when temptation comes——”</p> + +<p>“Temptation!” said Margaret. “In my opinion, that is the worst of Haddo +Court: we are so shielded, and treated with such extreme kindness, that +temptation cannot come.”</p> + +<p>“Then you wish to be tested, do you, Margaret?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>Margaret shivered slightly. “Sometimes I do wish it,” she said.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Margaret dear, don’t!” said Olive. “You’ll have heaps of troubles +in life, for my mother says that no one yet was exempt from them. There +never was a woman quite like my darling mother—except, indeed, Mrs. +Haddo. Mother has quite peculiar ideas with regard to bringing up girls. +She says the aim of her life is to give me a very happy childhood and +early youth. She thinks that such a life will make me all the stronger +to withstand temptation.”</p> + +<p>“Let us hope so, anyhow,” said Fanny. Then she added, “Don’t suppose I +am grumbling, although it has been a trial father going away—so very +far away—to India. But I think the real temptation comes to us in this +way: when we have to meet girls we can’t tolerate.”</p> + +<p>“Now she’s going to say something dreadful!” thought Olive to herself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>Margaret rose as though she would put an end to the colloquy.</p> + +<p>Fanny was watching Margaret’s face. “The girl I am specially thinking of +now,” she said, “is Sibyl Ray.”</p> + +<p>“Oh!” said Margaret. She gave a sigh of such undoubted relief that Fanny +was certain she had guessed what her first thoughts were.</p> + +<p>“And now I will tell you why I don’t like Sibyl,” Fanny continued. “I +have nothing whatever to say against her. I have never heard of her +doing anything underhand or what we might call low-down or ill-bred. At +the same time, I do dislike Sibyl, just for the simple reason that she +is <i>not</i> well-bred, and she never will be.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! oh, give her her chance—do!” said Olive.</p> + +<p>“I am not going to interfere with her,” remarked Fanny; “but she can +never be a friend of mine. There are some girls who like her very well. +There’s Martha West, who is constantly with her.”</p> + +<p>“I am quite sure,” said Margaret, “that there isn’t a better girl in the +school than Martha, and I have serious thoughts of asking her to become +a Speciality.” As she spoke she fixed her very dark eyes on Fanny’s +face.</p> + +<p>“Do ask her; I shall be delighted,” remarked Fanny. “Only, whatever you +do, don’t ask her friend, Sibyl Ray.”</p> + +<p>“I have no present intention of doing so. Fanny, I don’t want to be +nasty; but you are quite right about Sibyl. No one can say a word +against her; and yet she just is not well-bred.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>A NEW MEMBER</h3> + +<p>The picnic was a great success. The day was splendid. The sun shone in a +sky which was almost cloudless. The motor-cars were all in prime +condition. There were no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>accidents of any sort. The girls laughed and +chatted, and enjoyed life to the utmost; and the Vivian girls were +amongst the merriest in those large and varied groups.</p> + +<p>The twins invariably followed in Betty’s footsteps, and Betty possessed +that curious mixture of temperament which threw her into the depths of +anguish one moment and sent her spirits flying like a rocket skyward the +next. Betty’s spirits were tending skyward on this happy day. She was +also making friends in the school, and was delighted to walk with +Margaret and Susie and Olive. Fanny did not trouble her at all; but +Martha West chatted with her for a whole long hour, and, as Martha knew +Scotland, a very strong link was immediately established between the +girls.</p> + +<p>A thoroughly happy picnic—a perfect one—is usually lived through +without adventure. There are no <i>contretemps</i>, no unhappy moments, no +jealousies, no heart-burnings. These are the sort of picnics which come +to us very rarely in life, but they do come now and then. In one sense, +however, they are uninteresting, for they have no history—there is +little or nothing to say about them. Other picnics are to follow in this +story which ended differently, which led to tangled knots and bitter +heart-burnings. But the first picnics from Haddo Court in which Betty +Vivian took part was, in a way, something like that first morning when +she joined the other girls in whispering her prayers in the beautiful +chapel.</p> + +<p>The picnic came and went, and in course of time the day arrived when +Betty was to be the honored guest of the Specialities. On the morning of +that day Fanny made another effort to induce Betty to renounce the idea +of becoming a Speciality. She had spent a sleepless night thinking over +the matter, and by the morning had made up her mind what to do.</p> + +<p>Betty was making friends rapidly in the school. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>the twins, although +they were quite popular, still clung very much to each other; and +Fanny’s idea was to get at Betty through her sisters. She knew quite +well that often, during recess, Sylvia and Hester rushed upstairs, for +what purpose she could not ascertain, the existence of the Vivians’ +attic being unknown to her. There, however, day by day, Sylvia and Hetty +fed Dickie on raw meat, and watched the monstrous spider getting larger +and more ferocious-looking.</p> + +<p>“He’d be the sort,” said Sylvia, opening her eyes very wide and fixing +them on her sister, “to do mischief to <i>some one</i> if <i>some one</i> were not +very careful.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t, silly Sylvia!” said Hetty with some annoyance. “You know +Mrs. Haddo would not like you to talk like that. Now let’s examine our +caterpillars.”</p> + +<p>“There isn’t much to see at the present moment,” remarked Sylvia, “for +they’re every one of them in the chrysalis stage.”</p> + +<p>The girls, having spent about five minutes in the Vivians’ attics, now +ran downstairs, and went out, as was their custom, by a side-door which +opened into one of the gardens. It was here that Fanny pounced on them. +She came quickly forward, trying to look as pleasant as she could.</p> + +<p>“Well, twins,” she said, “and how goes the world with you?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, all right!” replied Sylvia. “We can’t stay to talk now; can we, +Het? We’ve got to meet a friend of ours in the lower garden—old +Birchall. By the way, do you know old Birchall, Fan?”</p> + +<p>“Doddering old creature! of course I know him,” replied Fanny.</p> + +<p>“He isn’t doddering,” said Sylvia; “he has a great deal more sense than +most of us. I wish I had half his knowledge of worms, and spiders, and +ants, and goldfish, and—and—flies of every sort. Why, there isn’t a +thing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>he doesn’t know about them. I call him one of the most delightful +old men I ever met.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Hetty, “you shouldn’t say that, Sylvia! Birchall is nice, but +he isn’t a patch upon Donald Macfarlane.”</p> + +<p>“If you want to see Birchall, I will walk with you,” said Fanny. “You +can’t object to my doing that, can you?”</p> + +<p>“We mean to run,” said Hetty.</p> + +<p>“Oh no, you don’t!” said Fanny. Here she took Hetty’s hand, pulled it +violently through her arm. “You’ve got to talk to me, both of you. I +have something important I want to say.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia laughed.</p> + +<p>“Why do you laugh, you naughty, rude little girl?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, please forgive me, Fanny; but it does sound so silly for you to say +that you have something important to talk over with us, for of course we +know perfectly well that you have nothing of the sort.”</p> + +<p>“Then you are wrong, that’s all; and I sha’n’t waste time arguing with +you.”</p> + +<p>“That’s all right,” said Hetty. “We may be off to Birchall now, mayn’t +we, Fanny?”</p> + +<p>“No, you mayn’t. You must take a message from me to Betty.”</p> + +<p>“I thought so,” remarked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Fanny had great difficulty in controlling her temper. After a minute she +said, speaking quietly, “I don’t permit myself to lower myself by +arguing with children like you two. But I have an important message to +give your sister, and if you won’t give it you clearly understand that +you will rue it to the last days of your lives—yes, to the last day of +your lives.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia began to dance. Hetty tried to tug her hand away from Fanny’s +arm.</p> + +<p>“Come, children, you can do it or not, just as you please. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>Tell Betty +that if she is wise, and does not wish to get into a most serious and +disgraceful scrape, she will not attend the meeting of some girls in +Margaret Grant’s room this evening.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s try if we know it exactly right,” said Sylvia. “Betty will get +into a serious scrape if she goes to Margaret Grant’s room to-night? +What a pity! For, you see, Fan, she is going.”</p> + +<p>“Do listen to me, Sylvia. You have more sense in your little head than +you imagine. Persuade Betty not to go. Believe me, I am only acting for +her best interests.”</p> + +<p>“We’ll give her the message all right,” said Hester. “But as to +persuading Betty when Betty’s mind is made up, I’d like to know who can +persuade her to change it then.”</p> + +<p>“But you are her sisters; she will do what you wish.”</p> + +<p>“But we <i>don’t</i> wish her not to go. We’d much rather she went. Why +shouldn’t she have a bit of fun? Some one told us—I forget now who it +was—that there are always splendid chocolates at those funny +bedroom-parties. I only wish we were asked!”</p> + +<p>“I tell you that your sister will get into a scrape!” repeated Fanny.</p> + +<p>“You tell us so indeed,” said Sylvia, “and it’s most frightfully +annoying of you; for we sha’n’t have a minute to talk to Birchall, and +he promised to have four different kinds of worms ready for us to look +at this morning. Oh dear, dear! mayn’t we go? Fanny, if you are so fond +of Betty, why don’t you speak to her yourself?”</p> + +<p>“I have spoken, and she won’t listen to me.”</p> + +<p>“There! wasn’t I right?” said Sylvia. “Oh Fanny, do you think she’d mind +what we said—and coming from you, too? If she didn’t listen to you +direct, she certainly won’t listen to you crookedwise—that’s not +Betty.”</p> + +<p>“I was thinking,” said Fanny, “that you might persuade her—that is, if +you are very, very clever, just from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>yourselves—not to go. You needn’t +mention my name at all; and if you really manage this, I can tell you +I’ll do a wonderful lot for you. I’ll get father to send me curious +spiders and other creatures, all the way from India, for you. He can if +he likes. I will write to him by the very next mail.”</p> + +<p>“Bribes! bribes!” cried Sylvia. “No, Fan, we can’t be bribed. Good-bye, +Fan. We’ll give the message, but she’ll go all the same.”</p> + +<p>With a sudden spring, for which Fanny was not prepared, Hester loosened +her hand from Fanny’s arm. The next minute she had caught Sylvia’s hand, +and the two were speeding away in the direction of the lower garden and +the fascinating company of old Birchall.</p> + +<p>Fanny could have stamped her foot with rage.</p> + +<p>The Specialities always met at eight o’clock in the evening. They were +expected to wear their pretty evening-dress, and look as much like +grown-up young ladies as possible. In a great house like Haddo Court +there must be all sorts of rooms, some much bigger than others. Thus, +where every room was nice and comfortable, there were a few quite +charming. The Vivians had one of the largest rooms, but Margaret Grant +had the most beautiful. She had been for long years now in the school, +and was therefore accorded many privileges. She had come to Haddo Court +as a very little girl, and had worked her way steadily from the lower +school to the upper. Her people were exceedingly well-off, and her +beautiful room—half bedroom, half sitting-room—was furnished mostly +out of her own pocket-money. She took great pride in its arrangements, +and on this special evening it looked more attractive than usual. There +were great vases of late roses and early chrysanthemums on the different +whatnots and small tables. A very cheerful fire blazed in the grate, +for it was getting cold enough now to enjoy a fire in the evenings, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>and +Margaret’s supper was all that was tasteful and elegant.</p> + +<p>Betty had received Fanny Crawford’s message, and Betty’s eyes had +sparkled with suppressed fun when her sisters had delivered it to her. +She had made no comment of any sort, but had asked the girls, before +they got into bed, to help her to fasten on her very prettiest frock. +She had not worn this frock before, and the simple, soft, white muslin +suited her young face and figure as nothing else could have done. The +black ribbon which tied back her thick hair, and was worn in memory of +dear Aunt Frances, was also becoming to her; and the twin girls’ eyes +sparkled with rapture as they looked at their darling.</p> + +<p>“Good-night, Bet!” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Have a splendid time, Bet!” whispered Hester.</p> + +<p>Then Sylvia said, “I am glad you are going!”</p> + +<p>“But of course I am going,” said Betty. “Good-night, chickabiddies; +good-night. I won’t wake you when I come back. Sleep well!” Betty left +the room.</p> + +<p>In the corridor outside she met Olive Repton, who said, “Oh, there you +are, Betty! Now let’s come. We’ll be two of the first; but that’s all +the better, seeing that you are a new member.”</p> + +<p>“It sounds so mysterious—a sort of freemasonry,” remarked Betty, +laughing as she spoke. “I never did think that exciting things of this +sort happened at school.”</p> + +<p>“They don’t at most schools,” replied Olive. “But, then, there is only +one Haddo Court in the world.”</p> + +<p>“Shall I have to take an awful vow; shall I have to write my name in +blood in a queer sort of book, or anything of that sort?” asked Betty.</p> + +<p>“No, no! You are talking nonsense now.”</p> + +<p>By this time they had reached Margaret’s room, and Margaret was waiting +for them. Betty gave a cry of rapture when she saw the flowers, and, +going from one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>glass bowl to the other, she buried her face in the +delicious perfume.</p> + +<p>By-and-by the rest of the Specialities appeared—the Bertrams (who were +greatly excited at the thought of Betty joining), Susie Rushworth, and, +last to enter, Fanny Crawford.</p> + +<p>Fanny had taken great pains with her dress, and she looked her best on +this occasion. She gave one quick glance at Betty. Then she went up to +her and said, “Welcome, Betty!” and held out her hand.</p> + +<p>Betty was not prepared for this most friendly greeting. She scarcely +touched Fanny’s hand, however, and by so doing put herself slightly in +the wrong in the presence of the girls, who were watching her; while +Fanny, far cleverer in these matters, put herself in the right.</p> + +<p>“Now, then, we must all have supper,” said Margaret. “After that we’ll +explain the rules to Betty, and she can decide whether she will join us +or not. Then we can be as jolly as we please. It is our custom, you +know, girls, to be extra jolly when a new member joins the +Specialities.”</p> + +<p>“I’m game for all the fun in the world,” said Betty. Her curious, eager, +beautiful eyes were fixed on Margaret’s face; and Margaret again felt +that strange sense of being wonderfully drawn to her, and yet at the +same time of being annoyed. What did Fanny’s conduct mean? But one girl, +however much she may wish to do so, cannot quite spoil the fun of six +others. Margaret, therefore, was prepared to be as amiable and merry and +gay as possible.</p> + +<p>Was there ever a more delicious supper? Did ever cake taste quite so +nice? Were chocolate creams and Turkish delight ever quite so good? And +was not Margaret’s lemonade even more admirable than her delicate cups +of cocoa? And were not the dried fruits which were presently handed +round quite wonderful in flavor? And, above all things, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>were not the +sandwiches which Margaret had provided as a sort of surprise (for as a +rule they had no sandwiches at these gatherings) the greatest success of +all?</p> + +<p>The merry supper came to an end, and the girls now clustered in a wide +circle round the fire; and Margaret, as president, took the book of +rules and began to read aloud.</p> + +<p>“There are,” she said, opening the book, which was bound beautifully in +white vellum, “certain rules which each member receives a copy of, and +which she takes to heart and obeys. If she deliberately breaks any +single one of these rules, and such a lapse of principle is discovered, +she is expected to withdraw from the Specialities. This club was first +set on foot by a girl who has long left the school, and who was very +much loved when she was here. Up to the present it has been a success, +although its numbers have varied according to the tone of the girls who +belong to the upper school. No girl belonging to the lower school has +ever yet been asked to join. We have had at one time in the Speciality +Club as many as one dozen members. At present we are six; although we +hope that if you, Betty, decide to join us, we shall have seven members. +That will be very nice,” continued Margaret, smiling and looking across +the room at Betty, whose eyes were fixed on her face, “for seven is the +mystic, the perfect number. Now, I will begin to read the rules aloud to +you. If you decide to think matters over, we will ask you to come to our +next gathering this day week, when you will receive the badge of +membership, and a copy of the rules would be made by me and sent to you +to your room.</p> + +<p>“Now I will begin by telling you that the great object of our club is to +encourage the higher thought. Its object is to discourage and, if +possible, put a stop to low, small, mean, foolish, uncharitable +thoughts. Its object is to set kindness before each member as the best +thing in life. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>You can judge for yourself, Betty, that we aim high. +Yes, what were you going to say?”</p> + +<p>“I was thinking,” said Betty, whose eyes were now very wide open indeed, +while her cheeks grew paler than ever with some concealed emotion, “that +the girl who first thought of this club must have sat on a Scotch moor +one day, with the purple heather all round her, and that to her it was +vouchsafed to hear the fairies speak when they rang the little purple +bells of the heather.”</p> + +<p>“That may have been the case, dear,” said Margaret in her kindest tone. +“Now, I will read you the rules. They are quite short and to the point:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘<span class="smcap">Rule I.</span>—Each girl who is a member of the Specialities gives +perfect confidence to her fellow-members, keeps no secret to +herself which those members ought to know, is ready to consider +each member as though she were her own sister, to help her in time +of trouble, and to rejoice with her in periods of joy.’</p></div> + +<p>“That is Rule I., and I need not say, Betty, that it is a very important +rule.”</p> + +<p>Betty’s eyes were now lowered, so that only her very black lashes were +seen as they rested against her pale cheeks.</p> + +<p>“Rule II. is this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘<span class="smcap">Rule II.</span>—That the Specialities read each day, for one quarter of +an hour, a book of great thoughts.’</p></div> + +<p>“The books are generally selected at the beginning of term, and each +member is expected to read the same amount and from the same book. This +term, for instance, we occupy one quarter of an hour daily in reading +Jeremy Taylor’s ‘Holy Living.’ It is not very long, but there’s a vast +amount of thought in it. If we feel puzzled about anything in this +wonderful book we discuss it with each other at the next meeting of the +Specialities, and if, after such a discussion, the whole matter does not +seem quite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>clear, we ask Mr. Fairfax to help us. He is most kind, +although of course he is not in the secret of our club.</p> + +<p>“Rule III. is quite different. It is this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘<span class="smcap">Rule III.</span>—Each day we give ourselves up, every one of us, to +real, genuine fun—to having what may be called a jolly time.’</p></div> + +<p>“We never miss this part of the Speciality life. We get our fun either +by chatting gaily to each other, or by enjoying the society of a +favorite schoolfellow.</p> + +<p>“Rule IV. does not come into every day life; nevertheless it is +important:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘<span class="smcap">Rule IV.</span>—We meet once a week in one of our bedrooms; but four +times during the term we all subscribe together, and get up as big +a party as ever we can of girls who are not Specialities. These +girls have supper with us, and afterwards we have round games or +music or anything that gives us pleasure.’</p></div> + +<p>“Rule V. is this:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“‘<span class="smcap">Rule V.</span>—That whoever else we are cross with, we are always very +careful to show respect to our teachers, and, if possible, to love +them. We also try to shut our eyes to their faults, even if we see +them.’</p></div> + +<p>“Rule VI. is perhaps the most difficult of all to follow completely. It +is the old, old rule, Betty Vivian, of forgetting ourselves and living +for others. It is a rule that makes the secret of happiness. It is +impossible to keep it in its fullness in this world; but our aim is to +have a good try for it, and I think, on the whole, we succeed.</p> + +<p>“Now, these are the six rules. When you read them over, you will see +that they are comprehensive, that they mean a vast lot. They are, every +one of them, rules which tend to discipline—the sort of discipline that +will help us when we leave the school and enter into the big school of +the world. Betty, do you feel inclined to join the club or not?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” replied Betty. “It is impossible to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>answer your +question on the spur of the moment. But I should greatly like to see a +copy of the rules.”</p> + +<p>“I will have them copied and sent to your bedroom, Betty. Then if you +decide to join, you will be admitted formally this day week, and will +receive the badge of the Specialities—a little true-lovers’ knot made +of silver—which you will wear when the Specialities give their +entertainments, and which will remind you that we are bound together in +one sisterhood of love for our fellow-creatures.”</p> + +<p>Betty got up somewhat nervously. “I must think a great deal; and if I +may come to whichever room the Specialities are to meet in this day +week, I will let you know what I have decided.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, dear,” said Margaret, shutting the book and completely +altering her tone. “That is all, I think to-night. Now, you must sit +down and enjoy yourself. Which girl would you like to sit close to? We +are going to have some round games, and they are quite amusing.”</p> + +<p>“I should like to sit close to you, Margaret, if I may.”</p> + +<p>“You certainly may, Betty; and there is a seat near mine, just by that +large bowl of white chrysanthemums.”</p> + +<p>Betty took the seat; and now all the girls began to chat, each of them +talking lovingly and kindly to the other. There was a tone about their +conversation which was as different from the way they spoke in their +ordinary life as though they were girls in a nunnery who had made solemn +vows to forsake the world. Even Fanny’s face looked wonderfully kind and +softened. She did not even glance at Betty; but Betty looked at her once +or twice, and was astonished at the expression that Fanny wore.</p> + +<p>“Just one minute, girls, before we begin our fun,” said Margaret. +“Martha West is most anxious to join the Specialities. Betty, of course, +has no vote, as she is not yet a member. But the rest of us know Martha +well, and I think we would all like her to join. Those who are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>opposed +to her, will they keep down their hands? Those who wish for her as a +member, will they hold them up?”</p> + +<p>All hands were held up on this occasion, and Fanny held hers the +straightest and highest of all.</p> + +<p>“Three cheers for Martha West!” said Susie Rushworth.</p> + +<p>“It will be splendid to have Martha!” said both the Bertrams; while +Olive, always gay, spirited, and full of fun, laughed from sheer +delight.</p> + +<p>The usual formula was then gone through, and Fanny Crawford was deputed +to take a note to Martha inviting her to be present at the next meeting.</p> + +<p>“Now, we shall have about half an hour for different sorts of fun,” said +Margaret. “By the way, Betty,” she continued, “sometimes our meetings +are rather solemn affairs; we want to discuss the book we are reading, +or something has happened that we wish to talk over. On the other hand, +there are times when we have nothing but fun and frolic. We’re not a bit +solemn on these occasions; we loosen all the tension, so to speak, and +enjoy ourselves to the utmost.”</p> + +<p>“And there are times, also,” said Olive, “when we are just as busy as +bees planning out our next entertainment. Oh Margaret, we can’t have one +this day week because of Betty and Martha. But don’t you think we might +have one this day three weeks? And don’t you think it might be a very +grand affair? And supposing Betty becomes a member—which, of course, +you will, Betty, for you couldn’t disappoint us now—supposing we have +it in Betty’s palatial mansion of a bedroom! We can ask no end of girls +to that. Oh, won’t it be fun?”</p> + +<p>“If you ask my sisters, I don’t mind at all—that is, <i>if</i> I am a +member,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Of course we’ll ask the dear twins,” said Margaret. She took Betty’s +hand as she spoke and squeezed it with sudden affection.</p> + +<p>Betty pressed a little nearer to her. It was worth even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>giving up the +Scotch moors, and the society of Donald and Jean, and the dogs and the +horse, to have such a friend as Margaret Grant.</p> + +<p>But now the fun began in earnest, and very good fun it was; for every +girl had a considerable sense of humor, so much so that their games were +carried on with great spirit. Their laughter was so merry as to be quite +infectious; and no one was more amazed than Betty herself when the +ordeal of this first visit to the Specialities was over and she was +walking quickly downstairs, with Olive by her side, on her way to the +chapel.</p> + +<p>How beautifully Mr. Fairfax read the evening prayers that night! How +lovely it was to listen to his melodious voice and to look at his +earnest, intelligent face! How sweet, how wonderful, was the soft, soft +music which Mrs. Haddo herself played on the organ!</p> + +<p>“Oh yes,” thought Betty, “one could be good here, and with the sort of +help that Margaret talks about; and high thoughts are nice thoughts, +they seem to be what I might call close to the angels. Nevertheless——”</p> + +<p>A cloud seemed to fall on the little girl’s spirit. She thought of +Fanny, and, raising her eyes at the moment, observed that Fanny’s eyes +were fixed on her. Fanny’s eyes were full of queer warning, even of +menace; and Betty suddenly experienced a revulsion of all those noble +feelings which had animated her a short time ago. Were there two Fanny +Crawfords? Or could she possibly look as she looked now, and also as she +had done when Margaret Grant read the rules of the Speciality Club +aloud?</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>STRIVING FOR A DECISION</h3> + +<p>The week passed without anything very special occurring. The weather was +still warm and perfect. September had no idea of giving up her mantle of +late summer. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>September was drawing to a close, and October, with +gusty winds and whirling, withered leaves, and much rain, would soon +take her place. October was certainly not nearly such a pleasant month +as September. Nevertheless, the young and healthy girls who lived their +regular life at Haddo Court were indifferent to the weather. They were +always busy. Each minute was planned out and fully occupied. There was +time for work, and time for play, and time for happy, confidential talks +in that bright and pleasant school. There were all kinds of surprises, +too; now an unexpected tea-party with Mrs. Haddo, given to a few select +girls; then, again, to another few who unexpectedly found themselves +select. There were also delightful cocoa-parties in the big private +sitting-room of the upper school, as well as games of every description, +outdoor and indoor. Night came all too soon in this happy family, and +each girl retired to bed wondering what could have made the day so very +short.</p> + +<p>But during this week Betty was not quite happy. She had received a copy +of the rules, and had studied them very carefully. She was, in her heart +of hearts, most anxious to become a Speciality. The higher life appealed +to her. It appealed to her strong sense of imagination; to her +passionate and really unworldly nature; to that deep love which dwelt in +her heart, and which, just at present, she felt inclined to bestow on +Margaret Grant. But there was Rule I. The rules had been sent, as +Margaret had promised, neatly copied and in a sealed envelope, to +Betty’s room. She had read them upstairs all alone in the Vivians’ +attic. She had read them while the queer, uncanny eyes of Dickie looked +at her. She certainly was not afraid of Dickie; on the contrary, she +admired him. She and her sisters were very proud of his increasing size, +and each day it was the turn of one girl or the other to take Dickie out +of his cage and give him exercise. He was rather alarming in his +movements, going at a tremendous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>rate, and giving more than one uncanny +glance at the Vivian girl who was his jailer for the time.</p> + +<p>On this special occasion, when Betty brought the rules to the Vivian +attic, she forgot all about Dickie. He was out, running round and round +the attic, rushing up the walls, peering at Betty from over the top of +the door, creeping as far as the ceiling and then coming down again. He +was, as a rule, easily caught, for Sylvia and Hetty always kept his meal +of raw meat till after he had had his exercise. But Betty had now +forgotten that it was necessary to have a bait to bring Dickie once more +into the shelter of his cage. She had consequently fed him first, then +let him free, and then stood by the small window of the attic reading +the rules of the Specialities. It was Rule I. which troubled her. Rule +I. ran as follows: “Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow +members, keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know, +is ready to consider each member as though she were her own sister, to +help her in time of trouble and to rejoice with her in periods of joy.”</p> + +<p>To be quite frank, Betty did not like this rule. She was willing to give +a certain amount of affection to most of the girls who belonged to the +Specialities; but as to considering even nice girls like the Bertrams as +her own sisters, and Susie Rushworth (who was quite agreeable and gay +and kind) in that relationship, and Olive Repton also, as she would +Sylvia and Hetty, she did not think she could do it. She could be kind +to them—she would love to be kind to them; she would love to help each +and all in times of trouble, and to rejoice with them in periods of joy; +but to feel that they were her sisters—that certainly <i>was</i> difficult. +She believed it possible that she could admit Margaret Grant into a +special and close relationship; into a deep friendship which partook +neither of sisterhood nor of anything else, but stood apart and +alone—the sort of friendship that a young, enthusiastic girl <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>will give +to a friend of strong character a little older than herself. But as to +Fanny—she could never love Fanny. From the very first moment she had +set eyes on her—away, far away, in Scotland—she had disliked her, she +had pronounced her at once in her own mind as “niminy-priminy.” She had +told her sisters frankly what she felt about Fanny. She had said in her +bold, independent way, “Fanny is too good for the likes of me. She is +the sort of girl who would turn me into a bad un. I don’t want to have +anything to do with her.”</p> + +<p>Fanny, however, had taken no notice of Betty’s all too evident +antagonism. Fanny was, in her heart of hearts, essentially good-natured; +but Betty was as impossible for her to understand as it was impossible +for the moon to comprehend the brightness of the sun. Fanny had been +shocked at what she had witnessed when she saw Betty take the sealed +packet from the drawer. She remembered the whole thing with great +distress of mind, and had felt a sense of shock when she heard that the +Vivian girls were coming to the school. But her feelings were very much +worse when her father had informed her that the packet could nowhere be +found—that he had specially mentioned it to Betty, who declared that +she knew nothing about it. Oh yes, Fanny and Betty were as the poles +apart; and Betty knew now that were she to take the vows of the +Specialities fifty times over she could never keep them, as far as Fanny +Crawford was concerned. Then there was another unpleasant part of the +same rule: “Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow-members, +keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know.” Betty +undoubtedly had a secret—a very precious one. She had even told a lie +in order to hug that secret to her breast. She had brought it away with +her to the school, and now it was safe—only Betty knew where.</p> + +<p>What puzzled her was this: was it necessary for the members to know her +secret? It had nothing to do with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>any of them. Nevertheless, she was an +honest sort of girl and could not dismiss the feeling from her own mind +that Rule I. was practically impossible to her. The Specialities had met +on Thursday in Margaret Grant’s room. The next meeting was to be held in +Susie Rushworth’s. Susie’s room was in another wing of the building, and +was not so large or luxurious as that of Margaret. The next meeting +would, however, be quite formal—except for the admission of Betty to +the full privileges of the club, and the reading aloud of the rules to +Martha West. During the course of the week the Specialities seldom or +never spoke of their meeting-day. Nevertheless, Betty from time to time +caught Fanny’s watchful eyes fixed on her.</p> + +<p>On the next Thursday morning she awoke with a slight headache. Miss +Symes noticed when she came downstairs that Betty was not quite herself, +and at once insisted on her going back to her room to lie down and be +coddled. Betty hated being coddled. She was never coddled in the gray +stone house; she was never coddled on the Scotch moors. She had +occasional headaches, like every one else, and occasional colds; but +they had to take care of themselves, and get well as best they could. +Betty used to shake herself with anger when she thought of any one +making a fuss about her when she was ill, and was consequently rather +cross when Miss Symes took her upstairs, made her lie down, and put a +wrap over her.</p> + +<p>“You must lie down and try to sleep, Betty. I hope you will be quite +well by dinner-time. Don’t stir till I come for you, dear.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but I will!” said Betty, raising her head and fixing her bright, +almost feverish eyes on Miss Symes’s face.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, dear? I have desired you to stay quiet.”</p> + +<p>“And I cannot obey,” replied Betty. “Please, Miss Symes, don’t be angry. +If I were a low-down sort of girl, I’d sneak out without telling you; +but as I happen to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>Betty Vivian, I can’t do that. I want to get into +the fresh air. Nothing will take away my headache like a walk. I want to +get as far as that dreadful piece of common land you have here, and +which you imagine is like a moor. I want to walk about there for a +time.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, Betty; you are a good girl to have confided in me. You have +exactly two hours. Stay quiet for one hour. If at the end of that time +your head is no better, out for an hour; then return to your usual +duties.”</p> + +<p>Betty lay very still for the whole of that hour. Her thoughts were busy. +She was haunted by Rule I., and by the passionate temptation to ignore +it and yet pretend that she would keep it—in short, to be a member of +the Specialities under false colors. One minute she was struggling hard +with the trouble which raged within her, the next minute she was making +up her mind to decline to be associated with the Specialities.</p> + +<p>When the hour had quite expired she sprang to her feet. Oh yes, her head +still ached! But what did that matter? She could not be bothered with a +trifling thing like a mere headache. She ran upstairs to the Vivian +attic. Dickie was in his cage. Betty remembered what terrible trouble +she had had to catch him on the day when she received a copy of the +rules. She shook her head at him now, and said, “Ah Dickie, you’re a bad +boy! I am not going to let you out of your cage again in a hurry.” Then +she went out.</p> + +<p>The wind had changed during the night, and heavy clouds were coming up +from the north. Betty felt herself much colder than she had ever done in +Scotland. She shivered, and walked very fast. She passed the celebrated +oak-tree where she and her sisters had hidden during their first day at +school. She went on to the place where the three little gardens were +marked for their benefit. But up to the present no Vivian had touched +the gardens, and there were the black remains of the bonfire where the +poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>Scotch heather had been burnt almost in the center of Betty’s +patch of ground.</p> + +<p>Oh, the school was horrible—the life was horrible! Oh why had she ever +come here? She wanted to be a Speciality; but she could not, it was not +in her. She hated—yes, she hated—Fanny Crawford more each minute, and +she could never love those other uninteresting girls as though they were +her sisters. In analyzing her feelings very carefully, she came to the +conclusion that she only wanted to join the Specialities in order to be +Margaret’s friend. She knew quite well what privileges would be accorded +to her were she a member; and she also knew—for she had been told—that +it was a rare thing to allow a girl so lately come to the school to take +such an important position.</p> + +<p>Betty had a natural love of power. With a slight shudder she walked past +the little patches of ground and across what she contemptuously called +the miserable common. This common marked the boundaries of Mrs. Haddo’s +school. There were iron railings at least six feet high guarding it from +the adjacent land. The sight of these railings was absolute torture to +Betty. She said aloud, “Didn’t I know the whole place was a prison? But +prison-bars sha’n’t keep me long in restraint!”</p> + +<p>She took out her handkerchief, and, pulling up some weedy grass, put the +handkerchief on one spiked bar and the grass on the other, and thus +protecting herself, made a light bound over the fence. The exercise and +the sense of freedom did her good. She laughed aloud, and continued her +walk through unexplored regions. She could not go very fast, however; +for she was hindered here by and there by a gateway, and here again by a +farmstead, and yet again by a cottage, with little children running +about amongst the autumn flowers.</p> + +<p>“How can people live in a place like this?” thought Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p><p>Then, all of a sudden, two ferocious dogs rushed out upon the girl, +clamored round her, and tried to stop her way. Betty laughed softly. +There was a delightful sound in her laugh. Probably those dogs had never +heard its like before. It was also possible, notwithstanding the fact +that Betty was wearing a new dress, that something of that peculiar +instinct which is imparted to dogs told these desperate champions that +Betty had loved a dog before.</p> + +<p>“Down, silly creature!” said Betty, and she patted one on the head and +put her arm on the neck of the other. Soon they were fawning about her +and jumping on her and licking her hands. She felt thoroughly happy now. +Her headache had quite vanished. The dogs, the darlings, were her true +friends! There was a little piece of grass quite close to where they had +attacked her, and she squatted deliberately down on it and invited the +dogs to stretch themselves by her side. They did so without a minute’s +delay. They were in raptures with her, and one dog only growled when she +paid too much attention to the other.</p> + +<p>She began to whisper alternately in the shaggy ears of each. “Ah, you +must have come from Scotland! You must, anyhow, have met Andrew! Do you +think you are as brave as Andrew, for I doubt it?”</p> + +<p>Then she continued to the other dog, “And you must have been born in the +same litter with Fritz. Did you ever look into the eyes of Fritz and see +straight down into his gallant heart? I should be ashamed of you, +ashamed of you, if you were not as brave and noble as Fritz.”</p> + +<p>There was such pathos in Betty’s voice that the dogs became quite +penitent and abject. They had certainly never been in Scotland, and +Andrew and Fritz were animals unknown to them; but for some reason the +mysterious being who understood dogs was displeased with them, and they +fawned and crouched at her feet.</p> + +<p>It was just at that moment that a sturdy-looking farmer <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>came up. He +gazed at Betty, then at the two dogs, uttered a light guffaw, and +vanished round the corner. In a very few minutes he returned, +accompanied by his sturdy wife and his two rough, growing sons.</p> + +<p>“Wife,” he said, “did you ever see the like in all your life—Dan and +Beersheba crouching down at that young girl’s feet? Why, they’re the +fiercest dogs in the whole place!”</p> + +<p>“I heard them barking a while back,” said Mrs. Miles, the farmer’s wife, +“and then they stopped sudden-like. If I’d known they were here I’d have +come out to keep ’em from doing mischief to anybody; but hearing no more +sound I went on with my churning. Little miss,” she added, raising her +voice, “you seem wonderful took with dogs.”</p> + +<p>Betty instantly rose to a standing position. “Yes, I am,” she said. +“Please, are these Scotch, and have they come from Aberdeenshire?”</p> + +<p>The farmer laughed. “No, miss,” he said; “we bred ’em at home.”</p> + +<p>Betty was puzzled at this.</p> + +<p>The dogs did not take the slightest notice of the farmer, his wife, or +his sons, but kept clinging to the girl and pressing their noses against +her dress.</p> + +<p>“May I come again to see them, please?” asked Betty. “They’ve got the +spirit of the Scotch dogs. They are the first true friends I have met +since I left Scotland.”</p> + +<p>“And may I make bold to ask your name, miss?” inquired the farmer’s +wife.</p> + +<p>“Yes, you may,” said Betty. “It isn’t much of a name. It’s just Betty +Vivian, and I live at Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p>“My word! Be you one of them young ladies?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know quite what you mean; but I am Betty Vivian, and I live at +Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p>“But how ever did you get on the high road, miss?” asked the farmer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p><p>Betty laughed. “I went to the edge of what they call the common,” she +said. “I found a fence, and I vaulted over—that is all. I don’t like +your country much, farmer; there’s no space about it. But the dogs, they +are darlings!”</p> + +<p>“You’re the pluckiest young gel I ever come across,” said the man. “How +you managed to tame ’em is more than I can say. Why, they are real +brutes when any one comes nigh the farm; and over and over I has said to +the wife, ‘You ought to lock them brutes up, wife.’ But she’s rare and +kindhearted, and is very fond of them, whelps that they be.”</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said the woman, “if missie would come into the house and +have a bite of summat to eat? We makes butter for the Court, miss; and +we sends up all our eggs, and many a pair of fat chickens and turkeys +and other fowl. We’re just setting down to dinner, and can give you some +potatoes and pork.”</p> + +<p>Betty laughed gleefully. “I’d love potatoes and pork more than +anything,” she said. “May Dan and Beersheba dine with us?”</p> + +<p>“Well, miss, I don’t expect you’ll find it easy to get ’em parted from +you.”</p> + +<p>So Betty entered the farmyard, and walked through, in her direct +fashion, without picking her steps; for she loved, as she expressed it, +a sense of confusion and the sight of different animals. She had a knack +of making herself absolutely at home, and did so on the present +occasion. Soon she was seated in the big bright kitchen of the +farmhouse, and was served with an excellent meal of the best fresh pork +and the most mealy potatoes she had seen since she left Scotland. Mrs. +Miles gave her a great big glass of rich milk, but she preferred water. +Dan sat at one side of her, Beersheba at the other. They did not ask for +food; but they asked imploringly for the pat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>of a firm, brown little +hand, and for the look of love in Betty’s eyes.</p> + +<p>“I have enjoyed myself,” said the girl, jumping up. “I do think you are +the nicest people anywhere; and as to your dogs, they are simply +glorious. Might not I come here again some day, and—and bring my +sisters with me? They are twins, you know. Do you mind twins?”</p> + +<p>“Bless your sweet voice!” said Mrs. Miles; “is it a-minding twins we be +when we has two sets ourselves?”</p> + +<p>“My sisters are very nice, considering that they are twins,” said Betty, +who was always careful not to overpraise her own people; “and they are +just as fond of dogs as I am. Oh, by the way, we have a lovely spider—a +huge, glorious creature. His name is Dickie, and he lives in an attic at +the Court. He’s as big as this.” Betty made an apt illustration with her +fingers.</p> + +<p>“Lor’, miss, he must be an awful beast! We’re dead nuts agen spiders at +the Stoke Farm.”</p> + +<p>Betty looked sad. “It is strange,” she said, “how no one loves Dickie +except our three selves. We won’t bring him, then; but may <i>we</i> come?”</p> + +<p>“It all depends, miss, on whether Mrs. Haddo gives you leave. ’Tain’t +the custom, sure and certain, for young ladies from the Court to come +a-visiting at Stoke Farm; but if so be she says yes, you’ll be heartily +welcome, and more than welcome. I can’t say more, can I, miss?”</p> + +<p>“Well, I have had a happy time,” said Betty; “and now I must be going +back.”</p> + +<p>“But,” said the farmer, “missie, you surely ain’t going to get over that +big fence the same way as you come here?”</p> + +<p>“And what else should I do?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“’Taint to be done, miss. There’s a drop at our side which makes the +fence ever so much higher, and how you didn’t hurt yourself is little +less than a miracle to me. I’ll have the horse put to the cart and drive +you round to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>the front entrance in a jiffy. Dan and Beersheba can +follow, the run’ll do them no end of good.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, missie, you really must let my husband do what he wishes,” said +Mrs. Miles.</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” said Betty in a quiet voice. Then she added, looking up +into Mrs. Miles’s face, “I love Mrs. Haddo very much, and there is one +girl at the school whom I love. I think I shall love you too, for I +think you have understanding. And when I come to see you next—for of +course Mrs. Haddo will give me leave—I will tell you about Scotland, +and the heather, and the fairies that live in the heather-bells; and I +will tell you about our little gray stone house, and about Donald +Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane. Oh, you will love to hear! You are +something like them, except that unfortunately you are English.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t put that agen me,” said Mrs. Miles, “for I wouldn’t be nothing +else if you was to pay me fifty pounds down. There, now, I can’t speak +squarer than that!”</p> + +<p>Just at that moment the farmer’s voice was heard announcing that the +trap was ready. Betty hugged Mrs. Miles, and was followed out of the +farm-kitchen by the excited dogs.</p> + +<p>The next minute they were driving in the direction of the Court, and +Betty was put down just outside the heavy wrought-iron gates. “Good-bye, +Farmer Miles,” she said, “and take my best thanks. I am coming again to +see those darling dogs. Good-bye, dears, good-bye.”</p> + +<p>She pressed a kiss on each very rough forehead, passed through the +little postern door, heard the dogs whining behind her, did not dare to +look back, and ran as fast as she could to the house. She was quite late +for the midday dinner; and the first person she met was Miss Symes, who +came up to her in a state of great excitement. “Why, Betty!” she said, +“where have you been? We have all been terribly anxious about you.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p><p>“I went out for a walk,” said Betty, “and——”</p> + +<p>“Did you go beyond the grounds? We looked everywhere.”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes,” said Betty. “I couldn’t be kept in by rails or bars or +anything of that sort. I am a free creature, you know, Miss Symes.”</p> + +<p>“Come, Betty,” said Miss Symes, “you have broken a rule; and you have no +excuse, for a copy of the rules of the school is in every sitting-room +and every classroom. You must see Mrs. Haddo about this.”</p> + +<p>“I am more than willing,” replied Betty.</p> + +<p>Betty felt full of courage, and keen and well, after her morning’s +adventure. Miss Symes took Betty’s hand, and led her in the direction of +Mrs. Haddo’s private sitting-room. That good lady was busy over some +work which she generally managed to accomplish at that special hour. She +was seated at her desk, putting her signature to several notes and +letters which she had dictated early that morning to her secretary. She +looked up as Betty and Miss Symes entered.</p> + +<p>“Ah, Miss Symes!” said Mrs. Haddo. “How do you do, Betty? Sit down. Will +you just wait a minute, please?” she added, looking up into the face of +her favorite governess. “I want you to take these letters as you are +here, and so save my ringing for a servant. Get Miss Edgeworth to stamp +them all, and put them into their envelopes, and send them off without +fail by next post.”</p> + +<p>A pile of letters was placed in Miss Symes’s hands. She went away at +once; and Mrs. Haddo, in her usual leisurely and gracious manner, turned +and looked at Betty.</p> + +<p>“Well, Betty Vivian,” she said kindly, “I have seen you for some time at +prayers and in the different classrooms, and also at chapel; but I have +not had an opportunity of a chat with you, dear, for several days. Sit +down, please, or, rather, come nearer to the fire.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I am so hot!” said Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>“Well, loosen your jacket and take off your hat. Now, what is the +matter? Before we refer to pleasant things, shall we get the unpleasant +ones over? What has gone wrong with you, Betty Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“But how can you tell that anything has gone wrong?”</p> + +<p>“I know, dear, because Miss Symes would not bring you to my private +sitting-room at this hour for any other reason.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I don’t think anything has gone wrong,” said Betty; “but Miss +Symes does not quite agree with me. I will tell you, of course; I am +only longing to.”</p> + +<p>“Begin, dear, and be as brief as possible.”</p> + +<p>“I had a headache this morning, and went to lie down,” began Betty. +“Miss Symes wanted me to stay lying down until dinner-time, but +afterwards she gave me leave to go out when I had been in my room for an +hour. I did so. I went as far as that bit of common of yours.”</p> + +<p>“Our ‘forest primeval’?” said Mrs. Haddo with a gracious smile.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but it isn’t really!” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Some of us think it so, Betty.”</p> + +<p>Betty gave a curious smile; then with an effort she kept back certain +words from her lips, and continued abruptly, “I got to the end of the +common, and there was a railing——”</p> + +<p>“The boundary of my estate, dear.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Betty, “it drove me mad. I felt I was in prison, and that +the railing formed my prison bars. I vaulted over, and got into the +road. I walked along for a good bit—I can’t quite tell how far—but at +last two dogs came bounding out of a farmyard near by. They barked at +first very loudly; but I looked at them and spoke to them, and after +that we were friends of course. I sat on the grass and played with them, +and they—I think they loved me. All dogs do—there is nothing in that. +The farmer and his wife came out presently and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>seemed surprised, for +they said that Dan and Beersheba were very furious.”</p> + +<p>“My dear girl—Dan and Beersheba—<i>those</i> dogs!”</p> + +<p>“Those were the names they called them. We call our dogs on the Scotch +moors Andrew and Fritz. They are much bigger dogs than Dan and +Beersheba; but Dan and Beersheba are darlings for all that. I went into +the Mileses#8217;s house and had my dinner with them. It was a splendid +dinner—pork and really <i>nice</i> potatoes—and the dogs sat one on each +side of me. Mrs. Haddo, I want to go to the Mileses’ again some day to +tea, and I want to take Sylvia and Hester with me. The Mileses don’t +mind about their being twins, and they’ll be quite glad to see them, and +Sylvia and Hester are about as fond of dogs as I am. Mrs. Miles said she +was quite willing to have us if you gave leave, but not otherwise.”</p> + +<p>“Betty!” said Mrs. Haddo when the girl had ceased. She raised her head, +and looked full into the wonderful, pathetic, half-humorous, +half-defiant eyes, and once again between her soul and Betty’s was felt +that firm, sure bond of sympathy. Involuntarily the girl came two or +three steps closer. Mrs. Haddo, with a gesture, invited her to kneel by +her, and took one of her hands. “Betty, my child, you know why you have +come to this school?”</p> + +<p>“I am sure I don’t,” said Betty, “unless it is to be with you and—and +Margaret Grant.”</p> + +<p>“I am glad you have made Margaret your friend. She is a splendid +girl—quite the best girl in the whole school; and she likes you, +Betty—she has told me so. I am given to understand that you are to have +the honorable distinction of becoming a Speciality. The club is a most +distinguished one, and has a beneficial effect on the tone of the upper +school. I am glad that you are considered worthy to join. I know nothing +about the rules; I can only say that I admire the results of its +discipline on its members. But now to turn to the matter in hand. You +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>broke a very stringent rule of the school when you got over that fence, +and the breaking of a rule must be punished.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t mind,” said Betty in a low tone.</p> + +<p>“But I want you to mind, Betty. I want you to be truly sorry that you +broke one of my rules.”</p> + +<p>“When you put it like that,” said Betty, “I do get a bit choky. Don’t +say too much, or perhaps I’ll howl. I am not so happy as you think. I am +fighting hard with myself every minute of the time.”</p> + +<p>“Poor little girl! can you tell me why you are fighting?”</p> + +<p>“No, Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you.”</p> + +<p>“I will not press you, dear. Well, Betty, one of my rules is that the +girls never leave the grounds without leave; and as you have broken that +rule you must receive the punishment, which is that you remain in your +room for the rest of the day until eight o’clock this evening, when I +understand that you are due at the meeting of the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>“I will go to my room,” said Betty. “I don’t mind punishment at all.”</p> + +<p>“You ran a very great risk, dear, when you went into that byroad and +were attacked by those fierce dogs. It was a marvel that they took to +you. It is extremely wrong of Farmer Miles to have them loose, and I +must speak to him.”</p> + +<p>“And please,” said Betty, “may we go to tea there—we three—one +evening?”</p> + +<p>“I will see about that. Try to keep every rule. Try, with all your might +and main, to conquer yourself. I am not angry with you, dear. It is +impossible to tame a nature like yours, and I am the last person on +earth to break your spirit. But go up to your room now, and—kiss me +first.”</p> + +<p>Betty almost choked when she gave that kiss, when her eyes looked still +deeper into Mrs. Haddo’s beautiful eyes, and when she felt her whole +heart tingle within her with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>that new, wonderful sensation of a love +for her mistress which even exceeded her love for Margaret Grant.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>RULE I. ACCEPTED</h3> + +<p>Betty’s room was empty, and at that time of day was rather chill, for +the three big windows were wide open in order to let in the fresh, keen +air. Betty walked into the room still feeling that mysterious tingling +all over her, that tingling which had been awakened by her sudden and +unexpected love for Mrs. Haddo. That love had been more or less dormant +within her heart from the very first; but to-day it had received a new +impetus, and the curious fact was that she was almost glad to accept +punishment because it was inflicted by Mrs. Haddo. Being the sort of +girl she was, it occurred to her that the more severe she herself made +the punishment the more efficacious it would be.</p> + +<p>She accordingly sat down by one of the open windows, and, as a natural +consequence, soon got very chilled. As she did not wish to catch cold +and become a nuisance in the school, she proceeded to shut the windows, +and had just done so—her fingers blue and all the beautiful glow gone +from her young body—when there came a tap at the room door. Betty at +first did not reply. She hoped the person, whoever that person might be, +would go away. But the tap was repeated, and she was obliged in +desperation to go to the door and see who was there.</p> + +<p>“I, and I want to speak to you,” replied the voice of Fanny Crawford.</p> + +<p>Instantly there rose a violent rebellion in Betty’s heart. All her love +for Mrs. Haddo, with its softening influence, vanished; it melted slowly +out of sight, although, of course, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>it was still there. Her pleasant +time at the Mileses’ farm, the delightful affection of the furious dogs, +the excellent dinner, the quick drive back, were forgotten as though +they had never existed; and Betty only remembered Rule I., and that she +hated Fanny Crawford. She stood perfectly still in the middle of the +room.</p> + +<p>Fanny boldly opened the door and entered. “I want to speak to you, +Betty,” she said.</p> + +<p>“But I don’t want to speak to you,” replied Betty.</p> + +<p>“Oh, how bitterly cold this room is!” said Fanny, not taking much notice +of this remark. “I shall light the fire myself; yes, I insist. It is all +laid ready; and as it is absolutely necessary for us to have a little +chat together, I may as well make the room comfortable for us both.”</p> + +<p>“But I don’t want you to light the fire; I want you to go.”</p> + +<p>Fanny smiled. “Betty, dear,” she said, “don’t be unreasonable. You can’t +dislike me as much as you imagine you do! Why should you go on in this +fashion?” As Fanny spoke she knelt down by the guard, put a match to the +already well-laid fire, and soon it was crackling and roaring up the +chimney.</p> + +<p>“You are here,” said Fanny, “because you broke a rule. We all know, +every one in the school knows, Mrs. Haddo is not angry, but she insists +on punishment. She never, never excuses a girl who breaks a rule. The +girl must pay the penalty; afterwards, things are as they were before. +It is amazing what an effect this has in keeping us all up to the mark +and in order. Now, Betty—Bettina, dear—come and sit by the fire and +let me hold your hands. Why, they’re as blue as possible; you are quite +frozen, you poor child!”</p> + +<p>Fanny spoke in quite a nice, soothing voice. She had the same look on +her face which she had worn that evening in Margaret Grant’s bedroom. +She seemed really desirous to be nice to Betty. She knew that Betty was +easily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>influenced by kindness; this was the case, for even Fanny did +not seem quite so objectionable when she smiled sweetly and spoke +gently. She now drew two chairs forward, one for herself and one for +Betty. Betty had been intensely cold, and the pleasant glow of the fire +was grateful. She sank into the chair which Fanny offered her with very +much the air of being the proprietor of the room, and not Betty, and +waited for her companion to speak. She did not notice that Fanny had +placed her own chair so that the back was to the light, whereas Betty +sat where the full light from the three big windows fell on her face.</p> + +<p>“Well, now, I call this real comfy!” said Fanny. “They will send up your +tea, you know, and you can have a book from the school library if you +like. I should recommend ‘The Daisy Chain’ or ‘The Heir of Redclyffe.’”</p> + +<p>“I don’t want any books, thanks,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“But don’t you love reading?”</p> + +<p>“I can’t tell you. Perhaps I do, perhaps I don’t.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, won’t you tell me anything?”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, I have nothing to tell you.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Betty, with a face like yours—nothing!”</p> + +<p>“Nothing at all—to you,” replied Betty.</p> + +<p>“But to others—for instance,” said Fanny, still keeping her good +temper, “to Margaret Grant, or to Mrs. Haddo?”</p> + +<p>“They are different,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>Fanny was silent for a minute. Then she said, “I want to tell you +something, and I want to be quite frank. You have made a very great +impression so far in the school. For your age and your little +experience, you are in a high class, and all your teachers speak well of +you. You are the sort of girl who is extremely likely to be popular—to +have, in short, a following. Now, I don’t suppose there is in all the +world anything, Betty Vivian, that would appeal to a nature like yours +so strongly as to have a following—to have other girls hanging on your +words, understanding your motives, listening to what you say, perhaps +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>even trying to copy you. You will be very difficult to copy, Betty, +because you are a rare piece of original matter. Nevertheless, all these +things lie before you if you act warily now.”</p> + +<p>“Go on,” said Betty; “it is interesting to hear one’s self discussed. Of +course, Fan, you have a motive for saying all this to me. What is it?”</p> + +<p>“I have,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“You had better explain your motive. Things will be easier for us both +afterwards, won’t they?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Fanny in a low tone, “that is true.”</p> + +<p>“Go on, then,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“I want to speak about the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I thought you were coming to them! They are to meet to-night, are +they not, in Susie Rushworth’s room?”</p> + +<p>“That is correct.”</p> + +<p>“And I am to be present?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“You are to be present, if you will.”</p> + +<p>“Why do you say ‘if you will?’ You know quite well that I shall be +present.”</p> + +<p>“Martha West will also be there,” continued Fanny. “She will go through +very much the sort of thing you went through last week, and she will be +given a week to consider before she finally decides whether she will +join. Betty, have you made up your mind what to do? You might tell me, +mightn’t you? I am your own—your very own—cousin, and it was through +my father you got admitted to this school.”</p> + +<p>“Thanks for reminding me,” said Betty; “but I don’t know that I do feel +as grateful as I ought. Perhaps that is one of the many defects in my +nature. You have praised me in a kind way, but you don’t know me a bit. +I am full of faults. There is nothing good or great about me at all. You +had best understand that from the beginning. Now, I may as well say at +once that I intend to be present at the Specialities’ meeting to-night.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p><p>“You do! Have you read Rule I.?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, yes, I have read it. I have read all the rules.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t you understand,” said Fanny, speaking deliberately, “that there +is one dark spot in your life, Betty Vivian, that ought to preclude you +from joining the Specialities? That dark spot can only be removed by +confession and restitution. You know to what I allude?”</p> + +<p>Betty stood up. Her face was as white as death. After a minute she said, +“Are you going to do anything?”</p> + +<p>“I ought; it has troubled me sorely. To tell you the truth, I did not +want you to be admitted to the club; but the majority were in your +favor. If ever they know of this they will not be in your favor. Oh, +Betty, you cannot join because of Rule I.!”</p> + +<p>“And I will join,” said Betty, “and I dare you to do your very worst!”</p> + +<p>“Very well, I have nothing more to say. I am sorry for you, Betty +Vivian. From this moment on remember that, whatever wrong thing you did +in the past, you are going to do doubly and trebly wrong in the future. +You are going to take a false vow, a vow you cannot keep. God help you!you will be miserable enough! But even now there is time, for it is not +yet four o’clock. Oh, Betty, I haven’t spoken of this to a soul; but can +you not reconsider?”</p> + +<p>“I mean to join,” said Betty. “Rule I. will not, in my opinion, be +broken. The rule is that each member keeps no secret to herself which +the other members ought to know. Why ought they know what concerns only +me—me and my sisters?”</p> + +<p>“Do you think,” said Fanny, bending towards her, and a queer change +coming over her face—“do you think for a single moment that you would +be made a Speciality if the girls of this school knew that you had told +my father a <i>lie</i>? I leave it to your conscience. I will say no more.”</p> + +<p>Fanny walked out of the room, shutting the door carefully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>behind her. +Miss Symes came up presently. It was the custom of St. Cecilia to be +particularly kind to the girls who were in disgrace. Often and often +this most sweet woman brought them to see the error of their ways. Mrs. +Haddo had told her about Betty, and how endearing she had found her, and +what a splendid nature she fully believed the girl to possess. But when +Miss Symes, full of thoughts for Betty’s comfort, entered the room, +followed by a servant bringing a little tray of temptingly prepared tea, +Betty’s look was, to say the least of it, dour; she did not smile, she +scarcely looked up, there was no brightness in her eyes, and there were +certainly no smiles round her lips.</p> + +<p>“The tray there, please, Hawkins,” said Miss Symes. The woman obeyed and +withdrew.</p> + +<p>“I am glad you have a fire, Betty, dear,” said Miss Symes when the two +were alone. “Now, you must be really hungry, for you had what I consider +only a snatch-dinner. Shall I leave you alone to have your tea in +comfort, or would you like me to sit with you for a little?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, thanks so much!” replied Betty; “but I really would rather be +alone. I have a good deal to think over.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid, my dear child, you are not very well.”</p> + +<p>“On the contrary, I never was better,” was Betty’s response.</p> + +<p>“Your headache quite gone?”</p> + +<p>“Quite,” said Betty with an emphatic nod.</p> + +<p>“Well, dear, I am sorry you have had to undergo this unpleasant time of +solitary confinement. But our dear Mrs. Haddo is not really angry; she +knows quite well that you did not consider. She takes the deepest +interest in you, Betty, my child.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t speak of her now, please!” said Betty with a sort of groan. +“I would rather be alone.”</p> + +<p>“Haven’t you a book of any sort? I will go and fetch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>one for you; and +you can turn on the electric light when it gets dark.”</p> + +<p>“If you have something really interesting—that will make me forget +everything in the world except what I am reading—I should like it.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes went away, and returned in a few minutes with “Treasure +Island.” Strange as it may seem, Betty had not yet read this wonderful +book.</p> + +<p>Without glancing at the girl, Miss Symes again left the room. In the +corridor she met Fanny Crawford. “Fanny,” she said, “do you know what is +the matter with Betty Vivian?”</p> + +<p>Fanny smiled. “I have been to see her,” she said. “Is she in bad +spirits? It didn’t occur to me that she was.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you have been to see her, have you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, only a short time ago. She looked very cold when I entered the +room; but I took the liberty to light the fire, and sat with her until +suddenly she got cross and turned me out. She is a very queer girl is +Betty.”</p> + +<p>“A very fine girl, my dear!”</p> + +<p>Fanny made no response of any sort. She waited respectfully in case Miss +Symes should wish to say anything further. But Miss Symes had nothing +more to say; she only guessed that the change between the Betty in whom +Mrs. Haddo had been so interested, and the Betty she had found, must be +caused in some inexplicable way by Fanny Crawford. What was the matter +with Fanny? It seemed to Miss Symes that, since the day when she had +taken the girl into her full confidence with regard to the coming of the +Vivians, she was changed, and not for the better. There was a coldness, +an impatience, a want of spontaneity about her, which the teacher’s +observant eye noticed, but, being in the dark as to the cause, could not +account for.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Betty ate her tea ravenously, and when it was finished turned +on the electric light and read “Treasure Island.” This book was so +fascinating that she forgot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>everything else in its perusal: the sealed +packet in its safe hiding-place, the Specialities themselves, the odious +Fanny Crawford, Rule I.—everything was forgotten. Presently she raised +her head with a start. It was half-past seven. Olive Repton was coming +to fetch her at five minutes to eight, when the Specialities were all +expected to assemble in Susie Rushworth’s room.</p> + +<p>Betty put on a black dress that evening. It was made of a soft and +clinging material, and was sufficiently open at the neck to show the +rounded purity of the young girl’s throat, and short in the sleeves to +exhibit the moldings of her arms. She was a beautifully made creature, +and black suited her almost better than white. Her curiously pale +face—which never had color, and yet never showed the slightest +indication of weak health—was paler than usual to-night; but her eyes +were darker and brighter, and there was a determination about her which +slightly altered the character of her expression.</p> + +<p>The twins came rushing in at ten minutes to eight.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Bet, you are ready!” exclaimed Sylvia. “You are going to become a +real Speciality! What glorious fun! How honored we’ll be! I suppose you +won’t let us into any of the secrets?”</p> + +<p>“Of course not, silly Sylvia!” replied Betty, smiling again at sight of +her sisters. “But I tell you what,” she added; “if you both happen to be +awake when I come back, which I think very doubtful, I am going to tell +you what happened this morning—something too wonderful. Don’t be too +excited about it, for it will keep until to-morrow; but think that I had +a marvelous adventure, and, oh, my dears, it had to do with dogs!”</p> + +<p>“Dogs!” cried both twins simultaneously.</p> + +<p>“Yes, such glorious darlings! Oh, I’ve no time now—I must be off! +Good-bye, both of you. Go to sleep if you like; I can tell you +everything in the morning.”</p> + +<p>“I think we’ll lie awake if it has anything to do with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>dogs,” said +Hetty. “We have been starving for them ever since we came here.”</p> + +<p>But Betty was gone. Olive took her hand. “Betty,” she said as they +walked very quickly towards the other wing of the house, “I like you +better in black than in white. Black seems to bring out the +wonderful—oh, I don’t know what to call it!—the wonderful difference +between you and other people.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t talk about me now,” said Betty. “I am only one, and we shall be +seven in a very short time. Seven in one! Isn’t it curious? A sort of +body composed of seven people!”</p> + +<p>“There’ll be eight before long. The Specialities are going to be the +most important people this term, that I am quite sure of,” said Olive. +“Well, here’s Susie’s room, and it wants two minutes to eight.”</p> + +<p>Susie greeted her guests with much cordiality. They all found seats. +Supper was laid on a round table in one corner of the room. Olive, being +an old member, was quite at home, and handed round cups of cocoa and +delicious cakes to each of the girls. They ate and chatted, and when +Martha West made her appearance there was a shout of welcome from every +one.</p> + +<p>“Hail to the new Speciality!” exclaimed each girl in the room, Betty +Vivian alone excepted.</p> + +<p>Martha was a heavily made girl, with a big, sallow face; quantities of +black hair, which grew low on her forehead, and which, as no effort on +her part would keep it from falling down on one side, gave her a +somewhat untidy appearance; she had heavy brows, too, which were in +keeping with the general contour of her face, and rather small gray +eyes. There was no one, however, in the whole school who was better +loved than Martha West. Big and ungainly though she was, her voice was +one of the sweetest imaginable. She had also great force of character, +and was regarded as one of the strong girls of the school. She was +always helping others, was the soul of unselfishness, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>and although not +exactly clever, was plodding and persevering. She was absolutely without +self-consciousness; and when her companions welcomed her in this cheery +manner she smiled broadly, showing a row of pearly white teeth, and then +sat down on the nearest chair.</p> + +<p>When supper was over, Margaret Grant came forward and stood by the +little center-table, on which lay the vellum-bound book of the rules of +the club. Margaret opened it with great solemnity, and called to Betty +Vivian to stand up.</p> + +<p>“Betty Vivian,” she said, “we agreed a week ago to-day to admit you to +the full membership of a Speciality. According to our usual custom, we +sent you a copy of the rules in order that you might study them in their +fullness. We now ask you if you have done so?”</p> + +<p>“I have,” replied Betty. “I have read them, I should think, thirty or +forty times.”</p> + +<p>“Are you prepared, Betty Vivian, to accept our rules and become a member +of the Specialities, or do you prefer your full liberty and to return to +the ordinary routine of the school? We, none of us, wish you to adopt +the rules as part of your daily life unless you are prepared to keep +them in their entirety.”</p> + +<p>“I wish to be a Speciality,” replied Betty. Then she added slowly—and +as she spoke she raised her brilliant eyes and fixed them on Fanny +Crawford’s face—“I am prepared to keep the rules.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Betty! Then I think, members, Betty Vivian can be admitted +as a member of our little society. Betty, simple as our rules are, they +comprise much: openness of heart, sisterly love, converse with great +thoughts, pleasure in its truest sense (carrying that pleasure still +further by seeing that others enjoy it as well as ourselves), respect to +all our teachers, and, above all things, forgetting ourselves and living +for others. You see, Betty Vivian, that though the rules are quite +simple, they are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>very comprehensive. You have had a week to study them. +Again I ask, are you prepared to accept them?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, I am prepared,” said Betty; and again she flashed a glance at +Fanny Crawford.</p> + +<p>“Then I, as head of this little society for the time being, admit you as +a member. Please, Betty, accept this little true-lovers’ knot, and wear +it this evening in your dress. Now, girls, let us every one cheer Betty +Vivian, and take her to our hearts as our true sister in the highest +sense of the word.”</p> + +<p>The girls flocked round Betty and shook hands with her. Amongst those +who did so was Fanny Crawford. She squeezed Betty’s hand significantly, +and at the same moment put her finger to her lips. This action was so +quick that only Betty observed it; but it told the girl that, now that +she had “crossed the Rubicon,” Fanny would not be the one to betray her.</p> + +<p>Betty sank down on a chair. She felt excited, elated, pleased, and +horrified. The rest of the evening passed as a sort of dream. She could +scarcely comprehend what she had done. She was a Speciality. She was +bound by great and holy rules, and yet in reality she was a far lower +girl than she had ever been in all her life before.</p> + +<p>The rules were read aloud in their fullness to Martha West, and the +usual week’s grace was accorded her. Then followed the fun, during the +whole of which time Betty was made the heroine of the occasion, as +Martha would doubtless be that day week. The girls chatted a great deal +to-night, and Betty was told of all the privileges which would now be +hers. She had never known until that moment that Mrs. Haddo, when she +found what excellent work the Speciality Club did in the school, had +fitted up a charming sitting-room for its members. Here, in winter, the +fire burned all day. Fresh flowers were always to be seen. Here were to +be found such books as those of Ruskin, Tennyson, Browning—in short, a +fine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>collection of the greater writers. Betty was told that she was now +free to enter this room; that, being a Speciality, she would be exempt +from certain small and irksome duties in order to give her more time to +attend to those broad rules of life which she had now adopted as her +code.</p> + +<p>Betty listened, and all the time, as she listened, her heart sank lower +and lower. Fanny did not even pretend to watch Betty now. She had, so to +speak, done with her. Fanny felt as sure as though some angel in the +room were recording the fact that Betty was now well started on the +downward track. She felt ashamed of her as a cousin. She felt the +greatest possible contempt for her. But if she was herself to keep Rule +I., she must force these feelings out of sight, and tolerate Betty until +she saw the error of her ways.</p> + +<p>“The less I have to do with her in the future the better,” thought +Fanny. “It would be exceedingly unpleasant for me if it were known that +I had allowed her to be admitted without telling Margaret what I knew. +But, somehow, I couldn’t do it. I thought Betty herself would be great +enough to withstand a paltry temptation of this sort. How different +Martha West is! She will be a famous stand-by for us all.”</p> + +<p>The evening came to an end. The girls went down to prayers.</p> + +<p>Betty was now a Speciality. She wore the beautiful little silver badge +shining in the folds of her black evening frock. But she did not enjoy +the music in the chapel nor Mr. Fairfax’s rendering of the evening +prayers as she had done when last she was there. Betty had a curious +faculty, however, which she now exercised. Hers was a somewhat complex +nature, and she could shut away unpleasant thoughts when she so desired. +She was a Speciality. She might not have become one but for Fanny. Mrs. +Haddo’s influence, though unspoken, might have held her back. Margaret +Grant might have kept <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>her from doing what she herself would have +scorned to do. But Fanny! Fanny had managed to bring out the worst in +Betty; and the worst in a character like hers was very vigorous, very +strong, very determined while it was in the ascendant. Instead of +praying to-night, she turned her thoughts to the various and delightful +things which would now be hers in the school. She would be regarded on +all hands with added respect. She would have the entrée to the +Specialities’ delightful sitting-room. She would be consulted by the +other girls of the upper school, for every one consulted the +Specialities on all manner of subjects. People would cease to speak of +her as “that new girl Betty Vivian;” but they would say when they saw +her approach, “Oh, she is one of the Specialities!” Her position in the +school to-night was assured. She was safe; and Fanny, with that swift +gesture, had indicated to her that she need not fear anything from her +lips. Fanny would be silent. No one else knew what Fanny knew. And, +after all, she had done no wrong, because her secret had nothing +whatever to do with the other members of the club. The wrong—the one +wrong—which she felt she had committed was in promising to love each +member as though she were her sister, especially as she had to include +Fanny Crawford in that number. But she would be kind to all, and perhaps +love might come—she was not sure. Fanny would be kind to her, of +course. In a sort of way they must be friends in the future. Oh, yes, it +was all right.</p> + +<p>She was startled when Olive Repton touched her. She rose from her knees +with a hot blush on her face. She had forgotten chapel, she had not +heard the words of the benediction. The girls streamed out, and went at +once to their respective bedrooms.</p> + +<p>Betty was glad to find her sisters asleep. After the exciting events of +that evening, even Dan and Beersheba <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>had lost their charm. So weary was +she at that moment that she dropped her head on her pillow and fell +sound asleep.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT</h3> + +<p>Certainly it was nice to be a Speciality. Even Fanny Crawford completely +altered her manner to Betty Vivian. There were constant and earnest +consultations amongst the members of the club in that charming +sitting-room. Betty, of course, was eagerly questioned, and Betty was +able to give daring and original advice. Whenever Betty spoke some one +laughed, or some one looked with admiration at her; and when she was +silent one or other of the girls said anxiously, “But do you approve, +Betty? If you don’t approve we must think out something else.”</p> + +<p>Betty soon entered into the full spirit of the thing, and one and all of +the girls—Fanny excepted—said that she was the most delightful +Speciality who had ever come to Haddo Court. During this time she was +bravely trying to keep her vows. She had bought a little copy of Jeremy +Taylor’s “Holy Living,” and read the required portion every day, but she +did not like it; it had to do with a life which at one time she would +have adored, but which now did not appeal to her. She liked that part of +each day which was given up to fun and frolic, and she dearly loved the +respect and consideration and admiration shown her by the other girls of +the school.</p> + +<p>It was soon decided that the next great entertainment of the +Specialities was to be given in Betty Vivian’s bedroom. Each girl was to +subscribe three shillings, and the supper, in consequence, was to be +quite sumptuous. Fanny Crawford, as the most practical member, was to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>provide the viands. She was to go into the village, accompanied by one +of the teachers, two days before the date arranged in order to secure +the most tempting cakes and pastry, and ginger-beer, and cocoa, and +potted meat for sandwiches. Betty wondered how the provisions could be +procured for so small a sum; but Fanny was by no means doubtful.</p> + +<p>Now, Betty had of worldly wealth the exact sum of two pounds ten +shillings; and when it is said that Betty possessed two pounds ten +shillings, this money was really not Betty’s at all, but had to be +divided into three portions, for it was equally her sisters’. But as +Sylvia and Hester always looked upon Betty as their chief, and as +nothing mattered to them provided Betty was pleased, she gave three +shillings from this minute fund without even telling them that she had +done so. Then the invitations were sent round, and very neatly were they +penned by Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton. It was impossible to ask all +the girls of the school; but a select list from the girls in the upper +school was carefully made, each Speciality being consulted on this +point.</p> + +<p>Martha West, who was now a full-blown member, suggested Sibyl Ray at +once.</p> + +<p>Fanny gave a little frown of disapproval. “Martha,” she said, “I must +say that I don’t care for your Sibyl.”</p> + +<p>“And I like her,” replied Martha. “She is not your style, Fan; but she +just needs the sort of little help we can give her. We cannot expect +every one to be exactly like every one else, and Sibyl is not half bad. +It would hurt her frightfully if she were not invited to the first +entertainment after I have become a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“Well, that settles it,” said Fanny in a cheerful tone; “she gets an +invitation of course.”</p> + +<p>The teachers were never invited to these assemblies, but there was a +murmur of anticipation in the whole school when the invitations went +round. Who were to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>be the lucky ones? Who was to go? Who was not to go? +As a rule, it was so managed by the Specialities that the whole of the +upper school was invited once during the term to a delightful evening in +one of the special bedrooms. But the first invitation of the season—the +one after the admission of two new members, that extraordinary Betty +Vivian and dear, good old Martha West—oh, it was of intense interest to +know who were to go and who to stay behind!</p> + +<p>“I’ve got my invitation,” said a fat young girl of the name of Sarah +Butt.</p> + +<p>“And I,” “And I,” “And I,” said others.</p> + +<p>“I am left out,” said a fifth.</p> + +<p>“Well, Janie, don’t fret,” said Sarah Butt; “your turn will come next +time.”</p> + +<p>“But I did so want to see Betty Vivian! They say she is the life of the +whole club.”</p> + +<p>“Silly!” exclaimed Sarah; “why, you see her every day.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, but not as she is in the club. They all say that she is too +wonderful! Sometimes she sits down cross-legged and tells them stories, +and they get so excited they can’t move. Oh, I say, do—do look! look +what is in the corner of your card, Sarah! ‘After supper, story-telling +by Betty Vivian. Most of the lights down.’ There, isn’t it maddening! I +do call it a shame; they might have asked me!”</p> + +<p>“Well, I will tell you all the stories to-morrow,” said Sarah.</p> + +<p>“You!” The voice was one of scorn. “Why, you can’t tell a story to save +your life; whereas Betty, she looks a story herself all the time. She +has it in her face. I can never take my eyes off her when she is in the +room.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I can’t help it,” answered Sarah. “I am glad I’m going, that is +all. The whole school could not be asked, for the simple reason that the +room wouldn’t hold us. I shall be as green as grass when your invitation +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>comes, and now you must bear your present disappointment.”</p> + +<p>Fanny Crawford made successful and admirable purchases. On the nights +when the Specialities entertained, unless it was midsummer, the girls +met at six-thirty, and the entertainment continued until nine.</p> + +<p>On that special evening Mrs. Haddo, for wise reasons all her own, +excused the Specialities and their guests from attending prayers in the +chapel. She had once made a little speech about this. “You will pray +earnestly in your rooms, dears, and thank God for your happy evening,” +she had said; and from that moment the Specialities knew that they might +continue their enjoyment until nine o’clock.</p> + +<p>Oh, it was all fascinating! Betty was very grave. Her high spirits +deserted her that morning, and she went boldly to Mrs. Haddo—a thing +which few girls dared to do.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was seated by her fire. She was reading a new book which had +just been sent to her by post. “Betty, what do you want?” she said when +the girl entered.</p> + +<p>“May I take a very long walk all alone? Do you mind, Mrs. Haddo?”</p> + +<p>“Anywhere you like, dear, provided you do not leave the grounds.”</p> + +<p>“But I want to leave the grounds, Mrs. Haddo.”</p> + +<p>“No, dear Betty—not alone.”</p> + +<p>Betty avoided the gaze of Mrs. Haddo, who looked up at her. Betty’s +brilliant eyes were lowered, and the black, curling lashes lay on her +cheeks.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo wanted to catch Betty’s soul by means of her eyes, and so +draw her into communion with herself. “Betty, why do you want to walk +outside the grounds, and all alone?”</p> + +<p>“Restless, I suppose,” answered Betty.</p> + +<p>“Is this club too exciting for you, my child?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>“Oh no, I love it!” said Betty. Her manner changed at the moment. “And, +please, don’t take my hand. I—oh, it isn’t that I don’t want to hold +your hand; but I—I am not worthy! Of course I will stay in the grounds +to please you. Good-bye.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>A VERY EVENTFUL DAY</h3> + +<p>Having got leave to take her walk, Betty started off with vigor. The +fresh, keen air soothed her depressed spirits; and soon she was racing +wildly against the gale, the late autumn leaves falling against her +dress and face as she ran. She would certainly keep her word to Mrs. +Haddo, although her desire—if she had a very keen desire at that +moment—was again to vault over those hideous prison-bars, and reach the +farm, and receive the caresses of Dan and Beersheba. But a promise is a +promise, and this could not be thought of. She determined, therefore, to +tire herself out by walking.</p> + +<p>She had managed to avoid all her companions. The Specialities were very +much occupied making arrangements for the evening. The twins had found +friends of their own, and were happily engaged. No one noticed Betty as +she set forth. She walked as far as the deserted gardens. Then she +crossed the waste land, and stood for a minute looking at that poor +semblance of Scotch heather which grew in an exposed corner. She felt +inclined to kick it, so great was her contempt for the flower which +could not bloom out of its native soil. Then suddenly her mood changed. +She fell on her knees, found a bit of heather which still had a few +nearly withered bells on it; and, raising it tenderly to her lips, +kissed it. “Poor little exile!” she said. “Well, I am an exile too!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p><p>She rose and skirted the waste land; at one side there was a somewhat +steep incline which led through a plantation to a more cultivated part +of the extensive grounds. Betty had never been right round the grounds +of Haddo Court before, and was pleased at their size, and, on a day like +this, at their wildness. She tried to picture herself back in Scotland. +Once she shut her eyes for a minute, and bringing her vivid imagination +to her aid, seemed to see Donald Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane in their +cosy kitchen; while Donald said, “It’ll be a braw day to-morrow;” or +perhaps it was the other way round, and Jean remarked, “There’ll be a +guid sprinklin’ o’ snaw before mornin’, or I am much mistook.”</p> + +<p>Betty sighed, and walked faster. By-and-by, however, she stood still. +She had come suddenly to the stump of an old tree. It was a broken and +very aged stump, and hollow inside. Betty stood close to it. The next +moment, prompted by an uncontrollable instinct, she thrust in her hand +and pulled out a little sealed packet. She looked at it wildly for a +minute, then put it back again. It was quite safe in this hiding-place, +for she had placed it in a corner of the old stump where it was +sheltered from the weather, and yet could never by any possibility be +seen unless the stump was cut down. She had scarcely completed this +action before a voice from behind caused her to jump and start.</p> + +<p>“Whatever are you doing by that old stump of a tree, Betty?”</p> + +<p>Betty turned swiftly. The color rushed to her face, leaving it the next +instant paler than ever. She was confronted by the uninteresting and +very small personality of Sibyl Ray.</p> + +<p>“I am doing nothing,” said Betty. “What affair is it of yours?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I am not interested,” said Sibyl. “I was just taking a walk all +alone, and I saw you in the distance; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>I rushed up that steep path +yonder as fast as I could, hoping you would let me join you and talk to +you. You know I am going to be present at your Speciality party +to-night. I do admire you so very much, Betty! Then, just as I was +coming near, you thrust your hand down into that old stump, and you +certainly did take something out. Was it a piece of wood, or what? I saw +you looking at it, and then you dropped it in again. It looked like a +square piece of wood, as far as I could tell from the distance. What +were you doing with it? It was wood, was it not?”</p> + +<p>“If you like to think it was wood, it was wood,” replied Betty. Here was +another lie! Betty’s heart sank very low. “I wish you would go away, +Sibyl,” she said, “and not worry me.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but mayn’t I walk with you? What harm can I do? And I do admire you +so immensely! And won’t you take the thing out of the tree again and let +me see it? I want to see it ever so badly.”</p> + +<p>“No, I am sure I won’t. You can poke for it yourself whenever you +please,” said Betty. “Now, come on, if you are coming.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, may I come with you really?”</p> + +<p>“I can’t prevent you, Sibyl. As a matter of fact, I was going out for a +walk all alone; but as you are determined to bear me company, you must.”</p> + +<p>Betty felt seriously alarmed. She must take the first possible +opportunity to get the precious packet out of its present hiding-place +and dispose of it elsewhere. But where? That was the puzzle. And how +soon could she manage this? How quickly could she get rid of Sibyl Ray?</p> + +<p>Sibyl’s small, pale-blue eyes were glittering with curiosity. Betty felt +she must manage her. Then suddenly, by one of those quick transitions of +thought, Rule VI. occurred to her. It was her duty to be kind to Sibyl, +even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>though she did not like her. She would, therefore, now put forth +her charm for the benefit of this small, unattractive girl. She +accordingly began to chatter in her wildest and most fascinating way. +Sibyl was instantly convulsed with laughter, and forgot all about the +old stump of tree and the bit of wood that Betty had fished out, looked +at, and put back again. The whole matter would, of course, recur to +Sibyl by-and by; but at present she was absorbed in the great delight of +Betty’s conversation.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Betty, I do admire you!” she said.</p> + +<p>“Well, now, listen to one thing,” said Betty. “I hate flattery.”</p> + +<p>“But it isn’t flattery if I mean what I say. If I do admire a person I +say so. Now, I admire our darling Martha West. She has always been kind +to me. Martha is a dear, a duck; but, of course, she doesn’t fascinate +in the way you do. Several of the other girls in my form—I’m in the +upper fifth, you know—have been talking about you and wondering where +your charm lay. For you couldn’t be called exactly pretty; although, of +course, that very black hair of yours, and those curious eyes which are +no color in particular, and yet seem to be every color, and your pale +face, make you quite out of the common. We love your sisters too; they +are darlings, but neither of them is like you. Still, you’re not exactly +pretty. You haven’t nearly such straight and regular features as Olive +Repton; you’re not as pretty, even, as Fanny Crawford. Of course Fan’s a +dear old thing—one of the very best girls in the school; and she is +your cousin, isn’t she, Betty?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, it is delightful to walk with you! And isn’t it just wonderful +to think that you’ve not been more than a few weeks in the school before +you are made a Speciality, and with all the advantages of one? Oh, it +does seem quite too wonderful!”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p><p>“I am glad you think so,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“But it is very extraordinary. I don’t think it has ever been done +before. You see, your arrival at the school and everything else was +completely out of the common. You didn’t come at the beginning of term, +as most new girls do; you came when term was quite a fortnight old; and +you were put straight away into the upper school without going through +the drudgery, or whatever you may like to call it, of the lower school. +Oh, I do—yes, I do—call it perfectly wonderful! I suppose you are +eaten up with conceit?”</p> + +<p>“No, I am not,” said Betty. “I am not conceited at all. Now listen, +Sibyl. You are to be a guest, are you not, at our Speciality party +to-night?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I am; and I am so fearfully excited, more particularly as you +are going to tell stories with the lights down. I’m going to wear a +green dress; it’s a gauzy sort of stuff that my aunt has just sent me, +and I think it will suit me very well indeed. Oh, it is fun to think of +this evening!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, of course it’s fun,” said Betty. “Now, I tell you what. Why don’t +you go into the front garden and ask the gardener for permission to get +a few small marguerite daisies, and then make them into a very simple +wreath to twine round your hair? The daisies would suit you so well; you +don’t know how nice they’ll make you look.”</p> + +<p>“Will they?” said Sibyl, her eyes sparkling. “Do you really think so?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I think so. I have pictures of all the girls in my mind; and +I often shut my eyes and think how such a girl would look if she were +dressed in such a way, and how such another girl would look if she wore +something else.”</p> + +<p>“And when you think of me?” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>But Betty had never thought of Sibyl. She was silent.</p> + +<p>“And when you think of me?” repeated Sibyl, her face <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>beaming all over +with delight. “You think of me, do you, darling Betty, as wearing green, +with a wreath of marguerites in my hair?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is how I think of you,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Very well, I’ll go and find the gardener. Mrs. Haddo always allows us +to have cut flowers that the gardener gives us.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t have the wreath too big,” said Betty; “and be sure you get the +gardener to choose small marguerites. Now, be off—won’t you?—for I +want to continue my walk.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl, in wild delight, rushed into one of the flower-gardens. Betty +watched her till she was quite out of sight. Then, quick as thought, she +retraced her steps. She must find another hiding-place for the packet. +With Sibyl’s knowledge, her present position was one of absolute danger. +Sibyl would tell every girl she knew all about Betty’s action when she +stood by the broken stump of the old tree. She would describe how Betty +thrust in her hand and took something out, looked at it, and put it back +again. The girls would go in a body, and poke, and examine, and try to +discover for themselves what Betty had taken out of the trunk of the old +oak-tree. Betty must remove the sealed packet at once, or it would be +discovered.</p> + +<p>“What a horrible danger!” thought the girl. “But I am equal to it.”</p> + +<p>She ran with all her might and main, and presently, reaching the tree, +thrust her hand in, found the brown packet carefully tied up and sealed, +and slipped it into her pocket. Quite close by was a little broken +square of wood. Betty, hating herself for doing so, dropped it into the +hollow of the tree. The bit of wood would satisfy the girls, for Sibyl +had said that Betty had doubtless found some wood. Having done this, she +set off to retrace her steps again, going now in the direction of the +deserted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>gardens and the patch of common. She had no spade with her, +but that did not matter. She went to the corner where the heather was +growing. Very carefully working round a piece with her fingers, she +loosened the roots; they had gone deep down, as is the fashion with +heather. She slipped the packet underneath, replaced the heather, kissed +it, said, “I am sorry to disturb you, darling, but you are doing a great +work now;” and then, wiping the mud from her fingers, she walked slowly +home.</p> + +<p>The packet would certainly be safe for a day or two under the Scotch +heather, which, as a matter of fact, no one thought of interfering with +from one end of the year to another. Before Betty left this corner of +the common she took great care to remove all trace of having disturbed +the heather. Then she walked back to the Court, her heart beating high. +The tension within her was so great as to be almost unendurable. But she +would not swerve from the path she had chosen.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of the Specialities’ first entertainment, Betty Vivian, +by request, wore white. Her sisters, who of course would be amongst the +guests, also wore white. The little beds had been removed to a distant +part of the room, where a screen was placed round them. All the toilet +apparatus was put out of sight. Easy-chairs and elegant bits of +furniture were brought from the other rooms. Margaret Grant lent her own +lovely vases, which were filled with flowers from the gardens. The +beautiful big room looked fresh and fragrant when the Specialities +assembled to welcome their guests. Betty stood behind Margaret. Martha +West—a little ungainly as usual, but with her strong, firm, reliable +face looking even stronger and more reliable since she had joined the +great club of the school—was also in evidence. Fanny Crawford stood +close to Betty. Just once she looked at her, and then smiled. Betty +turned when she did so, and greeted that smile with a distinct frown of +displeasure. Yet every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>one knew that Betty was to be the heroine of the +evening.</p> + +<p>Punctual to the minute the guests arrived—Sibyl Ray in her vivid-green +dress, with the marguerites in her hair.</p> + +<p>No one made any comment as the little girl came forward; only, a minute +later, Fanny whispered to Betty, “What a ridiculous and conceited idea! +I wonder who put it into her head?”</p> + +<p>“I did,” said Betty very calmly; “But she hasn’t arranged them quite +right.” She left her place, and going up to Sibyl, said a few words to +her. Sibyl flushed and looked lovingly into Betty’s face. Betty then +took Sibyl behind the screen, and, lo and behold! her deft fingers put +the tiny wreath into a graceful position; arranged the soft, light hair +so as to produce the best possible effect; twisted a white sash round +the gaudy green dress, to carry out the idea of the marguerites; and +brought Sibyl back, charmed with her appearance, and looking for once +almost pretty.</p> + +<p>“What a wonder you are, Betty!” said Martha West in a pleased tone. +“Poor little Sib, she doesn’t understand how to manage the flowers!”</p> + +<p>“She looks very nice now,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“It was sweet of you to do it for her,” said Martha. “And, you know, she +quite worships you; she does, really.”</p> + +<p>“There was nothing in my doing it,” replied Betty. She felt inclined to +add, “For she was particularly obliging to me to-day;” but she changed +these words into, “I suggested the idea, so of course I had to see it +carried out properly.”</p> + +<p>“The white sash makes all the difference,” said Martha. “You are quite a +genius, Betty!”</p> + +<p>“Oh no,” said Betty. She looked for a minute into Martha’s small, gray, +very honest eyes, and wished with all her heart and soul that she could +change with her.</p> + +<p>The usual high-jinks and merriment went on while the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>eatables were +being discussed. But when every one had had as much as she could consume +with comfort, and the oranges, walnuts, and crackers were put aside for +the final entertainment, Margaret (being at present head-girl of the +Specialities) proposed round games for an hour.“After that,” she said, “we will ask Betty Vivian to tell us stories.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but we all want the stories now!” exclaimed several voices.</p> + +<p>Margaret laughed. “Do you know,” she said, “it is only a little past +seven o’clock, and we cannot expect poor Betty to tell stories for close +on two hours? We’ll play all sorts of pleasant and exciting games until +eight o’clock, and then perhaps Betty will keep her word.”</p> + +<p>Betty had purposely asked to be excused from joining in these games, and +every one said she understood the reason. Betty was too precious and +valuable and altogether fascinating to be expected to rush about playing +Blind-Man’s Buff, and Puss-in-the-Corner, and Charades, and Telegrams, +and all those games which schoolgirls love.</p> + +<p>The sound from the Vivians’ bedroom was very hilarious for the next +three-quarters of an hour; but presently Margaret came forward and asked +all the girls if they would seat themselves, as Betty was going to tell +stories.</p> + +<p>“With the lights down! Oh, please, please, don’t forget that! All the +lights down except one,” said Susie Rushworth.</p> + +<p>“Yes, with all the lights down except one,” said Margaret. “Betty, will +you come and sit here? We will cluster round in a semi-circle. We shall +be in shadow, but there must be sufficient light for us to see your +face.”</p> + +<p>The lights were arranged to produce this effect. There was now only one +light in the room, and that streamed over Betty as she sat cross-legged +on the floor, her customary attitude when she was thoroughly at home and +excited. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>There was not a scrap of self-consciousness about Betty at +these moments. She had been working herself up all day for the time when +she might pour out her heart. At home she used to do so for the benefit +of Donald and Jean Macfarlane and of her little sisters. But, up to the +present, no one at school had heard of Betty’s wild stories. At last, +however, an opportunity had come. She forgot all her pain in the +exercise of her strong faculty for narrative.</p> + +<p>“I see something,” she began. She had rather a thrilling voice—not +high, but very clear, and with a sweet ring in it. “I see,” she +continued, looking straight before her as she spoke, “a great, great, a +very great plain. And it is night, or nearly so—I mean it is dusk; for +there is never actual night in my Scotland in the middle of summer. I +see the great plain, and a girl sitting in the middle of it, and the +heather is beginning to come out. It has been asleep all the winter; but +it is coming out now, and the air is full of music. For, of course, you +all understand,” she continued—bending forward so that her eyes shone, +growing very large, and at the same moment black and bright—“you all +know that the great heather-plants are the last homes left in England +for the fairies. The fairies live in the heather-bells; and during the +winter, when the heather is dead, the poor fairies are cold, being +turned out of their homes.”</p> + +<p>“Where do they go, then, I wonder?” asked a muffled voice in the +darkened circle of listeners.</p> + +<p>“Back to the fairies’ palace, of course, underground,” said Betty. “But +they like the world best, they’re such sociable little darlings; and +when the heather-bells are coming out they all return, and each fairy +takes possession of a bell and lives there. She makes it her home. And +the brownies—they live under the leaves of the heather, and attend to +the fairies, and dance with them at night just over the vast heather +commons. Then, by a magical kind of movement, each little fairy sets her +own heather-bell <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>ringing, and you can’t by any possibility imagine what +the music is like. It is so sweet—oh, it is so sweet that no music one +has ever heard, made by man, can compare to it! You can imagine for +yourselves what it is like—millions upon millions of bells of heather, +and millions upon millions of fairies, and each little bell ringing its +own sweet chime, but all in the most perfect harmony. Well, that is what +the fairies do.”</p> + +<p>“Have you ever seen them?” asked the much-excited voice of Susie +Rushworth.</p> + +<p>“I see them now,” said Betty. She shut her eyes as she spoke.</p> + +<p>“Oh, do tell us what they are like?” asked a girl in the background.</p> + +<p>Betty opened her eyes wide. “I couldn’t,” she answered. “No one can +describe a fairy. You’ve got to see it to know what it is like.”</p> + +<p>“Tell us more, please, Betty?” asked an eager voice.</p> + +<p>“Give me a minute,” said Betty. She shut her eyes. Her face was deadly +white. Presently she opened her eyes again. “I see the same great, vast +moor, and it is winter-time, and the moor from one end to the other is +covered—yes, covered—with snow. And there’s a gray house built of +great blocks of stone—a very strong house, but small; and there’s a +kitchen in that house, and an old man with grizzled hair sits by the +fire, and a dear old woman sits near him, and there are two dogs lying +by the hearth. I won’t tell you their names, for their names are—well, +sacred. The old man and woman talk together, and presently girls come in +and join them and talk to them for a little bit. Then one of the girls +goes out all alone, for she wants air and freedom, and she is never +afraid on the vast white moor. She walks and walks and walks. Presently +she loses sight of the gray house; but she is not afraid, for fear never +enters her breast. She walks so fast that her blood gets very warm and +tingles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>within her, and she feels her spirits rising higher and higher; +and she thinks that the moor covered with snow is even more lovely and +glorious than the moor was in summer, when the fairy bells were ringing +and the fairies were dancing all over the place.</p> + +<p>“I see her,” continued Betty; “she is tired, and yet not tired. She has +walked a very long way, and has not met one soul. She is very glad of +that; she loves great solitudes, and she passionately loves nature and +cold cannot hurt her when her heart is so warm and so happy. But +by-and-by she thinks of the old couple by the fireside and of the girls +she has left behind. She turns to go back. I see her when she turns.” +Betty paused a minute. “The sky is very still,” she continued. “The sky +has millions of stars blazing in its blue, and there isn’t a cloud +anywhere; and she clasps her hands with ecstasy, and thanks God for +having made such a beautiful world. Then she starts to go home; but——”</p> + +<p>Up to this point Betty’s voice was glad and triumphant. Now its tone +altered. “I see her. She is warm still, and her heart glows with +happiness; and she does not want anything else in all the world except +the gray house and the girls she left behind, and the dogs by the +fireside, and the old couple in the kitchen. But presently she discovers +that, try as she will, and walk as hard as she may, she cannot find the +gray stone house. She is not frightened—that isn’t a bit her way; but +she knows at once what has happened, for she has heard of such things +happening to others.</p> + +<p>“It is midnight—a bitterly cold midnight—and she is lost in the snow! +She knows it. She does not hesitate for a single minute what to do, for +the old man in the gray house has told her so many stories about other +people who have been lost in the snow. He has told her how they fell +asleep and died, and she knows quite well that she must not fall asleep. +When the morning dawns she will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>find her way back right enough; but +there are long, long hours between now and the morning. She finds a +place where the snow is soft, and she digs and digs in it, and then lies +down in it and covers herself up. The snow is so dry that even with the +heat of her body it hardly melts at all, and the great weight of snow +over her keeps her warm. So now she knows she is all right, provided +always she does not go to sleep.</p> + +<p>“She is the sort of girls who will never, by any possibility, give in +while there is the most remote chance of her saving the situation. She +has covered every scrap of herself except her face, and she is—oh, +quite warm and comfortable! And she knows that if she keeps her thoughts +very busy she may not sleep. There is no clock anywhere near, there is +no sound whatever to break the deep stillness. The only way she can keep +herself awake is by thinking. So she thinks very hard. That girl has +often had a hard think—a very hard think—in the course of her life; +but never, never one like this before, when she buries herself in the +snow and forces her brain to keep her body awake.</p> + +<p>“She tries first of all to count the minutes as they pass; but that is +sleepy work, more particularly as she is tired, and really sometimes +almost forgets herself for a minute. So she works away at some stiff, +long sums in arithmetic, doing mental arithmetic as rapidly as ever she +can. And so one hour passes, perhaps two. At the end of the second hour +something very strange happens. All of a sudden she feels that +arithmetic is pure nonsense—that it never leads anywhere nor does any +one any good; and she feels also that never in the whole course of her +life has she lain in a snugger bed than her snow-bed. And she remembers +the fairies and their music in the middle of the summer night; +and—hark! hark!—she hears them again! Why have they left their palace +underground to come and see her? It is sweet of them, it is beautiful! +They sit on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>her chest, they press close to her face, they kiss her with +their wee lips, they bring comforting thoughts into her heart, they +whisper lovely things into her ears. She has not felt alone from the +very first; but now that the fairies have come she never, never could be +happier than she is now. And then, away from the fairies (who stay close +to her all the time), she lifts her eyes and looks at the stars; and oh, +the stars are so bright! And, somehow, she remembers that God is up +there; and she thinks about white-clad angels who came down once, +straight from the stars, by means of a ladder, to help a good man in a +Bible story; and she really sees the ladder again, and the angels going +up and coming down—going up and coming down—and she gives a cry and +says, ‘Oh, take me too! Oh, take me too!’ One angel more beautiful than +she could possibly describe comes towards her, and the fairies give a +little cry—for, sweet as they are, they have nothing to do with +angels—and disappear. The angel has his strong arms round her, and he +says, ‘Your bed of snow is not so beautiful as where you shall lie in +the land where no trouble can come.’ Then she remembers no more.”</p> + +<p>At this point in her narrative Betty made a dramatic pause. Then she +continued abruptly and in an ordinary tone, “It is the dogs who find +her, and they dig her out of the snow, and the dear old shepherd and his +wife and some other people come with them; and so she is brought back to +the gray house, and never reaches the open doors where the angels ladder +would have led her through. She is sorry—for days she is terribly +sorry; for she is ill, and suffers a good bit of pain. But she is all +right again now; only, somehow, she can never forget that experience. I +think I have told you all I can tell you to-night.”</p> + +<p>Instantly, at a touch, the lights were turned on again, and the room was +full of brilliancy. Betty jumped up from her posture on the floor. The +girls flocked round her.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>“But, oh Betty! Betty! say, please say, was it you?”</p> + +<p>“I am going to reveal no secrets,” said Betty. “I said I saw the girl. +Well, I did see her.”</p> + +<p>“Then she must have been you! She must have been you!” echoed voice +after voice. “And were you really nearly killed in the snow? And did you +fall asleep in your snow-bed? And did—oh, did the fairies come, and +afterwards the angels? Oh Betty, do tell!”</p> + +<p>But Betty’s lips were mute.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL</h3> + +<p>If Betty Vivian really wished to keep her miserable secret, she had done +wisely in removing the little packet from its shelter in the trunk of +the old oak-tree; for of course Sibyl remembered it in the night, +although Betty’s wonderful story had carried her thoughts far away from +such trivial matters for the time being. Nevertheless, when she awoke in +the night, and thought of the fairies in the heather, and of the girl +lying in the snow-bed, she thought also of Betty standing by the stump +of a tree and removing something from within, looking at it, and putting +it back again.</p> + +<p>Sibyl, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of telling her special +friends that there was a treasure hidden in the stump of the old tree. +In short, she repeated Betty’s exact action, doing so in the presence of +Martha West.</p> + +<p>Martha was a girl who invariably kept in touch with the younger girls. +There are girls who in being removed from a lower to an upper school +cannot stand their elevation, and are apt to be a little queer and +giddy; they have not quite got their balance. Such girls could not fall +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>into more excellent hands than those of Martha. She heard Sibyl now +chatting to a host of these younger girls, and, catching Betty’s name, +asked immediately what it was all about. Sibyl repeated the story with +much gusto.</p> + +<p>“And Betty did look queer!” she added. “I asked her if it was a piece of +wood, and she said ‘Yes;’ but, all the same, she didn’t like me to see +her. Of course she’s a darling—there’s no one like her; and she +recovered herself in a minute, and walked with me a long way, and then +suggested that I should wear the marguerites. Of course I had to go into +the flower-garden to find Birchall and coax him to cut enough for me. +Then I had to get Sarah Butt to help me to make the wreath, for I never +made a wreath before in my life. But Sarah would do anything in the +world that Betty suggested, she is so frightfully fond of her.”</p> + +<p>“We are all fond of her, I think,” said Martha.</p> + +<p>“Well, then she went off for a walk by herself, and I don’t think she +came in until quite late.”</p> + +<p>“You don’t know anything about it,” said Martha. “Now, look here, girls, +don’t waste your time talking rubbish. You are very low down in the +school compared to Betty Vivian, and, compared to Betty Vivian, you are +of no account whatever, for she is a Speciality, and therefore holds a +position all her own. Love her as much as you like, and admire her, for +she is worthy of admiration. But if I were you, Sibyl, I wouldn’t tell +tales out of school. Let me tell you frankly that you had no right to +rush up to Betty when she was alone and ask her what she was doing. She +was quite at liberty to thrust her hand into an old tree as often as +ever she liked, and take some rubbish out, and look at it, and drop it +in again. You are talking sheer folly. Do attend to your work, or you’ll +be late for Miss Skeene when she comes to give her lecture on English +literature.”</p> + +<p>No girl could ever be offended by Martha, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>work continued +happily. But during recess that day Sibyl beckoned her companions away +with her; and she, followed by five or six girls of the lower fifth, +visited the spot where Betty had stood on the previous evening. Betty +was much taller than any of these girls, and they found when they +reached the old stump that it was impossible for them to thrust their +hands in. But this difficulty was overcome by Sibyl volunteering to sit +on Mabel Lee’s shoulders—and, if necessary, even to stand on her +shoulders while the other girls held her firm—in order that she might +thrust her hand into the hollow of the oak-tree. This feat was +accomplished with some difficulty, but nothing whatever was brought up +except withered leaves and débris and a broken piece of wood much +saturated with rain.</p> + +<p>“This must have been what she saw,” said Sibyl. “I asked her if it was +wood, and I think she said it was. Only, why did she look so very +queer?”</p> + +<p>The girls continued their walk, but Martha West stayed at home. +She had hushed the remarks made by the younger girls that morning, +nevertheless, she could not get them out of her mind. Sibyl’s story was +circumstantial. She had described Betty’s annoyance and distress when +they met, Betty’s almost confusion. She had then said that it was Betty +who suggested that she was to wear the marguerites.</p> + +<p>Now Martha, in her heart of hearts, thought this suggestion of Betty’s +very far-fetched; and being a very shrewd, practical sort of girl, there +came an awful moment when she almost made up her mind that Betty had +done this in order to get rid of Sibyl. Why did she want to get rid of +her? Martha began to believe that she was growing quite uncharitable.</p> + +<p>At that moment, who should appear in sight, who should utter a cry of +satisfaction and seat herself cosily by Martha’s side, but Fanny +Crawford!</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p><p>“This is nice,” said Fanny with a sigh. “I did so want to chat with you, +Martha. I so seldom see you quite all by yourself.”</p> + +<p>“I am always to be seen if you really wish to find me, Fanny,” replied +Martha. “I am never too busy not to be delighted to see my friends.”</p> + +<p>“Well, of course we are friends, being Specialities,” was Fanny’s +remark.</p> + +<p>“Yes,” answered Martha, “and I think we were friends before. I always +liked you just awfully, Fan.”</p> + +<p>“Ditto, ditto,” replied Fanny. “It is curious,” she continued, speaking +in a somewhat sententious voice, “how one is drawn irresistibly to one +girl and repelled by another. Now, I was always drawn to you, Matty; I +always liked you from the very, very first. I was more than delighted +when I heard that you were to become one of us.”</p> + +<p>Martha was silent. It was not her habit to praise herself, nor did she +care to hear herself praised. She was essentially downright and honest. +She did not think highly of herself, for she knew quite well that she +had very few outward charms.</p> + +<p>Fanny, however, who was the essence of daintiness, looked at her now +with blue-gray eyes full of affection. “Martha,” she said, “I have such +a lot to talk over! What did you think of last night?”</p> + +<p>“I thought it splendid,” replied Martha.</p> + +<p>“And Betty—what did you think of Betty?”</p> + +<p>“Your cousin? She is very dramatic,” said Martha.</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is it,” replied Fanny; “she is dramatic in everything. I +doubt if she is ever natural or her true self.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, dear old Martha, don’t be so frightfully prim! I don’t intend to +break Rule No. I. Of course I love Betty. As a matter of fact, I have +loved her before any of you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>set eyes on her. She is my very own cousin, +and but for father’s strong influence would never have been at this +school at all. Still, I repeat that she is dramatic and hardly ever +herself.”</p> + +<p>“She puzzles me, I confess,” said Martha, a little dubiously; “but +then,” she added, “I can’t help yielding to her charm.”</p> + +<p>“That is it,” said Fanny—“her charm. But look down deep into your +heart, Martha, and tell me if you think her charm healthy.”</p> + +<p>“Well, I see nothing wrong about it.” Then Martha became abruptly +silent.</p> + +<p>“For instance,” said Fanny, pressing a little closer to her companion, +“why ever did she make your special protégé Sibyl Ray such a figure of +fun last night?”</p> + +<p>“I thought Sibyl looked rather pretty.”</p> + +<p>“When she entered the room, Martha?”</p> + +<p>“Oh no; she was quite hideous then, poor little thing! But Betty soon +put that all right; she had very deft fingers.”</p> + +<p>“I know,” said Fanny. “But what I want to have explained is this: why +Betty, a girl who is more or less worshiped by half the girls in the +school, should trouble herself with such a very unimportant person as +Sibyl Ray, I want to know. Can you tell me?”</p> + +<p>“Even if I could tell you, remembering Rule No. I., I don’t think I +would,” said Martha.</p> + +<p>Fanny sat very still for a minute or two. Then she got up. “I don’t +see,” she remarked, “why Rule No. I. should make us unsociable each with +the other. The very object of our club is that we should have no +secrets, but should be quite open and above-board. Now, Martha West, +look me straight in the face!”</p> + +<p>“I will, Fanny Crawford. What in the world are you accusing me of?”</p> + +<p>“Of keeping something back from me which, as a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>member of the +Specialities, you have no right whatever to do.”</p> + +<p>A slow, heavy blush crept over Martha’s face. She got up. “I am going to +look over my German lesson,” she said. “Fräulein will want me almost +immediately.” Then she left Fanny, who stared after her retreating +figure.</p> + +<p>“I will find out,” thought Fanny, “what Martha is keeping to herself. +That little horror Betty will sow all kinds of evil seed in the school +if I don’t watch her. I did wrong to promise her, by putting my finger +to my lips, that I would be silent with regard to her conduct. I see it +now. But if Betty supposes that she can keep her secret to herself she +is vastly mistaken. Hurrah, there’s Sibyl Ray! Sib, come here, child; I +want to have a chat with you.”</p> + +<p>It was a bitterly cold and windy day outside; there were even +sleet-showers falling at intervals. Winter was coming on early, and with +a vengeance.</p> + +<p>“Why have you come in?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“It’s so bitterly cold out, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“Well, sit down now you are in. You are a nice little thing, you know, +Sib, although at present you are very unimportant. You know that, of +course?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Sibyl; “I am told it nearly every hour of the day.” She +spoke in a wistful tone. “Sometimes,” she added, “I could almost wish I +were back in the lower school, where I was looked up to by the smaller +girls and had a right good time.”</p> + +<p>“We can never go back, Sib; that is the law of life.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not.”</p> + +<p>“Well, sit down and talk to me. Now, I have something to say to you. Do +you know that I am devoured with curiosity, and all about a small girl +like yourself?”</p> + +<p>“Oh Fanny,” said Sibyl, immensely flattered, “I am glad you take an +interest in me!”</p> + +<p>“I must be frank,” said Fanny. “Up to the present I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>have taken no +special interest in you, except in so far as you are Martha’s protégé; +but when I saw you in that extraordinary dress last night I singled you +out at once as a girl with original ideas. Do look me in the face, Sib!”</p> + +<p>Sibyl turned. Fanny’s face was exquisitely chiselled. Each neat little +feature was perfect. Her eyes were large and well-shaped, her brows +delicately marked, her complexion pure lilies and roses; her hair was +thick and smooth, and yet there were little ripples about it which gave +it, even in its schoolgirl form, a look of distinction. Sibyl, on the +contrary, was an undersized girl, with the fair, colorless face, +pale-blue eyes, the lack of eyebrows and eyelashes, the hair thin and +small in quantity, which make the most hopeless type of all as regards +good looks.</p> + +<p>“I wonder, Sib,” said Fanny, “if you, you little mite, are really eaten +up with vanity?”</p> + +<p>“I—vain! Why should you say so?”</p> + +<p>“I only thought it from your peculiar dress last night.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl colored and spoke eagerly. “Oh, but that wasn’t me at all; it was +that quite too darling Betty!”</p> + +<p>“Do you mean my cousin, Betty Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“Of course, who else?”</p> + +<p>“Well, what had she to do with it?”</p> + +<p>“I will tell you if you like, Fanny. She didn’t expect me to keep it a +secret. I met her when I was out——”</p> + +<p>“You—met Betty—when you were out?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.” There was a kind of reserve in Sibyl’s tone which made Fanny +scent a possible mystery.</p> + +<p>“Where did you meet her?” was the next inquiry.</p> + +<p>“Well, she was standing by the stump of an old tree which is hollow +inside. It is just at the top of the hill by the bend, exactly where the +hill goes down towards the ‘forest primeval.’”</p> + +<p>“Can’t say I remember it,” said Fanny. “Go on, Sib. So Betty was +standing there?”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, oh yes. I saw her in the distance. I was expecting to meet Clarice +and Mary Moss; but they failed me, although they had faithfully promised +to come. So when I saw Betty I could not resist running up to her; but +when I got quite close I stood still.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you stood still. Why?”</p> + +<p>“Oh Fan, she was doing such a funny thing! She was bending down and +looking over into the hollow of the tree. Then, all of a sudden, she +thrust her hand in—far down—and took something out of the tree and +looked at it. I could just catch sight of what it was——”</p> + +<p>“Yes, go on. What was it? Don’t be afraid of me, Sib. I have a lot of +chocolates in my pocket that I will give you presently.”</p> + +<p>“Oh thank you, Fanny! It is nice to talk to you. I couldn’t see very +distinctly what she had in her hand, only she was staring at it, and +staring at it; and then she dropped it in again, right down into the +depths of the tree; and I saw her bending more than ever, as though she +were covering it up.”</p> + +<p>“But you surely saw what it was like?”</p> + +<p>“It might have been anything—I wasn’t very near then. I ran up to her, +and asked her what it was.”</p> + +<p>“And what did she say?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, she said it was a piece of wood, and that she had dropped it into +the tree.”</p> + +<p>Fanny sat very still. A coldness came over her. She was nearly stunned +with what she considered the horror of Betty’s conduct.</p> + +<p>“What is the matter?” asked Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Nothing at all, Sib; nothing at all. And then, what happened?”</p> + +<p>“Betty was very cross at being disturbed.”</p> + +<p>“That is quite probable,” said Fanny with a laugh.</p> + +<p>“She certainly was, and I—I—I am afraid I annoyed her; but after a +minute or two she got up and allowed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>me to walk with her. We walked +towards the house, and she told me all kinds of funny stories; she +really made me scream with laughter. She is the jolliest girl! Then, all +of a sudden, we came in sight of the flower-gardens; and she asked me +what I was going to wear last night, and I told her about the green +chiffon dress which auntie had sent me; and then she suggested a wreath +of small marguerites, and told me to get Birchall to cut some for me. +She said they would be very becoming, and of course I believed her. +There’s nothing in my story, is there, Fanny?”</p> + +<p>“That depends on the point of view,” answered Fanny.</p> + +<p>“I don’t understand you.”</p> + +<p>“Nor do I mean you to, kiddy.”</p> + +<p>“Well, there’s one thing more,” continued Sibyl, who felt much elated at +being allowed to talk to one of the most supercilious of all the +Specialities. “I couldn’t get out of my head about Betty and the +oak-tree; so just now—a few minutes ago—I got some of my friends to +come with me, and we went to the oak-tree, and I stood on Mabel Lee’s +shoulder, and I poked and poked amongst the débris and rubbish in the +hollow of the trunk, and there was nothing there at all—nothing except +just a piece of wood. So, of course, Betty spoke the truth—it was +wood.”</p> + +<p>“How many chocolates would you like?” was Fanny’s rejoinder.</p> + +<p>“Oh Fanny, are you going to give me some?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, if you are a good girl, and don’t tell any one that you repeated +this very harmless and uninteresting little story to me about my Cousin +Betty. Of course she is my cousin, and I don’t like anything said +against her.”</p> + +<p>“But I wasn’t speaking against darling Betty!” Sibyl’s eyes filled with +tears.</p> + +<p>“Of course not, monkey; but you were telling me a little tale which +might be construed in different ways.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>“Yes, yes; only I don’t understand. Betty had a perfect right to poke +her hand into the hollow of the tree, and to bring up a piece of wood, +and look at it, and put it back again; and I don’t understand your +expression, Fanny, that it all depends on the point of view.”</p> + +<p>“Keep this to yourself, and I will give you some more chocolates +sometime,” was Fanny’s answer. “I can be your friend as well as +Martha—that is, if you are nice, and don’t repeat every single thing +you hear. The worst sin in a schoolgirl—at least, the worst minor +sin—is to be breaking confidences. No schoolgirl with a shade of honor +in her composition would ever do that, and certainly no girl trained at +Haddo Court ought to be noted for such a characteristic. Now, Sibyl, you +are no fool; and, when I talk to you, you are not to repeat things. I +may possibly want to talk to you again, and then there’ll be more +chocolates and—and—other things; and as you are in the upper school, +and are really quite a nice girl, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if I +invited you to have tea with me in my bedroom some night—oh, not quite +yet, but some evening not far off. Now, off with you, and let me see how +well you can keep an innocent little confidence between you and me!”</p> + +<p>Sibyl ran off, munching her chocolates, wondering a good deal at Fanny’s +manner, but in the excitement of her school-life, soon forgetting both +her and Betty Vivian. For, after all, there was no story worth thinking +about. There was nothing in the hollow of the old tree but the piece of +wood, and nothing—nothing in the wide world—could be made interesting +out of that.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Fanny thought for a time. The first great entertainment of +the Specialities was over. Betty was now a full-blown member, and as +such must be treated in a manner which Fanny could not possibly have +assumed towards her before this event took place. Fanny <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>blamed herself +for her weakness in consenting to keep Betty’s secret. She had done so +on the spur of the moment, influenced by the curious look in the girl’s +eyes, and wondering if she would turn to her with affection if she, +Fanny, were so magnanimous. But Betty had not turned to her with either +love or affection. Betty was precisely the Betty she had been before she +joined the club. It is true she was very much sought after and consulted +on all sorts of matters, and her name was whispered in varying notes of +admiration among the girls, and she was likely (unless a spoke were put +in her wheel) to rise to one of the highest positions in the great +school. Betty had committed one act of flagrant wickedness. Fanny was +not going to mince matters; she could not call it by any other name. +There were no extenuating circumstances, in her opinion, to excuse this +act of Betty’s. The fact that she had first stolen the packet, and then +told Sir John Crawford a direct lie with regard to it, was the sort of +thing that Fanny could never get over.</p> + +<p>“One act of wickedness leads to another,” thought Fanny. “Contrary to my +advice, my beseechings, she has joined our club. She has taken a vow +which she cannot by any possibility keep, which she breaks every hour of +every day; for she holds a secret which, according to Rule No. I., the +other Specialities ought to know. What was she doing by the old stump? +What did she take out and look at so earnestly? It was not a piece of +wood. That idea is sheer nonsense.”</p> + +<p>Fanny thought and thought, and the more she thought the more +uncomfortable did she grow. “It is perfectly horrible!” she kept saying +to herself. “I loathe myself for even thinking about it, but I am afraid +I must put a spoke in her wheel. The whole school may be contaminated at +this rate. If Betty could do what she did she may do worse, and there +isn’t a girl in the place who isn’t prepared to worship her. Oh, of +course I’m not jealous; why <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>should I be? I should be a very unworthy +member of the Specialities if I were. Nevertheless——”</p> + +<p>Just then Sylvia and Hetty Vivian walked through the great +recreation-hall arm in arm.</p> + +<p>Fanny called them to her. “Where’s Betty?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“She told us she’d be very busy for half an hour in our room, and that +then she was going downstairs to have a sort of conference—with you, I +suppose, Fanny, and the rest of the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia gave a very impatient shrug of her shoulders.</p> + +<p>“Why do you look like that, Sylvia?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Well, the fact is, Hetty and I do hate our own Betty belonging to your +club. Whenever we want her now she is engaged; and she has such funny +talk all about committee meetings and private conferences in your odious +sitting-room. We don’t like it a bit. We much, much preferred our Betty +before she joined the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>“All the same,” said Fanny, “you must have felt very proud of your Betty +last night.”</p> + +<p>Hester laughed. “She wasn’t half her true self,” said the girl. “Oh, of +course she was wonderful, and much greater than others; but I wish you +could have heard her tell stories in Scotland. We used to have just one +blink of light from the fire, and we sat and held each other’s hands, +and I tell you Betty made us thrill.”</p> + +<p>“Well, now that you have reminded me,” said Fanny, rising as she spoke, +“I must go and attend that committee meeting. I really forgot it, so I +am greatly obliged to you girls for reminding me. And you mustn’t be +jealous of your sister; that is a very wrong feeling.”</p> + +<p>The girls laughed and ran off, while Fanny slowly walked down the +recreation-hall and then ascended some stairs, until she found herself +in that particularly cosy and bright sitting-room which was set apart +for the Specialities.</p> + +<p>Martha West was there, also Susie Rushworth, the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>Bertrams, and +Olive Repton. But Margaret Grant had not yet appeared, nor had Betty +Vivian. Fanny took her seat near Olive. The girls began to chat, and the +subject of last night’s entertainment was discussed pretty fully. Most of +the girls present agreed that it was remarkably silly of Sibyl Ray to +wear marguerites in her hair, that they were very sorry for her, and +hoped she would not be so childish again. It was just at that moment +that Margaret Grant appeared, and immediately afterwards Betty Vivian. +The minutes of the last committee meeting were read aloud, and then +Margaret turned and asked the girls if they were thoroughly satisfied +with the entertainment of the previous night. They all answered in the +affirmative except Fanny, who was silent. Neither did Betty speak, for +she had been the chief contributor to the entertainment.</p> + +<p>“Well,” continued Margaret, “I may as well say at once that I was +delighted. Betty, I didn’t know that you possessed so great a gift. I +wish you would improvise as you did last night one evening for Mrs. +Haddo.”</p> + +<p>Betty turned a little whiter than usual. Then she said slowly, “Alone +with her—and with you—I could.”</p> + +<p>“I think she would love it,” said Margaret. “It would surprise her just +to picture the scene as you threw yourself into it last night.”</p> + +<p>“I could do it,” said Betty, “alone with her and with you.”</p> + +<p>There was not a scrap of vanity in Betty’s manner. She spoke seriously, +just as one who, knowing she possesses a gift, accepts it and is +thankful.</p> + +<p>“I couldn’t get it out of my head all night,” continued Margaret, “more +particularly that part where the angels came. It was a very beautiful +idea, Betty dear, and I congratulate you on being able to conjure up +such fine images in your mind.”</p> + +<p>It was with great difficulty that Fanny could suppress <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>her feelings, +but the next instant an opportunity occurred for her to give vent to +them.</p> + +<p>“Now,” said Margaret, “as the great object of our society is in all +things to be in harmony, I want to put it to the vote: How did the +entertainment go off last night?”</p> + +<p>“I liked every single thing about it,” said Susie Rushworth; “the +supper, the games, and, above all things, the story-telling.”</p> + +<p>The same feeling was expressed in more or less different words by each +girl in succession, until Fanny’s turn came.</p> + +<p>“And you, Fanny—what did you think?”</p> + +<p>“I liked the supper and the games, of course,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“And the story-telling, Fanny? You ought to be proud of having such a +gifted cousin.”</p> + +<p>“I didn’t like the story-telling, and Betty knows why I didn’t like it.”</p> + +<p>The unmistakable look of hatred on Fanny’s face, the queer flash in her +eyes as she glanced at Betty, and Betty’s momentary quiver as she looked +back at her, could not fail to be observed by each girl present.</p> + +<p>“Fanny, I am astonished at you!” said Margaret Grant in a voice of +marked displeasure.</p> + +<p>“You asked a plain question, Margaret. I should have said nothing if +nothing had been asked; but you surely don’t wish me to commit myself to +a lie?”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, no!” said Margaret. “But sisterly love, and—and your own cousin +too!”</p> + +<p>“I want to say something in private to Betty Vivian; and I would +earnestly beg of you, Margaret, not to propose to Mrs. Haddo that Betty +should tell her any story until after I have spoken. I have my reasons +for doing this; and I do not think, all things considered, that I am +really breaking Rule No. I. in adopting this course of action.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p><p>“This is most strange!” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>Betty rose and came straight up to Fanny. “Where and when do you want to +speak to me, Fanny?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“I will go with you now,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Then I think,” said Margaret, “our meeting has broken up. The next +meeting of the Specialities will be held in Olive Repton’s room on +Thursday next. There are several days between now and then; but +to-morrow at four o’clock I mean to give a tea to all the club here. I +invite you, one and all, to be present; and afterwards we can talk folly +to our hearts’ content. Listen, please, girls: the next item on my +programme is that we invite dear Mr. Fairfax to tea with us, and ask him +a few questions with regard to the difficulties we find in the reading +of Jeremy Taylor’s ‘Holy Living.’”</p> + +<p>“I don’t suppose, Margaret, it is absolutely necessary for me to attend +that meeting?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Certainly not, Betty. No one is expected to attend who does not wish +to.”</p> + +<p>“You see, I have no difficulties to speak about,” said Betty with a +light laugh.</p> + +<p>Margaret glanced at her with surprise.</p> + +<p>“Come, Betty,” said Fanny; and the two left the room.</p> + +<p>“Where am I to go to?” asked Betty when they found themselves outside.</p> + +<p>“Out, if you like,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“No, thank you. The day is very cold.”</p> + +<p>“Then come to my room with me, will you, Betty?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Betty, “I don’t want to go to your room.”</p> + +<p>“I must see you somewhere by yourself,” said Fanny. “I have something +important to say to you.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, all right then,” said Betty, shrugging her shoulders. “Your room +will do as well as any other place. Let’s get it over.”</p> + +<p>The girls ran upstairs. They presently entered Fanny’s bedroom, which +was a small apartment, but very neat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>and cheerful. It was next door to +the Vivians’ own spacious one.</p> + +<p>The moment they were inside Betty turned and faced Fanny. “Do you always +intend to remain my enemy, Fanny?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“Far from that, Betty; I want to be your truest friend.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t talk humbug! If you are my truest friend +you will act as such. Now, what is the matter—what is up?”</p> + +<p>“I will tell you.”</p> + +<p>“I am all attention,” said Betty. “Pray begin.”</p> + +<p>“I hurt your feelings downstairs just now by saying that I did not care +for your story-telling.”</p> + +<p>“You didn’t hurt them in the least, for I never expected you to care. +The story-telling wasn’t meant for you.”</p> + +<p>“But I must mention now why I didn’t care,” continued Fanny, speaking as +quickly as she could. “Had you been the Betty the rest of the school +think you I could have lost myself, too, in your narrative, and I could +have seen the picture you endeavored to portray. But knowing you as you +are, Betty Vivian, I could only look down into your wicked heart——”</p> + +<p>“What an agreeable occupation!” said Betty with a laugh which she tried +to make light, but did not quite succeed.</p> + +<p>Fanny was silent.</p> + +<p>After a minute Betty spoke again. “Do you spend all your time, Fanny, +gazing into my depraved heart?”</p> + +<p>“Whenever I think of you, Betty—and I confess I do think of you very +often—I remember the sin you have sinned, the lack of repentance you +have shown, and, above all things, your daring spirit in joining our +club. It is true that when you joined—after all my advice to you to the +contrary, my beseeching of you to withstand this temptation—I gave you +to understand that I would be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>silent. But my conscience torments me +because of that tacit promise I gave you. Nevertheless I will keep it. +But remember, you are in danger. You know perfectly well where the +missing packet is. It is—or was, at least—in the hollow stump of the +old oak-tree at the top of the hill, and you positively told Sibyl Ray a +lie about it when she saw you looking at it yesterday. Afterwards, in +order to divert her attention from yourself, you sent her to gather +marguerites to make a wreath for her hair—a most ridiculous thing for +the child to wear. What you did afterwards I don’t know, and don’t care +to inquire. But, Betty, the fact is that you, instead of being an +inspiring influence in this school, will undermine it—will ruin its +morals. You are a dangerous girl, Betty Vivian; and I tell you so to +your face. You are bound—bound to come to grief. Now, I will say no +more. I leave it to your conscience what to do and what not to do. There +are some fine points about you; and you could be magnificent, but you +are not. There, I have spoken!”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Fanny,” replied Betty in a very gentle tone. She waited for +a full minute; then she said, “Is that all?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is all.”</p> + +<p>Betty went away to her own room. As soon as ever she entered, she went +straight to the looking-glass and gazed at her reflection. She then +turned a succession of somersaults from one end of the big apartment to +the other. Having done this, she washed her face and hands in ice-cold +water, rubbed her cheeks until they glowed, brushed her black hair, and +felt better. She ran downstairs, and a few minutes later was in the +midst of a very hilarious group, who were all chatting and laughing and +hailing Betty Vivian as the best comrade in the wide world.</p> + +<p>Betty was not only brilliant socially; at the same time she had fine +intellectual powers. She was the delight of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>her teachers, for she could +imbibe knowledge as a sponge absorbs water. On this particular day she +was at her best during a very difficult lesson at the piano from a +professor who came from London. Betty had always a passionate love of +music, and to-day she revelled in it. She had been learning one of +Chopin’s Nocturnes, and now rendered it with exquisite pathos. The +professor was delighted, and in the midst of the performance Mrs. Haddo +came into the music-room. She listened with approval, and when the girl +rose, said, “Well done!”</p> + +<p>Another girl took her place; and Betty, running up to Mrs. Haddo, said, +“Oh, may I speak to you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, dear; what is it? Come to my room for a minute, if you wish, +Betty.”</p> + +<p>“It isn’t important enough for that. Dear Mrs. Haddo, it’s just that I +am mad for a bit of frolic.”</p> + +<p>“Frolic, my child! You seem to have plenty.”</p> + +<p>“Not enough—not enough—not nearly enough for a wild girl of +Aberdeenshire, a girl who has lived on the moors and loved them.”</p> + +<p>“What do you want, dear child?”</p> + +<p>“I want most awfully, with your permission, to go with my two sisters +Sylvia and Hester to have tea with the Mileses. I want to pet those dogs +again, and I want to go particularly badly between now and next +Thursday.”</p> + +<p>“And why especially between now and next Thursday?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, I can’t quite give you the reason. There is a reason. +Please—please—please say yes!”</p> + +<p>“It is certainly against my rules.”</p> + +<p>“But, dear Mrs. Haddo, it isn’t against your rules if you give leave,” +pleaded the girl.</p> + +<p>“You are very clever at arguing, Betty. I certainly have liberty to +break rules in individual cases. Well, dear child, it shall be so. I +will send a line to Mrs. Miles to ask her to expect you and your sisters +to-morrow. A servant shall accompany you, and will call again later on. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>You can only stay about one hour at the farm. To-morrow is a +half-holiday, so it will be all right.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, how kind of you!” said Betty.</p> + +<p>But again Mrs. Haddo noticed that Betty avoided looking into her eyes. +“Betty,” she said, “this is a small matter—my yielding to the whim of +an impetuous girl in whom I take an interest. But, my dear child, I have +to congratulate you. You made a marvellous success—a marvellous +success—last night. Several of the girls in the school have spoken of +it, and in particular dear Margaret Grant. I wonder if you would +improvise for me some evening?”</p> + +<p>“Gladly!” replied Betty. And now for one minute her brilliant eyes were +raised and fixed on those of Mrs. Haddo. “Gladly,” she repeated—and she +shivered slightly—“if you will hear me after next Thursday.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>TEA AT FARMER MILES’S</h3> + +<p>“It’s all right, girls!” said Betty in her most joyful tone.</p> + +<p>“What is all right, Betty and Bess?” asked Sylvia saucily.</p> + +<p>“Oh, kiss me, girls,” said Betty, “and let’s have a real frolic! +To-morrow is Saturday—a half-holiday, of course—and we’re going to the +Mileses’ to have tea.”</p> + +<p>“The Mileses’!”</p> + +<p>“Yes, you silly children; those dear farmer-folk who keep the dogs.”</p> + +<p>“Dan and Beersheba?” cried Hetty.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Dan and Beersheba; and we’re going to have a real jolly time, and +we’re going to forget dull care. It’ll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>be quite the most delightful +sport we’ve had since we came to Haddo Court. What I should love most +would be to vault over the fence and go all by our lonesome selves. But +we must have a maid—a horrid, stupid maid; only, of course, she’ll walk +behind, and she’ll leave us alone when we get to the farm. She’ll fetch +us again by-and-by—that’ll be another nuisance. Still, somehow, I don’t +know what there is about school, but I’m not game enough to go without +leave.”</p> + +<p>“You are changed a good bit,” said Hetty. “I think myself it’s since you +were made a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps so,” said Betty thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>Sylvia nestled close to her sister; while Hetty knelt down beside her, +laid her elbows on Betty’s knee, and looked up into her face.</p> + +<p>“I wonder,” said Sylvia, “if you like being a Special, or whatever they +call themselves, Betty mine?”</p> + +<p>Betty did not speak.</p> + +<p>“Do you like it?” said Hester, giving her sister a poke in the side as +she uttered the words.</p> + +<p>“I can’t quite tell you, girls; it’s all new to me at present. +Everything is new and strange. Oh girls, England is a cold, cold +country!”</p> + +<p>“But it is declared by all the geography-books to be warmer than +Scotland,” said Sylvia, speaking in a thoughtful voice.</p> + +<p>“I don’t mean physical cold,” said Betty, half-laughing as she spoke.</p> + +<p>“I begin to like school,” said Hetty. “Lessons aren’t really a bit +hard.”</p> + +<p>“I think school is very stimulating,” said Sylvia. “The teachers are all +so kind, and we are making friends by degrees. The only thing that Hetty +and I don’t like is this, Bet, that we see so very little of you.”</p> + +<p>“Although I see little of you I never forget you,” was Betty’s answer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p><p>“And then,” continued Sylvia, “we sleep in the same room, which is a +great blessing. That is something to be thankful for.”</p> + +<p>“And perhaps,” said Betty, “we’ll see more of each other in the future.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, nothing—nothing.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, you are growing very mysterious.”</p> + +<p>“I hope not,” replied Betty. “I should just hate to be mysterious.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you are growing it, all the same,” said Hester. “But, oh Bet, +you’re becoming the most wonderful favorite in the school! I can’t tell +you what the other girls say about you, for I really think it would make +you conceited. It does us a lot of good to have a sister like you; for +whenever we are spoken to or introduced to a new girl—I mean a girl we +haven’t spoken to before—the remark invariably is, ‘Oh, are you related +to Betty Vivian, the Speciality?’ And then—and then everything is all +right, and the girls look as if they would do anything for us. We are +the moon and stars, you are the sun; and it’s very nice to have a sister +like you.”</p> + +<p>“Well, listen, girls. We’re going to have a real good time to-morrow, +and we’ll forget all about school and the lessons and the chapel.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but I do like the chapel!” said Sylvia in a thoughtful voice. “I +love to hear Mr. Fairfax when he reads the lessons; and I think if I +were in trouble about anything I could tell him, somehow.”</p> + +<p>“Could you?” said Betty. She started slightly, and stared very hard at +her sister. “Perhaps one could,” she said after a moment’s pause. “Mr. +Fairfax is very wonderful.”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes, isn’t he?” said Hester.</p> + +<p>“But we won’t think of him to-night or to-morrow,” continued Betty, +rising to her feet as she spoke. “We <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>must imagine ourselves back in +Scotland again. Oh, it will be splendid to have that time at the +Mileses’ farm!”</p> + +<p>The rest of the evening passed without anything remarkable occurring. +Betty, as usual, was surrounded by her friends. The younger Vivian girls +chatted gaily with others. Every one was quite kind and pleasant to +Betty, and Fanny Crawford left her alone. As this was quite the very +best thing Fanny could do, Betty thanked her in her heart. But that +evening, just before prayer-time, Betty crossed the hall, where she had +been sitting surrounded by a group of animated schoolfellows, and went +up to Miss Symes. “Have I your permission, Miss Symes,” she said, “not +to attend prayers in chapel to-night?”</p> + +<p>“Aren’t you well, Betty dear?” asked Miss Symes a little anxiously.</p> + +<p>Betty remained silent for a minute. Then she said, “Physically I am +quite well; mentally I am not.”</p> + +<p>“Dear Betty!”</p> + +<p>“I can’t explain it,” said Betty. “I would just rather not attend +prayers to-night. Do you mind?”</p> + +<p>“No, dear. You haven’t perhaps yet been acquainted with the fact that +the Specialities are never coerced to attend prayers. They are expected +to attend; but if for any reason they prefer not, questions are not +asked.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, thank you!” said Betty. She turned and went slowly and thoughtfully +upstairs. When she got to her own room she sat quite still, evidently +thinking very hard. But when her sisters joined her (and they all went +to bed earlier than usual), Betty was the first to drop asleep.</p> + +<p>As has already been stated, Betty’s pretty little bed was placed between +Sylvia’s and Hetty’s; and now, as she slept, the two younger girls bent +across, clasped hands, and looked down at her small white face. They +could just get a glimmer of that face in the moonlight, which happened +to be shining brilliantly through the three big windows.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p><p>All of a sudden, Sylvia crept very softly out of bed, and, running round +to Hester’s side, whispered to her, “What is the matter?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” replied Hester.</p> + +<p>“But something is,” remarked Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Yes, something is,” said Hester. “Best not worry her.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia nodded and returned to her own bed.</p> + +<p>On the following morning, however, all Betty’s apparent low spirits had +vanished. She was in that wild state of hilarity when she seemed to +carry all before her. Her sisters could not help laughing every time +Betty opened her lips, and it was the same during recess. When many +girls clustered round her with their gay jokes, they became convulsed +with laughter at her comic replies.</p> + +<p>It was arranged by Mrs. Haddo that Betty and her two sisters were to +start for the Mileses’ farm at three o’clock exactly. It would not take +them more than half an hour to walk there. Mrs. Miles was requested to +give them tea not later than four o’clock, and they were to be called +for at half-past four. Thus they would be back at Haddo Court about +five.</p> + +<p>“Only two hours!” thought Betty to herself. “But one can get a great +deal of pleasure into two hours.”</p> + +<p>Betty felt highly excited. Her sisters’ delight at being able to go +failed to interest her. As a rule, with all her fun and nonsense and +hilarity, Betty possessed an abundance of self-control. But to-day she +seemed to have lost it.</p> + +<p>The very staid-looking maid, Harris by name, who accompanied them, could +scarcely keep pace with the Vivian girls. They ran, they shouted, they +laughed. When they were about half-way to the Mileses’ farm they came to +a piece of common which had not yet been inclosed. The day was dry and +comparatively warm, and the grass on the common was green, owing to the +recent rains.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>“Harris,” said Betty, turning to the maid, “would you like to see some +Catharine wheels?”</p> + +<p>Harris stared in some amazement at the young lady.</p> + +<p>“Come along, girls, do!” said Betty. “Harris must have fun as well as +the rest of us. You like fun, don’t you Harris?”</p> + +<p>“Love it, miss!” said Harris.</p> + +<p>“Well, then, here goes!” said Betty. “Harris, please hold our hats.”</p> + +<p>The next instant the three were turning somersaults on the green grass +of the common, to the unbounded amazement of the maid, who felt quite +shocked, and shouted to the young ladies to come back and behave +themselves. Betty stopped at once when she heard the pleading note in +Harris’s voice.</p> + +<p>“You hadn’t ought to have done it,” said Harris; “and if my missis was +to know! Oh, what shows you all three do look! Now, let me put your hats +on tidy-like. There, that’s better!”</p> + +<p>“I feel much happier in my mind now, Harris—and that’s a good thing, +isn’t it?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Yes, miss, it’s a very good thing. But I shouldn’t say, to look at you, +that you knew the meaning of the least bit of unhappiness.”</p> + +<p>“Of course I don’t,” said Betty; “nor does my sister Sylvia, nor does my +sister Hester.”</p> + +<p>“We did up in Scotland for a time,” said Hester, who could not +understand Betty at all, and felt more and more puzzled at her queer +behavior.</p> + +<p>“Well, now, we’ll walk sober and steady,” said Harris. “You may reckon +on one thing, missies—that I won’t tell what you done on the common, +for if I did you’d be punished pretty sharp.”</p> + +<p>“You may tell if you like, Harris,” said Betty. “I shouldn’t dream of +asking you to keep a secret.”</p> + +<p>“I won’t, all the same,” said Harris.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p><p>The walk continued without any more exciting occurrences; and when the +girls reached the farm they were greeted by Mrs. Miles, her two big +boys, and the farmer himself. Here Harris dropped a curtsy and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I must kiss you, Mrs. Miles!” said Betty. “And, please, this is my +sister Sylvia, and this is Hester. They are twins; but, having two sets +yourself, you said you did not mind seeing them and giving them tea, +even though they are twins.”</p> + +<p>“’Tain’t no disgrace, missie, as I’ve heerd tell on,” said the farmer.</p> + +<p>“Oh Farmer Miles, I am glad to see you!” said Betty. “Fancy dear, kind +Mrs. Haddo giving us leave to come and have tea with you!—I do hope, +Mrs. Miles, you’ve got a very nice tea, for I can tell you I am hungry. +I’ve given myself an appetite on purpose; for I would hardly touch any +breakfast, and at dinner I took the very teeniest bit.”</p> + +<p>“And so did I,” said Sylvia in a low tone.</p> + +<p>“And I also,” remarked Hester.</p> + +<p>“Well, missies, I ha’ got the best tea I could think of, and right glad +we are to see you. You haven’t spoken to poor Ben yet, missie.”</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Miles indicated her eldest son, an uncouth-looking lad of +about twelve years of age.</p> + +<p>“Nor Sammy neither,” said the farmer, laying his hand on Sammy’s broad +shoulder, and bringing the red-haired and freckled boy forward.</p> + +<p>“I am just delighted to see you, Ben; and to see you, Sammy. And these +are my sisters. And, please, Mrs. Miles, where are the twins?”</p> + +<p>“The twinses are upstairs, sound asleep; but they’ll be down by +tea-time,” said Mrs. Miles.</p> + +<p>“And, above all things, where are the dogs?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Now, missie,” said the farmer, “them dogs has been very rampageous +lately, and, try as we would, we couldn’t tame ’em; so we have ’em +fastened up in their kennels, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>and only lets ’em out at night. You shall +come and see ’em in their kennels, missie.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but they must be let out!” said Betty, tears brimming to her eyes. +“My sisters love dogs just as much as I do. They must see the dogs. Oh, +we must have a game with them!”</p> + +<p>“I wouldn’t take it upon me, I wouldn’t really,” said the farmer, “to +let them dogs free to-day. They’re that remarkable rampageous.”</p> + +<p>“Well, take me to them anyhow,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>The farmer, his wife, Ben and Sammy, and the three Vivian girls tramped +across the yard, and presently arrived opposite the kennels where Dan +and Beersheba were straining at the end of their chains. When they heard +footsteps they began to bark vociferously, but the moment they saw Betty +their barking ceased; they whined and strained harder than ever in their +wild rapture. Betty instantly flung herself on her knees by Dan’s side +and kissed him on the forehead. The dog licked her little hand, and was +almost beside himself with delight. As to poor Beersheba, he very nearly +went mad with jealousy over the attention paid to Dan.</p> + +<p>“You see for yourself,” said Betty, looking into the farmer’s face, “the +dogs will be all right with me. You must let them loose while I am +here.”</p> + +<p>“It do seem quite wonderful,” said the farmer. “Now, don’t it, wife?”</p> + +<p>“A’most uncanny, I call it,” said Mrs. Miles.</p> + +<p>“But before you let them loose I must introduce my sisters to them,” +said Betty. “Sylvia, come here. Sylvia, kneel by me.”</p> + +<p>The girl did so. The dogs were not quite so much excited over Sylvia as +they were over Betty, but they also licked their hands and wagged their +tails in great delight. Hester went through the same form of +introduction; and then, somewhat against his will, the farmer gave the +dogs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>their liberty. Betty said, in a commanding tone, “To heel, good +boys, at once!” and the wild and savage dogs obeyed her.</p> + +<p>She paced up and down the yard in a state of rapture at her conquest +over these fierce animals. Then she whispered something to Sylvia, who +in her turn whispered to Mrs. Miles, who in her turn whispered to Ben; +the result of which was that three wicker chairs were brought from the +house, Betty and her sisters seated themselves, and the dogs sprawled in +ecstasy at their side.</p> + +<p>“Oh, we are happy!” said Betty. “Mrs. Miles, was your heart ever very +starvingly empty?”</p> + +<p>“Times, maybe,” said Mrs. Miles, who had gone, like most of her sex, +through a chequered career.</p> + +<p>“And weren’t you glad when it got filled up to the brim again?”</p> + +<p>“That I was,” said Mrs. Miles.</p> + +<p>“My heart was a bit starved this morning,” said Betty; “but it feels +full to the brim now. Please, dear, good Mrs. Miles, leave us five alone +together. Go all of you away, and let us stay alone together.”</p> + +<p>“Meanin’ by that you three ladies and them dogs?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is what I mean.”</p> + +<p>The farmer bent and whispered something to his wife, the result of which +was that a minute later Betty and her sisters were alone with the +animals. They did not know, however, that the farmer had hidden himself +in the big barn ready to spring out should “them fierce uns,” as he +termed the animals, become refractory. Then began an extraordinary +scene. Betty whispered in the dogs’ ears, and they grovelled at her +feet. Then she sang a low song to them; and they stood upright, +quivering with rapture. The two girls kept behind Betty, who was +evidently the first in the hearts of these extraordinary dogs.</p> + +<p>“I could teach them no end of tricks. They could be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>almost as lively +and delightful as Andrew and Fritz,” said Betty, turning to her sisters.</p> + +<p>“Oh yes,” they replied. Then Sylvia burst out crying.</p> + +<p>“Silly Sylvia! What is the matter?” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“It’s only that I didn’t know my heart was hungry until—until this very +minute,” said Sylvia. “Oh, it is awful to live in a house without dogs!”</p> + +<p>“I have felt that all along,” said Betty. “But I suppose, after a +fashion, we’ve got to endure. Oh do stop crying, Sylvia! Let’s make the +most of a happy time.”</p> + +<p>The culmination of that happy time was when Mrs. Miles appeared on the +scene, accompanied by four little children—two very pretty little +girls, dressed in white, their short sleeves tied up with blue ribbons +for the occasion; and two little boys a year or two older.</p> + +<p>“These be the twinses,” said Mrs. Miles. “These two be Moses and +Ephraim, and these two be Deborah and Anna. The elder of the twinses are +Moses and Ephraim, and the younger Deborah and Anna. Now, then children, +you jest drop your curtsies to the young ladies, and say you are glad to +see them.”</p> + +<p>“But, indeed, they shall do nothing of the kind,” said Betty. “Oh, +aren’t they the sweetest darlings! Deborah, I must kiss you. Anna, put +your sweet little arms round my neck.”</p> + +<p>The children were in wild delight, for all children took immediately to +Betty. But, lo and behold! one of the dogs gave an ominous growl. Was +not his idol devoting herself to some one else? In one instant the brute +might have sprung upon poor little Deborah had not Betty turned and laid +her hand on his forehead. Instantly he gave a sound between a groan and +a moan, and crouched at her feet.</p> + +<p>“There! I never!” said Mrs. Miles. “You be a reg’lar out-and-out +lion-tamer, miss.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><p>“I’m getting more and more hungry every minute,” said Betty. “Will—will +tea be ready soon, Mrs. Miles?”</p> + +<p>“I was coming out to fetch you in, my loves.”</p> + +<p>The whole party then migrated to the kitchen, which was ornamented +especially for the occasion. The long center-table was covered with a +snowy cloth, and on it were spread all sorts of appetizing viands—great +slabs of honey in the comb, cakes of every description, hot +griddle-cakes, scones, muffins, cold chicken, cold ham, and the most +delicious jams of every variety. Added to these good things was a great +bowl full of Devonshire cream, which Mrs. Miles had made herself from a +well-known Devonshire recipe that morning.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but doesn’t this look good!” said Betty. She sat down with a twin +girl at each side of her, and with a dog resting his head on the lap of +each of the twins, and their beseeching eyes fixed on Betty’s face.</p> + +<p>“I ha’ got a treat for ’em afterwards, missie,” said Mrs. Miles; “two +strong beef-bones. They shall eat ’em, and they’ll never forget you +arter that.”</p> + +<p>Betty became so lively now that at a whispered word from Sylvia she +began to tell stories—by no means the sort of stories she had told at +the Specialities’ entertainment, but funny tales, sparkling with wit and +humor—tales quite within the comprehension of her intelligent but +unlearned audience. Even the farmer roared with laughter, and said over +and over to his wife, as he wiped the tears of enjoyment from his eyes, +“Well, that do cap all!”</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the important ceremony of eating the many good things provided +went steadily on, until at last even Betty had to own that she was +satisfied.</p> + +<p>All rose from their seats, and as they did so Mrs. Miles put a pretty +little basket into each girl’s hand. “A few new-laid eggs, dearies,” she +said, “and a comb of honey for each of you. You must ask Mrs. Haddo’s +leave afore <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>you eats ’em, but I know she won’t mind. And there’s some +very late roses, the last of the season, that I’ve put into the top of +your basket, Miss Betty.”</p> + +<p>Alack and alas, how good it all was! How pleasant was the air, how +genial the simple life! How Betty and Sylvia and Hester rejoiced in it, +and how quickly it was over!</p> + +<p>Harris appeared, and at this signal the girls knew they must go. Betty +presented her canine darlings with a beef-bone each; and then, with a +hug to Mrs. Miles, a hearty hand-clasp to the farmer and the boys, and +further hugs to both sets of twins, the girls returned to Haddo Court.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>A GREAT DETERMINATION</h3> + +<p>The visit to the farm was long remembered by Betty Vivian. It was the +one bright oasis, the one brilliant spark of intense enjoyment, in a +dark week. For each day the shadow of what lay before her—and of what +she, Betty Vivian, had made up her mind to do—seemed to creep lower and +lower over her horizon, until, when Thursday morning dawned, it seemed +to Betty that there was neither sun, moon, nor stars in her heaven.</p> + +<p>But if Betty lacked much and was full of grave and serious thoughts, +there was one quality, admirable in itself, which she had to perfection, +and that was her undoubted bravery. To make up her mind to do a certain +thing was, with Betty Vivian, to do it. She had not quite made up her +mind on Saturday; but on Sunday morning she had very nearly done so, and +on Sunday evening she had quite done so. On Sunday evening, therefore, +she knelt rather longer than the others, struggling and praying in the +beautiful chapel; and when she raised her small <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>white face, and met the +eyes of the chaplain fixed on her, a thrill went through her. He, at +least, would understand, and, if necessary, give her sympathy. But just +at present she did not need sympathy, or rather she would not ask for +it. She had great self-control, and she kept her emotions so absolutely +to herself that no one guessed what she was suffering. Every day, every +hour, she was becoming more and more the popular girl of the school; for +Betty had nothing mean in her nature, and could love frankly and +generously. She could listen to endless confidences without dreaming of +betraying them, and the girls got to know that Betty Vivian invariably +meant what she said. One person, however, she avoided, and that person +was Fanny Crawford.</p> + +<p>Thursday passed in its accustomed way: school in the morning, with +recess; school in the afternoon, followed by play, games of all sorts, +and many another delightful pastime. Betty went for a walk with her two +sisters; and presently, almost before they knew, they found themselves +surveying their three little plots of ground in the gardens, which they +had hitherto neglected. While they were so employed, Mrs. Haddo quite +unexpectedly joined them.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear girls, why, you have done nothing here—nothing at all!”</p> + +<p>Sylvia said, “We are going to almost immediately, Mrs. Haddo.”</p> + +<p>And Hetty said, “I quite love gardening. I was only waiting until Betty +gave the word.”</p> + +<p>“So you two little girls obey Betty in all things?” said Mrs. Haddo, +glancing at the elder girl’s face.</p> + +<p>“We only do it because we love to,” was the response.</p> + +<p>“Well, my dears, I am surprised! Why, there isn’t a sight of your Scotch +heather! Has it died? What has happened to it?”</p> + +<p>“We made a burnt-offering of it,” said Betty suddenly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p><p>“You did what?” said Mrs. Haddo in some astonishment.</p> + +<p>“You see,” said Betty, “it was this way.” She now looked full up at her +mistress. “The Scotch heather could not live in exile. So we burnt it, +and set all the fairies free. They are in Aberdeenshire now, and quite +happy.”</p> + +<p>“What a quaint idea!” said Mrs. Haddo. “You must tell me more about this +by-and-by, Betty.”</p> + +<p>Betty made no answer.</p> + +<p>“Meanwhile,” continued Mrs. Haddo, who felt puzzled at the girl’s +manner, she scarcely knew why, “I will tell a gardener to have the +gardens well dug and laid out in little walks. I will also have the beds +prepared, and then you must consult Birchall about the sort of things +that grow best in this special plot of ground. Let me see, this is +Thursday. I have no doubt Birchall could have a consultation with you on +the subject this very minute if you like to see him.”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes, please!” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>But Betty drew back. “Do you greatly mind if we do nothing about our +gardens until next week?” she asked.</p> + +<p>“If you prefer it, certainly,” answered Mrs. Haddo. “The plots of ground +are your property while you stay at Haddo Court. You can neglect them, +or you can tend them. Some of the girls of this school have very +beautiful gardens, full of sweet, smiling flowers; others, again, do +nothing at all in them. I never praise those who cultivate their little +patch of garden-ground, and I never blame those who neglect it. It is +all a matter of feeling. In my opinion, the garden is meant to be a +delight; those who do not care for it miss a wonderful joy, but I don’t +interfere.” As Mrs. Haddo spoke she nodded to the girls, and then walked +quietly back towards the house.</p> + +<p>“Wasn’t it funny of her to say that a garden was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>meant to be a +delight?” said Sylvia. “Oh Betty, don’t you love her very much?”</p> + +<p>“Don’t ask me,” said Betty, and her voice was a little choked.</p> + +<p>“Betty,” said Sylvia, “you seem to get paler and paler. I am sure you +miss Aberdeenshire.”</p> + +<p>“Miss it!” said Betty; “miss it! Need you ask?”</p> + +<p>This was the one peep that her sisters were permitted to get into Betty +Vivian’s heart before the meeting of the Specialities that evening.</p> + +<p>Olive Repton was quite excited preparing for her guests. School had +become much more interesting to her since Betty’s arrival. Martha was +also a sort of rock of comfort to lean upon. Margaret, of course, was +always charming. Margaret Grant was Margaret Grant, and there never +could be her second; but the two additional members gave undoubted +satisfaction to the others—that is, with the exception of Fanny +Crawford, who had, however, been most careful not to say one word +against Betty since she became a Speciality.</p> + +<p>Olive’s room was not very far from the Vivians’, and as Betty on this +special night was hurrying towards the appointed meeting-place she came +across Fanny. Between Fanny and herself not a word had been exchanged +for several days.</p> + +<p>Fanny stopped her now. “Are you ill, Betty?” she said.</p> + +<p>Betty shook her head.</p> + +<p>“I wish to tell you,” said Fanny, “that, after very carefully +considering everything, I have made up my mind that it is not my place +to interfere with you. If your conscience allows you to keep silent I +shall not speak. That is all.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you, Fanny,” replied Betty. She stood aside and motioned to Fanny +to pass her. Fanny felt, for some unaccountable reason, strangely +uncomfortable. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>cloud which had been hanging over Betty seemed to +visit Fanny’s heart also. For the first time since her cousin’s arrival +she almost pitied her.</p> + +<p>Olive’s room was very bright. She had a good deal of individual taste, +and as the gardeners were always allowed to supply the Specialities with +flowers for their weekly meetings and their special entertainments, +Olive had her room quite gaily decorated. Smilax hung in graceful +festoons from several vases and trailed in a cunning pattern round the +little supper-table; cyclamen, in pots, further added to the +decorations; and there were still some very beautiful white +chrysanthemums left in the green-house, a careful selection of which had +been made by Birchall that day for the young ladies’ festivities.</p> + +<p>And now all the girls were present, and supper began. Hitherto, during +the few meetings of the Specialities that had taken place since she +became a member, Betty’s voice had sounded brisk and lively; Betty’s +merry, sweet laugh had floated like music in the air; and Betty’s +charming face had won all hearts, except that of her cousin. But +to-night she was quite grave. She sat a little apart from the others, +hardly eating or speaking. Suddenly she got up, took a book from a +shelf, and began to read. This action on her part caused the other girls +to gaze at her in astonishment.</p> + +<p>Margaret said, “Is anything the matter, Betty? You neither eat nor +speak. You are not at all like our dear, lively Speciality to-night.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t want to eat, and I have nothing to say just yet,” answered +Betty. “Please don’t let me spoil sport. I saw this book of yours, +Olive, and I wanted to find a certain verse in it. Ah, here it is!”</p> + +<p>“What is the verse?” asked Olive. “Please read it aloud, Betty.”</p> + +<p>Betty obeyed at once.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Does the road wind uphill all the way?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Yes, to the very end.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From morn to night, my friend.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>There was a dead silence after Betty had read these few words of +Christina Rossetti. The girls glanced from one to another. For a minute +or so, at least, they could not be frivolous. Then Olive made a pert +remark; another girl laughed; and the cloud, small at present as a man’s +hand, seemed to vanish. Betty replaced her book on Olive’s book-shelf, +and sat quite still and quiet. She knew she was a wet blanket—not the +life and soul of the meeting, as was generally the case. She knew well +that Margaret Grant was watching her with anxiety, that Martha West and +also Fanny Crawford were puzzled at her conduct. As to the rest of the +Specialities, it seemed to Betty that they did not go as far down into +the root of things as did Margaret and Martha.</p> + +<p>This evening was to be one of the ordinary entertainments of the guild +or club. There was nothing particular to discuss. The girls were, +therefore, to enjoy themselves by innocent chatter and happy +confidences, and games if necessary.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, they all left the supper-table, Margaret, as president, +said, “We have no new member to elect to-night, therefore our six rules +need not be read aloud; and we have no entertainment to talk over, for +our next entertainment will not take place for some little time. I say, +therefore, girls, that the club is open to the amusement of all the +members. We are free agents, and can do what we like. Our object, of +course, will be to promote the happiness of each and all. Now, Susie +Rushworth, what do you propose that we shall do this evening?”</p> + +<p>Susie said in an excited voice that she would like to spend a good hour +over that exceedingly difficult and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>delightful game of “telegrams” and +added further that she had brought slips of paper and pencils for the +purpose.</p> + +<p>A similar question was asked of each girl, and each girl made a proposal +according to her state of mind.</p> + +<p>Betty was about the fourth girl to be asked. She rose to her feet and +said gravely, “I would propose that Susie Rushworth and the other +members of the Specialities have their games and fun afterwards; but I +have a short story to tell, and I should like to tell it first, if those +present are agreeable.”</p> + +<p>Margaret felt that the little cloud as big as a man’s hand had returned, +and that it had grown much bigger. A curious sense of alarm stole over +her. Martha, meanwhile, stared full at Betty, wondering what the girl +was going to do. Her whole manner was strange, aloof, and mysterious.</p> + +<p>“We will, of course, allow you to speak, Betty dear. We are always +interested in what you say,” said Margaret in her gentlest tone.</p> + +<p>Betty came forward into the room. She stood almost in the center, +unsupported by any chair, her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes +fixed on Margaret Grant’s face. Just for a minute there was a dead +silence, for the girl’s face expressed tragedy; and it was impossible +for any one to think of “telegrams,” or frivolous games, or of anything +in the world but Betty Vivian at the present moment.</p> + +<p>“I have something to say,” she began. “It has only come to me very +gradually that it is necessary for me to say it. I think the necessity +for speech arose when I found I could not go to chapel.”</p> + +<p>“My dear Betty!” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“There were one or two nights,” continued Betty, “when I could not +attend.”</p> + +<p>“Betty,” said the voice of Fanny Crawford, “don’t you think this room is +a little hot, and that you are feeling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>slightly hysterical? Wouldn’t +you rather—rather go away?”</p> + +<p>“No, Fanny,” said Betty as she almost turned her back on the other girl. +Her nervousness had now left her, and she began to speak with her old +animation. “May I repeat a part of Rule No. I.: ‘Each girl who is a +member of the Specialities keeps no secret to herself which the other +members ought to know’?”</p> + +<p>“That is perfectly true,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“I <i>have</i> a secret,” said Betty. After having uttered these words she +looked straight before her. “At one time,” she continued, “I thought I’d +tell. Then I thought I wouldn’t. Now I am going to tell. I could have +told Mrs. Haddo had I seen enough of her—and you, Margaret, if ever you +had drawn me out. I could have told you two quite differently from the +manner in which I am going to tell that which I ought to speak of. I +stand now before the rest of you members of the Speciality Club as +guilty, for I have deliberately broken Rule No. I.”</p> + +<p>“Go on, Betty,” said Margaret. She pushed a chair towards the girl, +hoping she would put her hand upon it in order to steady herself.</p> + +<p>But Betty seemed to have gathered firmness and strength from her +determination to speak out. She was trembling no longer, nor was her +face so deadly pale. “I will tell you all my secret,” she said. “Before +I came here I had great trouble. One I loved most dearly and who was a +mother to me, died. She died in a little lonely house in Scotland. She +was poor, and could not do much either for my sisters or myself. Before +her death she sent for me one day, and told me that we should be poor, +but she hoped we would be well-educated; and then she said that she was +leaving us girls something of value which was in a small, brown, sealed +packet, and that the packet was to be found in a certain drawer in her +writing-table. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>She told me that it would be of great use to us three +when we most needed it.</p> + +<p>“We were quite heartbroken when she died. I left her room feeling +stunned. Then I thought of the packet, and I went into the little +drawing-room where all my aunt’s treasures were kept. It was dusk when I +went in. I found the packet, and took it away. I meant to keep it +carefully. I did keep it carefully. I still keep it carefully. I don’t +know what is in it.</p> + +<p>“I have told you as much as I can tell you with regard to the packet, +but there is something else to follow. I had made up my mind to keep the +packet, being fully persuaded in my heart that Aunt Frances meant me to +do so; but when Sir John Crawford came to Aberdeenshire, and visited +Craigie Muir, and spent a night with us in the little gray house +preparatory to bringing us to Haddo Court, he mentioned that he had +received, amongst different papers of my aunt’s, a document or letter—I +forget which—alluding to this packet. He said she was anxious that the +packet should be carefully kept for me and for my sisters, and he asked +me boldly and directly if I knew anything about it. I don’t excuse +myself in the least, and, as a matter of fact, I don’t blame myself. I +told him I didn’t know anything about it. He believed me. You see, +girls, that I told a lie, and was not at all sorry.</p> + +<p>“We came here. I put the packet away into a safe hiding-place. Then, +somehow or other, you all took me up and were specially kind to me, and +I think my head was a bit turned; it seemed so charming to be a +Speciality and to have a great deal to do with you, Margaret, and indeed +with you all more or less. So I said to myself, I haven’t broken Rule +No. I., for that rule says that ‘no secret is to be kept by one +Speciality from another if the other ought really to know about it.’ I +tried to persuade myself that you need not know about the packet—that +it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>was no concern of yours. But, somehow, I could not go on. There was +something about the life here, and—and Mrs. Haddo, and the chapel, and +you, Margaret, which made the whole thing impossible. I have not been +one scrap frightened into telling you this. But now I have told you. I +do possess the packet, and I did tell a lie about it. That is all.”</p> + +<p>Betty ceased speaking. There was profound stillness in the room.</p> + +<p>Then Margaret said very gently, “Betty, I am sure that I am speaking in +the interests of all who love you. You will tell this story to-morrow +morning to dear Mrs. Haddo, and it will rest with her whether you remain +a member of the Specialities or not. Your frank confession to us, +although it is a little late in the day, and the peculiar circumstances +attending your gaining possession of the packet, incline us to be +lenient to you—if only, Betty, you will now do the one thing left to +you, and give the packet up—put it, in short, into Mrs. Haddo’s hands, +so that she may keep it until Sir John Crawford, who is your guardian, +returns.”</p> + +<p>Betty’s face had altered in expression. The sweetness and penitence had +gone. “I have told you everything,” she said. “I should have told you long +ago. I blame myself bitterly for not doing so. But I may as well add +that this story is not for Mrs. Haddo; that what I tell you in +confidence you cannot by any possibility relate to her—for that, +surely, must be against the rules of the club; also, that I will not +give the packet up, nor will I tell any one in this room where I have +hidden it.”</p> + +<p>If Betty Vivian had looked interesting, and in the opinion of some of +the girls almost penitent, up to this moment, she now looked so no +longer. The expression on her face was bold and defiant. Her curious +eyes flashed fire, and a faint color came into her usually pale cheeks. +She had never looked more beautiful, but the spirit of defiance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>was in +her. She was daring the school. She meant to go on daring it.</p> + +<p>The girls were absolutely silent. Never before in their sheltered and +quiet lives had they come across a character like Betty’s. Such a +character was bound to interest them from the very first. It interested +them now up to a point that thrilled them. They could scarcely contain +themselves. They considered Betty extremely wicked; but in their hearts +they admired her for this, and wondered at her amazing courage.</p> + +<p>Margaret, who saw deeper, broke the spell. “Betty,” she said, “will you +go away now? You have told us, and we understand. We will talk this +matter over, and let you know our decision to-morrow. But, first, just +say once again what you have said already—that you will not give the +packet up, nor tell any one where you have hidden it.”</p> + +<p>“I have spoken,” answered Betty; “further words are useless.”</p> + +<p>She walked towards the door. Susie Rushworth sprang to open it for her. +She passed out, and walked proudly down the corridor. The remaining +girls were left to themselves.</p> + +<p>Margaret said, “Well, I am bewildered!”</p> + +<p>The others said nothing at all. This evening was one of the most +exciting they had ever spent. What were “telegrams” or any stupid games +compared to that extraordinary girl and her extraordinary revelation?</p> + +<p>Margaret was, of course, the first to recover her self-control. “Now, +girls,” she said, “we must talk about this; and, first, I want to ask a +question: Was there any member of the Specialities who knew of this—I +am afraid I must call it by its right name—this crime of Betty +Vivian’s?”</p> + +<p>“I knew,” said Fanny. Her voice was very low and subdued.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p><p>“Then, Fanny, please come forward and tell us what you knew.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think I can add to Betty’s own narrative,” said Fanny, “only I +happened to be a witness to the action. I was lying down on the sofa in +the little drawing-room at Craigie Muir when Betty stole in and took the +packet out of Miss Vivian’s writing-table drawer. She did not see me, +and went away at once, holding the packet in her hand. I thought it +queer of her at the time, but did not feel called upon to make any +remark. You must well remember, girls, that I alone of all the +Specialities was unwilling to have Betty admitted as a member of the +club. I could see by your faces that you were surprised at my conduct. +You were amazed that I, her cousin, should have tried to stop Betty’s +receiving this extreme honor. I did so because of that packet. The +knowledge that she had taken it oppressed me in a strange way at the +time, but it oppressed me much more strongly when my father said to me +that there was a little sealed packet belonging to Miss Vivian which +could not be found. I immediately remembered that Betty had taken away a +sealed packet. I asked him if he had spoken about it, and he said he +had; in especial he had spoken to Betty, who had denied all knowledge of +it.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Margaret, “she told us that herself to-night. You have not +added to or embellished her story or strengthened it in any way, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“I know that,” said Fanny. “But I have to add now that I did not wish +her to join the club, and did my very utmost to dissuade her. When I saw +that it was useless I held my tongue; but you must all have noticed +that, although she is my cousin, we have not been special friends.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, we have noticed it,” said Olive gloomily, “and—and wondered at +it,” she continued.</p> + +<p>“I am sorry for Betty, of course,” continued Fanny.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><p>“It was very fine of her to confess when she did,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“It would have been fine of her,” replied Fanny, “if she had carried her +confession to its right conclusion—if what she told us she had told to +Mrs. Haddo and given up the packet. Now, you see, she refuses to do +either of these things; so I don’t see that her confession amounts to +anything more than a mere spirit of bravado.”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, I cannot agree with you there,” said Margaret. “It is my opinion +(of course, not knowing all the circumstances) that Betty’s sin +consisted in telling your father a lie—not in taking the little packet, +which she believed she had a right to keep. But we need not discuss her +sins, for we all of us have many—perhaps many more than poor dear Betty +Vivian. What we must consider is what we are to do at the present time. +The Specialities have hitherto kept constantly to their rules. I greatly +fear, girls, that we cannot keep Betty as a member of the club unless +she changes her mind with regard to the packet. If she does, I think I +must put it to the vote whether we will overlook this sin of hers and +keep her as one of the members, for we love her notwithstanding her +sin.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, put it to the vote—put it to the vote!” said Susie Rushworth.</p> + +<p>Again all hands were raised except Fanny’s.</p> + +<p>“Fan—Fanny Crawford, you surely agree with us?” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“No, I do not,” said Fanny. “I think if the club is worth anything we +ought not to have a girl in it who told a lie.”</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Margaret, “don’t you remember that very old story: ‘Let him +who is without sin among you cast the first stone’?” Then she continued, +speaking in her sweet and noble voice, “I will own there is something +about Betty which most wonderfully attracts me.”</p> + +<p>“That sort of charm is fatal,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p><p>“But,” continued Margaret, taking no notice of Fanny’s remark, “that +sort of charm which she possesses, that sort of fascination—call it +what you will—may be at once her ruin or her salvation. If we +Specialities are unkind to her now, if we don’t show her all due +compassion and tenderness, she may grow hard. We are certainly bound by +every honorable rule not to mention one word of this to Mrs. Haddo or to +any of the teachers. Are we, or are we not, to turn our backs on Betty +Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“If she confesses,” said Fanny, “and returns the packet, you have +already decided by a majority of votes to allow her to retain her +position in the club.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Margaret, “that is quite true. But suppose she does not +confess, suppose she sticks to her resolve to keep the packet and not +tell any one where she has hidden it, what then?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, what then?” said they all.</p> + +<p>Olive, the Bertrams, Susie, Martha, Margaret herself, looked full of +trouble. Fanny’s cheeks were pink with excitement. She had never liked +Betty. In her heart of hearts she knew that she was full of uncharitable +thoughts against her own cousin. And how was it, notwithstanding Betty’s +ignoble confession, the other girls still loved her?</p> + +<p>“What do you intend to do, supposing she does not confess?” said Fanny +after a pause.</p> + +<p>“In that case,” answered Margaret, “having due regard to the rules of +the club, I fear we have no alternative—she must resign her membership, +she must cease to be a Speciality. We shall miss her, and beyond doubt +we shall still love her. But she must not continue to be a Speciality +unless she restores the packet.”</p> + +<p>Fanny simulated a slight yawn. She knew well that Betty’s days as a +Speciality were numbered.</p> + +<p>“She was so brilliant, so vivid!” exclaimed Susie.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>“There was no one like her,” said Olive, “for suggesting all kinds of +lovely things. And then her story-telling—wasn’t she just glorious!”</p> + +<p>“We mustn’t think of any of those things,” said Margaret. “But I think +we may all pray—yes, pray—for Betty herself. I, for one, love her +dearly. I love her notwithstanding what she said to-night.”</p> + +<p>“I think it was uncommonly plucky of her to stand up and tell us what +she did,” remarked Martha, speaking for the first time. “She needn’t +have done it, you know. It was entirely a case of conscience.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is it; it was fine of her,” said Margaret. “Now, girls, +suppose we have a Speciality meeting to-morrow night? You know by our +rules we are allowed to have particular meetings. I will give my room +for the purpose; and suppose we ask Betty to join us there?”</p> + +<p>“Agreed!” said they all; and after a little more conversation the +Specialities separated, having no room in their hearts for games or any +other frivolous nonsense that evening.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>AFTERWARDS</h3> + +<p>When Betty had made her confession, and had left Susie Rushworth’s room, +she went straight to bed; she went without leave, and dropped +immediately into profound slumber. When she awoke in the morning her +head felt clear and light, and she experienced a sense of rejoicing at +what she had done.</p> + +<p>“I have told them, and they know,” she said to herself. “I have given +them the whole story in a nutshell. I don’t really care what follows.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>Mingled with her feeling of rejoicing was a curious sense of defiance. +Her sisters asked her what was the matter. She said “Nothing.” They +remarked on her sound sleep of the night before, on the early time she +had retired from the Specialities’ meeting. They again ventured to ask +if anything was the matter. She said “No.”</p> + +<p>Then Sylvia began to break a very painful piece of information: +“Dickie’s gone!”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Betty, her eyes flashing with anger, “how can you possibly +have been so careless as to let the spider loose?”</p> + +<p>“He found a little hole just above the door in the attic, and crept into +it, and we couldn’t get him out,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“No, he wouldn’t come out,” added Hetty, “though we climbed on two +chairs, one on top of the other, and poked at him with a bit of stick.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I dare say he’s all right now,” said Betty. “You will probably find +him again to-day. He’s sure to come for his raw meat.”</p> + +<p>“But don’t you care, Bet? Won’t it be truly awful if our own Dickie is +dead?”</p> + +<p>“Dead! He won’t die,” said Betty; “but there’s quite a possibility he +may frighten some one. I know one person I’d like to frighten.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Bet, who do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“That horrid girl—that cousin of ours, Fanny Crawford.”</p> + +<p>“We don’t like her either,” said the twins.</p> + +<p>“She’d be scared to death at Dickie,” said Betty. “She’s a rare old +coward, you know. But never mind, don’t bother; you’ll probably find him +this morning when you go up with his raw meat. He’s sure to come out of +his hole in order to get his food.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>“I don’t think so,” said Hester in a gloomy voice; “for there are lots +and lots of flies in that attic, and Dickie will eat them and think them +nicer than raw meat.”</p> + +<p>“Well, it’s time to go downstairs now,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>She was very lively and bright at her lessons all day, and forgot Dickie +in the other cares which engrossed her mind. That said mind was in a +most curious state. She was at once greatly relieved and rebellious. +Sylvia and Hetty watched her, when they could, from afar. Betty’s life +as a member of the Specialities separated her a good deal from her +sisters. She seldom saw them during the working-hours; but they were +quite happy, for they had made some friends for themselves, and the +three were always together at night. Betty was not specially reproachful +of herself on their account. She could not help being cleverer than +they, more brilliant, more able on all occasions to leap to a right +conclusion—to discover the meaning of each involved mystery as it was +presented to her. All the teachers remarked on her great intelligence, +on her curious and wonderful gift for dramatization. The girls in her +form were expected once a week to recite from Shakespeare; and Betty’s +recitations were sufficiently striking to arrest the attention of the +entire room. She flung herself into the part. She was Desdemona, she was +Portia, she was Rosalind. She was whatever character she wished to +personate. Once she chose that of Shylock; and most uncanny became the +expression of her face, and her words were hurled forth with a defiance +worthy of the immortal Jew.</p> + +<p>All these things made Betty a great favorite with the teachers as well +as with the girls. She was, as a rule, neither cross nor bad-tempered. +She was not vain for her gifts. She was always ready to help the others +by every means in her power.</p> + +<p>During recess that day Betty received a small three-cornered note in +Margaret Grant’s handwriting. She <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>opened it, and saw that it was a +brief request that she, Betty Vivian, should meet Margaret and the other +members of the Speciality Club in Margaret’s room at half-past seven +that evening. “Our meeting will be quite informal, but we earnestly beg +for your attendance.”</p> + +<p>Betty slipped the note into her pocket. As she did so she observed that +Fanny Crawford’s eyes were fixed on her.</p> + +<p>“Are you going to attend?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“You will know,” replied Betty, “when you go into the room to-night at +half-past seven and find me there or not there. Surely that is enough +for you!”</p> + +<p>“Thanks!” replied Fanny. Then, summoning a certain degree of courage, +she came a step nearer. “Betty, if I might consult with you, if I might +warn you——”</p> + +<p>“But as you may not consult with me, and as you may not warn me, there +is nothing to be done, is there?” said Betty. “Hallo!” she cried the +next minute, as a schoolgirl whose friendship she had made during the +last day or two appeared in sight, “I want to have a word with you, +Jessie. Forgive me, Fan; I am very much occupied just at present.”</p> + +<p>“Her fall is certain,” thought Fanny to herself. “I wonder how she will +like what lies before her to-night. I at least have done my best.”</p> + +<p>Punctual to the hour, the Specialities met in Margaret’s room. There was +no supper on this occasion, nor any appearance of festivity. The pretty +flowers which Margaret usually favored were conspicuous by their +absence. Even the electric light was used but sparingly. None of the +girls dressed for this evening, but wore their usual afternoon frocks. +Betty, however, wore white, and walked into the room with her head well +erect and her step firm.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, Betty, won’t you?” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“Thanks, Margaret!” answered Betty; and she sank into a chair. She chose +one that was in such a position <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>that she could face the six girls who +were now prepared to judge her on her own merits. She looked at them +very quietly. Her face was pale, and her eyes not as bright as usual.</p> + +<p>“I am deputed by the others to speak to you, Betty,” said Margaret. “We +will make no comment whatsoever with regard to what you told us last +night. It isn’t for us to punish you for having told a lie. We have +ourselves done very wrong in our lives, and we doubtless have not been +tempted as you have been; and then, Betty Vivian, I can assure you that, +although you have been but a short time in the school, we all—I think I +may say all—love you.”</p> + +<p>Betty’s eyes softened. She hitched her chair round a little, so that she +no longer saw Fanny, but could look at Margaret Grant and Martha West, +who were sitting side by side. Susie’s pretty face was fairly shining +with eagerness, and Olive’s eyes were full of tears. The Bertrams +clasped each other’s hands, and but for Margaret’s restraining presence +would have rushed to Betty’s there and then and embraced her.</p> + +<p>“But,” said Margaret, “although we do love you—and I think will always +love you, Betty—we must do our duty by the club. You confessed a sin to +us—not at the time, as you ought to have done, but later on. No one +compelled you to confess what you did last night. There was no outside +pressure brought to bear on you. It must have been your conscience.”</p> + +<p>“I told you so,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“Therefore,” continued Margaret, “your conscience must be very +wide-awake, Betty, and you have done—well, so far—very nobly; so nobly +that nothing will induce us to ask you to withdraw from our club, +provided——”</p> + +<p>Betty’s eyes brightened, and some of the tension in her face relaxed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p><p>“I have taken the votes of the members on that point,” Margaret +continued, “therefore I know what I am speaking about. What we do most +emphatically require is that you carry your confession to its logical +conclusion—that what you have said to us you say to the kindest woman +in all the world, to dear Mrs. Haddo, and that you put the little packet +which has cost you such misery into Mrs. Haddo’s hands. Don’t speak for +a minute, please, Betty. We have been praying about you, all of us; we +have been longing—longing for you to do this thing. Please don’t speak +for a minute. It is not in our power to turn you from the school, nor to +relate to Mrs. Haddo nor to any of the teachers what you have told us. +But we can dismiss you from the Speciality Club—that does lie in our +province; and we must do so, bitterly as we shall regret it, if you do +not carry your confession to its logical conclusion.”</p> + +<p>“Then I must go,” said Betty very gently.</p> + +<p>“Oh Betty!” exclaimed Olive; and she burst into a flood of weeping. +“Dear, dear, dear Betty, don’t go—please don’t go!”</p> + +<p>“We will all support you if you are nervous,” continued Margaret. “I +think we may say we will all support you, and Mrs. Haddo is so sweet; +and then, if you want to see him, there’s Mr. Fairfax, who could tell +you what to do better than we can. Don’t decide now, dear Betty. Please, +please consider this question, and let us know.”</p> + +<p>“But I have decided,” said Betty. “I told you what I thought right. I +love the club, and every single member of it—except my cousin, Fanny +Crawford. I don’t love Fanny, and she doesn’t love me—I say so quite +plainly; therefore, once again, I break Rule I. You see, girls, I cannot +stay. I must become again an undistinguished member of this great +school. Don’t suppose it will hurt my vanity; but it will touch deeper +things in me, and I shall never, never forget your kindness. I can by no +possibility do more than I have done. Good-bye, dear <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>Margaret; I am +more than sorry that I have given you all this trouble.”</p> + +<p>As Betty spoke she unclasped the little silver true-lover’s knot from +the bosom of her dress and put it into Margaret’s hand. Then she walked +out of the room, a Speciality no longer.</p> + +<p>When she had gone, the girls talked softly together. They were terribly +depressed.</p> + +<p>“We never had a member like her. What a pity our rules are so strict!” +said Olive.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, Olive!” said Margaret. “We must do our best, our very best; +and even yet I have great hopes of Betty. She can be re-elected some +day, perhaps.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, she is like no one else!” said one girl after another.</p> + +<p>The girls soon dispersed; but as Fanny was going to her room Martha West +joined her. “Fanny,” she said, “I, as the youngest member of the +Specialities, would like to ask you a question. Why is it that your +cousin dislikes you so much?”</p> + +<p>“I can’t tell,” replied Fanny. “I have always tried to be kind to her.”</p> + +<p>“But you don’t cordially like her yourself!”</p> + +<p>“That is quite true,” said Fanny; “but then I have seen her at home, +when you have not. She has great gifts of fascination; but I know her +for what she really is.”</p> + +<p>“When you speak like that, Fanny Crawford, I no longer like you,” +remarked Martha; and she walked away in the direction of her room.</p> + +<p>All the Speciality girls, including Betty, were present at prayers in +the chapel that evening. Betty sat a little apart from her companions, +she stood apart from them, she prayed apart from them. She seemed like +one isolated and alone. Her face was very white, her eyes large and dark +and anxious. From time to time the girls who loved her looked at her +with intense compassion. But Fanny <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>gave her very different glances. +Fanny rejoiced in her discomfort, and heartily hoped that she would now +lose her prestige in the school.</p> + +<p>Until the advent of Betty Vivian, Fanny was rather a favorite at Haddo +Court. She was certainly not the least bit original. She was prim and +smug and self-satisfied to the last degree, but she always did the right +thing in the right way. She always looked pretty, and no one ever +detected any fault in her. Her mistresses trusted her, and some of the +girls thought it worth their while to become chums with her.</p> + +<p>Fanny, however, now saw at a glance that she was in the black looks of +the other Specialities. This fact angered her uncontrollably, and she +made up her mind to bring Betty to further shame. It was not sufficient +that she should be expelled from the Speciality Club; the usual formula +must be gone through. All the girls knew of this formula; and they all, +with the exception of Fanny, wished it not to be observed in the case of +Betty Vivian. But Fanny knew her power, and was resolved to use it. The +Speciality Club exercised too great an influence in the school for its +existence to be lightly regarded. A member of the club, as has been +said, enjoyed many privileges besides being accorded certain exemptions +from various irksome duties. It was long, long years since any member +had been dismissed in disgrace; it was certainly not within the memory +of any girl now in the school. But Fanny had searched the old annals, +and had come across the fact that about thirty years ago a Speciality +had done something which brought discredit on herself and the club, and +had therefore been expelled; she had also discovered that the fact of +her expulsion had been put up in large letters on a blackboard. This +board hung in the central hall, and generally contained notices of +entertainments or class-work of a special order for the day’s programme. +Miss Symes wrote out this programme day by day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>On the morning after Betty had been expelled from the Specialities, +Fanny ran up to Miss Symes. “By the way,” she said, “I am afraid you will +have to do it, for it is the rule of the club.”</p> + +<p>“I shall have to do what, my dear Fanny?”</p> + +<p>“You will just have to say, please, on the blackboard that Betty Vivian +is no longer a member of the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes stopped writing. She was busily engaged notifying the hour of +a very important German lesson to be given by a professor who came from +town. “What do you mean, Fanny?”</p> + +<p>“What I say. By the rules of the club we can give no reasons, but must +merely state that Betty Vivian is no longer a member. It ought to be +known. Will you write it on the blackboard?”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes looked at Fanny with a curious expression on her face. “Thank +you for telling me,” she said. She then crossed the great hall to where +Margaret and some other girls of the Specialities were assembled. She +told Margaret what Fanny had already imparted to her, and asked if it +was true.</p> + +<p>“It is true, alas!” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“But I thought Betty was such a prime favorite with you all,” said Miss +Symes; “and she really is such a sweet girl! I have never been more +attracted by any one.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot give you any particulars, Miss Symes; but I think we have done +right,” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“If you have had any hand in it, dear, I make no doubt on the subject,” +replied Miss Symes. “It is a sad pity. Fanny says it is one of your +rules that an expelled member has her name published on the blackboard, +the fact being also stated that she has been expelled.”</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Margaret, “that is a very old rule. We don’t want it to be +carried into effect in Betty’s case.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p><p>“But if it is a rule, dear, and if it has never been abolished——”</p> + +<p>“It has not been abolished,” said Margaret. “It would distress Betty +very much.”</p> + +<p>“Nevertheless, Margaret, if it is right to expel Betty it is right to +publish that fact on the blackboard, always provided it is a rule of the +Specialities.”</p> + +<p>“I am afraid it is a rule,” said Margaret. “But we are all unhappy about +her. We hate having her expelled.”</p> + +<p>“Can I help you in any way, dear Margaret?”</p> + +<p>“No, Miss Symes; no one can help us, and the deed is done now.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes went very slowly to the blackboard, and wrote on it simply: +“Betty Vivian has resigned her membership of the Speciality Club.”</p> + +<p>This notice caused flocks of girls to surround the blackboard during the +morning, and the news flew like wildfire all over the school. Betty +herself approached as an eager group were scrutinizing the words, saw +her name, read it calmly (her lips curling slightly with scorn), and +turned away. No one dared to question her, but all looked at her in +wonder.</p> + +<p>Betty went through her lessons with her accustomed force and animation, +and there was no difference to be observed between her manner of to-day +and that of yesterday. After school she very simply told her sisters +that she had withdrawn from the Specialities, and then begged of them +not to pursue the subject. “I am not going to explain,” she said, “so +you needn’t ask me. I shall have more time to devote to you in the +future, and that’ll be a good thing.” She then left them and went for a +long walk by herself.</p> + +<p>Now, it is one of those dreadful things which most surely happen to weak +human nature that when an evil and jealous and unkind thought gets into +the heart, that same thought, though quite unimportant at first, +gradually <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>increases in dimensions until it overshadows all other +thoughts and gains complete and overwhelming mastery of the mind. Had +any one said to Fanny Crawford a fortnight or three weeks before the +Vivians’ arrival at the school that she would have felt towards Betty as +she now did, Fanny would have been the first to recoil at the monstrous +fungus of hatred which existed in her mind. Had Betty been a very plain, +unattractive, uninteresting girl, Fanny would have patronized her, kept +her in her place, but at the same time been kind to her. But Fanny’s +rage towards Betty now was almost breaking its bounds. Was not Fanny’s +own father educating the Vivians? Was it not he who had persuaded Mrs. +Haddo to admit them to the school? She herself was the only daughter of +a rich and distinguished man. The Vivians were nobodies. Why should they +be fussed about, and talked of, and even loved—yes, loved—while she, +Fanny, was losing her friends? The thought was unbearable! Fanny had +managed by judicious precaution to get Betty to reveal part of her +secret, and Betty was no longer a member of the Specialities. Betty’s +name was on the blackboard too, and by no means honorably mentioned. But +more things could be done.</p> + +<p>For Fanny felt that the school was turning against her—the upper +school, whose praise she so prized. The Specialities asked her boldly +why she did not love Betty Vivian. There would be no peace for Fanny +until Mrs. Haddo knew everything, and dismissed the Vivians to another +school. This she would, of course, do at once if she knew the full +extent of Betty’s sin. Fanny felt that she must proceed very warily. +Betty had hidden the packet, and boldly declared that she would not give +it up to any one—that she would rather leave the Specialities than tell +her story to Mrs. Haddo and put the little sealed packet into her +keeping. Fanny’s present aim, therefore, was to find the packet. She +wondered how she could accomplish <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>this, and looked round her for a +ready tool. Presently she made up her mind that the one girl who might +help her was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was by no means strong-minded. Sibyl was +unpopular—she pined for notice. Sibyl adored Betty; but suppose—oh, +suppose!—Fanny could offer her, as a price for the dirty work she +wanted her to undertake, membership in the Speciality Club? Martha West +would be on Sibyl’s side, for Martha was always friendly to the plain, +uninteresting, somewhat lonely girl. Fanny felt at once that the one +tool who could further her aims was Sibyl Ray. There was no time to +lose.</p> + +<p>Sibyl had been frightfully perturbed at seeing Betty’s name on the +blackboard, and she was as eager to talk to Fanny as Fanny was pleased +to listen to her.</p> + +<p>“Oh Fan!” she said, running up to her on the afternoon of that same day, +“may I go for a very little walk with you? I do want to ask you about +poor darling Betty!”</p> + +<p>“Poor darling Betty indeed!” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Oh, but don’t you pity her? What can have happened to cause her to be +no longer a member of the Specialities?”</p> + +<p>“Now, Sibyl, you must be a little goose! Do you suppose for a moment it +is within my power to enlighten you?”</p> + +<p>“I suppose it isn’t; but I am very unhappy about her, and so are we all. +We are all fond of Betty. We think her wonderful.”</p> + +<p>Fanny was silent.</p> + +<p>“’Tis good of you, Fan, to let me walk with you!”</p> + +<p>“I have something to say to you, Sibyl; but before I begin you must +promise me most faithfully that you won’t repeat anything I am going to +say.”</p> + +<p>“Of course not,” said Sibyl. “As if I could!”</p> + +<p>“I don’t suppose you would dare. You see, I am one of the older girls of +the school, and have been a Speciality for some little time, and it +wouldn’t be at all to your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>advantage if you did anything to annoy me. I +should find out at once, for instance, if you whispered a syllable of +this to Martha West, Margaret Grant, or any other member of the +Speciality Club.”</p> + +<p>“I won’t! I won’t! You may trust me, indeed you may,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“I think I may,” answered Fanny, looking down at Sibyl’s poor little +apology of a face. “I think you are the sort who would be faithful.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl’s small heart swelled with pride. “Betty was kind to me too,” she +said; “and she did make me look nice—didn’t she?—when she suggested +that I should wear the marguerites.”</p> + +<p>“To tell you the truth, Sibyl, you were a figure of fun that night. +Betty was laughing in her sleeve at you all the time.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl colored, and her small light-blue eyes contracted. “Betty laughing +at me! I don’t believe it.”</p> + +<p>“Of course she was, child. We all spoke of it afterwards. Why, you don’t +know what you looked like when you came into the room in that green +dress, with that hideous wreath on your head.”</p> + +<p>“I know,” said Sibyl in a humble tone. “I couldn’t make it look all +right; but Betty took me behind a screen, and managed it in a twinkling, +and put a white sash round my waist, and—oh, I felt nice anyhow!”</p> + +<p>“I am glad you felt nice,” said Fanny, “for I can assure you it was more +than you looked.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Fanny, don’t hurt me! You know I can’t afford very pretty dresses +like you. We are rather poor at home, and there are so many of us.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t want to hurt you, child; only, haven’t you a grain of sense? +Don’t you know perfectly well why Betty wanted you to wear the wreath of +marguerites?”</p> + +<p>“Just because she was sweet,” said Sibyl, “and she thought I’d look +really nice in them.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p><p>“That is all you know! Now, recall something, Sibyl.”</p> + +<p>“Yes?”</p> + +<p>“Do you remember when you saw Betty stoop over that broken stump of the +old oak and take something out?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I do,” said Sibyl. “It was a piece of wood. I found it the +next day.”</p> + +<p>“Well, it wasn’t a piece of wood,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“What can you mean?” asked Sibyl. She stood perfectly still, staring at +her companion. Then she burst into a sort of frightened laugh. “But it +was a piece of wood, really,” she added. “You are mistaken, Fanny. Of +course you know a great deal, but even you can’t know more than I have +proved by my own eyesight. It looked in the distance like a small brown +piece of wood; and I asked Betty if it was, and she admitted it.”</p> + +<p>“Just like her! just like her!” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Well, then, the very next day,” continued Sibyl, “several girls and I +went to the old stump and poked and poked, and found it; so, you see——”</p> + +<p>“I don’t see,” replied Fanny. “And now, if you will allow me, Sibyl, and +if you won’t chatter quite so fast, I will tell you what I really do +know about this matter. I don’t think for a single moment—in fact, I am +certain—that Betty Vivian did not trouble herself to poke amongst +withered leaves in the stump of the old oak-tree in order to produce a +piece of sodden wood. There was something else; and when you asked her +if it was a piece of wood she told you—remember, Sibyl, this is in +absolute confidence—an untruth. Oh, I am trying to put it mildly; but I +must mention the fact—Betty told you an untruth. Did you observe, or +did you not, that she was excited and looked slightly annoyed when you +suddenly called to her and ran up to her side?”</p> + +<p>“I—yes, I think she did look a little put out; but then she is very +proud, is Betty, and I am not her special friend, although I love her so +hard,” replied Sibyl.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p><p>“She walked with you afterwards, did she not?”</p> + +<p>“Yes.”</p> + +<p>“She went towards the house with you?”</p> + +<p>“Of course. I have told you all that, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“When you both reached the gardens she suggested that you should wear +the marguerites in your hair?”</p> + +<p>“She did, Fanny; and I thought it was such a charming idea.”</p> + +<p>“Did it not once occur to you that she wanted to get you out of the way, +that she did not care one scrap how you looked at the Speciality +entertainment?”</p> + +<p>“That certainly did not occur to me,” answered Sibyl; then she added +stoutly, for she was a faithful little thing at heart, “and I don’t +believe it either.”</p> + +<p>“Well, believe it or not as you please; I know it to have been a fact. +And now I’ll just tell you something. You must never, never repeat it; +if you do, I sha’n’t speak to you again. I know what I am saying to be a +fact: I know the reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“Oh! oh!” said Sibyl. She colored deeply.</p> + +<p>“No longer a Speciality,” repeated Fanny; “and I know the reason why; +only, of course, I can never say. But there’s a vacancy in the +Speciality Club now for a girl who is faithful and zealous, and who can +prove herself my friend.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl’s heart began to beat very fast. “A vacancy in the Specialities!” +she said in a low tone.</p> + +<p>Fanny turned quickly round and faced her. “I could get you in if I +liked,” she said. “Would it suit you to be a Speciality?”</p> + +<p>“Would it suit me?” said Sibyl. “Oh Fanny, it sounds like heaven! I +don’t know what I wouldn’t do—I don’t know what I wouldn’t do to become +a member of that club.”</p> + +<p>“And Martha West would second any suggestions I made,” continued Fanny. +“Of course I don’t know that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>I could get you in; but I’d have a good +try, provided you help me now.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, what is it you want me to do?”</p> + +<p>“I want you, Sibyl, to use your intelligence; and I want you, all alone +and without consulting any one, to find out where Betty Vivian has put +the treasure which she told you was a piece of wood and which she hid in +the old oak stump. You can manage it quite well if you like.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t understand!” gasped Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“If you repeat a word of this conversation I shall use my influence to +have you boycotted in the school,” said Fanny. “My power is great to +help or to mar your career in the school. If you do what I want—well, +my dear, all I can say is this, that I shall do my utmost to get you +into the club. You cannot imagine how nice it is when you are a member. +Think what poor Betty has lost, and think how you will feel when you are +a Speciality and she is not.”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know that I shall feel anything,” replied Sibyl. “Somehow or +other, I don’t like this thing you want me to do, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>“Well, don’t do it. I will get some one else.”</p> + +<p>“And, in the second place,” continued Sibyl, “even if I were willing to +do it, I don’t know how. If Betty chooses to hide things—parcels or +anything of that sort—I can’t find out where she puts them.”</p> + +<p>“You can watch her,” said Fanny. “Now, if you have any gumption about +you—and it is my strong belief that you have—you will be able to tell +me this time to-morrow something about Betty Vivian and her movements. +If by this time to-morrow you know nothing—why, I will relieve you of +the task, and you will be as you were before. But if, on the other hand, +you help me to save the honor of a great school—which is, I assure you, +at the present moment in serious peril—I shall do my utmost to get you +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>admitted to the Speciality Club. Now, I think that is all.”</p> + +<p>As Fanny concluded she shouted to Susie Rushworth, who was going towards +the arbor at the top of the grounds, and Sibyl found herself all alone. +Fanny had taken her a good long way. They had passed through a +plantation of young fir-trees to one of the vegetable-gardens, and +thence through an orchard, where the grass was long and dank at this +time of year. Somehow or other, Sibyl felt chilled to the bone and very +miserable. She had never liked Fanny less than she did at this moment. +But she was not strong-minded, and Fanny was one of the most important +girls in the school. She was rich, her father was a man of great +distinction; she might be head-girl of the school, and probably would +when Margaret Grant left; she was also quite an old member of the +Specialities. Besides Fanny, even Martha West seemed to fade into +insignificance. It was as though the friend of the Prime Minister—the +greatest possible friend—had held out a helping hand to a struggling +nobody, and offered that nobody a dazzling position. Sibyl was that poor +little nobody, and Fanny’s words were weighted with such power that the +girl trembled and felt herself shaking all over.</p> + +<p>Sibyl’s love for Martha was innocent, pure, and good. Her admiration for +Betty was the generous and romantic affection which a little schoolgirl +gives to another girl older than herself who is both brilliant and +captivating. But, after all, Betty had lost her sceptre and laid down +her crown. Betty, for some extraordinary reason, was in disgrace, and +Fanny was in the zenith of her power. It would be magnificent to be a +Speciality! How those girls who thought little or nothing of Sibyl now +would admire her when she passed into that glorious state! She thought +of herself as joining the other Specialities in arranging programmes, in +devising entertainments; she thought of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>the privileges which would be +hers; she thought of that delightful private sitting-room into which she +had once dared to peep, and then shot out her little face again, +half-terrified at her own audacity. There was no one in the room at the +moment; but it did look cosy—the chairs so easy and comfortable, and +all covered with such a delicate shade of blue. Sibyl knew that blue +became her. She thought how nice she would look sitting in one of those +chairs and being hail-fellow-well-met with Margaret Grant, and Martha +her own friend, and all the others. Even Betty would envy her then. She +and Betty would change places. It would be her part to advise Betty what +to do and what to wear. Oh, it was a very dazzling prospect! And she +could gain the coveted distinction—but how?</p> + +<p>Sibyl felt her heart beating very fast. She had not been trained in a +high school of morals. Her father was a very hard-working clergyman with +a large family of eight children. Her mother was dead; her elder sisters +were earning their own living. Mrs. Haddo had heard of Sibyl, and had +taken her into the school on special terms, feeling sure that charity +was well expended in such a case. Mr. Ray was far too busy over his +numerous duties to look after Sibyl as her mother would have done had +she lived. The little girl was brought up anyhow, and her new life at +Haddo Court was a revelation to her in more ways than one. She was not +pretty; she was not clever; she was not strong-minded; she was very +easily influenced. A good girl could have done much for her—Martha had +done her very best; but a bad girl could do even more.</p> + +<p>While Sibyl was dallying with temptation, thinking to herself how +attractive it would be to feel such an important person as Fanny +Crawford, she looked down from the height where she was standing and saw +Betty Vivian walking slowly across the common.</p> + +<p>Betty was alone. Her head was slightly bent, but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>rest of her young +figure was bolt upright. She was going towards the spot where those +sparse clumps of heather occupied their neglected position at one side +of the “forest primeval.”</p> + +<p>When first Sibyl saw Betty her heart gave a great throb of longing to +rush to her, to fling her arms round her, to kiss her, to cling to her +side. But she suppressed that impulse. She loved Betty, but she was +afraid of her. Betty was the last sort of girl to put up with what she +considered liberties; Sibyl was a person to whom she was utterly +indifferent, and she would by no means have liked Sibyl to kiss her. +From Sibyl’s vantage-ground, therefore, she watched Betty, herself +unseen. Then it suddenly occurred to her that she might continue to +watch her, but from a more favorable point of view.</p> + +<p>There was a little knoll at one end of the orchard, and there was a very +old gnarled apple-tree at the edge of the knoll. If Sibyl ran fast she +could climb into the apple-tree and look right down on to the common. No +sooner did the thought come to her than she resolved to act on it. +Knowledge is always power, and she need not tell Fanny anything at all +unless she liked. She could be faithful to poor Betty, who was in +disgrace, and at the same time she might know something about her. It +was so very odd that Betty was expelled from the Specialities. She could +not possibly have resigned, for had she done so there would have been a +great fuss, and everything would have been explained to the satisfaction +of the school; whereas that mysterious sentence on the blackboard left +the whole thing involved in darkest night. What had Betty done? Had she +really told a lie about what she had found in the old stump of oak? Was +it not a piece of wood after all? Had she really sent Sibyl into the +flower-garden to gather marguerites and make herself a figure of fun at +the Specialities’ entertainment? Had she done it to get rid of her just +because—because she wanted—she wanted to remove <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>something from the +stump of the old oak-tree? Oh, if Betty were that sort—if it were +possible—even Sibyl Ray felt that she could not love her any longer! It +was Fanny, after all, who was a noble girl. Fanny wanted to get to the +bottom of things. Fanny herself could not do what an unimportant little +girl like Sibyl could do. After all, there was nothing shabby in it. If +it were shabby, Fanny Crawford, the last girl in the school to do wrong, +would not have asked her to attend to the matter.</p> + +<p>Sibyl therefore climbed into the old apple-tree and perched amongst its +branches, and gazed eagerly down on the bit of common land. She was far +nearer to Betty than Betty had the least idea of. She saw her walk +towards the pieces of heather, but could not, from her point of view, +see what the plants were. She had really no idea that there was any +special heather in the grounds; she was not interested in a stupid thing +like heather. But she did see Betty go on her knees, and she did see her +pull up a root of some sort or other, and she did see her take something +out and look at it and put it back again. Then Betty returned very +slowly across the common towards the house.</p> + +<p>Sibyl was fairly panting now with excitement. Was there ever, ever in +all the world, such an easy way of becoming a Speciality? Betty had a +secret; and she, Sibyl, had found it out without the slightest +difficulty. Betty had hidden something in the old oak, and now she had +buried it under some plants at the edge of the common. Sibyl forgot +pretence, she forgot honor, she forgot everything but the luring voice +of Fanny Crawford and her keen desire to perfect her quest. At that time +of year few girls troubled themselves to walk across the “forest +primeval.” It was a sort of place that was pleasant enough in warm days +of summer, but damp and dull and dreary at this season, when the girls +of Haddo Court preferred the upper walks, or the hockey-ground, or the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>different places where the various games were played. Certainly the +“forest primeval” did not occupy much of their attention.</p> + +<p>It was getting a little dusk; but Sibyl, too excited to care, scrambled +down from her tree, and a few minutes later had dashed across the +common, and had discovered by the loosened earth the exact spot where +Betty had stooped. She was now beside herself with excitement. It was +her turn to go on her knees. She was doing good work; she was, according +to Fanny Crawford, saving the honor of the school. She poked and poked +with her fingers, and soon got up the already loosened roots of the +piece of heather. Down went her hard little hands into the cold clay +until at last they touched the tiny packet, which was sealed and tied +firmly with strong string.</p> + +<p>“Eureka! I have found it!” was Sibyl’s exclamation. She slipped the +packet into her pocket, put the heather back into its place, tried to +give the disturbed earth the appearance of not having been disturbed at +all, and went back to the house. She was so excited she could scarcely +contain herself.</p> + +<p>The days were getting shorter. Tea was at half-past four, and a kind of +light supper at seven o’clock. The girls of the lower school had this +meal a little earlier. Sibyl was just in time for tea, which was always +served in the great refectory; and here the various members of the upper +school were all assembled—except the Specialities, who had tea in their +own private room.</p> + +<p>“Well, Sibyl, you are late!” said Sarah Butt. “I wanted to take a long +walk with you. Where have you been?”</p> + +<p>“I have been for a walk with Fanny Crawford,” replied Sibyl with an +important air.</p> + +<p>Betty, who was helping herself to a cup of tea, glanced up at that +moment and fixed her eyes on Sibyl. Sibyl colored furiously and looked +away. Betty took no further notice of her, but began to chat with a girl +near her. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>Soon a crowd of girls collected round Betty, and laughed +heartily at her remarks.</p> + +<p>On any other occasion Sibyl would have joined this group, and been the +first to giggle over Betty’s witticisms. But the little parcel in her +pocket seemed to weigh like lead. It was a weight on her spirits too. +She was most anxious to deliver it over to Fanny Crawford, and to keep +Fanny to her word, in order that she might be proposed as a Speciality +at the next meeting. She knew this would not be until Thursday. Oh, it +was all too long to wait! But she could put on airs already, for would +she not very soon cease to be drinking this weak tea in the refectory? +Would she not be having her own dainty meal in the Specialities’ private +room?</p> + +<p>“How red you are, Sibyl!” was Sarah Butt’s remark. “I suppose the cold +wind has caught your cheeks.”</p> + +<p>“I wish you wouldn’t remark on my appearance,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Dear, dear! Hoity-toity! How grand we are getting all of a sudden!”</p> + +<p>“You needn’t snub me in the way you do, Sarah. You’ll be treating me +very differently before long.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed, your Royal Highness! And may I ask how and why?”</p> + +<p>“You may neither ask how nor why; but events will prove,” said Sibyl. +She raised her voice a little incautiously, and once again Betty looked +at her. There was something about Betty’s glance, at once sorrowful and +aloof, which stung Sibyl. Just because she had done Betty a wrong she no +longer loved her half as much as she had done. After a pause, she said +in a distinct voice, “I am a very great friend of Fanny Crawford, and I +am going to see her now on special business.” With these words she +marched out of the refectory.</p> + +<p>Some of the girls laughed. Betty was quite silent. No one dared question +Betty Vivian with regard to her withdrawal <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>from the Speciality Club, +nor did she enlighten them. But when tea was over she went up to Sylvia +and Hetty and said a few words to them both. They looked at her in +amazement, but made no kind of protest. After speaking to her sisters, +Betty left the refectory.</p> + +<p>“What can be the matter with your Betty?” asked one of the girls, +addressing the twins.</p> + +<p>“There’s nothing the matter with her,” said Sylvia in a stout voice.</p> + +<p>“Why are your eyes so red, then?”</p> + +<p>“My eyes are red because Dickie’s lost.”</p> + +<p>“Who’s Dickie?”</p> + +<p>“He is the largest spider I ever saw, and he grows bigger and fatter +every day. But he is lost. We brought him from Scotland. He’d sting any +one who tried to hurt him; so if any of you see him in your bedrooms or +hiding under your pillows you’d best shriek out, for he is a dangerous +sort, and ought not to be interfered with.”</p> + +<p>“How perfectly appalling!” said the girl now addressed. “You really +oughtn’t to keep horrid pets of that sort. And I loathe spiders.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, well, you’re not Scotch,” replied Sylvia with a disdainful gesture. +“Dickie is a darling to those he loves, but very fierce to those he +hates.”</p> + +<p>“And is that really why your eyes are so red?” continued the girl—Hilda +Morton by name. “Has it nothing to do with that wonderful sister of +yours, and the strange fact that she has been expelled from the +Speciality Club?”</p> + +<p>“She hasn’t been expelled!” said Sylvia in a voice of fury.</p> + +<p>“Don’t talk nonsense! The fact was mentioned on the blackboard. If you +don’t believe it, you can come and see for yourself.”</p> + +<p>“She has left the club, but was not expelled,” said Sylvia. “And I hate +you, Hilda! You have no right to speak of my sister like that.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p><p>Meanwhile two girls were pursuing their different ways. Betty was going +towards that wing of the building where Mr. Fairfax’s suite of rooms was +to be found. She had never yet spoken to him. She wished to speak to him +now. The rooms occupied by the Fairfaxes formed a complete little +dwelling, with its own kitchen and special servants. These rooms +adjoined the chapel; but his family lived apart from the school. It was +understood, however, that any girl at Haddo Court was at liberty to ask +the chaplain a question in a moment of difficulty.</p> + +<p>Betty now rang the bell of the little house. A neat servant opened the +door. On inquiring if Mr. Fairfax were within, Betty was told “Yes,” and +was admitted at once into that gentleman’s study.</p> + +<p>The clergyman rose at her entrance. He recognized her face, spoke to her +kindly, said he was glad she had come to see him, and asked her to sit +down. “Is anything the matter, my dear? Is there any way in which I can +help you?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know,” answered the girl. “I thought perhaps you could; it +flashed through my mind to-day that perhaps you could. You have seen me +in the chapel?”</p> + +<p>“Oh yes; yours is not the sort of face one is likely to forget.”</p> + +<p>“I am not happy,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“I am sorry to hear that. But don’t you agree with me that we poor human +creatures think too much of our own individual happiness and too little +of the happiness of others? It seems to me that the golden rule to live +by in this: Provided my brother is happy, all is well with me.”</p> + +<p>“That is true to a certain extent,” said Betty; “but—” She paused a +minute. Then she said abruptly, “I am not at all the cringing sort, and +I am not the girl to grumble, and I love Mrs. Haddo; and, sir, there +have been moments when your voice in chapel has given me great +consolation. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>I also love one or two of my schoolfellows. But the fact +is, there is something weighing on my conscience, and I cannot tell you +what it is. I cannot do the right thing, sir; and I do not see my way +ever to do what I suppose you would say was the right thing. I will tell +you this much about myself. You have heard of our Speciality Club?”</p> + +<p>“Of course I have.”</p> + +<p>“The girls were very good to me when I came here—for I am a comparative +stranger in the school—and they elected me to be a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed!” said Mr. Fairfax. “That is a very great honor.”</p> + +<p>“I know it is; and I was given the rules, and I read them all carefully. +But, sir, in a sudden moment of temptation, before I came to Haddo +Court, I did something which was wrong, and I am determined not to mend +my ways with regard to that matter. Nevertheless, I became a Speciality, +knowing that by so doing I should break the first rule of the club.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Fairfax was too courteous ever to interrupt any one who came to him +to talk over a difficulty. He was silent now, his hands clasped tightly +together, his deep-set eyes fixed on Betty’s vivid face.</p> + +<p>“I was a Speciality for about a fortnight,” she continued—“perhaps a +little longer. But at the last meeting I made up my mind that I could +not go on, so I told the girls what I had done. It is unnecessary to +trouble you with those particulars, sir. After I had told them they +asked me to leave the room, and I went. They had a special meeting of +the club last night to consult over my case, and I was invited to be +present. I was then told that, notwithstanding the fact that I had +broken Rule No. I., I might continue to be a member of the club if I +would give up something which I possess and to which I believe I have a +full right, and if I would relate my story <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>in detail to Mrs. Haddo. I +absolutely refused to do either of these things. I was then <i>expelled</i> +from the club, sir—that is the only word to use; and the fact was +notified on the blackboard in the great hall to-day.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Mr. Fairfax when Betty paused, “I understand that you +repent, and you do not repent, and that you are no longer a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“That is the case, sir.”</p> + +<p>“Can you not take me further into your confidence?”</p> + +<p>“There is no use,” said Betty, shaking her head.</p> + +<p>“I am not surprised, Miss Vivian, that you are unhappy.”</p> + +<p>“I am accustomed to that,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>“May I ask what you have come to see me about?”</p> + +<p>“I wanted to know this: ought I, or ought I not, being unrepentant of my +sin, to come to the chapel with the other girls, to kneel with them, to +pray with them, and to listen to your words?”</p> + +<p>“I must leave that to yourself. If your conscience says, ‘Come,’ it is +not for me to turn you out. But it is a very dangerous thing to trifle +with conscience. Of course you know that. I can see, too, that you are +peculiarly sensitive. Forgive me, but I have often noticed your face, +and with extreme interest. You have good abilities, and a great future +before you in the upward direction—that is, if you choose. Although you +won’t take me into your confidence, I am well aware that the present is +a turning-point in your career. You must at least know that I, as a +clergyman, would not repeat to any one a word of what you say to me. Can +you not trust me?”</p> + +<p>“No, no; it is too painful!” said Betty. “I see that, in your heart of +hearts, you think that I—I ought not—I ought <i>not</i> to come to chapel. +I am indeed outcast!”</p> + +<p>“No, child, you are not. Kneel down now, and let me pray with you.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p><p>“I cannot stand it—no, I cannot!” said Betty; and she turned away.</p> + +<p>When she had gone Mr. Fairfax dropped on his knees. He prayed for a long +time with fervor. But that night he missed Betty Vivian at prayers in +the beautiful little chapel.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Betty—struggling, battling with herself, determined not to +yield, feeling fully convinced that the only wrong thing she had done +was telling the lie to Sir John Crawford and prevaricating to Sibyl—was +nothing like so much to be pitied as Sibyl Ray herself.</p> + +<p>Sibyl had lingered about the different corridors and passages until she +found Fanny, who was talking to Martha West. Sibyl was so startled when +the two girls came out of the private sitting-room that she almost +squinted, and Fanny at once perceived that the girl had something +important to tell her. She must not, however, appear to notice Sibyl +specially in the presence of Martha.</p> + +<p>Martha, on the contrary, went up at once to Sibyl and said in her +pleasant voice, “Why, my dear child, it is quite a long time since we +have met! And now, I wonder what I can do for you or how I can possibly +help you. Would you like to come and have a cosy chat with me in my +bedroom for a little? The fact is this,” continued Martha: “we +Specialities are so terribly spoilt in the school that we hardly know +ourselves. Fancy having a fire in one’s bedroom, not only at night, but +at this hour! Would you like to come with me, Sib?”</p> + +<p>At another moment Sibyl would have hailed this invitation with rapture. +On the present occasion she was about to refuse it; but Fanny said with +a quick glance, which was not altogether lost on Martha, “Of course go +with Martha, Sibyl. You are in great luck to have such a friend.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl departed, therefore, very unwillingly, with the friend she had +once adored. Martha’s bedroom was very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>plain and without ornaments, but +there were snug easy-chairs and the fire burned brightly. Martha invited +the little girl to sit down, and asked her how she was.</p> + +<p>“Oh, I am all right,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>Martha looked at her attentively. “I don’t quite understand you, Sib. +You have rather avoided me during the last day or two. Is it because I +am a Speciality? I do hope that will make no difference with my old +friends.”</p> + +<p>“Oh no,” said Sibyl. “There’s nothing so wonderful in being a +Speciality, is there?”</p> + +<p>Martha stared. “Well, to me it is very wonderful,” she said; “and I +cannot imagine how those other noble-minded girls think me good enough +to join them.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Martha, are they so good as all that?”</p> + +<p>“They are,” said Martha; and her tone was very gloomy. She was thinking +of Betty, whom she longed to comfort, whom she earnestly longed to help.</p> + +<p>“It’s so queer about Betty,” said Sibyl after a pause. “She seemed to be +such a very popular Speciality. Then, all of a sudden, she ceased to be +one at all. I can’t understand it.”</p> + +<p>“And you are never likely to, Sibyl. What happens in the club is only +known to its members.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl grew red. What was coming over her? Two or three hours ago she was +a girl—weak, it is true; insignificant, it is true—with a passion for +Martha West and a most genuine love and admiration for Betty Vivian. Now +she almost disliked Betty; and she could not make out what charm she had +ever discovered in poor, plain Martha. She got up impatiently. “You will +forgive me, Martha,” she said; “but I have lots of things I want to do. +I don’t think I will stay just now. Perhaps you will ask me to come and +talk to you another day.”</p> + +<p>“No, Sibyl, I sha’n’t. When you want me you must try to find me +yourself. I don’t understand what is the matter with you to-day.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p><p>Sibyl grew that fiery red which always distressed her inexpressibly. The +next minute she had disappeared. She ran straight to Fanny’s room, +hoping and trusting that she might find its inmate within. She was not +disappointed, for Fanny was there alone; she was fully expecting Sibyl +to come and see her. To Sibyl’s knock she said, “Come in!” and the girl +entered at once.</p> + +<p>“Well?” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“I have done what you wanted,” said Sibyl. “I watched her, and I saw. +Afterwards I went to the place where she had hidden it. I took it. It is +in my pocket. Please take it from me. I have done what you wished. I +want to get rid of it, and never to think of it again. Fanny, when shall +I be elected a Speciality?”</p> + +<p>But Fanny did not speak. She had snatched the little packet from Sibyl’s +hand and was gazing at it, her eyes almost starting from her head.</p> + +<p>“When shall I become a Speciality?” whispered Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Don’t whisper, child! The Vivians’ room is next to mine. Sibyl, we must +keep this a most profound secret, I am awfully obliged to you! You have +been very clever and prompt. I don’t wish to ask any questions at all. +Thank you, Sibyl, from my heart. I will certainly keep my promise, and +at the next meeting will propose you as a member. Whether you are +elected or not must, of course, depend on the votes of the majority. In +the meanwhile forget all this. Be as usual with your schoolfellows. Rest +assured of my undying friendship and gratitude. Keep what you have done +a profound secret; if anything leaks out there is no chance of your +becoming a Speciality. Now, good-bye Sibyl. I mustn’t be seen to take +any special notice of you; people are very watchful in cases of this +sort. But remember, though I don’t talk to you a great deal, I shall be +your true friend; and after you have become a member of our club there +will, of course, be no difficulty.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p><p>“Oh, I should love to be a member!” said Sibyl. “I do so hate the tea in +the refectory, and you do seem to have such cosy times in your +sitting-room.”</p> + +<p>Fanny smiled very slightly. “May I give you one word of warning?” she +said. “You made a very great mistake to-day when you did not seem +willing to pay Martha West a visit. Your election depends far more on +Martha than on me. Between now and Thursday—when I mean to propose you +as a member in place of Betty Vivian, who has forfeited her right for +ever—Martha will be your most valuable ally. I do not say you will be +elected—for the rules of the club are very strict, and we are most +exclusive—but I will do my utmost.”</p> + +<p>“But you promised! I thought I was sure!” said Sibyl, beginning to +whimper.</p> + +<p>“Nonsense, nonsense, child! I said I would do my best. Now, keep up your +friendship with Martha—that is, if you are wise.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl left the room. Her momentary elation was over, and she began to +hate herself for what she had done. In all probability she would not be +elected a Speciality, and then what reward would she have for acting the +spy? She had acted the spy. The plain truth seemed now to flash before +her eyes. She had been very mean and hard; and she had taken something +which, after all, did not belong to her at all, and given it to Fanny. +She could never get that something back. She felt that she did not dare +to look at Betty Vivian. Why should not Betty hide things if she liked +in the stump of an old oak-tree or under a bit of tiresome heather in +the “forest primeval?” After all, Betty had not said the thing was wood; +but when Sibyl had asked her she had said, “Have it so if you like.” Oh! +Sibyl felt just now that she had been made a sort of cat’s-paw, and that +she did not like Fanny Crawford one bit.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + +<h3>A TURNING-POINT</h3> + +<p>After this exciting day matters seemed to move rather languidly in the +school. Betty was beyond doubt in low spirits. She did not complain; she +did not take any one into her confidence. Even to her sisters she was +gloomy and silent. She took long walks by herself. She neglected no +duty—that is, no apparent duty—and her lessons progressed swimmingly. +Her two great talents—the one for music, the other for recitation—were +bringing her into special notice amongst the different teachers. She was +looked upon by the educational staff as a girl who might bring marked +distinction to the school. Thus the last few days of that miserable week +passed.</p> + +<p>On Tuesday evening Miss Symes had a little talk with Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“What is it, dear St. Cecilia?” asked the head mistress, looking +lovingly into the face of her favorite teacher.</p> + +<p>“I am anxious about Betty,” was the reply.</p> + +<p>“Sit down, dear, won’t you? Emma, I have been also anxious. I cannot +understand why that notice was put up on the blackboard, and why Betty +has left the club. Have you any clue, dear?”</p> + +<p>“None whatsoever,” was Miss Symes’s answer. “Of course I, as a teacher, +cannot possibly question any of the girls, and they are none of them +willing to confide in me.”</p> + +<p>“We certainly cannot question them,” said Mrs. Haddo. “But now I wish to +say something to you. Betty has been absent from evening prayers at the +chapel so often lately that I think it is my duty to speak to her on the +subject.”</p> + +<p>“I have also observed that fact,” replied Miss Symes. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>“Betty does not +look well. There is something, beyond doubt, weighing on her mind. She +avoids her fellow-pupils, whereas she used to be, I may almost say, the +favorite of the school. She scarcely speaks to any one now. When she +walks she walks alone. Even her dear little sisters are anxious about +her; I can see it, although they are far too discreet to say a word. +Poor Betty’s little face seems to me to grow paler every day, and her +eyes more pathetic. Mrs. Haddo, can you not do something?”</p> + +<p>“You know, Emma, that I never force confidences; I think it a great +mistake. If a girl wishes to speak to me, she understands me well enough +to be sure I shall respect every word she says; otherwise, I think it +best to allow a girl of Betty Vivian’s age to fight out her difficulties +alone.”</p> + +<p>“As her teacher, I have nothing to complain of,” said Miss Symes. “She +is just brilliant. She seems to leap over mental difficulties as though +they did not exist. Her intuition is something marvellous, and she will +grasp an idea almost as soon as it is uttered. I should like you to hear +her play; it is a perfect delight to teach her; her little fingers seem +to be endowed with the very spirit of music. And then that delightful +voice of hers thrills one when she recites aloud, as she does twice a +week in my recitation-class. As a matter of fact, dear Mrs. Haddo, I am +deeply attached to Betty; but I feel there is something wrong just now.”</p> + +<p>“A turning-point,” said Mrs. Haddo. “How often we come to them in life!”</p> + +<p>“God grant she may take the right turning!” was Miss Symes’s remark. She +sat silent, gazing gloomily into the fire.</p> + +<p>“It is not like you, Emma, to be so despondent,” said the head mistress.</p> + +<p>“I cannot help feeling despondent, for I think there is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>mischief afoot +and that Betty is suffering. I wonder if——”</p> + +<p>At that moment there came a tap at the door. Mrs. Haddo said, “Come in,” +and Mr. Fairfax entered.</p> + +<p>“Ah,” said Mrs. Haddo, “you are just the very man we want, Mr. Fairfax! +Please sit down.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Fairfax immediately took the chair which was offered to him. “I have +come,” he said, “to speak to you and to Miss Symes with regard to one of +your pupils—Betty Vivian.”</p> + +<p>“How strange!” said Mrs. Haddo. “Miss Symes and I were talking about +Betty only this very moment. Can you throw any light on what is +troubling her?”</p> + +<p>“No,” said Mr. Fairfax. “I came here to ask if you could.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Well, you know in my capacity as chaplain different things come to my +ears; but I am under a promise not to repeat them. I am, however, under +no promise in this instance. I was walking through the shrubbery +half-an-hour ago—I was, in fact, thinking out the little address I want +to give the dear girls next Sunday morning—when I suddenly heard a low +sob. I paused to listen; it was some way off, but I heard it quite +distinctly. I did not like to approach—you understand one’s feeling of +delicacy in such a matter; but it came again, and was so very +heartrending that I could not help saying, ‘Who is there? Is any one in +trouble?’ To my amazement, a girl started to her feet; she had been +lying full-length, with her face downwards, on the damp grass. She came +up to me, and I recognized her at once. She was Betty Vivian. There was +very little light, but I could see that she was in terrible distress. +She could scarcely get out her words. ‘It is lost!’ she said—‘lost! +Some one has stolen it!’ And then she rushed away from me in the +direction of the house. I thought it my duty to come and tell you, Mrs. +Haddo. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>The girl’s grief was quite remarkable and out of the common. The +tone in which she said, ‘It is lost—lost!’ was tragic.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo sat very still for a minute. Then she said gently, “Would you +rather speak to her, or shall I?”</p> + +<p>“Under the circumstances,” said Mr. Fairfax, “it is only right for me to +say something more. Betty Vivian came to see me some days ago, and said +that she had been expelled from the Specialities; and she asked me if, +under such conditions, she ought to attend evening prayers in the +chapel. I begged for her full confidence. She would not give it.”</p> + +<p>“And what did you say about evening prayers?”</p> + +<p>“I said that was a matter between her own conscience and God. I could +not get anything further out of her; but since then you may have +observed that she has hardly attended chapel at all.”</p> + +<p>“I certainly have noticed it,” said Miss Symes.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo did not speak for a minute. Then she said in an authoritative +voice, “Thank you, Mr. Fairfax; I am deeply obliged to you for having +come to me and taken me so far into your confidence. Emma, will you ask +Betty to come to me here? If she resists, bring her, dear; if she still +resists, I will go to her. Dear Mr. Fairfax, we must pray for this +child. There is something very seriously wrong; but she has won my +heart, and I cannot give her up. Will you leave me also, dear friend, +for I must see Betty by herself?”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes immediately left the room. The clergyman shortly afterwards +followed her example.</p> + +<p>Of all the teachers, Miss Symes was the greatest favorite in the upper +school. She went swiftly through the lounge, where the girls were +usually to be found at this hour chatting, laughing, amusing themselves +with different games; for this was the relaxation-hour of the day, when +every girl might do precisely what she liked. Miss Symes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>did not for a +moment expect to find Betty in such an animated, lively, almost noisy +group. To her amazement, however, she was attracted by peals of +laughter; and—looking in the direction whence they came, she perceived +that Betty herself was the center of a circle of girls, who were all +urging her to “take-off” different girls and teachers in the school.</p> + +<p>Betty was an inimitable mimic. At that very moment it seemed to Miss +Symes that she heard her own voice speaking—her own very gentle, +cultivated, high-bred voice. Amongst the girls who listened and roared +with laughter might have been seen Sarah Butt, Sibyl Ray, and several +more who had only recently been moved to the upper school.</p> + +<p>“Now, please, take-off Mademoiselle. Whoever you neglect, please bestow +some attention on Mademoiselle, dear Betty!” cried several voices.</p> + +<p>Betty drew herself up, perked her head a little to one side, put on the +very slightest suspicion of a squint, and spoke in the high-pitched, +rapid tone of the Frenchwoman. She looked her part, and she acted it.</p> + +<p>“And now Fräulein—Fräulein!” said another voice.</p> + +<p>But before Betty could change herself into a stout German Fräulein, Miss +Symes laid a quiet hand on her shoulder. “May I speak to you for a +minute, Betty?”</p> + +<p>“Why, certainly,” said Betty, starting and reddening faintly.</p> + +<p>“Oh, dear St. Cecilia,” exclaimed several of the girls, “don’t take +Betty from us now! She is such fun!”</p> + +<p>“I was amusing the girls by doing a little bit of mimicry,” said Betty. +“Miss Symes, did you see me mimicking you?”</p> + +<p>“I both saw and heard you, my dear. Your imitation was excellent.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, please, dear St. Cecilia, don’t say you are hurt!” cried Sarah +Butt.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p><p>“Not in the least,” said Miss Symes. “The gift of mimicry is a somewhat +dangerous one, but I don’t think Betty meant it unkindly. I would ask +her, however, to spare our good and noble head mistress.”</p> + +<p>“We begged of her to be Mrs. Haddo, but she wouldn’t,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Come, Betty,” said Miss Symes. She took the girl’s hand and led her +away.</p> + +<p>“What do you want with me?” said Betty. The brilliance in her eyes which +had been so remarkable a few minutes ago had now faded; her cheeks +looked pale; her small face wore a hungry expression.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Haddo wants to see you, Betty.”</p> + +<p>“Oh—but—must I go?”</p> + +<p>“Need you ask, Betty Vivian? The head mistress commands your presence.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will go.”</p> + +<p>“Remember, I trust you,” said Miss Symes.</p> + +<p>“You may,” answered the girl. She drew herself up and walked quickly and +with great dignity through the lounge into the great corridor beyond, +and so towards Mrs. Haddo’s sitting-room. Here she knocked, and was +immediately admitted.</p> + +<p>“Betty, I wish to speak to you,” said Mrs. Haddo. “Sit down, dear. You +and I have not had a chat for some time.”</p> + +<p>“A very weary and long time ago!” answered Betty. All the vivacity which +had marked her face in the lounge had left it.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Haddo, who could read character so rapidly and with such +unerring instinct, knew that the girl was, so to speak, on guard. She +was guarding herself, and was under a very strong tension. “I have +something to say to you, Betty,” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>Betty lowered her eyes.</p> + +<p>“Look at me, my child.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p><p>With an effort Betty raised her eyes, glanced at Mrs. Haddo, and then +looked down again. “Wait, please, will you?” she said.</p> + +<p>“I am about to do so. You are unhappy.”</p> + +<p>Betty nodded.</p> + +<p>“Will you tell me what is the matter?”</p> + +<p>Betty shook her head.</p> + +<p>“Do you think it is right for you to be unhappy in a school like mine, +and not to tell me—not to tell the one who is placed over you as a +mother would be placed were she alive—what is troubling you?”</p> + +<p>“It may be wrong,” said Betty; “but even so, I cannot tell you.”</p> + +<p>“You must understand,” said Mrs. Haddo, speaking with great restraint +and extreme distinctness, “that it is impossible for me to allow this +state of things to continue. I know nothing, and yet in one sense I know +all. Nothing has been told me with regard to the true story of your +unhappiness, but the knowledge that you are unhappy reached me before +you yourself confirmed it. To-night Mr. Fairfax found you out of +doors—a broken rule, Betty, but I pass that over. He heard you sobbing +in the bitterness of your distress, and discovered that you were lying +face downwards on the grass in the fir-plantation. When he called you, +you went to him and told him you had lost something.”</p> + +<p>“So I have,” answered Betty.</p> + +<p>“Is it because of that you are unhappy?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, because of that—altogether because of that.”</p> + +<p>“What have you lost, dear?”</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, I ask you to do so. I have a right to know. I stand to you in +the place of a mother. I repeat that I have a right to know.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot—I cannot tell you!” replied Betty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Haddo, who had been seated, now rose, went over to the girl, and +put one hand on her shoulder.</p> + +<p>Betty shivered from head to foot. Then she sprang to her feet and moved +a little away. “Don’t!” she said. “When you touch me it is like fire!”</p> + +<p>“My touch, Betty Vivian, like fire!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, you know that I love you!” sobbed poor Betty.</p> + +<p>“Prove it, then, dear, by giving me your confidence.”</p> + +<p>“I would,” said Betty, speaking rapidly, “if that which is causing me +suffering had anything at all to do with you. But it has nothing to do +with you, Mrs. Haddo, nor with the school, nor with the girls in the +school. It is my own private trouble. Once I had a treasure. The +treasure is gone.”</p> + +<p>“You would, perhaps, like it back again?” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“Ah yes—yes! but I cannot get it. Some one has taken it. It is gone.”</p> + +<p>“Once again, Betty, I ask you to give me your confidence.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo resumed her seat. “Is that your very last—your +final—decision, Betty Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“It is, Mrs. Haddo.”</p> + +<p>“How old are you, dear?”</p> + +<p>“I have told you. I was sixteen and a half when I came. I am rather more +now.”</p> + +<p>“You are only a child, dear Betty.”</p> + +<p>“Not in mind, nor in life, nor in circumstances,” replied Betty.</p> + +<p>“We will suppose that all that is true,” answered Mrs. Haddo. “We will +suppose, also, that you are cast upon the world friendless and alone. +Were such a thing to happen, what would you do?”</p> + +<p>Betty shivered. “I don’t know,” she replied.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>“Now, Betty, I cannot take your answer as final. I will give you a few +days longer; at the end of that time I will again beg for your +confidence. In the meanwhile I must say something very plainly. You came +to this school with your sisters under special conditions which you, my +poor child, had nothing to do with. But I must say frankly that I was +unwilling to admit you three into the school after term had begun, and +it was contrary to my rules to take girls straight into the upper school +who had never been in the lower school. Nevertheless, for the sake of my +old friend Sir John Crawford, I did this.”</p> + +<p>“Not for Fanny’s sake, I hope?” said Betty, her eyes flashing for a +minute, and a queer change coming over her face.</p> + +<p>“I have done what I did, Betty, for the sake of my dear friend Sir John +Crawford, who is your guardian and your sisters’ guardian, and who is +now in India. I was unwilling to have you, my dears; but when you +arrived and I saw you, Betty, I thanked God, for I thought that I +perceived in you one whom I could love, whom I could train, whom I could +help. I was interested in you, very deeply interested, from the first. I +perceived with pleasure that my feelings towards you were shared by your +schoolfellows. You became a favorite, and you became so just because of +that beautiful birthright of yours—your keen wit, your unselfishness, +and your pleasant and bright ways. I did an extraordinary thing when I +admitted you into the school, and your schoolfellows did a thing quite +as extraordinary when they allowed you, a newcomer, to join that special +club which, more than anything else, has laid the foundation of sound +and noble morals in the school. You were made a Speciality. I have +nothing to do with the club, my dear; but I was pleased—nay, I was +proud—when I saw that my girls had such discernment as to select you as +one of their, I might really say august, number. You took your honors in +precisely the spirit I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>should have expected of you—sweetly, modestly, +without any undue sense of pride or hateful self-righteousness. Then, a +few days ago, there came a thunderclap; and teachers and girls were +alike amazed to find that you were no longer a member. By the rules of +the club we were not permitted to ask any questions——”</p> + +<p>“But I, as a late member, am permitted to tell you this much, Mrs. +Haddo. I was, and I think quite rightly, expelled from the club.”</p> + +<p>“Betty!”</p> + +<p>“It is true,” answered Betty.</p> + +<p>“And you will not tell me why?”</p> + +<p>“No more can I tell you why than I can explain to you what I have lost.”</p> + +<p>“Betty, my poor child, there is a mystery somewhere. I am deeply puzzled +and terribly distressed. This is Wednesday evening. This day week, at +the same hour, I will send for you again and ask for your full and +absolute confidence. If you refuse to give it to me, Betty, I will not +expel you, my child; but I must send you from Haddo Court. I have an old +friend who will receive you until I can get into communication with Sir +John Crawford, for the sort of mystery which now exists is bad for the +school as a whole. You are intelligent enough to perceive that.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Mrs. Haddo, I am quite intelligent enough to perceive it.” Betty +stood up as she spoke.</p> + +<p>“Have you anything more to say?”</p> + +<p>“Nothing,” replied Betty.</p> + +<p>“This day week, then, my child. And one word before we part. The chapel +where Mr. Fairfax reads prayers—where God, I hope, is worshiped both in +spirit and in truth—is meant as much for the sorrowful, the erring, the +sinners, as for those who think themselves close to Him. For, Betty, the +God whom I believe in is a very present Help in time of trouble. I want +you to realize that at least, and not to cease attending prayers, my +dear.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p><p>Betty bent her head. The next minute she went up to Mrs. Haddo, flung +herself on her knees by that lady’s side, took her long white hand, +kissed it with passion, and left the room.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> + +<h3>NOT ACCEPTABLE</h3> + +<p>It was Thursday evening, and Fanny Crawford did not altogether like the +prospect which lay before her. Ever since Sibyl had put the little +sealed packet into her hands, that packet had lain on Fanny’s heart with +the weight of lead. Now that she had obtained the packet she did not +want it; she did not dare to let any one guess how it had come into her +hands. Fanny the proud, the looked-up-to, the respected, the girl whose +conduct had hitherto been so immaculate, had stooped to employ another +girl to act as a spy. Fanny was absolutely in the power of that very +insignificant person, Sibyl Ray. Sibyl demanded her reward. Fanny must +do her utmost to get Sibyl admitted to the club.</p> + +<p>On that very evening, as Fanny was going towards the Bertrams’ room, +where the meeting was to be held, she was waylaid by Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“You won’t forget?—you have promised.”</p> + +<p>“Of course I won’t forget, Sibyl. What a tease you are!”</p> + +<p>“Can you possibly give me a hint afterwards? You might come to my room +just for an instant, or you might push a little note under the door. I +am so panting to know. I do so dreadfully want to belong to the club. I +have been counting up all the privileges. I shall go mad with joy if I +am admitted.”</p> + +<p>“I will do my best for you; but whether I can tell you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>anything or not +to-night is more than I can possibly say,” replied Fanny. “Now, do go +away, Sibyl; go away, and be quick about it!”</p> + +<p>“All right,” said Sibyl. “Of course you know, or perhaps you don’t know, +that Betty isn’t well? The doctor came an hour ago, and he says she is +to be kept very quiet. I am ever so sorry for her, she is so—so——Oh +dear, I am almost sorry now that I took that little packet from under +the root of the Scotch heather!”</p> + +<p>“Go, Sibyl. If we are seen together it will be much more difficult for +me to get you elected,” was Fanny’s response; and at last, to Fanny’s +infinite relief, Sibyl took her departure.</p> + +<p>All the other members of the club were present when Fanny made her +appearance. They were talking in low tones, and as Fanny entered she +heard Betty’s name being passed from lip to lip.</p> + +<p>“She does look bad, poor thing!” said Olive.</p> + +<p>“Did you know,” exclaimed Susie Rushworth, “that after doing that +splendid piece of recitation in the class to-day she fainted right off? +Miss Symes was quite terrified about her.”</p> + +<p>“They say the doctor has been sent for,” said Martha. “Oh dear,” she +added, “I never felt so unhappy about a girl before in my life!”</p> + +<p>Fanny was not too gratified to hear these remarks. She perceived all too +quickly that, notwithstanding the fact that Betty was no longer a member +of the club, she still reigned in the hearts of the girls.</p> + +<p>“Well, Fan, here you are!” exclaimed Margaret. “Is there anything very +special for us to do to-night? I have no inclination to do anything. We +are all so dreadfully anxious about Betty and those darling little +twins. Do you know, the doctor has ordered them not to sleep in Betty’s +room to-night; so Miss Symes is going to look after them. They are such +sweet pets! The doctor isn’t very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>happy about Betty. Sometimes I think +we made a mistake—that we were cruel to Betty to turn her out of the +club.”</p> + +<p>Fanny felt that if she did not quickly assert herself all would be lost. +She therefore said quietly, “I don’t pretend to share your raptures with +regard to Betty Vivian, and I certainly think that if rules are worth +anything they ought not to be broken.”</p> + +<p>“I suppose you are right,” remarked Olive; “only, Betty seemed to make +an exception to every rule.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Fanny, “if we want a new member——”</p> + +<p>“Another Speciality?” said Margaret.</p> + +<p>“I was thinking,” continued Fanny, her pretty pink cheeks glowing +brightly and her eyes shining, “that we might be doing a kindness to a +very worthy little girl who will most certainly not break any of the +rules.”</p> + +<p>“Whom in the world do you mean?” asked Susie.</p> + +<p>“I suppose you will be surprised at my choice; but although seven is the +perfect number, there is no rule whatever against our having eight, +nine, ten, or even more members of the club.”</p> + +<p>“There is no rule against our having twenty members, if those members +are worthy,” said Margaret Grant. “But whom have you in the back of your +head, Fanny? You look so mysterious.”</p> + +<p>“I cannot think of any one myself,” said Martha West.</p> + +<p>When Martha said this Fanny made a little gesture of despair. “Well,” +she said, “I have taken a fancy to her. I think she is very nice; and I +know she is poor, and I know she wants help, and I know that Mrs. Haddo +takes a great interest in her. I allude to that dear little thing, Sibyl +Ray. You, Martha, surely will support me?”</p> + +<p>“Sibyl Ray!” The girls looked at each other in unbounded astonishment. +Martha was quite silent, and her cheeks turned pale.</p> + +<p>After a long pause Margaret spoke, “May I ask, Fanny, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>what one single +qualification Sibyl Ray has for election to membership in the Speciality +Club?”</p> + +<p>“But what possible reason is there against her being a member?” retorted +Fanny.</p> + +<p>“A great many, I should say,” was Margaret’s answer. “In the first +place, she is too young; in the second place, she has only just been +admitted to the upper school.”</p> + +<p>“You can’t keep her out on that account,” objected Fanny, “for she has +been longer in the upper school than Betty Vivian.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, please don’t mention Betty and Sibyl in the same breath!” was +Margaret’s answer.</p> + +<p>“I do not,” said Fanny, who was fast losing her temper. “Sibyl is a +good, straightforward, honorable girl. Betty is the reverse.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Fanny,” exclaimed Martha, “I wouldn’t abuse my own cousin if I were +you!”</p> + +<p>“Nonsense!” said Fanny. “Whether she is a cousin, or even a sister, I +cannot be blind to her most flagrant faults.”</p> + +<p>“Of course you have a right to propose Sibyl Ray as a possible member of +this club,” said Margaret, “for it is one of our by-laws that any member +can propose the election of another. But I don’t really think you will +carry the thing through. In the first place, what do you know about +Sibyl? I have observed you talking to her once or twice lately; but +until the last week or so, I think, you hardly knew of her existence.”</p> + +<p>“That is quite true,” said Fanny boldly; “but during the last few days I +have discovered that Sibyl is a sweet girl—most charming, most +unselfish, most obliging. She is very timid, however, and lacks +self-confidence; and I have observed that she is constantly snubbed by +girls who are not fit to hold a candle to her and yet look down upon +her, just because she is poor. Now, if she were made a member of the +club all that would be put a stop to, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>she would have a great chance +of doing her utmost in the school. We should be holding out a helping +hand to a girl who certainly is neither beautiful nor clever, but who +can be made a fine character. Martha, you at least will stand up for +Sibyl? You have always been her close friend.”</p> + +<p>“And I am fond of her still,” said Martha; “but I don’t look upon her at +all in the light in which you do, Fanny. Sibyl, at present, would be +injured, not improved, by her sudden elevation to the rank of a +Speciality. The only thing I would suggest is that you propose her again +in a year’s time; and if during the course of that year she has proved +in any sense of the word what you say, I for one will give her my +cordial support. At present I cannot honestly feel justified in voting +for her, and I will not.”</p> + +<p>“Well spoken, Martha!” said Margaret. “Fanny, your suggestion is really +ill-timed. We are all unhappy about Betty just now; and to see poor +little Sibyl—of course, no one wants to say a word against her—in +Betty’s shoes would make our loss seem more irreparable than ever.”</p> + +<p>Fanny saw that her cause was lost. She had the grace not to say anything +more, but sat back in her chair with her eyes fixed on Margaret’s face. +Fanny began to perceive for the first time that some of the girls in +this club had immensely strong characters. Margaret Grant and Martha +West had, for instance, characters so strong that Fanny discovered +herself to be a very unimportant little shadow beside them. The Bertrams +were the sort of girls to take sides at once and firmly with what was +good and noble, Susie Rushworth was devoted to Margaret, and Olive had +been the prime favorite in the club until Betty’s advent. Now it seemed +to Fanny that each one of the Specialities was opposed to her, that she +stood alone. She did not like the situation. She was so exceedingly +anxious; for, strong in the belief that she herself was a person of +great importance, and in the further belief that Martha <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>would support +her, she had been practically sure of getting Sibyl admitted to the +club. Now Sibyl had no chance whatever, and Sibyl knew things which +might make Fanny’s position in the school the reverse of comfortable.</p> + +<p>Fanny Crawford on this occasion sat lost in thought, by no means +inclined to add her quota to the entertainment of the others, and +looking eagerly for the first moment when she might escape from the +meeting. Games were proposed; but games went languidly, and once again +Betty and Betty’s illness became the subject of conversation.</p> + +<p>When this took place Fanny rose impatiently. “There are no further +questions to be discussed to-night?” she asked, turning to Margaret.</p> + +<p>“None that I know of.”</p> + +<p>“Then, if you will excuse me, girls, I will go. I must tell poor little +Sibyl——”</p> + +<p>“You don’t mean to say you spoke to Sibyl about it?” interrupted Martha.</p> + +<p>“Well, yes, I did.” Fanny could almost have bitten out her tongue for +having made this unwary admission. “She was so keen, poor little thing, +that I told her I would do my best for her. I must say, once and for +all, that I have never seen my sister members so hard and cold and +indifferent to the interests of a very deserving little girl before. I +am, of course, sorry I spoke to her on the matter.”</p> + +<p>“You really did very wrong, Fan,” said Margaret in an annoyed voice. +“You know perfectly well that we never allude to the possibility of a +girl being proposed for membership to that girl herself until we have +first made up our minds whether she is worthy or not. Now, you have +placed us at a great disadvantage; but, of course, you forgot yourself, +Fan. You must tell Sibyl that the thing is not to be thought of. You can +put it down to her age or any other cause you like.”</p> + +<p>“Of course I must speak the truth,” said Fanny, raising <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>her voice to a +somewhat insolent tone. “The club does not permit the slightest vestige +of prevarication. Is that not so?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, it is certainly so.”</p> + +<p>The next minute Fanny had left the room. It was one of the rules of the +club that gossip, in the ordinary sense of the world, with regard to any +member was strictly forbidden; so no one made any comment when Fanny had +taken her departure. There was a sense of relief, however, felt by the +girls who remained behind. The meeting was a sorrowful one, and broke up +rather earlier than usual.</p> + +<p>At prayers that night in the chapel Margaret Grant and the other girls +of the Specialities were startled when Mr. Fairfax made special mention +of Betty Vivian, praying God to comfort her in sore distress and to heal +her sickness. The prayer was extempore, and roused the girls to amazed +attention.</p> + +<p>Fanny was not present that night at chapel. She was so angry that she +felt she must give vent to her feelings to some one; therefore, why not +speak to Sibyl at once?</p> + +<p>Sibyl was not considered very strong, and though she did belong to the +upper school, usually went to bed before prayers. She was in her small +room to-night. It was a pretty, neatly furnished room in the west +wing—one of those usually given to a lower-school girl on first +entering the upper school. Sibyl had no intention, however, of going to +bed. She sat by her fire, her heart beating high, her thoughts full of +the privileges which would so soon be hers. She was composing, in her +own mind, a wonderful letter to send to her people at home; she pictured +to herself their looks of delight when they heard that this great honor +had been bestowed upon her. For, of course, Sibyl, as a member of the +lower school at Haddo Court, had heard much of the Specialities, and +what she had heard she had repeated; so that when she wanted to amuse +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>her select friends in her father’s parish, she frequently gave them +some information on this most interesting subject. Now she was on the +point of being a member herself! How she would enjoy her Christmas +holidays! How she would be feted and fussed over and petted! How +carefully she would guard the secrets of the club, and how very high she +would hold her own small head! She a member of the great Haddo Court +School, and also a Speciality!</p> + +<p>While Sibyl was thus engaged, seeing pictures in the fire and smiling +quietly to herself, she suddenly heard a light tap at her room door. She +started to her feet, and the next minute she had flown across the room +and opened the door. Fanny stood without.</p> + +<p>“Oh, you dear, darling Fan!” exclaimed Sibyl. “You are good! Come in—do +come in! Is the meeting over? And—and—oh, Fanny! what have they said? +Has my name been put to the vote? Of course you and Martha would be on +my side, and you and Martha are so strong that you would carry the rest +of the members with you. Fan, am I to have a copy of the rules? +And—and—oh, Fan! is it settled? Do—do tell me!”</p> + +<p>“I wish you weren’t quite so excited, Sibyl! Let me sit down; I have a +bad headache.”</p> + +<p>Fanny sank languidly into the chair which Sibyl herself had been +occupying. There was only one easy-chair in this tiny room. Sibyl had, +therefore, to draw forward a hard and high one for herself. But she was +far too excited to mind this at the present moment.</p> + +<p>“And what a fearful blaze of light you have!” continued Fanny, looking +round fretfully. “Don’t you know, Sibyl, that, unless we are occupied +over our studies, we are not allowed to turn on such a lot of light? +Here, let me put the room in shadow.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s have firelight only,” laughed Sibyl, who was not quick at +guessing things, and felt absolute confidence in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>Fanny’s powers. The +next instant she had switched off the light and was kneeling by Fanny’s +side. “Now, Fanny—now, do put me out of suspense!”</p> + +<p>“I will,” said Fanny. “I have come here for the purpose. I did what I +could for you, Sib. You must bear your disappointment as best you can. I +am truly sorry for you, but things can’t be helped.”</p> + +<p>“You are truly sorry for me—and—and—things can’t be helped!” +exclaimed Sibyl, amazement in her voice. “What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Well, they won’t have you at any price as a member of the Specialities; +and the person who spoke most strongly against you was your dear and +special friend, Martha West. I am not at liberty to quote a single word +of what she did say; but you are not to be a Speciality—at least, not +for a year. If at the end of a year you have done something +wonderful—the sort of thing which you, poor Sibyl, could never possibly +do—the matter may be brought up again for reconsideration. As things +stand, you are not to be elected; so the sooner you put the matter out +of your head the better.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl turned very white. Then her face became suffused with small +patches of vivid color.</p> + +<p>Fanny was not looking at her; had she looked she might have perceived +that Sibyl’s expression was anything but amiable at that moment. The +girl’s extraordinary silence, however—the absence of all remark—the +absence, even, of any expression of sorrow—presently caused Fanny to +glance round at her. “Well,” she said, “I thought I’d tell you at once. +You must put it out of your head. I think I will go to bed now. +Good-night, Sibyl. Sorry I couldn’t do more for you.”</p> + +<p>“Don’t go!” said Sibyl. “What do you mean?”</p> + +<p>There was a quality in Sibyl’s voice which made Fanny feel +uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>“I am much too tired,” Fanny said, “to stay up any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>longer chatting with +an insignificant little girl like you. I could not even stay to the +conclusion of our meeting, and I certainly don’t want to be seen in your +room. I did my best for you. I have failed. I am sorry, and there’s an +end of it.”</p> + +<p>“Oh no, there isn’t an end of it!” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, Sibyl?”</p> + +<p>“I mean,” said Sibyl, “that you have got to reward me for doing your +horrid—<i>horrid</i>, dirty work!”</p> + +<p>“You odious little creature! what do you mean? My dirty work! Sibyl, I +perceive that I was mistaken in you. I also perceive that Martha West +and the others were right. You are indeed unworthy to be a Speciality.”</p> + +<p>“If all were known,” said Sibyl, “I don’t think I am half as unworthy as +you are, Fanny Crawford. Anyhow, if I am not to be made a Speciality, +and if every one is going to despise me and look down on me, why, I have +nothing to lose, and I may as well make an example of you.”</p> + +<p>“You odious child! what <i>do</i> you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Why, I can tell Mrs. Haddo as well as anybody else. Every one in the +school knows that Betty is ill to-night. Something seems to have gone +wrong with her head, and she is crying out about a packet—a lost +packet. Now, <i>you</i> know how the packet was lost. You and I both know how +it was found—and lost again. You have it, Fanny. You are the one who +can cure Betty Vivian—Betty, who never was unkind to any one; Betty, +who did not mean me to be a figure of fun, as you suggested, on the +night of the entertainment; Betty, who has been kind to me, as she has +been kind to every one else since she came to the school. <i>You</i> have +done nothing for me, Fanny; so I—I can take care of myself in future, +and perhaps Betty too.”</p> + +<p>To say that Fanny was utterly amazed and horrified at Sibyl’s speech—to +say that Fanny was thunderstruck when she perceived that this poor +little worm, as she considered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>Sibyl Ray, had turned at last—would be +but very inadequately to describe the situation. Fanny lost her headache +on the spot. Here was danger, grave and imminent; here was the +possibility of her immaculate character being dragged through the mud; +here was the terrible possibility of Fanny Crawford being seen in her +true colors. She had now to collect her scattered senses—in short, to +pull herself together.</p> + +<p>“Oh Sibyl,” she said after a pause, “you frightened me for a minute—you +really did! Who would suppose that you were such a spirited girl?”</p> + +<p>“I am not spirited, Fanny; but I love Betty, notwithstanding all you +have tried to do to put me against her. And if I am not to be a +Speciality I would ever so much rather be Betty’s friend than yours. +There! Now I have spoken. Perhaps you would like to go now, Fan, as your +head is aching so badly?”</p> + +<p>“It doesn’t ache now,” said Fanny; “your conduct has frightened all the +aches away. Sibyl, you really are the very queerest girl! I came here +to-night full of the kindest feelings towards you. You can ask Martha +West how I spoke of you at the club.”</p> + +<p>“But she won’t tell me. Anything that you say in the club isn’t allowed +to be breathed outside it.”</p> + +<p>“I know that. Anyhow, I have been doing my utmost to get the school to +see you in your true light. I have taken great notice of you, and you +have been proud to receive my notice. It is certainly true that I have +failed to get you what I hoped I could manage; but there are other +things——”</p> + +<p>“Other things!” said Sibyl. She stood in a defiant attitude quite +foreign to her usual manner.</p> + +<p>“Oh yes, my dear child, lots and lots of other things! For instance, in +the Christmas holidays I can have you to stay with me at Brighton. What +do you say to that? Don’t you think that would be a feather in your cap? +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>I have an aunt who lives there, Aunt Amelia Crawford; and she generally +allows me—that is, when father cannot have me—to bring one of my +school-friends with me to stay in her lovely house. I had a letter from +her only yesterday, asking me which girl I would like to bring with me +this year. I thought of Olive—Olive is such fun; but I’d just as soon +have you—that is, if you would like to come.”</p> + +<p>Alas for poor Sibyl! She was not proof against such a tempting bait.</p> + +<p>“As far as you are concerned,” continued Fanny, who saw that she was +making way with Sibyl, and breaking down, as she expressed it, her silly +little defences, “you would gain far more prestige in being Aunt +Amelia’s guest than if you belonged to twenty Speciality Clubs. Aunt +Amelia is good to the girls who come to stay with her as my friends. And +I’d help you, Sib; I’d make the best of your dresses. We’d go to the +theatre, and the pantomime, and all kinds of jolly things. We’d have a +rattling fine time.”</p> + +<p>“Do you really mean it?” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Yes—that is, if you will give me your solemn word that you will refer +no more to that silly matter about Betty Vivian. Betty Vivian had no +right to that packet. It belonged to my father, and I have got it back +for him. Don’t think of it any more, Sibyl, and you shall be my guest +this Christmas. But if you prefer to make a fuss, and drag me into an +unpleasant position, and get yourself, in all probability, expelled from +the school, then you must do as you please.”</p> + +<p>“But if I were expelled, you’d be expelled too,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>Fanny laughed. “I think not,” she said. “I think, without any undue +pride, that my position in the school is sufficiently strong to prevent +such a catastrophe. No; you would be cutting off your nose to spite your +face—that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>is all you would be doing with this nice little scheme of +yours. Give it up, Sibyl, and you shall come to Brighton.”</p> + +<p>“It is dull at home at Christmas,” said Sibyl. “We are so dreadfully +poor, and father has such a lot to do; and there are always those +half-starved, smelly sort of people coming to the house—the sort that +want coal-tickets, you know, and grocery-tickets; and—and—we have to +help to give great big Christmas dinners. We are all day long getting up +entertainments for those dull sort of people. I often think they are not +a bit grateful, and after being at a school like this I really feel +quite squeamish about them.”</p> + +<p>Fanny laughed. She saw, or believed she saw, that her cause was won. +“You’ll have nothing to make you squeamish at Aunt Amelia’s,” she said. +“And now I must say good-night. Sorry about the Specialities; but, after +the little exhibition you have just made of yourself, I agree with the +other girls that you are not fit to be a member. Now, ta-ta for the +present.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>“IT’S DICKIE!”</h3> + +<p>Fanny went straight to her own room. “What a nasty time I have lived +through!” she thought as she was about to enter. Then she opened the +door and started back.</p> + +<p>The whole room had undergone a metamorphosis. There was a shaded light +in one corner, and the door between Fanny’s room and Betty’s was thrown +open. A grave, kind-looking nurse was seated by a table, on which was a +shaded lamp; and on seeing Fanny enter she held up her hand with a +warning gesture. The next minute she had beckoned the girl out on the +landing.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>“What is the meaning of this?” asked Fanny. “What are you doing in my +room?”</p> + +<p>“The doctor wished the door to be opened and the room to be given up to +me,” replied the nurse. “My name is Sister Helen, and I am looking after +dear little Miss Vivian. We couldn’t find you to tell you about the +necessary alterations, which were made in a hurry. Ah, I mustn’t leave +my patient! I hear her calling out again. She is terribly troubled about +something she has lost. Do you hear her?”</p> + +<p>“I won’t give it up! I won’t give it up!” called poor Betty’s voice.</p> + +<p>“I was asked to tell you,” said Sister Helen, “to go straight to Miss +Symes, who has arranged another room for you to sleep in—that is, if +you <i>are</i> Miss Crawford.”</p> + +<p>“Yes, that is my name. Have my things been removed?”</p> + +<p>“I suppose so, but I don’t know. I am going back to my patient.”</p> + +<p>The nurse re-entered the room, closing the door on Fanny, who stood by +herself in the corridor. She heard Betty’s voice, and Betty’s voice +sounded so high and piercing and full of pain that her first feeling was +one of intense thankfulness that she had been moved from close proximity +to the girl. The next minute she was speeding down the corridor in the +direction of Miss Symes’s room. Half-way there she met St. Cecilia coming +to meet her.</p> + +<p>“Ah, Fanny, dear,” said Miss Symes, “I thought your little meeting would +have been over by now. Do you greatly mind sharing my room with me +to-night? I cannot get another ready for you in time. Dr. Ashley wishes +the nurse who is looking after Betty to have your room for the present. +There was no time to tell you, dear; but I have collected the few things +I think you will want till the morning. To-morrow we will arrange +another room for you. In the meantime I hope you will put up with me. I +have had a bed put into a corner of my room and a screen around it, so +you will be quite comfortable.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p><p>“Thank you,” said Fanny. She wondered what further unpleasantness was +about to happen to her on that inauspicious night.</p> + +<p>“You would like to go to bed, dear, wouldn’t you?” said Miss Symes.</p> + +<p>“Yes, thank you.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you shall do so. I cannot go for a couple of hours, as Mrs. Haddo +wants me to sit up with her until the specialist arrives from London.”</p> + +<p>“The specialist from London!” exclaimed Fanny, turning first red and +then white. “Do you mean that Mrs. Haddo has sent for a London doctor?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed she has. My dear, poor little Betty is dangerously ill. Dr. +Ashley is by no means satisfied about her.”</p> + +<p>By this time the two had reached Miss Symes’s beautiful room. Fanny gave +a quick sigh. Then, like a flash, a horrible thought occurred to her. +Her room had to be given up to-morrow. Her things would be removed. +Among her possessions—put safely away, it is true, but still not <i>too</i> +safely—was the little sealed packet. If that packet were found, Fanny +felt that the world would be at an end as far as she was concerned.</p> + +<p>“You don’t look well yourself, Fanny,” said Miss Symes, glancing kindly +at the girl. “Of course you are sorry about Betty; we are all sorry, for +we all love her. If you had been at prayers to-night you would have been +astonished at the gloom which was felt in our beautiful little chapel +when Mr. Fairfax prayed for her.”</p> + +<p>“But she can’t be as ill as all that?” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“She is—very, very ill, dear. The child has evidently got a bad chill, +together with a most severe mental shock. We none of us can make out +what is the matter; but it is highly probable that the specialist—Dr. +Jephson of Harley Street—will insist on the Specialities being +questioned as to the reason why Betty was expelled from the club. It is +absolutely essential that the girl’s mind should be relieved, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>and that +as soon as possible. She is under the influence now of a composing +draught, and, we greatly trust, may be more like herself in the morning. +Don’t look too sad, dear Fanny! I can quite understand that you must +feel this very deeply, for Betty is your cousin; and somehow, +dear—forgive me for saying it—but you do not act quite the cousin’s +part to that poor, sweet child. Now I must leave you. Go to bed, dear. +Pray for Betty, and then sleep all you can.”</p> + +<p>“Where are the twins?” suddenly asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“They are sleeping to-night in the lower school. It was necessary to put +the poor darlings as far from Betty as possible, for they are in a +fearful state about her. Now I will leave you, Fanny. I am wanted +elsewhere. When I do come to bed I will be as quiet as possible, so as +not to disturb you.”</p> + +<p>Fanny made no answer, and the next minute Miss Symes had left her.</p> + +<p>Fanny now went over to the corner of the room where a snug little white +bed had been put up, a washhand-stand was placed and where a small chest +of drawers stood—empty at present, for only a few of Fanny’s things had +been taken out of her own room. The girl looked round her in a +bewildered way. The packet!—the sealed packet! To-morrow all her +possessions would be removed into a room which would be got ready for +her. There were always one or two rooms to spare at Haddo Court, and +Fanny would be given a room to herself again. She was far too important +a member of that little community not to have the best possible done for +her. Deft and skillful servants would take her things out of the various +drawers and move them to another room. They would find the packet. Fanny +knew quite well where she had placed it. She had put it under a pile of +linen which she herself took charge of, and which was always kept in the +bottom drawer of her wardrobe. Fanny had put the packet there in a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>moment of excitement and hurry. She had not yet decided what to do with +it; she had to make a plan in her own mind, and in the meantime it was +safe enough among Fanny’s various and pretty articles of toilet. For it +was one of the rules of Haddo Court that each girl, be she rich or poor, +should take care of her own underclothing. All that the servants had to +do was to see that the things were properly aired; but the girls had to +mend their own clothes and keep them tidy.</p> + +<p>Absolute horror filled Fanny’s mind now. What was she to do? She was so +bewildered that for a time she could scarcely think coherently. Then she +made up her mind that, come what would, she must get that packet out of +her own bedroom before the servants came in on the following day. She +was so absorbed with the thought of her own danger that she had no time +to think of the very grave danger which assailed poor little Betty +Vivian. If she had disliked Betty before, she hated her now. Oh, how +right she had been when, in her heart of hearts, she had opposed Betty’s +entrance into the school! What trouble those three tiresome, wild, +uncontrollable girls had brought in their wake! And now Betty—Betty, +who was so adored—Betty, who, in Fanny’s opinion, was both a thief and +a liar—was dangerously ill; and she (Fanny) would in all probability +have to appear in a most sorry position. For, whatever Betty’s sin, +Fanny knew well that nothing could excuse her own conduct. She had spied +on Betty; she had employed Sibyl Ray as a tool; she had got Sibyl to +take the packet from under the piece of heather; and that very night she +had excited the astonishment of her companions in the Speciality Club by +proposing a ridiculously unsuitable person for membership as poor Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Things look as black as night,” thought Fanny to herself. “I don’t want +to go to bed. I wish I could get out of this. How odious things are!”</p> + +<p>Just then she heard footsteps outside her door—footsteps <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>that came up +close and waited. Then, all of a sudden, the door was flung violently +open, and Sylvia and Hester entered. They had been crying so hard that +their poor little faces were disfigured almost beyond recognition. +Sylvia held a small tin box in her hand.</p> + +<p>“What are you doing, girls? You had better go to bed,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>Neither girl took the slightest notice of this injunction. They looked +round the room, noting the position of the different articles of +furniture. Then Sylvia walked straight up to the screen behind which +Fanny’s bed was placed. With a sudden movement she pulled down the +bedclothes, opened the little tin box, and put something into Fanny’s +bed.</p> + +<p>“It’s Dickie!” said Sylvia. “I hope you will like his company. Come, +Hetty.”</p> + +<p>Before Fanny could find words the girls had vanished. But the look of +hatred on Sylvia’s face, the look of defiance and horror on Hetty’s, +Fanny was not likely to forget. They shut the door somewhat noisily +behind them. Then, all of a sudden, Hetty opened it again, pushed in her +small face, and said, “You had better be careful. His bite is +dangerous!”</p> + +<p>The next instant quick feet were heard running away from Miss Symes’s +room, in the center of which Fanny stood stunned and really frightened. +What had those awful children put into her bed? She had heard vague +rumors of a pet of theirs called Dickie, but had never been interested +enough even to inquire about him. Who was Dickie? What was Dickie? Why +was his bite dangerous? Why was he put into her bed? Fanny, for all her +careful training, for all her airs and graces, was by no means +remarkable for physical courage. She approached the bed once or twice, +and went back again. She was really afraid to pull down the bedclothes. +At last, summoning up courage, she did so. To her horror, she saw an +enormous spider, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>largest she had ever beheld, in the center of the +bed! This, then, was Dickie! He was curled up as though he were asleep. +But as Fanny ventured to approach a step nearer it seemed to her that +one wicked, protruding eye fastened itself on her face. The next instant +Dickie began to run, and when Dickie ran he ran towards her. Fanny +uttered a shriek. It was the culmination of all she had lived through +during that miserable evening. One shriek followed another, and in a +minute Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton ran into the room.</p> + +<p>“Oh, save me! Save me!” said Fanny. “Those little horrors have done it! +I don’t know where it is! Oh, it is such an odious, dangerous, awful +kind of reptile! It’s the biggest spider I ever saw in all my life, and +those horrible twins came and put it into my bed! Oh, girls, what I am +suffering! Do have pity on me! Do help me to find it! Do help me to kill +it!”</p> + +<p>“To kill Dickie!” said Susie. “Why, the poor little twins were +heartbroken for two or three days because they thought he was lost. I +for one certainly won’t kill Dickie.”</p> + +<p>“Nor I,” said Olive.</p> + +<p>“Oh, dear! what shall I do?” said poor Fanny. “I really never was in +such miserable confusion and wretchedness in my life.”</p> + +<p>“Do, Fanny, cease to be such a coward!” said Susie. “I must say I am +surprised at you. The poor little twins are almost beside +themselves—that is, on account of darling Betty. Betty is so ill; and +they think—the twins do——I mean, they have got it into their heads +that you—you don’t like Betty, although she is your cousin and the very +sweetest girl in all the world. But as to your being afraid of a spider! +We’ll have a good hunt for him, and find him. Fanny, I never thought you +could scream out as you did. What a mercy that Miss Symes’s room is a +good way off from poor darling Betty’s!”</p> + +<p>“Do try to think of some one besides Betty for a minute!” <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>said Fanny; +“and you find that horror and put him into his box, or put him into +anything, only don’t have him loose in the room.”</p> + +<p>“Well, we’ll have a good search,” said both the girls, “and we may find +him.”</p> + +<p>But this was a thing easier said than done; for if there was a knowing +spider anywhere in the world, that spider was Dickie of Scotland. Dickie +was not going to be easily caught. Perhaps Dickie had a secret sense of +humor and enjoyed the situation—the terror of the one girl, the efforts +of the others to put him back into captivity. In vain Susie laid baits +for Dickie all over the room—bits of raw meat, even one or two dead +flies which she found in a corner. But Dickie had secured a hiding-place +for himself, and would not come out at present.</p> + +<p>“I can’t sleep in the room—that’s all!” said Fanny. “I really +can’t—that’s flat.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, stop talking for a minute!” said Olive suddenly. “There! didn’t you +hear it? Yes, that is the sound of the carriage coming back from the +station. Dr. Jephson has come. Oh, I wonder what he will say about her!”</p> + +<p>“Don’t leave me, girls, please!” said Fanny. “I never was so utterly +knocked to bits in my whole life!”</p> + +<p>“Well, we must go to bed or we’ll be punished,” said Susie.</p> + +<p>“Susie, you are not a bit afraid of reptiles; won’t you change rooms +with me?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“I would, only it’s against the rules,” said Susie at once.</p> + +<p>Olive also shook her head. “It’s against the rules, Fanny; and, really, +if I were you I’d pull myself together, and on a night like this, when +the whole house is in such a state of turmoil, I’d try to show a spark +of courage and not be afraid of a poor little spider.”</p> + +<p>“A <i>little</i> spider! You haven’t seen him,” said Fanny. “Why, he’s nearly +as big as an egg! I tell you he is most dangerous.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>“That’s the doctor! Oh, I wonder what he is going to say!” exclaimed +Olive. “Come, Susie,” she continued, turning to her companion, “we must +go to bed. Good-night, Fanny; good-night.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX</h2> + +<h3>A TIME OF DANGER</h3> + +<p>Fanny was left alone with Dickie. It was really awful to be quite alone +in a room where a spider nearly the size of an egg had concealed +himself. If Dickie would only come out and show himself Fanny thought +she could fight him; but he was at once big enough to bite and terrify +her up to the point of danger, and small enough effectually to hide his +presence. Fanny was really nervous; all the events of the day had +conspired to make her so. She, who, as a rule, knew nothing whatever +about nerves, was oppressed by them now. There had been the meeting of +the Specialities; there had been the blunt refusal to make Sibyl one of +their number. Then there was the appalling fact that she (Fanny) was +turned out of her bedroom. There was also the unpleasantness of Sibyl’s +insurrection; and last, but not least, a spider had been put into her +bed by those wicked girls.</p> + +<p>Oh, what horrors all the Vivians were! What turmoil they had created in +the hitherto orderly, happy school! “No wonder I hate them!” thought +Fanny. “Well, I can’t sleep here—that’s plain.” She stood by the fire. +The fire began to get low; the hour waxed late. There was no sound +whatever in the house. Betty’s beautiful room was in a distant wing. The +doctors might consult in the adjoining room that used to be Fanny’s as +much as they pleased, but not one sound of their voices or footsteps +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>could reach the girl. The other schoolgirls had gone to bed. They were +all anxious, all more or less unhappy; but, compared to Fanny, they were +blessed with sweet peace, and could slumber without any sense of +reproach.</p> + +<p>Fanny found herself turning cold. She was also hungry. She looked at the +clock on the mantelpiece; the hour was past midnight. As a rule, she was +in bed and sound asleep long before this time. Her cold and hunger made +her look at the fire; it was getting low.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was so determined to give the girls of her school every +possible comfort that she never allowed them to feel cold in the house. +The passages were therefore heated in winter-time with steam, and each +bedroom had its own cheery fire. The governesses were treated almost +better than the pupils. But then people were not expected to sit up all +night.</p> + +<p>Fanny opened the coal-hod, intending to put fresh coals on the dying +fire; but, to her distress, found that the hod was empty. This happened +to be a mistake on the part of the housemaid who had charge of this +special room.</p> + +<p>Fanny felt herself growing colder and colder, and yet she dared not go +to bed. She had turned on all the electric lights, and the room itself +was bright as day. Suddenly she heard the sound of wheels crunching on +the gravel outside. She rushed to the window, and was relieved to +observe that the doctor’s carriage was bowling down the avenue. The +doctors had therefore gone. Miss Symes would come to bed very soon now. +Perhaps Miss Symes would know how to catch Dickie. Anyhow, Fanny would +not be alone. She crouched in her chair near the dying embers of the +fire. The minutes ticked slowly on until at last it was a quarter to one +o’clock. Then Miss Symes opened the door and came in. She hardly noticed +the fact that Fanny was up, and the further fact that her fire was +nothing but embers did not affect her in the very least. Her eyes were +very bright, and there were red spots <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>on each cheek. The expression on +her face brought Fanny to the momentary consciousness that they were all +in a house where the great Angel of Death might enter at any moment.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes sat down on the nearest chair, folded her hands on her lap, +and looked at Fanny. “Well,” she said, “have you nothing to ask me?”</p> + +<p>“I am a very miserable girl!” said Fanny. “To begin with, I am hungry, +for I scarcely ate any supper to-night; I did not care for the food +provided by the Specialities. Hours and hours have passed by, and I +could not go to bed.”</p> + +<p>“And why not, Fanny?” asked Miss Symes. “Why did you stay up against the +rules? And why do you think of yourself in a moment like the present?”</p> + +<p>“I am sorry,” said Fanny; “but one must always think of one’s self—at +least, I am afraid <i>I</i> must. Not that I mean to be selfish,” she added, +seeing a look of consternation spread over Miss Symes’s face. “The fact +is this, St. Cecilia, I have had the most horrible fright. Those ghastly +little creatures the twins—the Vivian twins—brought a most enormous +spider into your room, hid it in the center of my bed, and then ran away +again. I never saw such a monster! I was afraid to go near the creature +at first; and when I did it looked at me—yes, absolutely looked at me! +I turned cold with horror. Then, before I could find my voice, it began +to run—and towards me! Oh, St. Cecilia, I screamed! I did. Susie and +Olive heard me, and came to the rescue. Of course they knew that the +spider was Dickie, that horrid reptile those girls brought from +Scotland. He has hidden himself somewhere in the room. The twins +themselves said that his bite was dangerous, so I am quite afraid to go +to bed; I am, really.”</p> + +<p>“Come, Fanny, don’t talk nonsense!” said Miss Symes. “The poor little +twins are to be excused to-night, for they are really beside themselves. +I have just left the poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>little children, and Martha West is going to +spend the night with them. Martha is a splendid creature!”</p> + +<p>“I cannot possibly go to bed, Miss Symes.”</p> + +<p>“But you really must turn in. We don’t want to have more illnesses in +the house than we can help; so, my dear Fanny, get between the sheets +and go to sleep.”</p> + +<p>“And you really think that Dickie won’t hurt me?”</p> + +<p>“Of course not; and you surely can take care of yourself. If you are +nervous you can keep one of the electric lights on. Now, do go to bed. I +am going to change into a warm dressing-gown, for I want to help the +nurse in Betty’s room.”</p> + +<p>“And how is Betty?” asked Fanny in a low tone. “Why is there such a +frightful fuss about her? Is she so very ill?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Fanny; your cousin, Betty Vivian, is dangerously ill. No one can +quite account for what is wrong; but that her brain is affected there is +not the slightest doubt, and the doctor from London says that unless she +gets relief soon he fears very much for the result. The child is +suffering from a very severe shock, and to-morrow Mrs. Haddo intends to +make most urgent inquiries as to the nature of what went wrong. But I +needn’t talk to you any longer about her now. Go to bed and to sleep.”</p> + +<p>While Miss Symes was speaking she was changing her morning-dress and +putting on a very warm woolen dressing-gown. The next minute she had +left the room without taking any further notice of Fanny. Fanny, +terrified, cold, afraid to undress, but unable from sheer sleepiness to +stay up any longer, got between the sheets and soon dropped into +undisturbed slumber. If Dickie watched her in the distance he left her +alone. There were worse enemies waiting to spy on poor Fanny than even +Dickie.</p> + +<p>In a school like Haddo Court dangerous illness must affect each member +of the large and as a rule deeply attached family. Betty Vivian had come +like a bright meteor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>into the midst of the school. She had delighted +her companions; she had fascinated them; she had drawn forth love. She +could do what no other girl had ever done in the school. No one supposed +Betty to be free from faults, but every one also knew that her faults +were exceeded by her virtues. She was loved because she was lovable. The +only one who really hated her was her cousin Fanny.</p> + +<p>Now, Fanny knew well that inquiries would be made; for the favorite must +not be ill if anything could be done to save her, nor must a stone be +left unturned to effect her recovery.</p> + +<p>Fanny awoke the next morning with a genuine headache, fearing she knew +not what. The great gong which always awoke the school was not sounded +that day; but a servant came in and brought Fanny’s hot water, waking +her at the same time. Fanny rubbed her eyes, tried to recall where she +was, and then asked the woman how Miss Vivian was.</p> + +<p>“I don’t know, miss. It’s a little late, but if you are quick you’ll be +down in hall at the usual time.”</p> + +<p>Fanny felt that she hated the woman. As she dressed, however, she forgot +all about her, so intensely anxious was she to recover the packet from +its hiding-place in her own bedroom. She wondered much if she could +accomplish this, and presently, prompted by the motto, “Nothing venture, +nothing win,” tidied her dress, smoothed back her hair, washed her face, +tried to look as she might have looked on an ordinary morning, and +finding that she had quite ten minutes to spare before she must appear +in hall, ran swiftly in the direction of her own room.</p> + +<p>She was sufficiently early to know that there was very little chance of +her meeting another girl en route, and even if she did she could easily +explain that she was going to her room to fetch some article of wardrobe +which had been forgotten.</p> + +<p>She reached the room. The door was shut. Very softly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>she turned the +handle; it yielded to her pressure, and she went in.</p> + +<p>The nurse turned at once to confront her. “You mustn’t come in here, +miss.”</p> + +<p>“I just want to fetch something from one of my drawers; I won’t make the +slightest noise,” said Fanny. “Please let me in.”</p> + +<p>Sister Helen said nothing further. Fanny softly opened one of the +drawers. She knew the exact spot where the packet lay hidden. A moment +later she had folded it up in some of her under-linen and conveyed it +outside the room without Sister Helen suspecting anything. As soon as +she found herself in the corridor she removed the packet from its +wrappings and slipped it into her inner pocket. It must stay on her +person for the present, for in no other place could it possibly be safe. +When she regained Miss Symes’s room she found that lady already there. +She was making her toilet.</p> + +<p>“Why, Fanny,” she said, “what have you been doing? You haven’t, surely, +been to your own room! Did Sister Helen let you in?”</p> + +<p>“She didn’t want to; but I required some—some handkerchiefs and things +of that sort,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Well, you haven’t brought any handkerchiefs,” said Miss Symes. “You +have only brought a couple of night-dresses.”</p> + +<p>“Sister Helen rather frightened me, and I just took these and ran away,” +answered the girl. Then she added, lowering her voice, “How is Betty +to-day?”</p> + +<p>“You will hear all about Betty downstairs. It is time for you to go into +the hall. Don’t keep me, Fanny.”</p> + +<p>Fanny, only too delighted, left the room. Now she was safe. The worst of +all could not happen to her. When she reached the great central hall, +where the girls usually met for a few minutes before breakfast, she +immediately joined a large circle of girls of the upper school. They +were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>talking about Betty. Among the group was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was +crying, and when Fanny appeared she turned abruptly aside as though she +did not wish to be seen. Fanny, who had been almost jubilant at having +secured the packet, felt a new sense of horror at Sibyl’s tears. Sibyl +was the sort of girl to be very easily affected.</p> + +<p>As Fanny came near she heard Susie Rushworth say to Sibyl, “Yes, it is +true; Betty has lost something, and if she doesn’t find it she will—the +doctor, the great London doctor, says that she will—die.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl gave another great, choking sob.</p> + +<p>Fanny took her arm. “Sibyl,” she said, “don’t you want to come for a +walk with me during recess this morning?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, I don’t know, Fanny!” said poor Sibyl, raising her eyes, streaming +with tears, to Fanny’s face.</p> + +<p>“Well, I want you,” said Fanny. Then she added in a low tone, “Don’t +forget Brighton and Aunt Amelia, and the excellent time you will have, +and the positive certainty that before a year is up you will be a +Speciality. Don’t lose all these things for the sake of a little +sentiment. Understand, too, that doctors are often wrong about people. +It is ridiculous to suppose that a strong, hearty girl like Betty Vivian +should have her life in danger because you happened to find——”</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t!” said Sibyl. “I—I <i>can’t</i> bear it! I saw Sylvia and Hetty +last night. I can’t bear it!”</p> + +<p>“You are a little goose, Sibyl! It’s my opinion you are not well. You +must cling to me, dear, and I will pull you through—see if I don’t.”</p> + +<p>As Fanny took her usual place at the breakfast-table Susie Rushworth +said to her, “You really are kind to that poor little Sibyl, Fan. After +all, we must have been a little hard on her last night. She certainly +shows the greatest distress and affection for poor dear Betty.”</p> + +<p>“I said she was a nice child. I shouldn’t be likely to propose her for +the club if she were not,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p><p>Susie said nothing more. All the girls were dull, grave, distressed. The +twins were nowhere to be seen. Betty’s sweet face, Betty’s sparkling +eyes, Betty’s gay laugh, were conspicuous by their absence. Miss Symes +did not appear at all.</p> + +<p>When breakfast was over, and the brief morning prayers had been gone +through by Mr. Fairfax—for these prayers were not said in the +chapel—Mrs. Haddo rose and faced the school. “Girls,” she said, “I wish +to let you all know that one of your number—one exceedingly dear to us +all—is lying now at the point of death. Whether God will spare her or +not depends altogether on her mind being given a certain measure of +relief. I need not tell you her name, for you all know it, and I believe +you are all extremely grieved at what has occurred. It is impossible for +any of you to help her at this moment except by being extra quiet, and +by praying to God to be good to her and her two little sisters. I +propose, therefore, to make a complete alteration in the arrangements of +to-day. I am going to send the whole of the upper school—with the +exception of the members of the Speciality Club—to London by train. Two +of the teachers, Mademoiselle and Miss Oxley, will accompany you. You +will all be driven to the station, and win return to-night—having, I +hope, enjoyed a pleasant day. By that time there may be good news to +greet you. No lessons to-day for any of the upper school; so, girls, go +at once and get ready.”</p> + +<p>All the girls began now to leave the great hall, with the exception of +the Specialities and Sibyl Ray.</p> + +<p>“Go, Sibyl!” said Fanny. “What are you lingering for?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, Sibyl, be quick; don’t delay!” said Mrs. Haddo, speaking rather +sharply. “You will all be back in time to-night to hear the latest +report of dear Betty, and we trust we may have good news to tell you.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl went with extreme slowness and extreme unwillingness. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>But for the +fact that Fanny kept her eye fixed on Sibyl she might have refused to +budge. As it was, she left the hall; and a very few minutes later +wagonettes and motors appeared in view, and the girls of the upper +school drove to the railway station.</p> + +<p>As Fanny saw Sibyl driving off with the others she became conscious of a +new sense of relief. She had been so anxious with regard to Sibyl that +she had not had time to wonder why the Specialities were not included in +the entertainment. Now, however, her thoughts were turned into a +different channel.</p> + +<p>Susie Rushworth came up to Fanny. “Fanny,” she said, “you and I, and the +Bertrams, and Olive, and Margaret, and Martha are all to go immediately +to Mrs. Haddo’s private sitting-room.”</p> + +<p>“What for?” asked Fanny.</p> + +<p>“I expect that she will explain. We are to go, and at once.”</p> + +<p>Fanny did not dare to say any more. They all went slowly together in the +direction of that beautiful room where Mrs. Haddo, usually so bright, so +cheery, so full of enthusiasm, invited her young pupils to meet her. But +there was no smile of welcome on that lady’s fine face on the present +occasion. She did not even shake hands with the girls as they +approached. All she did was to ask them to sit down.</p> + +<p>Fanny took her place between Olive and one of the Bertrams. She could +not help noticing a great change in their manner towards her. As a rule +she was a prime favorite, and to sit next Fanny Crawford was considered +a very rare honor. On this occasion, however, the girls rather edged +away from Fanny.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo seated herself near the fire. Then she turned and spoke to +Margaret Grant. “Margaret,” she said, “I ask you, in the name of the +other members of your club, to give me full and exact particulars with +regard to your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>expulsion of Betty Vivian. I must know, and fully, why +Betty was expelled. Pause a minute before you speak, dear. For long +years I have allowed this club to exist in the school, believing much in +its good influence—in its power to ennoble and raise the impressionable +character of a young girl. I have not interfered with it; on the +contrary, I have been proud of it. To each girl who became a Speciality +I immediately granted certain privileges, knowing well that no girl +would be lightly admitted to a club with so high an aim and so noble a +standard.</p> + +<p>“When Betty first came I perceived at once that she was fearless, very +affectionate, and possessed a strong, pronounced, willful character; I +saw, in short, that she was worth winning and loving. I liked her +sisters also; but Betty was superior to her sisters. I departed from +several established customs when I admitted the Vivians to this school, +and I will own that I had my qualms of conscience notwithstanding the +fact that my old friend Sir John Crawford was so anxious for me to have +them here. Nevertheless, when first I saw Betty I knew that he was right +and I was wrong. That such a girl might stir up deep interest, and +perhaps even bring sorrow into the school, I knew was within the bounds +of probability; but I did not think it possible that she could ever +disgrace it. I own I was a little surprised when I was told that so new +a girl was made a member of your club; but as you, Margaret, were +secretary, and as Susie Rushworth and my dear friend Fanny were members, +I naturally had not a word to say, and only admired your discernment in +reading aright that young character.</p> + +<p>“Then there came the news—the terrible news—that Betty was expelled; +and since then there has been confusion, sorrow, and now this most +alarming illness. The girl is dying of a broken heart. She has lost +something that she treasures. Margaret, the rules of the club must give +place to the greater rules of the school; and I demand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>a full +explanation from you of the exact reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a +member of the Specialities.”</p> + +<p>Margaret looked round at the other members. All their faces were white. +No one spoke for a minute.</p> + +<p>Then Fanny rose and said, “Is it fair, for Betty’s sake, that we should break +our own rules? The reason of her being no longer a member is at present +known only to the rest of us. Is it right that it should be made public +property?”</p> + +<p>“It must be made <i>my</i> property, Fanny Crawford; and I do not ask you, +much as I esteem your father’s friendship, to dictate to me in this +matter.”</p> + +<p>Fanny sat down again. She felt the little packet in her pocket. That, at +least, was secure; that, at least, would not rise up and betray her.</p> + +<p>Margaret gave a very simple explanation of the reason why Betty could +not remain in the club. She said that Betty had taken the rules and +studied them carefully; had most faithfully promised to obey them; and +then, a fortnight later, had stood up and stated that she had broken +Rule No. I., for she had a secret which she had not divulged to the +other members.</p> + +<p>“And that secret, Margaret?” asked Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“She had, she said, a packet—a sealed packet of great value—that she +did not wish any one in the school to know about. It had been given to +her by one she loved. She was extremely reticent about it, and seemed to +be in great trouble. She explained why she had not spoken of it at first +by saying that she did not think that the secret concerned any one in +the school, but since she had joined the club she had felt that she +ought to tell. We asked her all the questions we could; and she +certainly gave us to understand that the packet was hers by right, but +that, rather than give it up, she had told an untruth about it to +Fanny’s father, Sir John Crawford. We were very much stunned and +distressed at her revelation, and we begged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>of her to go with the story +to you, and also to put the packet in your charge, and tell you what she +had already told us. This she emphatically refused to do, saying that +she would never give the packet up under any conditions whatever. We had +a special meeting of the club on the following night, when we again +asked Betty what she meant to do. She said her intention was to keep +firmly to her resolve that she would never give up the packet nor tell +where she had hidden it. We then felt it to be our bounden duty to ask +her to withdraw from the club. She did so. I think that is all.”</p> + +<p>“Only,” said Mrs. Haddo, speaking in a voice of great distress, “that +the poor, unhappy child seems to have lost the packet—which contained +nobody knows what, but some treasure which she prized—and that the loss +and the shock together are affecting her life to the point of danger. +Girls, do any of you know—have you any clue whatsoever to—where the +packet is now? Please remember, dear girls, that Betty’s life—that +beautiful, vivid young life—depends on that packet being restored. +Don’t keep it a secret if you have any clue whatsoever to give me, for I +am miserable about this whole thing.”</p> + +<p>“Indeed we wouldn’t keep it a secret,” said Margaret. “How could we? +We’d give all the world to find it for her. Who can have taken it?”</p> + +<p>“Some one has, beyond doubt,” said Mrs. Haddo. “Children, this is a +terrible day for me. I have tried to be kind to you all. Won’t you help +me now in my sorrow?”</p> + +<p>The girls crowded round her, some of them kneeling by her side, some of +them venturing to kiss her hand; but from every pair of lips came the +same words, “We know nothing of the packet.” Even Fanny, who kept it in +her pocket, and who heartily wished that it was lying at the bottom of +the sea, repeated the same words as her companions.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI</h2> + +<h3>A RAY OF HOPE</h3> + +<p>A few minutes later the Speciality girls had left Mrs. Haddo’s room. +There were to be no lessons that day; therefore they could spend their +time as they liked best. But an enforced holiday of this kind was no +pleasure to any of them.</p> + +<p>Martha said at once that she was going to seek the twins. “I have left +them in my room,” she said. “They hardly slept all night. I never saw +such dear, affectionate little creatures. They are absolutely +broken-hearted. I promised to come to them as soon as I could.”</p> + +<p>“Have you asked them to trust you—to treat you as a true friend?” asked +Fanny Crawford.</p> + +<p>“I have, Fanny; and the strange thing is, that although beyond doubt +they know pretty nearly as much about Betty’s secret and about the lost +packet as she does herself, poor child, they are just as reticent with +regard to it. They will not tell. Nothing will induce them to betray +Betty. Over and over again I have implored of them, for the sake of her +life, to take me into their confidence; but I might as well have spoken +to adamant. They will not do it.”</p> + +<p>“They have exactly the same stubborn nature,” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>The other girls looked reproachfully at her.</p> + +<p>Then Olive said, “You have never liked your cousins, Fanny; and it does +pain us all that you should speak against them at a moment like the +present.”</p> + +<p>“Then I will go away,” said Fanny. “I can see quite well that my +presence is uncongenial to you all. I will find my own amusements. But I +may as well state that if I am to be tortured and looked down on in the +school, I shall write to Aunt Amelia and ask her to take me in until +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>father writes to Mrs. Haddo about me. You must admit, all of you, that +it has been a miserable time for me since the Vivians came to the +school.”</p> + +<p>“You have made it miserable yourself, Fanny,” was Susie’s retort.</p> + +<p>Then Fanny got up and went away. A moment later she was joined by Martha +West.</p> + +<p>“Fanny, dear Fanny,” said Martha, “won’t you tell me what is changing +you so completely?”</p> + +<p>“There is nothing changing me,” said Fanny in some alarm. “What do you +mean, Martha?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but you look so changed! You are not a bit what you used to be—so +jolly, so bright, so—so very pretty. Now you have a careworn, anxious +expression. I don’t understand you in the very least.”</p> + +<p>“And I don’t want you to,” said Fanny. “You are all bewitched with +regard to that tiresome girl; even I, your old and tried friend, have no +chance against her influence. When I tell you I know her far better than +any of you can possibly do, you don’t believe me. You suspect me of +harboring unkind and jealous thoughts against her; as if I, Fanny +Crawford, could be jealous of a nobody like Betty Vivian!”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, you know perfectly well that Betty will never be a nobody. There +is something in her which raises her altogether above the low standard +to which you assign her. Oh, Fanny, what is the matter with you?”</p> + +<p>“Please leave me alone, Martha. If you had spent the wretched night I +have spent you might look tired and worn out too. I was turned out of my +bedroom, to begin with, because Sister Helen required it.”</p> + +<p>“Well, surely there was no hardship in that?” said Martha. “I, for +instance, spent the night gladly with dear little Sylvia and Hester; we +all had a room together in the lower school. Do you think I grumbled?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, of course you are a saint!” said Fanny with a sneer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p><p>“I am not, but I think I am human; and just at present, for some +extraordinary reason, you are not.”</p> + +<p>“Well, you haven’t heard the history of my woes. I had to share Miss +Symes’s room with her.”</p> + +<p>“St. Cecilia’s delightful room! Surely that was no great hardship?”</p> + +<p>“Wait until you hear. St. Cecilia was quite kind, as she always is; and +I was told that I could have a room to myself to-night. I found, to +begin with, however, that most of the clothes I wanted had been left +behind in my own room. Still, I made no complaint; although, of course, +it was not comfortable, particularly as Miss Symes intended to sit up in +order to see the doctors. But as I was preparing to get into bed, those +twins—those horrid girls that you make such a fuss about, +Martha—rushed into the room and put an awful spider into the center of +my bed, and when I tried to get rid of it, it rushed towards me. Then I +screamed out, and Susie and Olive came in. But we couldn’t catch the +spider nor find it anywhere. You don’t suppose I was likely to go to bed +with <i>that</i> thing in the room? The fire went nearly out. I was hungry, +sleepy, cold. I assure you I have my own share of misery. Then Miss +Symes came in and ordered me to bed. I went, but hardly slept a wink. +And now you expect me to be as cheerful and bright and busy as a bee +this morning!”</p> + +<p>“Oh, not cheerful, poor Fanny!—we can none of us be that with Betty in +such great danger; but you can at least be busy, you can at least help +others.”</p> + +<p>“Thank you,” replied Fanny; “self comes first now and then, and it does +on the present occasion;” and Fanny marched to Miss Symes’s room.</p> + +<p>Martha looked after her until she disappeared from view; then, with a +heavy sigh, she went towards her own room. Here a fire was burning. Some +breakfast had been brought up for the twins, for they were not expected +to appear downstairs that morning. The untasted breakfast, however, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>remained on the little, round table beside the fire, and Sylvia and +Hetty were nowhere to be seen.</p> + +<p>“Where have they gone?” thought Martha. “Oh, I trust they haven’t been +so mad as to go to Betty’s room!”</p> + +<p>She considered for a few minutes. She must find the children, and she +must not trouble any one else in the school about them. Dr. Ashley had +paid his morning visit, and there was quietness in the corridor just +outside Betty’s room. Martha went there and listened. The high-strung, +anxious voice was no longer heard crying aloud piteously for what it +could not obtain. The door of the room was slightly ajar. Martha +ventured to peep in. Betty was lying with her face towards the wall, her +long, thick black hair covering the pillow, and one small hand flung +restlessly outside the counterpane.</p> + +<p>Sister Helen saw Martha, and with a wave of her hand, beckoned the girl +not to come in. Martha retreated to the corridor. Sister Helen followed +her.</p> + +<p>“What do you want, dear?” said the nurse. “You cannot possibly disturb +Betty. She is asleep. Both the doctor and I most earnestly hope that she +may awake slightly better. Dr. Jephson is coming to see her again this +evening. If by that time her symptoms have not improved he is going to +bring another brain specialist down with him. Dr. Ashley is to wire him +in the middle of the day, stating exactly how Betty Vivian is. If she is +the least bit better, Dr. Jephson will come alone; if worse, he will +bring Dr. Stephen Reynolds with him. Why, what is the matter? How pale +you look!”</p> + +<p>“You think badly of Betty, Sister Helen?”</p> + +<p>Sister Helen did not speak for a moment except by a certain look +expressed in her eyes. “Another nurse will arrive within an hour,” she +said, “and then I shall be off duty for a short time. What can I do for +you? I mustn’t stay whispering here.”</p> + +<p>“I have come to find dear Betty’s little sisters.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p><p>“Oh, they left the room some time ago.”</p> + +<p>“Left the room!” said Martha. “Oh, Sister Helen, have they been here?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, both of them, poor children. I went away to fetch some hot water. +Betty was lying very quiet; she had not spoken for nearly an hour. I +hoped she was dropping asleep. When I came back I saw a sight which +would bring tears to any eyes. Her two little sisters had climbed on to +the bed and were lying close to her, one on each side. They didn’t +notice me at all; but as I came in I heard one of them say, ‘Don’t fret, +Bettina; we are going now, at once, to find it.’ And then the other +said, ‘And we won’t come back until we’ve got it.’ There came the ghost +of a smile over my poor little patient’s face. She tried to speak, but +was too weak. I went up to one of the little girls and took her arm, and +whispered to her gently; and then they both got up at once, as meekly as +mice, and said, ‘Betty, we won’t come back until we’ve found it.’ And +poor little Betty smiled again. For some extraordinary reason their +visit seemed to comfort her; for she sighed faintly, turned on her side, +and dropped asleep, just as she is now. I must go back to her at once, +Miss—Miss——”</p> + +<p>“West,” replied Martha. “Martha West is my name.”</p> + +<p>The nurse said nothing further, but returned to the sickroom. Martha +went very quickly back to her own. She felt she had a task cut out for +her. The twins had in all probability gone out. Their curious reticence +had been the most painful part of poor Martha’s night-vigil. She had to +try to comfort the little girls who would not confide one particle of +their trouble to her. At intervals they had broken into violent fits of +sobbing, but they had never spoken; they had not even mentioned Betty’s +name. By and by, towards morning, they each allowed Martha to clasp one +arm around them, and had dropped off into an uneasy slumber.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p><p>Now they were doubtless out of doors. But where? Martha was by no means +acquainted with the haunts of the twins. She knew Sibyl Ray fairly well, +and had always been kind to her; but up to the present the younger +Vivian girls had not seemed to need any special kindness. They were +hearty, merry children; they were popular in the school, and had made +friends of their own. She wanted to seek for them now, but it never +occurred to her for a single moment where they might possibly be +discovered.</p> + +<p>The grounds round Haddo Court were very extensive, and Martha did not +leave a yard of these grounds unexplored, yet nowhere could she find the +twins. At last she came back to the house, tired out and very miserable. +She ran once more to her own room, wondering if they were now there. The +room was quite empty. The housemaid had removed the breakfast-things and +built up the fire. Martha had been told as a great secret that the +Vivians possessed an attic, where they kept their pets. She found the +attic, but it was empty. Even Dickie had forsaken it, and the different +caterpillars were all buried in their chrysalis state. Martha quickly +left the Vivians’ attic. She wandered restlessly and miserably through +the lower school, and visited the room where she had slept, or tried to +sleep, the night before. Nowhere could she find them.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Sylvia and Hester had done a very bold deed. They were +reckless of school rules at a moment like the present. Their one and +only desire was to save Betty at any cost. They knew quite well that +Betty had hidden the packet, but where they could not tell. Betty had +said to them in her confident young voice, “The less you know the +better;” and they had trusted her, as they always would trust her as +long as they lived, for Betty, to them, meant all that was noble and +great and magnificent in the world.</p> + +<p>It flashed now, however, through Sylvia’s little brain that perhaps +Betty had taken the lost treasure to Mrs. Miles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>to keep. She whispered +her thought to Hester, who seized it with sudden rapture.</p> + +<p>“We can, at least, confide in Mrs. Miles,” said Hetty; “and we can tell +the dogs. Perhaps the dogs could scent it out; dogs are such wonders.”</p> + +<p>“We will go straight to Mrs. Miles,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>Betty had told them with great glee—ah, how merry Betty was in those +days!—how she had first reached the farm, of her delightful time with +Dan and Beersheba, of her dinner, of her drive back. Had not they +themselves also visited Stoke Farm? What a delightful, what a glorious, +time they had had there! That indeed was a time of joy. Now was a time +of fearful trouble. But they felt, poor little things! though they could +not possibly confide either in kind Martha West or in any of their +school-friends, that they might confide in Mrs. Miles.</p> + +<p>Accordingly they managed to vault over the iron railings, get on to the +roadside, and in course of time to reach Stoke Farm. The dogs rushed out +to meet them. But Dan and Beersheba were sagacious beasts. They hated +frivolity, they hated unfeeling people, but they respected great sorrow; +and when Hetty said with a burst of tears, “Oh, Dan, Dan, darling Dan, +Betty, your Betty and ours, is so dreadfully ill!” Dan fawned upon the +little girl, licked her hands, and looked into her face with all the +pathos in the world in his brown doggy eyes. Beersheba, of course, +followed his brother’s example. So the poor little twins, accompanied by +the dogs, entered Mrs. Miles’s kitchen.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Miles sprang up with a cry of rapture and surprise at the sight of +them. “Why, my dears! my dears!” she said. “And wherever is the elder of +you? Where do she be? Oh, then it’s me is right glad to see you both!”</p> + +<p>“We want to talk to you, Mrs. Miles,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“And we want to kiss you, Mrs. Miles,” said Hester.</p> + +<p>Then they flung themselves upon her and burst into floods of most bitter +weeping.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p><p>Mrs. Miles had not brought up a large family of children for nothing. +She was accustomed to childish griefs. She knew how violent, how +tempestuous, such griefs might be, and yet how quickly the storms would +pass, the sunshine come, and how smiles would replace tears. She treated +the twins, therefore, now, just as though they were her own children. +She allowed them to cry on her breast, and murmured, “Dear, dear! Poor +lambs! poor lambs! Now, this is dreadful bad, to be sure! But don’t you +mind how many tears you shed when you’ve got Mrs. Miles close to you. +Cry on, pretties, cry on, and God comfort you!”</p> + +<p>So the children, who felt so lonely and desolate, did cry until they +could cry no longer. Then Mrs. Miles immediately did the sort of thing +she invariably found effectual in the case of her own children. She put +the exhausted girls into a comfortable chair each by the fire, and +brought them some hot milk and a slice of seed-cake, and told them they +must sip the milk and eat the cake before they said any more.</p> + +<p>Now, as a matter of fact, Sylvia and Hetty were, without knowing it in +the least, in a starving condition. From the instant that Betty’s +serious illness was announced they had absolutely refused all food, +turning from it with loathing. Supper the night before was not for them, +and breakfast had remained untasted that morning. Mrs. Miles had +therefore done the right thing when she provided them with a comforting +and nourishing meal. They would have refused to touch the cake had one +of their schoolfellows offered it, but they obeyed Mrs. Miles just as +though she were their real mother.</p> + +<p>And while they ate, and drank their hot milk, the good woman went on +with her cooking operations. “I am having a fine joint to-day,” she +said: “corned beef that couldn’t be beat in any county in England, and +that’s saying a good deal. It’ll be on the table, with dumplings to +match and a big apple-tart, sharp at one o’clock. I might ha’ guessed +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>that some o’ them dear little missies were coming to dinner, for I +don’t always have a hot joint like this in the middle o’ the week.”</p> + +<p>The girls suddenly felt that of all things in the world they would like +corned beef best; that dumplings would be a delicious accompaniment; and +that apple-tart, eaten with Mrs. Miles’s rich cream, would go well with +such a dinner. They became almost cheerful. Matters were not quite so +black, and they had a sort of feeling that Mrs. Miles would certainly +help them to find the lost treasure.</p> + +<p>Having got her dinner into perfect order, and laid the table, and put +everything right for the arrival of her good man, Mrs. Miles shut the +kitchen door and drew her chair close to the children.</p> + +<p>“Now you are warm,” she said, “and fed, you don’t look half so miserable +as you did when you came in. I expect the good food nourished you up a +bit. And now, whatever’s the matter? And where is that darling, Miss +Betty? Bless her heart! but she twined herself round us all entirely, +that she did.”</p> + +<p>It would be wrong to say that Sylvia did not burst into fresh weeping at +the sound of Betty’s name.</p> + +<p>But Hester was of stronger mettle. “We have come to you,” she said—“Oh, +Sylvia, do stop crying! it does no manner of good to cry all the +time—we have come to you, Mrs. Miles, to help us to save Betty.”</p> + +<p>“Lawk-a-mercy! and whatever’s wrong with the dear lamb?”</p> + +<p>“We are going to tell you everything,” said Hester. “We have quite made +up our minds. Betty is very, very ill.”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Sylvia, “she is so ill that Dr. Ashley came to see her twice +yesterday, and then again a third time with a great, wonderful special +doctor from London; and we were not allowed to sleep in her room last +night, and she’s—oh, she’s dreadfully bad!</p> + +<p>“They whispered in the school,” continued Sylvia in a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>low tone—“I +heard them; they <i>did</i> whisper it in the school—that perhaps Betty +would—would <i>die</i>. Mrs. Miles, that can’t be true! God doesn’t take +away young, young girls like our Betty. God couldn’t be so cruel.”</p> + +<p>“We won’t call it cruelty,” said Mrs. Miles; “but God does do it, all +the same, for His own wise purposes, no doubt. We’ll not talk o’ that, +my lambs; we’ll let that pass by. The thing is for you to tell me what +has gone wrong with that bonny, strong-looking girl. Why, when she was +here last, although she was a bit pale, she looked downright healthy and +strong enough for anything. Eh, my dear dears! you can’t mention her +name even now to Dan and Beersheba that they ain’t took with fits o’ +delight about her, dancing and scampering like half-mad dogs, and +whining for her to come to them. There, to be sure! they know you belong +to her, and they’re lying down as contented as anything at your feet. I +don’t expect, somehow, your sister will die, my loves, although gels as +young as she have passed into the Better Land. Oh, dear, I’m making you +cry again! It’s good corned beef and dumplings you want. You mustn’t +give way, my dears; people who give way in times o’ trouble ain’t worth +their salt.”</p> + +<p>“We thought perhaps you’d help us,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“Help you, darlings! That I will! I’d help you to this extent—I’d help +you even to the giving up o’ the custom o’ Haddo Court. Now, what can I +do more than that?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, but your help—the help you can give us—won’t do you any harm,” +said Hester. “We’ll tell you about Betty, for we know that you’ll never +let it out—except, indeed, to your husband. We don’t mind a bit his +knowing. Now, this is what has happened. You know we had great +trouble—or perhaps you don’t know. Anyhow, we had great trouble—away, +away in beautiful Scotland. One we loved died. Before she died she left +something for Betty to take care of, and Betty took what she had left +her. It was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>only a little packet, quite small, tied up in brown paper, +and sealed with a good many seals. We don’t know what the packet +contained; but we thought perhaps it might be money, and Betty said to +us that it would be a very good thing for us to have some money to fall +back upon in case we didn’t like the school.”</p> + +<p>“Now, whatever for?” asked Mrs. Miles. “And who could dislike a school +like Haddo Court?”</p> + +<p>“Of course we couldn’t tell,” said Sylvia, “not having been there; but +Betty, who is always very wise, said it was best be on the safe side, +and that perhaps the packet contained money, and if it did we’d have +enough to live on in case we chose to run away.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, missies, did I ever hear tell o’ the like! To run away from a +beautiful school like Haddo Court! Why, there’s young ladies all over +England trying to get into it! But you didn’t know, poor lambs! Well, go +on; tell me the rest.”</p> + +<p>“There was a man who was made our guardian,” continued Sylvia, “and he +was quite kind, and we had nothing to say against him. His name is Sir +John Crawford.”</p> + +<p>“Miss Fanny’s father, bless her!” said Mrs. Miles; “and a pretty young +lady she do be.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny Crawford is our cousin,” said Sylvia, “and we hate her most +awfully.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, my dear young missies! but hate is a weed—a noxious weed that +ought to be pulled up out o’ the ground o’ your hearts.”</p> + +<p>“It is taking deep root in mine,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“And in mine,” said Hester.</p> + +<p>“But please let us tell you the rest, Mrs. Miles. Sir John Crawford had +a letter from our dear aunt, who left the packet for Betty; and we +cannot understand it, but she seemed to wish Sir John Crawford to take +care of the packet for the present. He looked for it everywhere, and +could not find it. Was he likely to when Betty had taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>it? Then he +asked Betty quite suddenly if she knew anything about it, and Betty +stood up and said ‘No.’ She told a huge, monstrous lie, and she didn’t +even change color, and he believed her. So we came here. Well, Betty was +terribly anxious for fear the packet should be found, and one night we +helped her to climb down from the balcony out of our bedroom. No one saw +her go, and no one saw her return, and she put the packet away +somewhere—we don’t know where. Well, after that, wonderful things +happened, and Betty was made a tremendous fuss of in the school. There +was no one like her, and she was loved like anything, and we were as +proud as Punch of her. But all of a sudden everything changed, and our +Betty was disgraced. There were horrid things written on a blackboard +about her. She was quite innocent, poor darling! But the things were +written, and Betty is the sort of girl to feel such disgrace +frightfully. We were quite preparing to run away with her, for we +thought she wouldn’t care to stay much longer in the +school—notwithstanding your opinion of it, Mrs. Miles. But all of a +sudden Betty seemed to go right down, as though some one had felled her +with an awful blow. She kept crying out, and crying out, that the packet +was lost. Anyhow, she thinks it is lost; she hasn’t an idea where it can +be. And the doctors say that Betty’s brain is in such a curious state +that unless the packet is found she—she may die.</p> + +<p>“So we went to her, both of us, and we told her we would go and find +it,” continued Sylvia. “We have got to find it. That is what we have +come about. We don’t suppose for a minute that it was right of Betty to +tell the lie; but that was the only thing she did wrong. Anyhow, we +don’t care whether she did right or wrong; she is our Betty, the most +splendid, the very dearest girl in all the world, and she sha’n’t die. +We thought perhaps you would help us to find the packet.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” said Mrs. Miles, “that’s a wonderful story, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>it’s a queer +sort o’ job to put upon a very busy farmer’s wife. <i>Me</i> to find the +packet?”</p> + +<p>“Yes; you or your husband, whichever of you can or will do it. It is +Betty’s life that depends upon it. Couldn’t your dogs help us? In +Scotland we have dogs that scent anything. Are yours that sort?”</p> + +<p>“They haven’t been trained,” said Mrs. Miles, “and that’s the simple +truth. Poor darlings! you must bear up as best you can. It’s a very +queer story, but of course the packet must be found. You stay here for +the present, and I’ll go out and meet my husband as he comes along to +his dinner. I reckon, when all’s said and done, I’m a right good wife +and a right good mother, and that there ain’t a farm kept better than +ours anywhere in the neighborhood, nor finer fowls for the table, nor +better ducks, nor more tender geese and turkeys. Then as to our +pigs—why, the pigs themselves be a sight. And we rears horses, too, and +very good many o’ them turn out. And in the spring-time we have young +lambs and young heifers; in fact, there ain’t a young thing that can be +born that don’t seem to have a right to take up its abode at Stoke Farm. +And I does for ’em all, the small twinses being too young and the old +twinses too rough and big for the sort o’ work. Well, my dears, I’m good +at all that sort o’ thing; but when it comes to dertective business I am +nowhere, and I may as well confess it. I am sorry for you, my loves; but +this is a job for the farmer and not for me, for he’s always down on the +poachers, and very bitter he feels towards ’em. He has to be sharp and +sudden and swift and knowing, whereas I have to be tender and loving and +petting and true. That’s the differ between us. He’s more the person for +this ’ere job, and I’ll go and speak to him while you sit by the kitchen +fire.”</p> + +<p>“Do, please, please, Mrs. Miles!” said both the twins.</p> + +<p>Then she left them, and they sat very still in the warm, silent kitchen; +and by and by Sylvia, worn out with grief, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>and not having slept at all +during the previous night, dropped into an uneasy slumber, while Hetty +stroked her sister’s hand and Dan’s head until she also fell asleep.</p> + +<p>The dogs, seeing that the girls were asleep, thought that they might do +the same. When, therefore, Farmer Miles and his wife entered the +kitchen, it was to find the two girls and the dogs sound asleep.</p> + +<p>“Poor little lambs! Do look at ’em!” said Mrs. Miles. “They be wore out, +and no mistake.”</p> + +<p>“Let’s lay ’em on the sofa along here,” said Miles. “While they’re +having their sleep out you get the dinner up, wife, and I’ll go out and +put on my considering-cap.”</p> + +<p>The farmer had no sooner said this than—whispering to the dogs, who +very unwillingly accompanied him—he left the kitchen. He went into the +farmyard and began to pace up and down. Mrs. Miles had told her story +with some skill, the farmer having kept his attention fixed on the +salient points.</p> + +<p>Miss Betty—even he had succumbed utterly to the charms of Miss +Betty—had lost a packet of great value. She had hidden it, doubtless in +the grounds of Haddo Court. She had gone had gone to look for it, and it +was no longer there. Some one had stolen it. Who that person could be +was what the farmer wanted to “get at,” as he expressed it. “Until you +can get at the thief,” he muttered under his breath, “you are nowhere at +all.”</p> + +<p>But at present he was without any clue, and, true man of business that +he was, he felt altogether at a loose end. Meanwhile, as he was pacing +up and down towards the farther edge of the prosperous-looking farmyard, +Dan uttered a growl and sprang into the road. The next minute there was +a piercing cry, and Farmer Miles, brandishing his long whip, followed +the dog. Dan was holding the skirts of a very young girl and shaking +them ferociously in his mouth. His eyes glared into the face of the +girl, and his whole aspect was that of anger personified. Luckily, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>Beersheba was not present, or the girl might have had a sorry time of +it. With a couple of strides the farmer advanced towards her; dealt some +swift lashes with his heavy whip on the dog’s head, which drove him +back; then, taking the girl’s small hand, he said to her kindly, “Don’t +you be frightened, miss; his bark’s a sight worse nor his bite.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, he did terrify me so!” was the answer; “and I’ve been running for +such a long time, and I’m very, very tired.”</p> + +<p>“Well, miss, I don’t know your name nor anything about you; but this +land happens to be private property—belonging to me, and to me alone. +Of course, if it weren’t for that I’d have no right to have fierce dogs +about ready to molest human beings. It was a lucky thing for you, miss, +that I was so close by. And whatever be your name, if I may be so bold +as to ask, and where be you going now?”</p> + +<p>“My name is Sibyl Ray, and I belong to Haddo Court.”</p> + +<p>“Dear, dear, dear! seems to me, somehow, that Haddo Court and Stoke Farm +are going to have a right good connection. I don’t complain o’ the +butter, and the bread, and the cheese, and the eggs, and the fowls as we +sarve to the school; but I never counted on the young ladies taking +their abode in my quarters.”</p> + +<p>“What do you mean, and who are you?” said Sibyl in great amazement.</p> + +<p>“My name, miss, is Farmer Miles; and this house”—he pointed to his +dwelling—“is my homestead; and there are two young ladies belonging to +your school lying fast asleep at the present moment in my wife’s +kitchen, and they has given me a problem to think out. It’s a mighty +stiff one, but it means life or death; so of course I have, so to speak, +my knife in it, and I’ll get the kernel out afore I’m many hours older.”</p> + +<p>Sibyl, who had been very miserable before she started, who had endured +her drive with what patience she could, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>and whose heart was burning +with hatred to Fanny and passionate, despairing love for Betty Vivian, +was so exhausted now that she very nearly fainted.</p> + +<p>The farmer looked at her out of his shrewd eyes. “Being a member o’ the +school, Miss Ray,” he said, “you doubtless are acquainted with them +particularly charming young ladies, the Misses Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“Indeed I know them all, and love them all,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Now, that’s good hearing; for they be a pretty lot, that they be. And +as to the elder, I never see’d a face like hers—so wonderful, and with +such a light about it; and her courage—bless you, miss! the dogs +wouldn’t harm <i>her</i>. It was fawning on her, and licking her hand, and +petting her they were. Is it true, miss, that Miss Betty is so mighty +bad?”</p> + +<p>“It is true,” said Sibyl; “and I wonder——Oh; please don’t leave me +standing here alone on the road. I am so miserable and frightened! I +wonder if it’s Sylvia and Hester who are in your house?”</p> + +<p>“Yes, they be the missies, and dear little things they be.”</p> + +<p>“And have they told you anything?” asked Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Well, yes; they have set me a conundrum—a mighty stiff one. It seems +that Miss Betty Vivian has lost a parcel, and she be that fretted about +it that she’s nigh to death, and the little uns have promised to get it +back for her; and, poor children! they’ve set me on the job, and how +ever I’m to do it I don’t know.”</p> + +<p>“I think perhaps I can help you,” said Sibyl suddenly. “I’ll tell you +this much, Farmer Miles. I can get that packet back, and I’d much rather +get it back with your help than without it.”</p> + +<p>“Shake hands on that, missie. I wouldn’t like to be, so to speak, in a +thing, and then cast out o’ it again afore the right moment. But +whatever do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“You shall know all at the right time,” said Sibyl. “Mrs. Haddo is so +unhappy about Betty that she wouldn’t <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>allow any of the upper-school +girls to have lessons to-day, so she sent them off to spend the day in +London. I happened to be one of them, and was perfectly wretched at +having to go; so while I was driving to the railway station in one of +the wagonettes I made up my mind. I settled that whatever happened I’d +never, never, never endure another night like the last; and I couldn’t +go to London and see pictures or museums or whatever places we were to +be taken to while Betty was lying at death’s door, and when I knew that +it was possible for me to save her. So when we got to the station there +was rather a confusion—that is, while the tickets were being +bought—and I suddenly slipped away by myself and got outside the +station, and ran, and ran, and ran—oh, so fast!—until at last I got +quite beyond the town, and then I found myself in the country; and all +the time I kept saying, and saying, ‘I will tell. She sha’n’t die; +nothing else matters; Betty shall not die.’”</p> + +<p>“Then what do you want me to help you for, missie?”</p> + +<p>“Because,” said Sibyl, holding out her little hand, “I am very weak and +you are very strong, and you will keep me up to it. Please do come with +me straight back to the school!”</p> + +<p>“Well, there’s a time for all things,” said the farmer; “and I’m willing +to give up my arternoon’s work, but I’m by no means willing to give up +my midday meal, for we farmers don’t work for nothing—as doubtless you +know, missie. So, if you’ll come along o’ me and eat a morsel, we’ll set +off afterwards, sure and direct, to Haddo Court; and I’ll keep you up to +the mark if you’re likely to fail.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII</h2> + +<h3>FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE</h3> + +<p>Sylvia and Hetty had awakened when the farmer brought Sibyl Ray into the +pleasant farmhouse kitchen. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>The twin-boys were absent at school, and +only the little twins came down to dinner. The beef, potatoes, +dumplings, apple-tart and cream were all A1, and Sibyl was just as glad +of the meal as were the two Vivian girls.</p> + +<p>The Vivians did not know Sibyl very well, and had not the least idea +that she guessed their secret. She rather avoided glancing at them, and +was very shy and retiring, and stole up close to the farmer when the +dogs were admitted. But Dan and Beersheba knew what was expected of +them. Any one in the Stoke Farm kitchen had a right to be there; and +were they going to waste their precious time and affection on the sort +of girl they would love to bite, when Sylvia and Hetty were present? So +they fawned on the twin-girls, taking up a good deal of their attention; +and by and by the dinner came to an end.</p> + +<p>When it was quite over the farmer got up, wiped his mouth with a big, +red-silk handkerchief, and, going up to the Vivian twins, said quietly, +“You can go home, whenever you like; and I think the job you have put +upon me will be managed. Meanwhile, me and this young party will make +off to Haddo Court as fast as we can.”</p> + +<p>As this “young party” happened to be Sibyl Ray, the girls looked up in +astonishment; but the farmer gave no information of any kind, not even +bestowing a wink on his wife, who told the little twins when he had left +the kitchen accompanied by Sibyl that she would be ready to walk back +with them to the school in about half an hour.</p> + +<p>“You need have no frets now, my loves,” she said. “The farmer would +never have said words like he’ve spoken to you if he hadn’t got his +knife right down deep into the kernel. He’s fond o’ using that +expression, dears, when he’s nailed a poacher, and he wouldn’t say no +less nor no more for a job like you’ve set him to.”</p> + +<p>During their walk the farmer and Sibyl hardly exchanged a word. As they +went up the avenue they saw that the place was nearly empty. The day was +a fine one; but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>girls of the lower school had one special +playground some distance away, and the girls of the upper school were +supposed to be in London. Certainly no one expected Sibyl Ray to put in +an appearance here at this hour.</p> + +<p>As they approached quite close to the mansion, Sibyl turned her very +pale face and stole her small hand into that of the farmer. “I am so +frightened!” she said; “and I know quite well this is going to ruin me, +and I shall have to go back home to be a burden to father, who is very +poor, and who thinks so much of my being educated here. But I—I will do +it all the same.”</p> + +<p>“Of course you will, missie; and poverty don’t matter a mite.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps it doesn’t,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Compared to a light heart, it don’t matter a gossoon, as they say in +Ireland,” remarked the farmer.</p> + +<p>Sibyl felt suddenly uplifted.</p> + +<p>“I’ll see you through, missie,” he added as they came up to the wide +front entrance.</p> + +<p>A doctor’s carriage was standing there, and it was quite evident that +one or two doctors were in the house.</p> + +<p>“Oh,” said Sibyl with a gasp, “suppose we are betrayed!”</p> + +<p>“No, we won’t be that,” said the farmer.</p> + +<p>Sibyl pushed open the door, and then, standing in the hall, she rang a +bell. A servant presently appeared.</p> + +<p>Before Sibyl could find her voice Farmer Miles said, “Will you have the +goodness to find Mrs. Haddo and tell her that I, Farmer Miles of the +Stoke Farm, have come here accompanied by one o’ her young ladies, who +has something o’ great importance to tell her at once?”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps you will both come into Mrs. Haddo’s private sitting-room?” +said the girl.</p> + +<p>The farmer nodded assent, and he and Sibyl entered. When they were +inside the room Sibyl uttered a faint sigh. The farmer took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><p>“What a lot o’ fal-lals, to be sure!” he said, looking round in a by no +means appreciative manner.</p> + +<p>Sibyl and the farmer had to wait for some little time before Mrs. Haddo +made her appearance. When she did so a great change was noticeable in +her face; it was exceedingly pale. Her lips had lost their firm, their +even noble, expression of self-restraint; they were tremulous, as though +she had been suffering terribly. Her eyes were slightly red, as though +some of those rare tears which she so seldom shed had visited them. She +looked first at Farmer Miles and then in great amazement at Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Why are you here, Sibyl Ray?” she said. “I sent you to London with the +other girls of the upper school this morning. What are you doing here?”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps I can tell you best, ma’am, if you will permit me to speak,” +said the farmer.</p> + +<p>“I hope you will be very brief, Farmer Miles. I could not refuse your +request, but we are all in great trouble to-day at the school. One of +our young ladies—one greatly beloved by us all—is exceedingly, indeed +I must add most dangerously, ill.”</p> + +<p>“It’s about her we’ve come,” said the farmer.</p> + +<p>Here Mrs. Haddo sank into a seat. “Why, what do you know about Miss +Betty Vivian?”</p> + +<p>“Ah, I met her myself, not once, but twice,” said Miles; “and I love +her, too, just as the wife loves her, and the big twins, and the little +twins, and the dogs—bless ’em! We all love Miss Betty Vivian. And now, +ma’am, I must tell you that Miss Betty’s little sisters came to see the +good wife this morning.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo was silent.</p> + +<p>“They told their whole story to the good wife. A packet has been lost, +and Miss Betty lies at death’s door because o’ the grief o’ that loss. +The little uns—bless ’em!—thought that the wife could find the packet. +That ain’t in her line; it’s mothering and coddling and loving as is in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>her line. So she put the job on me; and, to be plain, ma’am, I never +were more flabbergasted in the whole o’ my life. For to catch a poacher +is one thing, and to catch a lost packet—nobody knowing where it be nor +how it were lost—is another.”</p> + +<p>“Well, why have you come to me?” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“Because, ma’am, I’ve got a clue, and a big one; and this young lady’s +the clue.”</p> + +<p>“You, Sibyl Ray—you?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Speak out now, missie; don’t be frightened. There are miles worse +things than poverty; there’s disgrace and heart-burnings. Speak you out +bold, missie, and don’t lose your courage.”</p> + +<p>“I was miserable,” said Sibyl. “I didn’t want to go to town, and when I +got to the station I slipped away; and I got into the lane outside Stoke +Farm and a dog came out and frightened me, and—and—then this man +came—this kind man——”</p> + +<p>“Well, go on, Sibyl,” said Mrs. Haddo; “moments are precious just now.”</p> + +<p>“I—took the packet,” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“<i>You</i>—took—the packet?”</p> + +<p>“Yes. I don’t want to speak against another. It was my fault—or mostly +my fault. I did love Betty, and it didn’t matter at all to me that she +was expelled from the Specialities; I should love her just as much if +she were expelled from fifty Specialities. But Fanny—she—she—put me +against her.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny! What Fanny do you mean?”</p> + +<p>“Fanny Crawford.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo rose at once and rang her bell. When the servant appeared she +said, “Send Miss Crawford here immediately, and don’t mention that any +one is in my study. Now, Sibyl, keep the rest of your story until Fanny +Crawford is present.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p><p>In about five minutes’ time Fanny appeared. She was very white, and +looked rather worn and miserable. “Oh, dear!” she said as she entered, +“I am so glad you have sent for me, Mrs. Haddo; and I do trust I shall +have a room to myself to-night, for I didn’t sleep at all last night, +and——Why, whatever is the matter? Sibyl, what are you doing here? And +who—who is that man?”</p> + +<p>“Sit down, Fanny—or stand, just as you please,” said Mrs. Haddo; “only +have the goodness not to speak until Sibyl has finished her story. Now, +Sibyl, go on. You had come to that part where you explained that Fanny +put you against Betty Vivian. No, Fanny, you do not go towards the door. +Stay quietly where you are.”</p> + +<p>Fanny, seeing that all chance of exit was cut off, stood perfectly +still, her eyes fixed on the ground.</p> + +<p>“Now, Sibyl, go on.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny was very anxious about the packet, and she wanted me to watch,” +continued Sibyl, “so that I might discover where Betty had hidden it. I +did watch, and I found that Betty had put it under one of the plants of +wild-heather in the ‘forest primeval.’ I saw her take it out and look at +it and put it back again, and when she was gone I went to the place and +took the packet out myself and brought it to Fanny. I don’t know where +the packet is now.”</p> + +<p>“Fanny, where is the packet?” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“Sibyl is talking the wildest nonsense,” said Fanny. “How can you +possibly believe her? I know nothing about Betty Vivian or her +concerns.”</p> + +<p>“Perhaps, miss,” said the farmer, coming forward at that moment, “that +pointed thing sticking out o’ your pocket might have something to do +with it. You will permit me, miss, seeing that the young lady’s life is +trembling in the balance.”</p> + +<p>Before either Mrs. Haddo or Fanny could utter a word Farmer Miles had +strode across the room, thrust his big, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>rough hand into Fanny’s neat +little pocket, and taken out the brown paper-packet.</p> + +<p>“There, now,” he said, “that’s the kernel of the nut. I thought I’d do +it somehow. Thank you kindly, ma’am, for listening to me. Miss Sibyl +Ray, you may be poor in the future, but at least you’ll have a light +heart; and as to the dirty trick you did, I guess you won’t do a second, +for you have learned your lesson. I’ll be wishing you good-morning now, +ma’am,” he added, turning to Mrs. Haddo, “for I must get back to my +work. It’s twelve pounds o’ butter the cook wants sent up without fail +to-night, ma’am; and I’m much obliged for the order.”</p> + +<p>The farmer left the room. Fanny had flung herself on a chair and covered +her face with her hands. Sibyl stood motionless, awaiting Mrs. Haddo’s +verdict.</p> + +<p>Once again Mrs. Haddo rang the bell. “Send Miss Symes to me,” she said.</p> + +<p>Miss Symes appeared.</p> + +<p>“The doctor’s last opinion, please, Miss Symes?”</p> + +<p>“Dr. Ashley says that Betty is much the same. The question now is how to +keep up her strength. He thinks it better to have two specialists from +London, as, if she continues in such intense excitement, further +complications may arise.”</p> + +<p>“Do you know where Betty’s sisters are?” was Mrs. Haddo’s next inquiry.</p> + +<p>“I haven’t seen them for some time, but I will find out where they are.”</p> + +<p>“As soon as ever you find them, send them straight to me. I shall be +here for the present.”</p> + +<p>Miss Symes glanced in some wonder from Sibyl to Fanny; then she went out +of the room without further comment.</p> + +<p>When she was quite alone with the girls Mrs. Haddo said, “Fanny, a fresh +bedroom has been prepared for you, and I shall be glad if you will go +and spend the rest of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>this day there. I do not feel capable of speaking +to you at present. As to you, Sibyl, your conduct has been bad enough; +but at the eleventh hour—and, we may hope, in time—you have made +restitution. You may, therefore, rejoin the girls of the lower school.”</p> + +<p>“Of the lower school?” said Sibyl.</p> + +<p>“Yes. Your punishment is that you return to the lower school for at +least a year, until you are more capable of guiding your own conduct, +and less likely to be influenced by the wicked passions of girls who +have had more experience than yourself. You can go to your room also for +the present, and to-morrow morning you will resume your duties in the +lower school.”</p> + +<p>Fanny and Sibyl both turned away, neither of them saying a word to the +other. They had scarcely done so before Miss Symes came in, her face +flushed with excitement, and accompanied by the twins.</p> + +<p>“My dear girls, where have you been?” said Mrs. Haddo.</p> + +<p>“With Mrs. Miles,” said Sylvia.</p> + +<p>“I cannot blame you, under the circumstances, although you have broken a +rule. My dears, thank God for His mercies. Here is the lost packet.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia grasped it.</p> + +<p>Hester rushed towards Sylvia and laid her hand over her sister’s. “Oh! +oh!” she said.</p> + +<p>“Now, girls, can I trust you? I was told what took place this +morning—how you went to Betty without leave, and promised to return +with the packet. Is Betty awake at present, Miss Symes?”</p> + +<p>“Yes,” said Miss Symes, “she has been awake for a long time.”</p> + +<p>“Will you take the girls up to Betty’s room? Do not go in yourself. Now, +girls, I trust to your wisdom, and to your love of Betty, to do this +thing very quietly.”</p> + +<p>“You may trust us,” said Hetty.</p> + +<p>They left the room. They followed Miss Symes upstairs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>They entered the +beautiful room where Betty was lying, her eyes shining brightly, fever +high on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>It was Hetty who put the packet into her hand. “Here it is, Betty +darling. We said we’d find it for you.”</p> + +<p>Then a wonderful thing happened; for Betty looked at the packet, then +she smiled, then she raised it to her lips and kissed it, then she put +it under her pillow. Finally she said, “Oh, I am sleepy! Oh, I am +tired!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h3>RESTORATION</h3> + +<p>Notwithstanding the fact that the lost packet was restored, Betty’s life +hung in the balance for at least another twenty-four hours. During that +time she tossed and sighed and groaned. The fever ran high, and her +little voice kept on saying, “Oh, that I could find the packet!”</p> + +<p>It was in this emergency that Miss Symes came to the rescue. She called +Sylvia and Hester to her, and desired Hester to stand at one side of +Betty’s little, narrow, white bed, and Sylvia to place herself at the +other.</p> + +<p>Betty did not seem even to know her sisters. Her eyes were glassy, her +cheeks deeply flushed, and there was a look of intense restlessness and +great pain in her face. “Oh, that I might find the packet!” she +murmured.</p> + +<p>“Do what your heart prompts you, Sylvia,” said Miss Symes.</p> + +<p>Sylvia immediately pushed her hand under Betty’s pillow, and, taking up +the lost packet, took one of the girl’s little, feverish hands and +closed her fingers round the brown-paper parcel.</p> + +<p>“It is found, Bettina! it is found!” said Sylvia. “Here it is. You need +not fret any more.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p><p>“What! what!” said Betty. Into her eyes there crept a new expression, +into her voice a new note. “Oh, I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>But here Hetty threw in a word of affection and entreaty. “Why, +Bettina,” she said, “it is in your hand. Feel it, darling! feel it! We +got it back for you, just as we said we would. Feel it, Bettina! feel +it!”</p> + +<p>Betty felt. Her fingers were half-numbed; but she was able to perceive +the difference between the brown paper and the thick, strong cord, and +again the difference between the thick cord and the sealing-wax. “How +many seals are there?” she asked in a breathless, eager voice, turning +and looking full at her sisters.</p> + +<p>“Eight in all,” said Sylvia, speaking rapidly: “two in front, two at +each side, and two, again, fastening down the naps at the back.”</p> + +<p>“I knew there were eight,” said Betty. “Let me feel them.”</p> + +<p>Sylvia conducted Betty’s fingers over the unbroken seals.</p> + +<p>“Count for me, darling, silly Sylvia!” said Betty.</p> + +<p>Sylvia began to count: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.</p> + +<p>“It is my lost packet!” said Betty with a cry.</p> + +<p>“It is, Betty! it is!”</p> + +<p>“And is any one going to take it from me?”</p> + +<p>“No one, Betty, ever again.”</p> + +<p>“Let me hold it in my hand,” said Betty.</p> + +<p>Sister Helen came up with a restorative; and when Betty had taken the +nourishing contents of the little, white china cup, she again made use +of that extraordinary expression, “Oh, I am so sleepy! Oh, I am tired!”</p> + +<p>Still holding the packet in her hand, Betty dropped off into slumber; +and when she came to herself the doctors said that the crisis was past.</p> + +<p>Betty Vivian recovered very slowly, during which time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>the rules of the +school were altogether relaxed, not only in her favor, but also in favor +of the twins, Sylvia and Hetty. They were allowed to spend some hours +every day with Betty, and although they spoke very little, they were +able to comfort their sister immensely. At last Betty was well enough to +leave her bed and creep to any easy-chair, where she would sit, feeling +more dead than alive; and, by slow degrees, the girls of the school whom +she loved best came to see her and comfort her and fuss over her. +Margaret Grant looked very strong and full of sympathy; Martha West had +that delightful voice which could not but attract all who heard her +speak. Susie Rushworth, the Bertrams, Olive, and all the other +Specialities, with the exception of Fanny, came to visit Betty, who, in +her turn, loved to see them, and grew better each day, and stronger, and +more inclined to eat the good, nourishing food which was provided for +her.</p> + +<p>All this time she had never once spoke of Fanny Crawford. The other +Speciality girls were rather nervous on this account. They wondered how +Betty would feel when she heard what had happened to Fanny; for Fanny, +after spending a whole day and night in the small and somewhat dismal +bedroom prepared for her by Mrs. Haddo’s orders, refused to appear at +prayers the following morning, and, further, requested that her +breakfast should be taken up to her.</p> + +<p>Betty’s life was still hanging in the balance, although the doctors were +not nearly so anxious as they had been the day before. Fanny was biding +her time. She knew all the rules of the school, having spent so many +years there. She also knew well what desolation awaited her in the +future in this bright and pleasant school; for, during that painful day +and that terrible night, and this, if possible, more dreadful morning, +no one had come near her but the servant who brought her meals, no one +had spoken to her. To all appearance she, one of the prime <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>favorites of +the school and Sir John Crawford’s only daughter, was forgotten as +though she had never existed. To Fanny’s proud heart this sense of +desertion was almost intolerable. She could have cried aloud but that +she did not dare to give way; she could have set aside Mrs. Haddo’s +punishment, but in her heart of hearts she felt convinced that none of +the girls would take her part. All the time, however, she was making up +her mind. Her nicely assorted garments—her pretty evening frocks, her +day-dresses of summer and winter, her underclothing, her jackets, her +hats, gloves, and handkerchiefs—had all been conveyed to the small, +dull room which she was now occupying. To herself she called it +Punishment Chamber, and felt that she could not endure the life there +even for another hour.</p> + +<p>Being well acquainted with the usual routine of the school, Fanny busied +herself immediately after breakfast in packing her different belongings +into two neat cane trunks which she had desired a servant to bring to +her from the box-room. Having done this, she changed the dress she was +wearing for a coat and skirt of neat blue serge and a little cap to +match. She wrote out labels at her desk and gummed them on the trunks. +She examined the contents of her purse; she had two or three pounds of +her own. She could, therefore, do pretty much what she pleased.</p> + +<p>But although Fanny Crawford had acted perhaps worse than any other girl +had acted in the school before, she scorned to run away. She would go +openly; she would defy Mrs. Haddo. Mrs. Haddo could not possibly keep a +girl of Fanny’s age—for she would soon be seventeen—against her will. +Having packed her trunks, Fanny went downstairs. The rest of the upper +school were busy at their lessons. Sibyl Ray, who had returned to the +lower school, was of course nowhere in sight. Fanny marched bravely down +the corridor, along which she had hurried <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>yesterday in nameless fear +and trepidation. She knocked at Mrs. Haddo’s door. Mrs. Haddo said, +“Come in,” and she entered.</p> + +<p>“Oh, it’s you, Fanny Crawford! I haven’t sent for you.”</p> + +<p>“I know that,” replied Fanny. “But I cannot stay any longer in disgrace +in one room. I have had enough of it. I wish to tell you, Mrs. Haddo, +that Haddo Court is no longer the place for me. I suppose I ought to +repent of what I have done; and, of course, I never for a moment thought +that Betty would be so absurd and silly to get an illness which would +nearly kill her. As a matter of fact, I do not repent. The wicked person +was Betty Vivian. She first stole the packet, and then told a lie about +it. I happened to see her steal it, for I was saying at Craigie Muir at +the time. When Miss Symes told me that the Vivians were coming to the +school I disliked the idea, and said so; but I wouldn’t complain, and my +dislike received no attention whatsoever. Betty has great powers of +fascination, and she won hearts here at once. She was asked to join the +Specialities—an unheard-of-thing for a new girl at the school. I begged +and implored of her not to join, referring her to Rule No. I., which +prohibits any girl who is in possession of such a secret as Betty had to +become a member. She would not listen to me; she <i>would</i> join. Then she +became miserable, and confessed what she had done, but would not carry +her confession to its logical conclusion—namely, confession to you and +restoration of the lost packet.”</p> + +<p>“I wish to interrupt you for a minute here, Fanny,” said Mrs. Haddo. +“Since your father left he has sent me several letters of the late Miss +Vivian’s to read. In one of them she certainly did allude to a packet +which was to be kept safely until Betty was old enough to appreciate it; +but in another, which I do not think your father ever read, Miss Vivian +said that she had changed her mind, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>and had put the packet altogether +into Betty’s charge. I do not wish to condone Betty’s sins; but her only +sin in this affair was the lie she told, which was evidently uttered in +a moment of swift temptation. She had a right to the packet, according +to this letter of Miss Frances Vivian’s.”</p> + +<p>Fanny stood very still. “I didn’t know that,” she replied.</p> + +<p>“I dare say you didn’t; but had you treated Betty differently, and been +kind to her from the first, she would probably have explained things to +you.”</p> + +<p>“I never liked her, and I never shall,” said Fanny with a toss of her +head. “She may suit you, Mrs. Haddo, but she doesn’t suit me. And I wish +to say that I want you to send me, at once, to stay with my aunt Amelia +at Brighton until I can hear from my father with regard to my future +arrangements. If you don’t send me, I have money in my pocket, and will +go in spite of you. I don’t like your school any longer. I did love it, +but now I hate it; and it is all—all because of Betty Vivian.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Fanny, what a pity!” said Mrs. Haddo. Tears filled her eyes. But +Fanny would not look up.</p> + +<p>“May I go?” said Fanny.</p> + +<p>“Yes, my dear. Anderson shall take you, and I will write a note to your +aunt. Fanny, is there no chance of your turning to our Divine Father to +ask Him to forgive you for your sins of cruelty to one unhappy but very +splendid girl?”</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t talk to me of her splendor!” said Fanny. “I am sick of it.”</p> + +<p>“Very well, I will say no more.”</p> + +<p>Mrs. Haddo sank into the nearest chair. After a minute’s pause she +turned to her writing-table and wrote a letter. She then rang her bell, +and desired Anderson to get ready for a short journey.</p> + +<p>About three o’clock that day Fanny, accompanied by Anderson, with her +trunks and belongings heaped on top <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>of a station-cab, drove from Haddo +Court never to return. There were no girls to say farewell; in fact, not +one of her friends even knew of her departure until Mrs. Haddo mentioned +it on the following morning.</p> + +<p>“Fanny did right to go,” she said. “And now we will try to live down all +that has been so painful, and turn our faces once again towards the +light.”</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p>Betty recovered all in good time; but it was not until Christmas had +long passed that she first asked for Fanny Crawford. When she heard that +Fanny had gone, a queer look—half of pleasure, half of pain—flitted +across her little face.</p> + +<p>“You’re glad, aren’t you? You’re very, very glad, Bettina?” whispered +Sylvia in her sister’s ear.</p> + +<p>“No, I am not glad,” replied Betty. “If I had known she was going I +might have spoken to her just once. As it is, I am sorry.”</p> + +<p>“Oh Bettina, why?”</p> + +<p>“Because she has lost the influence of so noble a woman as dear Mrs. +Haddo, and of so faithful a friend as Margaret Grant, and of so dear a +girl as Martha West. Oh, why did I ever come here to upset things? And +why did I ever tell that wicked, wicked lie?”</p> + +<p>“You have repented now, poor darling, if any one ever did!” said both +the twins.</p> + +<p>As they spoke Mrs. Haddo entered the room. “Betty,” she said, “I wish to +tell you something. You certainly did exceedingly wrong when you told +Sir John Crawford that you knew nothing of the packet. But I know you +did not steal it, dear, for I hold a letter in my hand from your aunt, +in which she told Sir John that she had given the packet absolutely into +your care. Sir John could never have read that letter; but I have read +it, dear, and I have written to him on the subject.”</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p><p>“Then I may keep the packet?” asked Betty in a very low voice.</p> + +<p>“Yes, Betty.”</p> + +<p>“And it will read me a lesson,” said Betty. “Oh, thank you! thank you!” +Then she sprang to her feet and kissed Mrs. Haddo’s white hands first, +and then pressed a light kiss on that good lady’s beautiful lips. “God +will help me to do better in the future,” she added.</p> + +<p>And she was helped.</p> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc001.jpg" width="100" height="143" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> Girl Scouts<br /> Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY EDITH LAVELL</p> + +<p class="center">A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by<br /> an author of wide +experience in Scouts’ craft, as<br /> Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia.</p> + +<p class="center">Clothbound, with Attractive Color Designs.</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLEN’S SCHOOL<br /> +THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP<br /> +THE GIRL SCOUTS’ GOOD TURN<br /> +THE GIRL SCOUTS’ CANOE TRIP<br /> +THE GIRL SCOUTS’ RIVALS</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /> +</div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc002.jpg" width="100" height="135" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> Camp Fire<br /> Girls Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">By HILDEGARD G. FREY</p> + +<p class="center clear">A Series of Outdoor Stories for Girls 12 to 16 Years.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound</p> + +<p class="center">Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The Winnebagos go Camping.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; or, The Wohelo Weavers.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; or, The Magic Garden.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; or, Along the Road That Leads the Way.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS’ LARKS AND PRANKS; or, The House of the Open Door.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON ELLEN’S ISLE; or, The Trail of the Seven Cedars.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD; or, Glorify Work.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS DO THEIR BIT; or, Over the Top with the Winnebagos.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House.<br /><br /> +THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT CAMP KEEWAYDIN; or, Down Paddles.</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /> +</div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc003.jpg" width="100" height="136" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads2"><b>The Blue Grass<br /> Seminary Girls Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT</p> + +<p class="center">For Girls 12 to 16 Years</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<p class="center">Splendid stories of the Adventures<br /> +of a Group of Charming Girls.</p> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ VACATION ADVENTURES; or Shirley Willing to the Rescue.<br /><br /> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS’ CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS;or, A Four Weeks’ Tour with the Glee Club.<br /><br /> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace.<br /><br /> +THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; or, Exciting Adventures on a Summerer’s Cruise Through the Panama Canal.</p></div> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<div class="figright" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc004.jpg" width="100" height="137" alt="" title="Ad4" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads2"><b>The Mildred Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY MARTHA FINLEY</p> + +<p class="center">For Girls 12 to 16 Years.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<p class="center clear">A Companion Series to the famous<br />“Elsie” books by the same author.</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary="Mildred"> +<tr> + <td align="left">MILDRED KEITH</td> + <td align="left">MILDRED’S MARRIED LIFE</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td align="left">MILDRED AT ROSELAND</td> + <td align="left">MILDRED AT HOME</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td align="left">MILDRED AND ELSIE</td> + <td align="left">MILDRED’S BOYS AND GIRLS</td> +</tr> + +</table></div> +<p class="center">MILDRED’S NEW DAUGHTER</p> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc005.jpg" width="100" height="136" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>Marjorie Dean<br />High School<br />Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY PAULINE LESTER</p> + +<p class="center">Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean College Series</p> + +<p class="center">These are clean, wholesome stories that will be of great<br /> +interest to all girls of high school age.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc006.jpg" width="100" height="141" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>Marjorie Dean<br />College<br />Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY PAULINE LESTER.</p> + +<p class="center">Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean High School Series.</p> + +<p class="center">Those who have read the Marjorie Dean High<br /> +School Series will be eager +to read this new series,<br /> +as Marjorie Dean continues to be the heroine in<br /> +these stories.</p> + +<p class="center">All Clothbound. Copyright Titles.</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE FRESHMAN<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SOPHOMORE<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE JUNIOR<br /> +MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SENIOR</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc007.jpg" width="100" height="138" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> +Radio Boys<br /> +Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY GERALD BRECKENRIDGE</p> + +<p class="center">A new series of copyright titles for boys of all ages.</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs</i></p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<hr class="small" /> +<div class="block2"><p>THE RADIO BOYS ON THE MEXICAN BORDER<br /> +THE RADIO BOYS ON SECRET SERVICE DUTY<br /> +THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE REVENUE GUARDS<br /> +THE RADIO BOYS’ SEARCH FOR THE INCA’S TREASURE<br /> +THE RADIO BOYS RESCUE THE LOST ALASKA EXPEDITION</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc008.jpg" width="100" height="140" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> +Ranger Boys<br /> +Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY CLAUDE H. LA BELLE</p> + +<p class="center">A new series of copyright titles telling of the<br /> +adventures of three boys with the Forest Rangers<br /> +in the state of Maine.</p> + +<p class="center">Handsome Cloth Binding.</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE RANGER BOYS TO THE RESCUE<br /> +THE RANGER BOYS FIND THE HERMIT<br /> +THE RANGER BOYS AND THE BORDER SMUGGLERS<br /> +THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES<br /> +THE RANGER BOYS AND THEIR REWARD</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc009.jpg" width="100" height="141" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> +Boy Troopers<br /> +Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY CLAIR W. HAYES</p> + +<p class="center">Author of the Famous “Boy Allies” Series.</p> + +<p class="center">The adventures of two boys with the Pennsylvania<br /> +State Police.</p> + +<p class="center">All Copyrighted Titles.</p> + +<p class="center">Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs.</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block"><p>THE BOY TROOPERS ON THE TRAIL<br /> +THE BOY TROOPERS IN THE NORTHWEST<br /> +THE BOY TROOPERS ON STRIKE DUTY<br /> +THE BOY TROOPERS AMONG THE WILD MOUNTAINEERS</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc010.jpg" width="100" height="140" alt="" title="" /></div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The<br /> +Golden Boys<br /> +Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY L. P. WYMAN, PH.D.</p> + +<p class="center">Dean of Pennsylvania Military College.</p> + +<p class="center">A new series of instructive copyright stories for<br /> +boys of High School Age.</p> + +<p class="center">Handsome Cloth Binding.</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH.</p> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE GOLDEN BOYS AND THEIR NEW ELECTRIC CELL<br /> +THE GOLDEN BOYS AT THE FORTRESS<br /> +THE GOLDEN BOYS IN THE MAINE WOODS<br /> +THE GOLDEN BOYS WITH THE LUMBER JACKS<br /> +THE GOLDEN BOYS ON THE RIVER DRIVE</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc011.jpg" width="100" height="140" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The Boy Allies</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">(Registered in the United States<br /> +Patent Office)</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>With the Navy</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<p class="center">For Boys 12 to 16 Years.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<div class="block2"><p>Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser, “The Sylph,” and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys.</p></div> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; or, Striking the First Blow at the German Fleet.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; or, Sweeping the Enemy from the Sea.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; or, The Naval Raiders of the Great War.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEA; or, The Last Shot of Submarine D-16.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; or, The Vanishing Submarine.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the Czar.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES AT JUTLAND: or, The Greatest Naval Battle of History.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH UNCLE SAM’S CRUISERS; or, Convoying the American Army Across the Atlantic.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE SUBMARINE D-32; or, The Fall of the Russian Empire.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE VICTORIOUS FLEETS; or, The Fall of the German Navy.</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc012.jpg" width="100" height="134" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The Boy Allies</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">(Registered in the United States<br />Patent Office)</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>With the Army</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY CLAIR W. HAYES</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<p class="center">For Boys 12 to 16 Years.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<div class="block2"><p>In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of good, healthy action that every +boy loves.</p></div> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; or, Through Lines of Steel.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; or, Twelve Days Battle Along the Marne.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; or, A Wild Dash Over the Carpathians.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; or, With the Italian Army in the Alps.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; or, The Struggle to Save a Nation.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES ON THE SOMME; or, Courage and Bravery Rewarded.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES AT VERDUN; or, Saving France from the Enemy.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES; or, Leading the American Troops to the Firing Line.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH HAIG IN FLANDERS; or, The Fighting Canadians of Vimy Ridge.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH PERSHING IN FRANCE; or, Over the Top at Chateau Thierry.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE GREAT ADVANCE; or, Driving the Enemy Through France and Belgium.<br /><br /> +THE BOY ALLIES WITH MARSHAL FOCH; or, The Closing Days of the Great World War.</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc013.jpg" width="100" height="161" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads2"><b>The Boy Scouts Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY HERBERT CARTER</p> + +<p class="center">For Boys 12 to 16 Years</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<p class="center clear">New Stories of Camp Life</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>THE BOY SCOUTS’ FIRST CAMPFIRE; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox Patrol.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; or, Marooned Among the Moonshiners.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; or, Scouting through the Big Game Country.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The New Test for the Silver Fox Patrol.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; or, The Search for the Lost Tenderfoot.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver Mine.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; or, Marooned Among the Game-Fish Poachers.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator Swamp.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA; A story of Burgoyne’s Defeat in 1777.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; or, The Silver Fox Patrol Caught in a Flood.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; or, Caught Between Hostile Armies.<br /><br /> +THE BOY SCOUTS AFOOT IN FRANCE; or, With The Red Cross Corps at the Marne.</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /></div> + +<div class="block"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;"> +<img src="images/dc014.jpg" width="100" height="135" alt="" title="" /> +</div> +<p class="center"><span class="bookads"><b>The Jack<br /> +Lorimer Series</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">BY WINN STANDISH</p> + +<p class="center clear">For Boys 12 to 16 Years.</p> + +<p class="center">All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles</p> + +<p class="center">PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH</p> + +<hr class="small" /> + +<div class="block2"><p>CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High.</p> + +<p>Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boys. His fondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a +chord of sympathy among athletic youths.</p> + +<p>JACK LORIMER’S CHAMPIONS; or, Sports on Land and Lake.</p> + +<p>There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been O. K.’d by Chadwick, the Nestor +of American Sporting journalism.</p> + +<p>JACK LORIMER’S HOLIDAYS; or, Millvale High in Camp.</p> + +<p>It would be well not to put this book into a boy’s hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected.</p> + +<p>JACK LORIMER’S SUBSTITUTE; or, The Acting Captain of the Team.</p> + +<p>On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wrestling, and +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action.</p> + +<p>JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; or, From Millvale High to Exmouth.</p> + +<p>Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy’s life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands.</p></div> + +<hr class="double1" /> +<hr class="double2" /> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price<br /> +by the Publishers</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="bookads2"><b>A. L. BURT COMPANY</b></span></p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="address"> +<tr> + <td align="left"><b>114-120 EAST 23rd STREET</b></td> + <td align="right"><b>NEW YORK</b></td> +</tr> +</table></div></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</h3> + +<p>1. Chapter VIII, A New Member, had a major typesetter’s error in the +edition this etext was done from--the text for Rule I. was inadvertently +inserted for Rule IV. The staff of the Rare Books Collection +at Marriott Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City were kind enough +to research their version of the text, and provide the correction, from +the original 1909 edition from W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh.</p> + +<p>2. Minor changes have been made to ensure consistent usage of +punctuation.</p> + +<p>3. A Table of Contents has been added for the reader’s convenience.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Vivian, by L. T. Meade + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY VIVIAN *** + +***** This file should be named 25510-h.htm or 25510-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/1/25510/ + +Produced by D Alexander, the Marriott Library Rare Book +Collection at the University of Utah, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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T. Meade + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Betty Vivian + A Story of Haddo Court School + +Author: L. T. Meade + +Release Date: May 18, 2008 [EBook #25510] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY VIVIAN *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander, the Marriott Library Rare Book +Collection at the University of Utah, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Betty Vivian + +_A Story of Haddo Court School_ + +By MRS. L. T. MEADE + +Author of + +"The Harmon Girls," "The Princess of the Revels," "Aylwyn's +Friends," "The School Queens," "Seven Maids," Etc. + +[Illustration] + +A. L. BURT, COMPANY, PUBLISHERS +NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + +Chapter Page + + + I. YES OR NO 3 + II. WAS FANNY ELATED? 14 + III. GOING SOUTH 25 + IV. RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT 36 + V. THE VIVIANS' ATTIC 49 + VI. A CRISIS 64 + VII. SCOTCH HEATHER 80 + VIII. A NEW MEMBER 91 + IX. STRIVING FOR A DECISION 104 + X. RULE I. ACCEPTED 120 + XI. A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT 133 + XII. A VERY EVENTFUL DAY 137 + XIII. A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL 151 + XIV. TEA AT FARMER MILES'S 169 + XV. A GREAT DETERMINATION 180 + XVI. AFTERWARDS 194 + XVII. A TURNING-POINT 224 + XVIII. NOT ACCEPTABLE 234 + XIX. "IT'S DICKIE!" 246 + XX. A TIME OF DANGER 254 + XXI. A RAY OF HOPE 266 + XXII. FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE 282 + XXIII. RESTORATION 290 + + + + +BETTY VIVIAN + + + + +CHAPTER I + +YES OR NO + + +Haddo Court had been a great school for girls for many generations. In +fact, for considerably over a century the Court had descended from +mother to daughter, who invariably, whatever her husband's name, took +the name of Haddo when she became mistress of the school. The reigning +mistress might sometimes be unmarried, sometimes the reverse; but she +was always, in the true sense of the word, a noble, upright, generous +sort of woman, and one slightly in advance of her generation. There had +never been anything low or mean known about the various head mistresses +of Haddo Court. The school had grown with the times. From being in the +latter days of the eighteenth century a rambling, low old-fashioned +house with mullioned windows and a castellated roof, it had gradually +increased in size and magnificence; until now, when this story opens, it +was one of the most imposing mansions in the county. + +The locality in which Haddo Court was situated was not very far from +London; but for various reasons its name will be withheld from the +reader, although doubtless the intelligent girl who likes to peruse +these pages will be easily able to discover its whereabouts. Haddo +Court, although within a measurable distance of the great metropolis, +had such large grounds, and such a considerable area of meadow and +forest land surrounding it, that it truly seemed to the girls who lived +there that they were in the heart of the country itself. This was indeed +the case; for from the Court you could see no other house whatsoever, +unless it were the picturesque abode of the head gardener or that of the +lodge-keeper. + +The school belonged to no company; it was the sole and undivided +possession of the head mistress. It combined the advantages of a +first-class high school with the advantages that the best type of +private school affords. Its rooms were lofty and abundantly supplied +with bright sunshine and fresh air. So popular was the school, and such +a tone of distinction did it confer upon the girls who were educated +there, that, although Mrs. Haddo did not scruple to expect high fees +from her pupils, it was as difficult to get into Haddo Court as it was +for a boy to become an inmate of Winchester or Eton. The girl whose +mother before her had been educated at the Court usually put down her +little daughter's name for admission there shortly after the child's +birth, and even then she was not always certain that the girl could be +received; for Mrs. Haddo, having inherited, among other virtues from a +long line of intelligent ancestors, great firmness of character, made +rules which she would allow no exception to break. + +The girls at Haddo Court might number one hundred and fifty; but nothing +would induce her, on any terms whatsoever, to exceed that number. She +had a staff of the most worthy governesses, many of whom had been +educated at the Court itself; others who bore testimony to the lamented +and much-loved memory of the late Miss Beale of Cheltenham; and others, +again, who had taken honors of the highest degree at the two +universities. + +Mrs. Haddo never prided herself on any special gift; but she was well +aware of the fact that she could read character with unerring instinct; +consequently she never made a mistake in the choice of her teachers. The +Court was now so large that each girl, if she chose, could have a small +bedroom to herself, or two sisters might be accommodated with a larger +room to share together. There was every possible comfort at the Court; +at the same time there was an absence of all that was enervating. +Comforts, Mrs. Haddo felt assured, were necessary to the proper growth +and development of a young life; but she disliked luxuries for herself, +and would not permit them for her pupils. The rooms were therefore +handsomely, though somewhat barely, furnished. There were no superfluous +draperies and few knick-knacks of any sort. There was, however, in each +bedroom a little book shelf with about a dozen of the best and most +suitable books--generally a copy of Ruskin's "Sesame and Lilies," of +Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus," of Milton's "Paradise Lost"; also one or +two books by the best writers of the present day. Works of E. V. Lucas +were not forgotten in that collection, and Mrs. Ewing's "Jackanapes" was +a universal favorite. + +The girls had one special library where classical works and books of +reference were found in abundance; also standard novels, such as the +best works of Thackeray and Dickens. In addition to this was a smaller +library where the girls were allowed to have their own private +possessions in the shape of books and drawings. This room was only used +by the girls of the upper school, and was seldom interfered with either +by the head mistress or the various teachers. + +Out of one hundred and fifty girls it would be impossible to describe +more than a few; but at the time when this story opens there was in the +upper school a little band of devoted friends who adored each other, who +had high aims and ambitions, who almost worshiped Mrs. Haddo, and, as +far as possible, endeavored to profit by her excellent training. The +names of the girls in question were Susie Rushworth, who was seventeen +years of age, and would in a year's time be leaving the Court; Fanny +Crawford, her cousin and special friend--Fanny and Susie were much of +the same age, Fanny being a little the younger of the two--two sisters +named Mary and Julia Bertram; Margaret Grant, who was tall, dark, and +stately, and Olive Repton, everybody's favorite, a bright-eyed, +bewitching little creature, with the merriest laugh, a gay manner, and +with brilliant powers of repartee and a good-natured word for every +one--she was, in short, the life of the upper school. + +None of these girls was under sixteen years of age; all were slightly +above the average as regards ability, and decidedly above the average as +regards a very high standard of morals. They had all been brought up +with care. They knew nothing of the vanities of the world, and their +great ambition in life was to walk worthily in the station in which they +were born. They were all daughters of rich parents--that is, with the +exception of Olive Repton, whose mother was a widow, and who, in +consequence, could not give her quite so many advantages as her +companions received. Olive never spoke on the subject, but she had wild, +impossible dreams of earning her own living by and by. She was not +jealous nor envious of her richer schoolfellows. She was thoroughly +happy, and enjoyed her life to the utmost. + +Among the teachers in the school was a certain Miss Symes, an +Englishwoman of very high attainments, with lofty ideas, and the +greatest desire to do the utmost for her pupils. Miss Symes was not more +than six-and-twenty. She was very handsome--indeed, almost +beautiful--and she had such a passion for music and such a lovely voice +that the girls liked to call her Saint Cecilia. Miss Arundel was another +teacher in the school. She was much older than Miss Symes, but not so +highly educated. She only occasionally came into the upper school--her +work was more with the girls of the lower school--but she was kind and +good-natured, and was universally popular because she could bear being +laughed at, and even enjoyed a joke against herself. Such a woman would +be sure to be a favorite with most girls, and Mary Arundel was as happy +in her life at the Court as any of her pupils. There were also French +and German governesses, and a lady to look after the wardrobes of the +older girls, and attend to them in case of any trifling indisposition. + +Besides the resident teachers there was the chaplain and his wife. The +chaplain had his own quarters in a distant wing of the school. His name +was the Reverend Edmund Fairfax. He was an elderly man, with white hair, +a benign expression of face, and gentle brown eyes. His wife was a +somewhat fretful woman, who often wished that her husband would seek +preferment and leave his present circumscribed sphere of action. But +nothing would induce the Reverend Edmund Fairfax to leave Mrs. Haddo so +long as she required him; and when he read prayers morning and evening +in the beautiful old chapel, which had been built as far back as the +beginning of the eighteenth century, the girls loved to listen to his +words, and even at times shyly confided their little troubles to him. + +Such was the state of things at Haddo Court when this story opens. Mrs. +Haddo was a woman of about thirty-eight years of age. She was tall and +handsome, of a somewhat commanding presence, with a face which was +capable, in repose, of looking a little stern; but when that same face +was lit up by a smile, the heart of every girl in the school went out to +her, and they thought no one else like her. + +Mrs. Haddo was a widow, and had no children of her own. Her late husband +had been a great friend of Mr. Fairfax. At his death she had, after +careful reflection, decided to carry on the work which her mother had so +successfully conducted before her. Everything was going well, and there +was not a trace of care or anxiety on Mrs. Haddo's fine face. + +There came a day, however, when this state of things was doomed to be +altered. There is no Paradise, no Garden of Eden, without its serpent, +and so Janet Haddo was destined to experience. The disturbing element +which came into the school was brought about in the most natural way. +Sir John Crawford, the father of one of Mrs. Haddo's favorite pupils, +called unexpectedly to see the good lady. + +"I have just got the most exciting piece of news for you," he said. + +"Indeed!" replied Mrs. Haddo. + +She never allowed herself to be greatly disturbed, but her heart did +beat a trifle faster when she saw how eager Sir John appeared. + +"I have come here all the way from Yorkshire in order not to lose a +moment," continued the good baronet. "I don't want to see Fanny at +present. This has nothing whatever to do with Fanny. I have come to tell +you that a wonderful piece of news has reached me." + +"What can that be?" asked Mrs. Haddo. She spoke with that gracious calm +which always seemed to pervade her presence and her words. + +"Do relieve my mind at once!" said Sir John. "Is it possible that +you--you, Mrs. Haddo, of Haddo Court--have at the present moment three +vacancies in your school?" + +Mrs. Haddo laughed. "Is that all?" she said. "But they can be filled up +to-morrow ten times over, if necessary." + +"But you _have_ three vacancies--three vacancies in the upper school? It +is true--I see it is true by your face. Please assure me on that point +without delay!" + +"It happens to be true," said Mrs. Haddo, "although I do not want the +matter mentioned. My three dear young pupils, the Maitlands, have been +unable to return to school owing to the fact that their father has been +made Governor of one of the West India Islands. He has insisted on +taking his family out with him; so I have lost dear Emily, Jane, and +Agnes. I grieve very much at their absence. They all came to see me last +week to say good-bye; and we had quite a trying time, the children are +so affectionate. I should have greatly loved to keep them longer; but +their father was determined to have them with him, so there was nothing +to be done but submit." + +"Oh, Mrs. Haddo, what is one person's loss is another person's gain!" + +"I don't understand you, Sir John," was the good lady's reply. + +"If you have three vacancies, you can take three more girls. You can +take them into the school at once, can you not?" + +"I can, certainly; but, as a matter of fact, I am in no hurry. I shall +probably be obliged to fill up the vacancies next term from the list of +girls already on my books. I shall, as my invariable custom is, promote +some girls from the lower school to the upper, and take three new little +girls into the lower school. But there is really no hurry." + +"Yes, but there is every hurry, my friend--every hurry! I want you to +take three--three _orphan_ girls--three girls who have neither father +nor mother; I want you to take them at once into the upper school. They +are not specially well off; but I am their guardian, and your terms +shall be mine. I have just come from the death-bed of their aunt, one of +my dearest friends; she was in despair about Betty and Sylvia and Hester +Vivian. They are three sisters. They have been well educated; and, +although I don't know them personally, any girl brought up by Frances +Vivian, my dear friend who has just passed away, could not but be in all +respects a desirable inmate of any school. I am forced to go to India +immediately, and must ask you to look after Fanny for me during the next +vacation. Now, if you would only take the Vivians I should go away with +a light heart. Do you say 'Yes,' my dear friend! Remember how many of my +name have been educated at Haddo Court. You cannot refuse me. I am +certain you will not." + +"I never take girls here on the plea of friendship--even for one like +yourself, Sir John. I must know much more about these children before I +agree to admit them into my school." + +Sir John's face became very red, and just for a minute he looked almost +angry. + +"Oh, Mrs. Haddo," he said then, "do banish that alarmingly severe +expression from your face and look kindly on my project! I can assure +you that Frances Vivian, after whom my own Fanny has been called, had +the finest character in the world. Ah, my dear friend, I have you +now--her own sister was educated here. Now, isn't that guarantee enough? +Look back on the past, refer to the old school-books, and you will see +the name of Beatrice Vivian in the roll-call." + +"What can you tell me about the girls themselves?" said Mrs. Haddo, who +was evidently softened by this reference to the past. "I remember +Beatrice Vivian," she continued, before the baronet had time to speak. +"She was a very charming girl, a little older than myself, and she was +undoubtedly a power for good in the school." + +"Then, surely, that makes it quite all right?" said Sir John. "Mrs. +Haddo, you must pity me. I have to place these girls somewhere in a week +from now. I am responsible for them. They are homeless; they are young; +they are good-looking." + +"Tell me something about their characters and dispositions," said Mrs. +Haddo. + +"I can tell you nothing. I only saw Betty for two or three minutes; she +was in a state of wild, tempestuous grief, poor child! I tried to +comfort her, but she rushed away from me. Sylvia was nearly as bad; +while as to poor Hetty, she was ill with sorrow." + +"Well, I will think the matter over and let you know," said Mrs. Haddo. +"I never decide anything hastily, so I cannot say more at present." + +The baronet rose. "I had best have a peep at Fanny before I go," he +said. "I am only going as far as London to-night, so you can wire your +decision--'Yes' or 'No'--to the Ritz Hotel. Poor Fanny! she will be in +trouble when she hears that I cannot receive her at Christmas; but I +leave her in good hands here, and what can any one do more?" + +"Please promise me one thing, Sir John," said Mrs. Haddo. "Do not say +anything to Fanny about the Vivians. Allow me to tell her when I have +decided that they are to come to the school. If I decide against it, she +need never know. Now, shall I ring and ask one of the servants to send +her to you? Believe me, Sir John, I will do my very utmost to oblige you +in this matter; but I must be guided by principle. You know what this +school means to me. You know how earnestly I have at heart the welfare +of all my children, as I call the girls who live at Haddo Court." + +"Yes, yes, I know; but I think, somehow, that you will agree to my +request." + +"Send Miss Crawford here," said Mrs. Haddo to a servant who appeared at +that moment, and a minute later Fanny entered the room. She gave a cry +of delight when she saw her father, and Mrs. Haddo at once left them +alone together. + +The day was a half-holiday, and the head mistress was glad of the fact, +for she wanted to have a little time to think over Sir John's request. +Haddo Court had hitherto answered so admirably because no girl, even if +her name had been on the books for years, was admitted to the school +without the head mistress having a personal interview, first with her +parents or guardians, and afterwards with the girl herself. Many an +apparently charming girl was quietly but courteously informed that she +was not eligible for the vacancy which was to be filled, and Mrs. Haddo +was invariably right in her judgment. With her shrewd observation of +character, she saw something lacking in that pretty, or careless, or +even thoughtful, or sorrowful face--something which might _aspire_, but +could never by any possibility _attain_, to what the head mistress +desired to inculcate in the young lives around her--and now Mrs. Haddo +was asked to receive three girls under peculiar circumstances. They were +orphans and needed a home. Sir John Crawford was one of her oldest +friends. The Crawfords had always been associated with Haddo Court, and +beautiful Beatrice Vivian had received her education there. Surely there +could not be anything wrong in admitting three young girls like the +Vivians to the school? But yet there was her invariable rule. Could she +possibly see them? One short interview would decide her. She looked +round the beautiful home in which had grown up the fairest specimens of +English girlhood, and wondered if, for once, she might break her rule. + +Sir John Crawford had gone to the Ritz Hotel. There he was to await Mrs. +Haddo's telegram. But she would not telegraph; she would go to London +herself. She took the first train from the nearest station, and arrived +unexpectedly at the "Ritz" just as Sir John was sitting down to dinner. + +"I see by your face, my dear, good friend, that you are bringing me the +best of news!" said the eager man, flushing with pleasure as Mrs. Haddo +took a seat by his side. "You will join me at dinner, of course?" + +"No, thank you, Sir John. I shall have supper at the Court on my return. +I will tell you at once what I have come about. I have, as you must know +well, never admitted a girl into my school without first seeing her and +judging for myself what her character was likely to be. I should +greatly like to help you in the present case, which is, I will admit, a +pressing one; and girls of the name of Vivian, and also related to you, +have claims undoubtedly on Haddo Court. Nevertheless, I am loath to +break my rule. Is it possible for me to see the girls?" + +"I fear it is not," said Sir John. "I did not tell you that poor Frances +died in the north of Scotland, and I could not possibly get the girls up +to London in time for you to interview them and then decide against +them. It must be 'Yes' or 'No'--an immediate 'Yes' or 'No,' Mrs. Haddo; +for if you say 'No' and I pray God you won't--I must see what is the +next best thing I can do for them. Poor children! they are very lonely +and unhappy; but, of course, there _are_ other schools. Perhaps you +could recommend one, if you are determined to refuse them without an +interview?" + +Mrs. Haddo could never tell afterwards why a sudden fit of weakness and +compassion overcame her. Perhaps it was the thought of the other +schools; for she was a difficult woman to please, and fastidious and +perhaps even a little scornful with regard to some of the teaching of +the present day. Perhaps it was the sight of Sir John's troubled face. +Perhaps it was the fact that there never was a nicer girl in the school +than Beatrice Vivian--Beatrice, who was long in her grave, but who had +been loved by every one in the house; Beatrice, whom Mrs. Haddo herself +remembered. It was the thought of Beatrice that finally decided the good +lady. + +"It _is_ against my rule," she said, "and I hope I am not doing wrong. I +will take the children; but I make one condition, Sir John, that if I +find they do not fulfill the high expectations which are looked for in +every girl who comes to Haddo Court, I do my best to place them +elsewhere." + +"You need not be afraid," said Sir John. His voice shook with delight +and gratitude. "You will never regret this generous act; and, believe +me, my dear friend, there is no rule, however firm, which is not +sometimes better broken than kept." + +Alas, poor Sir John! he little knew what he was saying. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WAS FANNY ELATED? + + +Mrs. Haddo slept very little that night. Miss Symes, who adored the head +mistress, could not help noticing that something was the matter with +her; but she knew Mrs. Haddo's nature far too well to make any +inquiries. The next day, however, Miss Symes was called into the head +mistress's presence. + +"I want to speak to you all alone," said Mrs. Haddo. "You realize, of +course, Emma, how fully I trust you?" + +"You have always done so, dear Mrs. Haddo," replied the young teacher, +her beautiful face flushing with pleasure. + +"Well, now, I am going to trust you more fully still. You noticed, or +perhaps you did not, that Sir John Crawford, Fanny's father, called to +see me yesterday?" + +"Fanny herself told me," replied Miss Symes. "I found the poor, dear +child in floods of tears. Sir John Crawford is going to India +immediately, and Fanny says she is not likely to see him again for a +year." + +"We will cheer her up all we can," said Mrs. Haddo. "I have many schemes +for next Christmas which will, I am sure, give pleasure to the girls who +are obliged to stay here. But time enough for all that later on. You +know, of course, Emma, that there are three vacancies in the upper +school?" + +"Caused by the absence of the dear young Maitlands," replied Miss Symes. +"I cannot tell you how much we miss them." + +"We do miss them," said Mrs. Haddo, who paused and looked attentively at +Miss Symes. "I don't suppose," she continued, "that there is any teacher +in the school who knows so much about the characters of the girls as you +do, my dear, good Emma." + +"I think I know most of their characters," said Miss Symes; "characters +in the forming, as one must assuredly say, but forming well, dear Mrs. +Haddo. And who can wonder at that, under your influence?" + +Mrs. Haddo's face expressed a passing anxiety. + +"Is anything wrong?" said Miss Symes. + +"Why do you ask me, Emma? Have you--noticed anything?" + +"Yes, certainly. I have noticed that you are troubled, dear friend; and +Mary Arundel has also observed the same." + +"But the girls--the girls have said nothing about it?" inquired Mrs. +Haddo. + +"No; but young girls cannot see as far into character as older people +can." + +"Well, now," said Mrs. Haddo, "I will be frank with you. What I say to +you, you can repeat to Mary Arundel. I feel proud to call you both my +flag lieutenants, who always hold the banner of high principle and +virtue aloft, and I feel certain you will do so to the end. Emma, Sir +John Crawford came to see me yesterday on a very important matter; and, +partly to oblige him, partly because of an old memory, partly also +because it seemed to me that I must trust and hope for the best in +certain emergencies, I have agreed to do what I never did +before--namely, to take three girls into the school--yes, into the upper +school, in place of the three Maitlands. These girls are called Betty, +Sylvia, and Hester Vivian. They are the nieces of that dear woman, +Beatrice Vivian, who was educated at this school years ago. I expect +them to arrive here on Monday next. In the meantime you must prepare the +other girls for their appearance on the scene. Do not blame me, Emma, +nor look on me with reproachful eyes. I quite understand what you are +thinking, that I have broken a rule which I have always declared I would +never break--namely, I am taking these girls without having first +interviewed them. Such is the case. Now, I want you, in particular, to +tell Fanny Crawford that they are coming. Fanny is their cousin. Sir +John is their guardian. Sir John knows nothing whatever about their +disposition, but I gather from some conversation which I had with him +last night that Fanny is acquainted with them. Observe, dear, how she +takes the news of their coming. If dear Fanny looks quite happy about +them, it will certainly be a rest to my mind." + +"Oh, I will talk to her," said Miss Symes, rising. "And now, please, +dear Mrs. Haddo, don't be unhappy. You have done, in my opinion, the +only thing you could do; and girls with such high credentials must be +all right." + +"I hope they will prove to be all that is desirable," said Mrs. Haddo. +"You had better have a talk with Miss Ludlow with regard to the rooms +they are to occupy. Poor children! they are in great trouble, having +already lost both their parents, and are now coming to me because their +aunt, Miss Vivian, has just died. It might comfort them to be in that +large room which is near Fanny's. It will hold three little beds and the +necessary furniture without any crowding." + +"Yes, it would do splendidly," said Miss Symes. "I will speak to Miss +Ludlow. I suppose, now, I ought to return to my school duties?" + +Miss Symes was not at all uneasy at what Mrs. Haddo had told her. Hers +was a gentle and triumphant sort of nature. She trusted most people. She +had a sublime faith in the good, not the bad, of her fellow-creatures. +Still, Mrs. Haddo had done a remarkable thing, and Miss Symes owned to +herself that she was a little curious to see how Fanny Crawford would +take the news of the unexpected advent of her relatives. + +It was arranged that the Vivians were to arrive at Haddo Court on the +following Monday. To-day was Wednesday, and a half-holiday. +Half-holidays were always prized at Haddo Court; and the girls were now +in excellent spirits, full of all sorts of schemes and plans for the +term which had little more than begun, and during which they hoped to +achieve so much. Fanny Crawford, in particular, was in earnest +conversation with Susie Rushworth. They were forming a special plan for +strengthening what they called the bond of union in the upper school. +Fresh girls were to be admitted, and all kinds of schemes were in +progress. Susie had a wonderfully bright face, and her eager words fell +on Miss Symes's ears as she approached the two girls. + +"It's all very fine for you, Susie," Fanny was heard to say; "but this +term seems to me quite intolerable. You will be going home for +Christmas, but I shall have to stay at the school. Oh, of course, I love +the school; but we are all proud of our holidays, and father had all but +promised to take me to Switzerland in order to get some really good +skating. Now everything is knocked on the head; but I suppose I must +submit." + +"I couldn't help overhearing you, Fanny," said Miss Symes, coming up to +the girls at that moment; "but you must look on the bright side, my +love, and reflect that a year won't be long in going by. I know, of +course, to what you were alluding--your dear father's sudden departure +for India." + +"Yes, St. Cecilia," replied Fanny, looking up into Miss Symes's face; +"and I am sure neither Susie nor I mind in the least your overhearing +what we were talking about. Do we Susie?" + +"No," replied Susie; "how could we? St. Cecilia, if you think you have +been playing the spy, we will punish you by making you sing for us +to-night." + +Here Susie linked her hand lovingly through Miss Symes's arm. Miss Symes +bent and kissed the girl's eager face. + +"I will sing for you with pleasure, dear, if I have a moment of time to +spare. But now I have come to fetch Fanny. I want to have a little talk +with her all by herself. Fan, will you come with me?" + +Fanny Crawford raised her pretty, dark eyebrows in some surprise. What +could this portend? There was a sort of code of honor at the school that +the girls were never to be disturbed by the teachers during the +half-holiday hours. + +"Come, Fanny," said Miss Symes; and the two walked away in another +direction for some little distance. + +The day was a glorious one towards the end of September. Miss Symes +chose an open bench in a part of the grounds where the forest land was +more or less cleared away. She invited Fanny to seat herself, and took a +place by her side. + +"Now, my dear," she said, "I have a piece of news for you which will, I +think, please you very much." + +"Oh, what can please me when father is going?" said Fanny, her eyes +filling with tears. + +"Nevertheless, this may. You have, of course, heard of--indeed, I have +been given to understand that you know--your cousins, the Vivians?" + +Fanny's face flushed. It became a vivid crimson, then the color faded +slowly from her cheeks; and she looked at Miss Symes, amazement in her +glance. "My cousins--the Vivians!" she exclaimed. "Do you mean +Betty--Betty and her sisters?" + +"Yes, I think Betty is the name of one of the girls." + +"There are three," said Fanny. "There's Betty, who is about my age; and +then there are the twins, Sylvia and Hetty." + +"Then, of course, you _do_ know them, dear?" + +"Yes, I know them. I went to stay with them in Scotland for a week +during last holidays. My cousin--their aunt, Miss Vivian--was very ill, +however, and we had to keep things rather quiet. They lived at a place +called Craigie Muir--quite beautiful, you know, but very, very wild." + +"That doesn't matter, dear." + +"Well, why are you speaking to me about them? They are my cousins, and I +spent a week with them not very long ago." + +"You observed how ill Miss Vivian was?" + +"I used to hear that she was ill; Sylvia used to tell me. Betty couldn't +stand anything sad or depressing, so I never spoke to her on the +subject." + +"And you--you liked your cousins? You appreciated them, did you not, +Fanny?" + +"I didn't know them very well," said Fanny in a slightly evasive voice. + +Miss Symes felt her heart sink within her. She knew Fanny Crawford well. +She was the last girl to say a word against another; at the same time +she was exceedingly truthful. + +"Well, dear," said Miss Symes, "your father came here yesterday in order +to----" + +"To see me, of course," interrupted Fanny; "to tell me that he was going +to India. Poor darling dad! It was a terrible blow!" + +"Sir John came here on other business also, Fanny. He wanted to see Mrs. +Haddo. You know that poor Miss Vivian is dead?" + +"Oh, yes," said Fanny. Then she added impulsively, "Betty will be in a +terrible state!" + +"It may be in your power to comfort her, dear." + +"To comfort Betty Vivian! What do you mean?" + +"It has just been arranged between Mrs. Haddo and your father, who is +now the guardian of the girls, that they are all three to come here as +pupils in the school. They will arrive here on Monday. You are glad, are +you not, Fan?" + +Fanny started to her feet. She stood very still, staring straight before +her. + +"You are glad--of course, Fanny?" + +Fanny then turned and faced her governess. "Do you want the truth, +or--or--a lie?" + +"Fanny, my dear, how can you speak to me in that tone? Of course I want +the truth." + +"Then I am not glad." + +"But, my dear, consider. Those poor girls--they are orphans almost in a +double sense. They are practically alone in the world. They are your +cousins. You must have a very strong reason for saying what you have +said--that you are not glad." + +"I am not glad," repeated Fanny. + +Miss Symes was silent. She felt greatly disturbed. After a minute she +said, "Fanny, is there anything in connection with the Vivians which, in +your opinion, Mrs. Haddo ought to know?" + +"I won't tell," said Fanny; and now her voice was full of agitation. She +turned away and suddenly burst out crying. + +"My dear child! my dear child! you are upset by the thought of your +father's absence. Compose yourself, my love. Don't give way, Fanny, +dear. Try to have that courage that we all strive to attain at Haddo +Court." + +Fanny hastily dashed away her tears. Then she said, after a pause, "Is +it fixed that they are to come?" + +"Yes, it is quite fixed." + +"Miss Symes, you took me at first by surprise, but when the Vivians +arrive you will see that I shall treat them with the affection due to +cousins of my own; also, that I will do my utmost to make them happy." + +"I am sure of it, my love. You are a very plucky girl!" + +"And you won't tell Mrs. Haddo that I seemed distressed at the thought +of their coming?" + +"Do you really wish me not to tell her?" + +"I do, most earnestly." + +"Now, Fanny, I am going to trust you. Mrs. Haddo has been more or less +driven into a corner over this matter. Your dear, kind father has been +suddenly left in sole charge of those three young girls. He could not +take them to India with him, and he had no home to offer them in this +country. Mrs. Haddo, therefore, contrary to her wont, has agreed to +receive them without the personal interview which she has hitherto +thought essential." + +Fanny smiled. "Oh, can I ever forget that interview when my turn came to +receive it? I was at once more frightened and more elated than I +believed it possible for any girl to be. I loved Mrs. Haddo on the spot, +and yet I shook before her." + +"But you don't fear her now, dear?" + +"I should fear her most frightfully if I did anything wrong." + +"Fanny, look down deep into your heart, and tell me if, in keeping +something to yourself which you evidently know concerning your cousins, +you are doing right or wrong." + +"I will answer your question to-morrow," replied Fanny. "Now, may I go +back to the others; they are waiting for me?" + +"Yes, you may go, dear." + +"The Vivians come here on Monday?" said Fanny as she rose. + +"Yes, dear, on Monday. By the way, Miss Ludlow is arranging to give them +the blue room, next to yours. You don't object, do you?" + +"No," said Fanny. The next minute the girl was out of sight. + +Miss Symes sat very still. What was the matter? What was Fanny Crawford +trying to conceal? + +That evening Mrs. Haddo said to Miss Symes, "You have told Fanny that +her cousins are coming?" + +"Yes." + +"And how did she take it?" + +"Fanny is very much upset about her father's absence," was Miss Symes's +unexpected answer. + +Mrs. Haddo looked attentively at the English teacher. Their eyes met, +but neither uttered a single word. + +The next day, after school, Fanny went up to Miss Symes. "I have been +thinking over everything," she said, "and my conscience is not going to +trouble me; for I know, or believe I know, a way by which I may help +them all." + +"It is a grand thing to help those who are in sorrow, Fanny." + +"I will do my best," said the girl. + +That evening, to Miss Symes's great relief, she heard Fanny's merry +laugh in the school. The girls who formed the Specialities, as they were +called, had met for a cheerful conference. Mary and Julia Bertram were +in the highest spirits; and Margaret Grant, with her beautiful +complexion and stately ways, had never been more agreeable. Olive +Repton, the pet and darling of nearly the whole of the upper school, was +making the others scream with laughter. + +"There can be nothing very bad," thought Miss Symes to herself. "My dear +friend will soon see that the charitable feeling which prompted her to +receive those girls into the house was really but another sign of her +true nobility of character." + +Meanwhile Fanny, who was told not to keep the coming of the Vivians in +any way a secret, was being eagerly questioned with regard to them. + +"So you really saw them at their funny home, Craigie Muir?" exclaimed +Olive. + +"Yes; I spent a week there," said Fanny. + +"And had a jolly good time, I guess?" cried Julia Bertram. + +"Not such a very good time," answered Fanny, "for Miss Vivian was ill, +and we had to be very quiet." + +"Oh! don't let's bother about the time Fanny spent in that remote part +of Scotland," said Olive. "Do tell us about the girls themselves, Fan. +It's so unusual for any girls to come straight into the upper school, +and also to put in an appearance in the middle of term. Are they very +Scotch, to begin with?" + +"No, hardly at all," replied Fanny. "Miss Vivian only took the pretty +little cottage in which they live a year ago." + +"I am glad they are not too Scotch," remarked Susie; "they will get into +our ways all the sooner if they are thoroughly English." + +"I don't see that for a single moment," remarked Olive. "For my part, I +love Scotch lassies; and as to Irish colleens, they're simply adorable." + +"Well, well, go on with your description, Fan," exclaimed Julia. + +"I can tell you they are quite remarkable-looking," replied Fanny. +"Betty is the eldest. She is a regular true sort of Betty, up to no end +of larks and fun; but sometimes she gets very depressed. I think she is +rather dark, but I am not quite sure; she is also somewhat tall; and, +oh, she is wonderfully pretty! She can whistle the note of every bird +that ever sang, and is devoted to wild creatures--the moor ponies and +great Scotch collies and sheep-dogs. You'll be sure to like Betty +Vivian." + +"Your description does sound promising," remarked Susie; "but she will +certainly have to give up her wild ways at Haddo Court." + +"What about the others?" asked Olive. + +"Sylvia and Hetty? I think they are two years younger than Betty. They +are not a bit like her. They are rather heavy-looking girls, but still +you would call them handsome. They are twins, and wonderfully like each +other. Sylvia is very tender-hearted; but Hetty--I think Hetty has the +most force of character. Now, really," continued Fanny, rising from her +low chair, where her chosen friends were surrounding her, "I can say +nothing more about them until they come. You can't expect me, any of +you, to overpraise my own relations, and, naturally, I shouldn't abuse +them." + +"Why, of course not, you dear old Fan!" exclaimed Olive. + +"I must go and write a letter to father," said Fanny; and she went +across the room to where her own little desk stood in a distant corner. + +After she had left them, Olive bent forward, looked with her merry, +twinkling eyes full into Susie Rushworth's face, and said, "Is the dear +Fan _altogether_ elated at the thought of her cousins' arrival? I put it +to you, Susie, as the most observant of us all. Answer me truthfully, or +for ever hold your peace." + +"Then I will hold my peace," replied Susie, "for I cannot possibly say +whether Fan is elated or not." + +"Now, don't get notions in your head, Olive," said Mary Bertram. "That +is one of your faults, you know. I expect those girls will be downright +jolly; and, of course, being Fan's relations, they will become members +of the Specialities. That goes without saying." + +"It doesn't go without saying at all," remarked Olive. "The +Specialities, as you know quite well, girls, have to stand certain +tests." + +"It is my opinion," said Susie, "that we are all getting too high and +mighty for anything. Perhaps the Vivians will teach us to know our own +places." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GOING SOUTH + + +It was a rough stone house, quite bare, only one story high, and without +a tree growing anywhere near it. It stood on the edge of a vast Scotch +moor, and looked over acres and acres of purple heather--acres so +extensive that the whole country seemed at that time of year to be +covered with a sort of mantle of pinky, pearly gold, something between +the violet and the saffron tones of a summer sunset. + +Three girls were seated on a little stone bench outside the lonely, +neglected-looking house. They were roughly and plainly dressed. They +wore frocks of the coarsest Scotch tweed; and Scotch tweed, when it is +black, can look very coarse, indeed. They clung close together--a +desolate-looking group--Betty, the eldest, in the middle; Sylvia +pressing up to her at one side; Hetty, with her small, cold hand locked +in her sister's, on the other. + +"I wonder when Uncle John will come," was Hetty's remark after a pause. +"Jean says we are on no account to travel alone; so, if he doesn't come +to-night, we mayn't ever reach that fine school after all." + +"I am not going to tell him about the packet. I have quite made up my +mind on that point," said Betty, dropping her voice. + +"Oh, Bet!" The other two looked up at their elder sister. + +She turned and fixed her dark-gray eyes first on one face, then on the +other. "Yes," she said, nodding emphatically; "the packet is sure to +hold money, and it will be a safe-guard. If we find the school +intolerable we'll have the wherewithal to run away." + +"I've read in books that school life is very jolly sometimes," remarked +Sylvia. + +"Not _that_ school," was Betty's rejoinder. + +"But why not that school, Betty?" + +Betty shrugged her shoulders. "Haven't you heard that miserable +creature, Fanny Crawford, talk of it? I shouldn't greatly mind going +anywhere else, for if there's a human being whom I cordially detest, it +is my cousin, Fanny Crawford." + +"I hear the sound of wheels!" cried Sylvia, springing to her feet. + +"Ah, and there's Donald coming back," said Betty; "and there is Uncle +John! No chance of escape, girls! We have got to go through it. Poor old +David!"--here she alluded to the horse who was tugging a roughly made +dogcart up the very steep hill--"he'll miss us, perhaps; and so will +Fritz and Andrew, the sheep-dogs. Heigh-ho! there's no good being too +sorrowful. That money is a rare comfort!" + +By this time the old white horse, and Donald, who was driving, and the +gentleman who sat at the opposite side of the dogcart, drew up at the +top of the great plateau. The gentleman alighted and walked swiftly +towards the three girls. They rose simultaneously to meet him. + +In London, and in any other part of the south of England, the weather +was warm at this time of the year; but up on Craigie Muir it was cold, +and the children looked desolate as they turned in their coarse clothes +to meet their guardian. + +Sir John came up to them with a smile. "Now, my dears, here I am--Betty, +how do you do? Kiss your uncle, child." + +Betty raised her pretty lips and gave the weather-beaten cheek of Sir +John Crawford an unwilling kiss. Sylvia and Hetty clasped each other's +hands, clung a little more closely together, and remained mute. + +"Come, come," said Sir John; "we mustn't be miserable, you know! I hope +that good Jean has got you something for supper, for the air up here +would make any one hungry. Shall we go into the house? We all have to +start at cockcrow in the morning. Donald knows, and has arranged, he +tells me, for a cart to hold your luggage. Let's come in, children. I +really should be glad to get out of this bitter blast." + +"It is just lovely!" said Betty. "I am drinking it in all I can, for I +sha'n't have any more for many a long day." + +Sir John, who had the kindest face in the world, accompanied by the +kindest heart, looked anxiously at the handsome girl. Then he thought +what a splendid chance he was giving his young cousins; for, although he +allowed them to call him uncle, the relationship between them was not +quite so close. + +They all entered the sparsely furnished and bare-looking house. Six deal +boxes, firmly corded with great strands of rope, were piled one on top +of the other in the narrow hall. + +"Here's our luggage," said Betty. + +"My dear children--those deal boxes! What possessed you to put your +things into trunks of that sort?" + +"They are the only trunks we have," replied Betty. "And I think supper +is ready," she continued; "I smell the grouse. I told Jean to have +plenty ready for supper." + +"Good girl, good girl!" said Sir John. "Now I will go upstairs and wash +my hands; and I presume you will do the same, little women. Then we'll +all enjoy a good meal." + +A few minutes later Sir John Crawford and the three Misses Vivian were +seated round a rough table, on which was spread a very snowy but coarse +cloth. The grouse were done to a turn. There was excellent coffee, the +best scones in the world, and piles of fresh butter. In addition, there +was a small bottle of very choice Scotch whiskey placed on the +sideboard, with lemons and other preparations for a comforting drink by +and by for Sir John. + +The girls were somewhat silent during the meal. Even Betty, who could be +a chatterbox when she pleased, vouchsafed but few remarks. + +But when the supper-things had been cleared away Sir John said +emphatically, turning to the three girls, "You got my telegram, with its +splendid news?" + +"We got your telegram, Uncle John," said Hetty. + +"With its splendid news?" repeated Sir John. + +Hetty pursed up her firm lips; Sylvia looked at him and smiled; Betty +crossed the room and put a little black kettle on the peat fire to boil. + +"You would like some whisky-punch?" Betty said. "I know how to make it." + +"Thank you, my dear; I should very much. And do you three lassies object +to a pipe?" + +"Object!" said Betty. "No; Donald smokes every night; and +since--since----" Her voice faltered; her face grew pale. After a +minute's silence she said in an abrupt tone, "We go into the kitchen +most nights to talk to Donald while he smokes." + +"Then to-night you must talk to me. I can tell you, my dears, you are +the luckiest young girls in the whole of Great Britain to have got +admitted to Haddo Court; and my child Fan will look after you. You +understand, dears, that everything you want you apply to me for. I am +your guardian, appointed to that position by your dear aunt. You can +write to me yourselves, or ask Fan to do so. By the way, I have been +looking through some papers in a desk which belonged to your dear aunt, +and cannot find a little sealed packet which she left there. Do you know +anything about it, any of you?" + +"No, uncle, nothing," said Betty, raising her dark-gray eyes and fixing +them full on his face. + +"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter," said Sir John; "but in a special +letter to me she mentioned the packet. I suppose, however, it will turn +up. Now, my dears, you are in luck. When you get over your very natural +grief----" + +"Oh, don't!" said Betty. "Get over it? We'll never get over it!" + +"My dear, dear child, time softens all troubles. If it did not we +couldn't live. I admire you, Betty, for showing love for one so +worthy----" + +"If you don't look out, Uncle John," suddenly exclaimed Hetty, "you'll +have Betty howling; and when she begins that sort of thing we can't stop +her for hours." + +Sir John raised his brows and looked in a puzzled way from one girl to +the other. "You will be very happy at Haddo Court," he said; "and you +are in luck to get there. Now, off to bed, all three of you, for we have +to make an early start in the morning." Sir John held out his hand as he +spoke. "Kiss me, Betty," he said to the eldest girl. + +"Are you my uncle?" she inquired. + +"No; your father and I were first cousins. But, my poor child, I stand +in the place of father and guardian to you now." + +"I'd rather not kiss you, if you don't mind," said Betty. + +"You must please yourself. Now go to bed, all of you." + +The girls left the little sitting-room. It was their fashion to hold +each other's hands, and in a chain of three they now entered the +kitchen. + +"Jean," said Betty, "_he_ says we are to go to bed. I want to ask you +and Donald a question, and I want to ask it quickly." + +"And what is the question, my puir bit lassie?" asked Jean Macfarlane. + +"It is this," said Betty--"you and Donald can answer it quickly--if we +want to come back here you will take us in, won't you?" + +"Take you in, my bonny dears! Need you ask? There's a shelter always for +the bit lassies under this roof," said Donald Macfarlane. + +"Thanks, Donald," said Betty. "And thank you, Jean," she added. "Come, +girls, let's go to bed." + +The girls went up to the small room in the roof which they occupied. +They slept in three tiny beds side by side. The beds were under the +sloping roof, and the air of the room was cold. But Betty, Sylvia, and +Hetty were accustomed to cold, and did not mind it. The three little +beds touched each other, and the three girls quickly undressed and got +between the coarse sheets. Betty, as the privileged one, was in the +middle. And now a cold little hand was stretched out from the left bed +towards her, and a cold little hand from the right bed did ditto. + +"Betty," said Sylvia in a choking voice, "you will keep us up? You are +the brave one." + +"Except when I cry," said Betty. + +"Oh, but, Betty," said Hetty, "you will promise not to! It's awful when +you do! You will promise, won't you?" + +"I will try my best," said Betty. + +"How long do you think, Betty, that you and Hetty and I will be able to +endure that awful school?" said Sylvia. + +"It all depends," said Betty. "But we've got the money to get away with +when we like. It was left for our use. Now, look, here, girls. I am +going to tell you a tremendous secret." + +"Oh, yes! oh, yes!" exclaimed the other two. "Betty, you're a perfect +darling; you are the most heroic creature in the world!" + +"Listen; and don't talk, girls. I told a lie to-night about that packet; +but no one else will know about it. There was one day--now don't +interrupt me, either of you, or I'll begin howling, and then I can't +stop--there was one day when Auntie Frances was very ill. She sent for +me, and I went to her; and she said, 'I am able to leave you so very +little, my children; but there is a nest-egg in a little packet in the +right-hand drawer of my bureau. You must always keep it--always until +you really want it.' I felt so bursting all round my heart, and so choky +in my throat, that I thought I'd scream there and then; but I kept all +my feelings in, and went away, and pretended to dearest auntie that I +didn't feel it a bit. Then, you know, she, she--died." + +"She was very cold," said Sylvia. "I saw her--I seem to see her still. +Her face made me shiver." + +"Don't!" said Betty in a fierce voice. "Do you want me to howl all night +long?" + +"I won't! I won't!" said Sylvia. "Go on, Betty darling--heroine that you +are!" + +"Well, I went to her bureau straight away, and I took the packet. As a +matter of fact, I already knew quite well that it was there; for I had +often opened auntie's bureau and looked at her treasures, so I could lay +my hands on it at once. I never mean to part with the packet. It's +heavy, so it's sure to be full of gold--plenty of gold for us to live on +if we don't like that beastly school. When Sir John--or Uncle John, as +he wants us to call him----" + +"He's no uncle of mine," said Hetty. + +"I like him, for my part," said Sylvia. + +"Don't interrupt me," said Betty. "When Uncle John asked me about the +packet I said 'No,' of course; and I mean to say 'No' again, and again, +and again, and again, if ever I'm questioned about it. For didn't auntie +say it was for us? And what right has he to interfere?" + +"It does sound awfully interesting!" exclaimed Sylvia. "I do hope you've +put it in a very, very safe place, Betty?" + +Betty laughed softly. "Do you remember the little, old-fashioned pockets +auntie always wore inside her dress--little, flat pockets made of very +strong calico? Well, it's in one of those; and I mean to secure a safer +hiding-place for it when I get to that abominable Court. Now perhaps +we'd better go to sleep." + +"Yes; I am dead-sleepy," responded Sylvia. + +By and by her gentle breathing showed that she was in the land of +slumber. Hetty quickly followed her twin-sister's example. But Betty lay +wide awake. She was lying flat on her back, and looking out into the +sort of twilight which still seemed to pervade the great moors. Her eyes +were wide open, and wore a startled, fixed expression, like the eyes of +a girl who was seeing far beyond what she appeared to be looking at. + +"Yes, I have done right," she said to herself. "There must always be an +open door, and this is my open door; and I hope God, and auntie up in +heaven, will forgive me for having told that lie. And I hope God, and +auntie up in heaven, will forgive me if I tell it again; for I mean to +go on telling it, and telling it, and telling it, until I have spent all +that money." + +While Betty lay thinking her wild thoughts, Sir John Crawford, +downstairs, made a shrewd and careful examination of the different +articles of furniture which had been left in the little stone house by +his old friend, Miss Frances Vivian. Everything was in perfect order. +She was a lady who abhorred disorder, who could not endure it for a +single moment. All her letters and her neatly receipted bills were tied +up with blue silk, and laid, according to date, one on top of the other. +Her several little trinkets, which eventually would belong to the girls, +were in their places. Her last will and testament was also in the drawer +where she had told Sir John he would find it. Everything was in +order--everything, exactly as the poor lady had left it, with the +exception of the little sealed packet. Where was it? Sir John felt +puzzled and distressed. He had not an idea what it contained; for Miss +Vivian, in her letter to him, had simply asked him to take care of it +for her nieces, and had not made any comment with regard to its +contents. Sir John certainly could not accuse the girls of purloining +it. After some pain and deliberate thought, he decided to go out and +speak to the old servants, who were still up, in the kitchen. They +received him respectfully, and yet with a sort of sour expression which +was natural to their homely Scotch faces. + +Donald rose silently, and asked the gentleman if he would seat himself. + +"No, Donald," replied Sir John in his hearty, pleasant voice; "I cannot +stay. I am going to bed, being somewhat tired." + +"The bit chamber is no' too comfortable for your lordship," said Jean, +dropping a profound curtsey. + +"The chamber will do all right. I have slept in it before," said Sir +John. + +"Eh, dear, now," said Jean, "and you be easy to please." + +"I want you, Jean Macfarlane, to call the young ladies and myself not +later than five o'clock to-morrow morning, and to have breakfast ready +at half-past five; and, Donald, we shall require the dogcart to drive to +the station at six o'clock. Have you given orders about the young +ladies' luggage? It ought to start not later than four to-morrow morning +to be in time to catch the train." + +"Eh, to be sure," said Donald. "It's myself has seen to all that. Don't +you fash yourself, laird. Things'll be in time. All me and my wife wants +is that the bit lassies should have every comfort." + +"I will see to that," said Sir John. + +"We'll miss them, puir wee things!" exclaimed Jean; and there came a +glint of something like tears into her hard and yet bright blue eyes. + +"I am sure you will. You have, both of you, been valued servants both to +my cousin and her nieces. I wish to make you a little present each." +Here Sir John fumbled in his pocket, and took out a couple of +sovereigns. + +But the old pair drew back in some indignation. "Na, na!" they +exclaimed; "it isn't our love for them or for her as can be purchased +for gowd." + +"Well, as you please, my good people. I respect you all the more for +refusing. But now, may I ask you a question?" + +"And whatever may that be?" exclaimed Jean. + +"I have looked through your late mistress's effects----" + +"And whatever may 'effects' be?" inquired Donald. + +"What she has left behind her." + +"Ay, the laird uses grand words," remarked Donald, turning to his wife. + +"Maybe," said Jean; "but its the flavor of the Scotch in the speech that +softens my heart the most." + +"Well," said Sir John quickly, "there's one little packet I cannot find. +Miss Vivian wrote to me about it in a letter which I received after her +death. I haven't an idea what it contained; but she seemed to set some +store by it, and it was eventually to be the property of the young +ladies." + +"Puir lambs! Puir lambs!" said Jean. + +"I have questioned them about it, but they know nothing." + +"And how should they, babes as they be?" said Jean. + +"You'll not be offended, Jean Macfarlane and Donald Macfarlane, if I ask +you the same question?" + +Jean flushed an angry red for a moment; but Donald's shrewd face +puckered up in a smile. + +"You may ask, and hearty welcome," he said; "but I know no more aboot +the bit packet than the lassies do, and that's naucht at all." + +"Nor me no more than he," echoed Jean. + +"Do you think, by any possibility, any one from outside got into the +house and stole the little packet?" + +"Do I think!" exclaimed Jean. "Let me tell you, laird, that a man or +woman as got in here unbeknownst to Donald and me would go out again +pretty quick with a flea in the ear." + +Sir John smiled. "I believe you," he said. He went upstairs, feeling +puzzled. But when he laid his head on his pillow he was so tired that he +fell sound asleep. The sleep seemed to last but for a minute or two when +Jean's harsh voice was heard telling him to rise, for it was five +o'clock in the morning. Then there came a time of bustle and confusion. +The girls, with their faces white as sheets, came down to breakfast in +their usual fashion--hand linked within hand. Sir John thought, as he +glanced at them, that he had never seen a more desolate-looking little +trio. They hardly ate any of the excellent food which Jean had provided. +The good baronet guessed that their hearts were full, and did not worry +them with questions. + +The pile of deal boxes had disappeared from the narrow hall and was +already on its way to Dunstan Station, where they were to meet a local +train which would presently enable them to join the express for London. +There was a bewildered moment of great anguish when Jean caught the +lassies to her breast, when the dogs clustered round to be embraced and +hugged and patted. Then Donald, leading the horse (for there was no room +for him to ride in the crowded dogcart), started briskly on the road to +Dunstan, and Craigie Muir was left far behind. + +By and by they all reached the railway station. The luggage was piled up +on the platform. Sir John took first-class tickets to London, and the +curious deal boxes found their place in the luggage van. Donald's +grizzly head and rugged face were seen for one minute as the train +steamed out of the station. Betty clutched at the side of her dress +where Aunt Frances' old flat pocket which contained the packet was +secured. The other two girls looked at her with a curious mingling of +awe and admiration, and then they were off. + +Sir John guessed at the young people's feelings, and did not trouble +them with conversation. By and by they left the small train and got into +a compartment reserved for them in the London express. Sir John did +everything he could to enliven the journey for his young cousins. But +they were taciturn and irresponsive. Betty's wonderful gray eyes looked +out of the window at the passing landscape, which Sir John was quite +sure she did not see; Sylvia and Hester were absorbed in watching their +sister. Sir John had a queer kind of feeling that there was something +wrong with the girls' dress; that very coarse black serge, made with no +attempt at style; the coarse, home-made stockings; the rough, hobnailed +boots; the small tam-o'-shanter caps, pushed far back from the little +faces; the uncouth worsted gloves; and then the deal boxes! He had a +kind of notion that things were very wrong, and that the girls did not +look a bit at his own darling Fanny looked, nor in the least like the +other girls he had seen at Haddo Court. But Sir John Crawford had been a +widower for years, and during that time had seen little of women. He had +not the least idea how to remedy what looked a little out of place even +at Craigie Muir, but now that they were flying south looked much worse. +Could he possibly spare the time to spend a day in a London hotel, and +buy the girls proper toilets, and have their clothes put into regulation +trunks? But no, in the first place, he had not the time; in the second, +he would not have the slightest idea what to order. + +They all arrived in London late in the evening. Sylvia and Hetty had +been asleep during the latter part of the journey, but Betty still sat +bolt upright and wide awake. It was dusk now, and the lamp in the +carriage was lit. It seemed to throw a shadow on the girl's miserable +face. She was very young--only the same age as Sir John's dear Fanny; +and yet how different, how pale, how full of inexpressible sadness was +that little face! Those gray eyes of hers seemed to haunt him! He was +the kindest man on earth, and would have given worlds to comfort her; +but he did not know what to do. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +RECEPTION AT HADDO COURT + + +Having made up her mind to receive the Vivian girls, Mrs. Haddo arranged +matters quite calmly and to her entire satisfaction. There was no fuss +or commotion of any kind; and when Sir John appeared on the following +morning, with the six deal boxes and the three girls dressed in their +coarse Highland garments, they were all received immediately in Mrs. +Haddo's private sitting-room. + +"I have brought the girls, Mrs. Haddo," said Sir John. "This is Betty. +Come forward, my dear, and shake hands with your new mistress." + +"How old are you?" asked Mrs. Haddo. + +"I was sixteen my last birthday, and that was six months ago, and one +fortnight and three days," replied Betty in a very distinct voice, +holding herself bolt upright, and looking with those strange eyes full +into Mrs. Haddo's face. She spoke with extreme defiance. But she +suddenly met a rebuff--a kind of rebuff that she did not expect; for +Mrs. Haddo's eyes looked back at her with such a world of love, +sympathy, and understanding that the girl felt that choking in her +throat and that bursting sensation in her heart which she dreaded more +than anything else. She instantly lowered her brilliant eyes and stood +back, waiting for her sisters to speak. + +Sylvia came up a little pertly. "Hetty and I are twins," she said, "and +we'll be fifteen our next birthday; but that's not for a long time yet." + +"Well, my dears, I am glad to welcome you all three, and I hope you will +have a happy time in my school. I will not trouble you with rules or +anything irksome of that sort to-day. You will like to see your cousin, +Fanny Crawford. She is busy at lessons now; so I would first of all +suggest that you go to your room, and change your dress, and get tidy +after your journey. You have come here nice and early; and in honor of +your arrival I will give, what is my invariable custom, a half-holiday +to the upper school, so that you may get to know your companions." + +"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Betty, but Betty +would not raise her eyes. She was standing very still, her hands locked +tightly together. Mrs. Haddo walked to the bell and rang it. A servant +appeared. + +"Ask Miss Symes to be good enough to come here," said Mrs. Haddo. + +The English governess with the charming, noble face presently appeared. + +"Miss Symes," said Mrs. Haddo, "may I introduce you to Sir John +Crawford?" + +Sir John bowed, and the governess bent her head gracefully. + +"And these are your new pupils, the Vivians. This is Betty, and this +little girl is Sylvia. Am I not right, dear?" + +"No; I am Hester," said the girl addressed as Sylvia. + +"This is Hetty, then; and this is Sylvia. Will you take them to their +room and do what you can for their comfort? If they like to stay there +for a little they can do so. I will speak to you presently, if you will +come to me here." + +The girls and Miss Symes left the presence of the head mistress. The +moment they had done so Mrs. Haddo gave a quick sigh. "My dear Sir +John," she said, "what remarkable, and interesting, and difficult, and +almost impossible girls you have intrusted to my care!" + +"I own they are not like others," said Sir John; "but you have admitted +they are interesting." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking slowly. "I shall manage them yet. The +eldest girl, Betty, is wonderful. What a heart! what a soul! but, oh, +very hard to get at!" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Sir John, fidgeting slightly, "that you would +object to the rough way they are clothed. I really don't like it myself; +at least, I don't think it's quite the fashion." + +"Their clothes do not matter at all, Sir John." + +"But the less remarkable they look the better they will get on in the +school," persisted Sir John; "so, of course, you will get what is +necessary." + +"Naturally, Miss Symes and I will see to that." + +"They led a very rough life in the country," continued Sir John, "and +yet it was a pure and healthy life--out all day long on those great +moors, and with no one to keep them company except a faithful old +servant of Miss Vivian's and his wife. They made pets of dogs and +horses, and were happy after their fashion. You will do what you can for +them, will you not, Mrs. Haddo?" + +"Having accepted them into my school, I will do my utmost. I do not mind +simple manners, for the noblest natures are to be found among such +people; nor do I mind rough, ungainly clothing, for that, indeed, only +belongs to the outward girl and can quickly be remedied. I will keep +these girls, and do all that woman can for them, provided I see no +deceit in any of them; but that, you will clearly understand, Sir John, +is in my opinion an unpardonable sin." + +"Do they look like girls who would deceive any one?" was Sir John's +rejoinder. + +"I grant you they do not. Now, you must be very busy, so you must cast +the girls from your mind. You would like to see Fanny. I know she is +dying to have a talk with you." + +Meanwhile Miss Symes had conducted the girls upstairs. The room they +entered was much grander than any room they had ever seen before. It was +large--one of the largest bedrooms in the great house. It had three +noble windows which reached from floor to ceiling, and were of French +style, so that they could be opened wide in summer weather to admit the +soft, warm air. There was a great balcony outside the windows, where the +girls could sit when they chose. The room itself was called the blue +room; the reason of this was that the color on the walls was pale blue, +whereas the paint was white. The three little beds stood in a row, side +by side. There was a very large wardrobe exactly facing the beds, also a +chest of large drawers for each girl, while the carpet was blue to match +the walls. A bright fire was burning in the cheerful, new-fashioned +grate. Altogether, it would have been difficult to find a more charming +apartment than the blue room at Haddo Court. + +"Are we to sleep here?" asked Betty. + +"Yes, my dear child. These are your little beds; and Anderson, the +schoolroom maid, will unpack your trunks presently. I see they have been +brought up." + +Miss Symes slightly started, for the six wooden trunks, fastened by +their coarse ropes, were standing side by side in another part of the +room. + +"Why do you look at our trunks like that?" asked Sylvia, who was not +specially shy, and was quick to express her feelings. + +But Betty came to the rescue. "Never mind how she looks," remarked +Betty; "she can look as she likes. What does it matter to us?" + +This speech was so very different from the ordinary speech of the +ordinary girl who came to Haddo Court that Miss Symes was nonplussed for +a moment. She quickly, however, recovered her equanimity. + +"Now, my dears, you must make yourselves quite at home. You must not be +shy, or lonely, or unhappy. You must enter--which I hope you will do +very quick--into the life of this most delightful house. We are all +willing and anxious to make you happy. As to your trunks, they will be +unpacked and put away in one of the attics." + +"I wish we could sleep in an attic," said Betty then in a fierce voice. +"I hate company-rooms." + +"There is no attic available, my dear; and this, you must admit, is a +nice room." + +"I admit nothing," said Betty. + +"I think it's a nice room," said Hester; "only, of course, we are not +accustomed to it, and that great fire is so chokingly hot. May we open +all the windows?" + +"Certainly, dears, provided you don't catch cold." + +"Catch cold!" said Sylvia in a voice of scorn. "If you had ever lived +on a Scotch moor you wouldn't talk of catching cold in a stuffy little +hole of a place like this." + +Miss Symes had an excellent temper, but she found it a trifle difficult +to keep it under control at that moment. "I must ask you for the keys of +your trunks," she said; "for while we are at dinner, which will be in +about an hour's time, Anderson will unpack them." + +"Thanks," said Betty, "but we'd much rather unpack our own trunks." + +Miss Symes was silent for a minute. "In this house, dear, it is not the +custom," she said then. She spoke very gently. She was puzzled at the +general appearance, speech, and get-up of the new girls. + +"And we can, of course, keep our own keys," continued Betty, speaking +rapidly, her very pale face glowing with a faint tinge of color; +"because Mrs.----What is the name of the mistress?" + +"Mrs. Haddo," said Miss Symes in a tone of great respect. + +"Well, whatever her name is, she said we were to be restricted by no +rules to-day. She said so, didn't she, Sylvia? Didn't she, Hetty?" + +"She certainly did," replied the twins. + +"Then, if it's a rule for the trunks to be unpacked by some one else, it +doesn't apply to us to-day," said Betty. "If you will be so very kind, +Miss----" + +"Symes is my name." + +"So very kind, Miss Symes, as to go away and leave us, we'll begin to +unpack our own trunks and put everything away by dinner-time." + +"Very well," said Miss Symes quite meekly. "Is there anything else I can +do for your comfort?" + +"Yes," remarked Sylvia in a pert tone; "you can go away." + +Miss Symes left the room. When she did so the two younger girls looked +at their elder sister. Betty's face was very white, and her chest was +working ominously. + +Sylvia went up to her and gave her a sudden, violent slap between the +shoulders. "Now, don't begin!" she said. "If you do, they'll all come +round us. It isn't as if we could rush away to the middle of the moors, +and you could go on with it as long as you liked. Here, if you howl, +you'll catch it; for they'll stand over you, and perhaps fling water on +your head." + +"Leave me alone, then, for a minute," said Betty. She flung herself flat +on the ground, face downwards, her hair falling about her shoulders. She +lay as still as though she were carved in stone. The twin girls watched +her for a minute. Then very softly and carefully Sylvia approached the +prone figure, pushed her hand into Betty's pocket (a very coarse, +ordinary pocket it was, put in at the side of her dress by Jean's own +fingers), and took out a bunch of keys. + +Sylvia held up the keys with a glad smile. "Now let's begin," she said. +"It's an odious, grandified room, and Betty'll go mad here; but we can't +help it--at least, for a bit. And there's always the packet." + +At these words, to the great relief of her younger sisters, Betty stood +upright. "There's always the packet," she said. "Now let's begin to +unpack." + +Notwithstanding the fact that there were six deal trunks--six trunks of +the plainest make, corded with the coarsest rope--there was very little +inside them, at least as far as an ordinary girl's wardrobe is +concerned; for Miss Frances Vivian had been very poor, and during the +last year of her life had lived at Craigie Muir in the strictest +economy. She was, moreover, too ill to be greatly troubled about the +girls' clothing; and by and by, as her illness progressed, she left the +matter altogether to Jean. Jean was to supply what garments the young +ladies required, and Jean set about the work with a right good will. So +the coarsest petticoats, the most clumsy stockings, the ugliest jackets +and blouses and skirts imaginable, presently appeared out of the little +wooden trunks. + +The girls sorted them eagerly, putting them pell-mell into the drawers +without the slightest attempt at any sort of order. But if there were +very few clothes in the trunks, there were all sorts of other things. +There were boxes full of caterpillars in different stages of chrysalis +form. There was also a glass box which contained an enormous spider. +This was Sylvia's special property. She called the spider Dickie, and +adored it. She would not give it flies, which she considered cruel, but +used to keep it alive on morsels of raw meat. Every day, for a quarter +of an hour, Dickie was allowed to take exercise on a flat stone on the +edge of the moor. It was quite against even Jean Macfarlane's advice +that Dickie was brought to the neighborhood of London. But he was here. +He had borne his journey apparently well, and Sylvia looked at him now +with worshiping eyes. + +In addition to the live stock, which was extensive and varied, there +were also all kinds of strange fossils, and long, trailing pieces of +heather--mementos of the life which the girls lived on the moor, and +which they had left with such pain and sorrow. They were all busy +worshiping Dickie, and envying Sylvia's bravery in bringing the huge +spider to Haddo Court, when there came a gentle tap at the door. + +Betty said crossly, "Who's there?" + +A very refined voice answered, "It's I;" and the next minute Fanny +Crawford entered the room. "How are you all?" she said. Her eyes were +red, for she had just said good-bye to her father, and she thoroughly +hated the idea of the girls coming to the school. + +"How are you, Fan?" replied Betty, speaking in a careless tone, just +nodding her head, and looking again into the glass box. "He is very +hungry," she continued. "By the way, Fan, will you run down to the +kitchen and get a little bit of raw meat?" + +"Will I do what?" asked Fanny. + +"Well, I suppose there is a kitchen in the house, and you can get a bit +of raw meat. It's for Dickie." + +"Oh," said Fanny, coming forward on tiptoe and peeping into the box, +"you can't keep that terror here--you simply won't be allowed to have +it! Have you _no_ idea what school-life is like?" + +"No," said Betty; "and what is more, I don't want you to tell me. Dickie +darling, I'd let you pinch my finger if it would do you any good. +Sylvia, what use are you if you can't feed your own spider? If Fan won't +oblige her cousins when she knows the ways of the house, I presume you +have a pair of legs and can use them? Go to the kitchen at once and get +a piece of raw meat." + +"I don't know where it is," said Sylvia, looking slightly frightened. + +"Well, you can ask. Go on; ask until you find. Now, be off with you!" + +"You had better not," said Fanny. "Why, you will meet all the girls +coming out of the different classrooms!" + +"What do girls matter," said Betty in a withering voice, "when Dickie is +hungry?" + +Sylvia gathered up her courage and departed. Betty laid the glass box +which contained the spider on the dressing-table. + +If Fanny had not been slightly afraid of these bold northern cousins of +hers, she would have dashed the box out on the balcony and released poor +Dickie, giving him back to his natural mode of life. "What queer dresses +you are wearing!" she said. "Do, please, change them before lunch. You +were not dressed like this when I saw you last. You were never +fashionable, but this stuff----" + +"You'd best not begin, Fan, or I'll howl," said Betty. + +"Hush! do hush, Fanny!" exclaimed Hester. "Don't forget that we are in +mourning for darling auntie." + +"But have you really no other dresses?" + +"There's nothing wrong with these," said Hester; "they're quite +comfortable." + +Just at that moment there came peals of laughter proceeding from several +girls' throats. The room-door was burst open, and Sylvia entered first, +her face very red, her eyes bright and defiant, and a tiny piece of raw +meat on a plate in her hand. The girls who followed her did not belong +to the Specialities, but they were all girls of the upper school. Fanny +thanked her stars that they were not particular friends of hers. They +were choking with laughter, and evidently thought they had never seen so +good a sight in their lives. + +"Oh, this is too delicious!" said Sibyl Ray, a girl who had just been +admitted into the upper school. "We met this--this young lady, and she +said she wanted to go to the kitchen to get some raw meat; and when I +told her I didn't know the way she just took my hand and drew me along +with her, and said, 'If you possessed a Dickie, and he was dying of +hunger, you wouldn't hesitate to find the kitchen.'" + +"Well, I'm not going to interfere," said Fanny; "but I think you know +the rules of the house, Sibyl, and that no girl is allowed in the +kitchen." + +"I didn't go in," said Sibyl; "catch me! But I went to the beginning of +the corridor which leads to the kitchen. _She_ went in, though, boldly +enough, and she got it. Now, we do want to see who Dickie is. Is he a +dog, or a monkey, or what?" + +"He's a spider--_goose_!" said Sylvia. "And now, please, get out of the +way. He won't eat if you watch him. I've got a good bit of meat, Betty," +she continued. "It'll keep Dickie going for several days, and he likes +it all the better when it begins to turn. Don't you Dickie?" + +"If you don't all leave the room, girls," said Fanny, "I shall have to +report to Miss Symes." + +The girls who had entered were rather afraid of Fanny Crawford, and +thought it best to obey her instructions. But the news with regard to +the newcomers spread wildly all over the house; so much so that when, in +course of time, neat-looking Fanny came down to dinner accompanied by +her three cousins, the whole school remained breathless, watching the +Vivians as they entered. But what magical force is there about certain +girls which raises them above the mere accessories of dress? Could there +be anything uglier than the attire of these so-called Scotch lassies? +And was there ever a prouder carriage than that of Betty Vivian, or a +more scornful expression in the eye, or a firmer set of the little lips? + +Mrs. Haddo, who always presided at this meal, called the strangers to +come and sit near her; and though the school had great difficulty in not +bursting into a giggle, there was not a sound of any sort whatever as +the three obeyed. Fanny sat down near her friend, Susie Rushworth. Her +eyes spoke volumes. But Susie was gazing at Betty's face. + +At dinner, the girls were expected to talk French on certain days of the +week, and German on others. This was French day, and Susie murmured +something to Fanny in that tongue with regard to Betty's remarkable +little face. But Fanny was in no mood to be courteous or kind about her +relatives. Susie was quick to perceive this, and therefore left her +alone. + +When dinner came to an end, Mrs. Haddo called the three Vivians into her +private sitting-room. This room was even more elegant than the beautiful +bedroom which they had just vacated. "Now, my dears," she said, "I want +to have a talk with you all." + +Sylvia and Hester looked impatient, and shuffled from one ungainly clad +foot to the other; but Mrs. Haddo fixed her eyes on Betty's face, and +again there thrilled through Betty's heart the marvelous sensation that +she had come across a kindred soul. She was incapable, poor child, of +putting the thought into such words; but she felt it, and it thawed her +rebellious spirit. + +Mrs. Haddo sat down. "Now," she said, "you call this school, and, having +never been at school before, you doubtless think you are going to be +very miserable?" + +"If there's much discipline we shall be," said Hester, "and Betty will +howl." + +"_Don't_ talk like that!" said Betty; and there was a tone in her voice +which silenced Hetty, to the little girl's own amazement. + +"There will certainly be discipline at school," said Mrs. Haddo, "just +as there is discipline in life. What miserable people we should be +without discipline! Why, we couldn't get on at all. I am not going to +lecture you to-day. As a matter of fact, I never lecture; and I never +expect any young girl to do in my school what I would not endeavor to do +myself. Above all things, I wish to impress one thing upon you. If you +have any sort of trouble--and, of course, dears, you will have +plenty--you must come straight to me and tell me about it. This is a +privilege I permit to very few girls, but I grant it to you. I give you +that full privilege for the first month of your stay at Haddo Court. You +are to come to me as you would to a mother, had you, my poor children, a +mother living." + +"Don't! It makes the lump so bad!" said Betty, clasping her rough little +hand against her white throat. + +"I think I have said enough on that subject for the present. I am very +curious to hear all about your life on the moors--how you spent your +time, and how you managed your horses and dogs and your numerous pets." + +"Do you really want to hear?" said Betty. + +"Certainly; I have said so." + +"Do you know," said Hetty, "that Sylvia _would_ bring Dickie here. +Betty and I were somewhat against it, although he is a darling. He is +the most precious pet in the world, and Sylvia would not part with him. +We sent her to the kitchen before dinner to get a bit of raw meat for +him. Would you like to see him?" + +Mrs. Haddo was silent for a minute. Then she said gently, "Yes, very +much. He is a sort of pet, I suppose?" + +"He is a spider," said Betty--"a great, enormous spider. We captured him +when he was small, and we fed him--oh, not on little flies--that would +be cruel--but on morsels of raw meat. Now he is very big, and he has +wicked eyes. I would rather call him Demon than Dickie; but Sylvia named +him Dickie when he was but a baby thing, so the name has stuck to him. +We love him dearly." + +"I will come up to your room presently, and you shall show him to me. +Have you brought other pets from the country?" + +"Oh, stones and shells and bits of the moor." + +"Bits of the moor, my dear children!" + +"Yes; we dug pieces up the day before yesterday and wrapped them in +paper, and we want to plant them somewhere here. We thought they would +comfort us. We'd like it awfully if you would let one of the dogs come, +too. He is a great sheep-dog, and such a darling! His name is Andrew. I +think Donald Macfarlane would part with him if you said we might have +him." + +"I am afraid I can't just at present, dear; but if you are really good +girls, and try your very best to please me, you shall go back to Donald +Macfarlane in the holidays, and perhaps I will go with you, and you will +show me all your favorite haunts." + +"Oh, will you?" said Betty. Her eyes grew softer than ever. + +"You are quite a dear for a head mistress," said Sylvia. "We've always +read in books that they are such horrors. It is nice for you to say you +will come." + +"Well, now, I want to say something else, and then we'll go up to your +room and see Dickie. I am going to take you three girls up to town +to-morrow to buy you the sort of dresses we wear in this part of the +world. You can put away these most sensible frocks for your next visit +to Craigie Muir. Not a word, dears. You have said I am a very nice head +mistress, and I hope you will continue to think so. Now, let us come up +to your room." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE VIVIANS' ATTIC + + +Mrs. Haddo was genuinely interested in Dickie. She never once spoke of +him as a horror. She immediately named the genus to which he belonged in +the spider tribe, and told the girls that they could look up full +particulars with regard to him and his ways in a large book she had +downstairs called "Chambers's Encyclopedia." She suggested, however, +that they should have a little room in one of the attics where they +could keep Dickie and his morsels of meat, and the different boxes which +contained the caterpillars. She volunteered to show this minute room to +the young Vivians at once. + +They looked at her, as she spoke, with more and more interest and less +and less dislike. Even Sylvia's little heart was melted, and Hetty at +once put out her hand and touched Mrs. Haddo's. In a moment the little +brown hand was held in the firm clasp of the white one, which was +ornamented with sparkling rings. + +As the children and Mrs. Haddo were leaving the blue room, Mrs. Haddo's +eyes fell upon the deal trunks. "What very sensible trunks!" she said. +"And so you brought your clothes in these?" + +"Yes," replied Betty. "Donald Macfarlane made them for us. He can do +all sorts of carpentering. He meant to paint them green; but we thought +we'd like them best just as they are unpainted." + +"They are strong, useful boxes," replied Mrs. Haddo. "And now come with +me and I will show you the room which shall be your private property and +where you can keep your pets. By the way," she added, "I am exceedingly +particular with regard to the neatness of the various rooms where my +pupils sleep; and these bits of heather and these curious stones--oh, I +can tell you plenty about their history by and by--might also be put +into what we will call 'the Vivians' attic.'" + +"Thank you so much!" said Betty. She had forgotten all about +howling--she had even forgotten for the minute that she was really at +school; for great Mrs. Haddo, the wonderful head mistress, about whom +Fanny had told so many stories, was really a most agreeable +person--nearly, very nearly, as nice as dear Aunt Frances. + +The little attic was presently reached; the pets were deposited there; +and then--wonderful to relate!--Mrs. Haddo went out herself with the +girls and chose the very best position in the grounds for them to plant +the pieces of heather, with their roots and surrounding earth. She gave +to each girl a small plot which was to be her very own, and which no +other girl was to have anything whatever to do with. When presently she +introduced them into the private sitting-room of the upper school, +Betty's eyes were shining quite happily; and Sylvia and Hetty, who +always followed her example, were looking as merry as possible. + +Fanny Crawford, being requested to do so by Susie Rushworth, now +introduced the Vivians to the Specialities. Mary and Julia Bertram shook +hands with them quite warmly. Margaret Grant smiled for a minute as her +dark, handsome eyes met those of Betty; while Olive Repton said in her +most genial tone, "Oh, do sit down, and tell us all about your life!" + +"Yes, please--_please_, tell us all about your life!" exclaimed another +voice; and Sibyl Ray came boldly forward and seated herself in the midst +of the group, which was known in the school as the Specialities. + +But here Margaret interfered. "You shall hear everything presently, +Sibyl," she said; "but just now we are having a little confab with dear +Fanny's friends, so do you mind leaving us alone together?" + +Sibyl colored angrily. "I am sure I don't care," she said; "and if you +are going to be stuck-up and snappish and disagreeable just because you +happen to call yourselves the Specialities, you needn't expect _me_ to +take an interest in you. I am just off for a game of tennis, and shall +have a far better time than you all, hobnobbing in this close room." + +"Yes, the room is very close," exclaimed Betty. Then she added, "I do +not think I shall like the South of England at all; it seems to be +without air." + +"Oh, you'll soon get over that!" laughed Susie. "Besides," she +continued, "winter is coming; and I can tell you we find winter very +cold, even here." + +"I am glad of that," said Betty. "I hate hot weather; unless, indeed," +she added, "when you can lie flat on your back, in the center of one of +the moors, and watch the sky with the sun blazing down on you." + +"But you must never lie anywhere near a flat stone," exclaimed Sylvia, +"or an adder may come out, and that isn't a bit jolly!" + +Sibyl had not yet moved off, but was standing with her mouth slightly +gaping and her round eyes full of horror. + +"Do go! do go, Sibyl!" said Mary Bertram; and Sibyl went, to tell +wonderful stories to her own special friends all about these oddest of +girls who kept monstrous spiders--spiders that had to be fed on raw +meat--and who themselves lay on the moors where adders were to be found. + +"Now tell us about Dickie," said Susie, who was always the first to make +friends. + +But Betty Vivian, for some unaccountable reason, no longer felt either +amiable or sociable. "There's nothing to tell," she replied, "and you +can't see him." + +"Oh, please, Betty, don't be disagreeable!" exclaimed Fanny. "We can see +him any minute if we go to your bedroom." + +"No, you can't," said Betty, "for he isn't there." + +Fanny burst out laughing. "Ah," she said, "I thought as much! I thought +Mrs. Haddo would soon put an end to poor Dickie's life!" + +"Then you thought wrong!" exclaimed Sylvia with flashing eyes, "for Mrs. +Haddo loves him. She was down on her knees looking----Oh, what is the +matter, Betty?" + +"If you keep repeating our secrets with Mrs. Haddo I shall pinch you +black and blue to-night," was Betty's response. + +Sylvia instantly became silent. + +"Well, tell us about the moor, anyhow," said Margaret. + +"And let's go out!" cried Olive. "The day is perfectly glorious; and, of +course," she continued, "we are all bound to make ourselves agreeable to +you three, for we owe our delightful half-holiday to you. But for you +Vivians we'd be toiling away at our lessons now instead of allowing our +minds to cool down." + +"Do minds get as hot as all that?" asked Hester. + +"Very often, indeed, at this school," said Olive with a chuckle. + +"Well, I, for one, shall be delighted to go out," said Betty. + +"Then you must run upstairs and get your hats and your gloves," said +Fanny, who seemed, for some extraordinary reason, to wish to make her +cousins uncomfortable. + +Betty looked at her very fiercely for a minute; then she beckoned to her +sisters, and the three left the room in their usual fashion--each girl +holding the hand of another. + +"Fan," said Olive the moment the door had closed behind them, "you don't +like the Vivians! I see it in your face." + +"I never said so," replied Fanny. + +"Oh, Fan, dear--not with the lips, of course; but the eyes have spoken +volumes. Now, I think they are great fun; they're so uncommon." + +"I have never said I didn't like them," repeated Fanny, "and you will +never get me to say it. They are my cousins, and of course I'll have to +look after them a bit; but I think before they are a month at the school +you will agree with me in my opinion with regard to them." + +"How can we agree in an opinion we know nothing about?" said Margaret +Grant. + +Fanny looked at her, and Fanny's eyes could flash in a very significant +manner at times. + +"Let's come out!" exclaimed Susie Rushworth. "The girls will follow us." + +This, however, turned out not to be the case. Susie, the Bertrams, +Margaret Grant, Olive Repton, waited for the Vivians in every imaginable +spot where they it likely the newcomers would be. + +As a matter of fact, the very instant the young Vivians had left the +sitting-room, Betty whispered in an eager tone, first to one sister and +then to the other, "We surely needn't stay any longer with Fanny and +those other horrid girls. Never mind your hats and gloves. Did we ever +wear hats and gloves when we were out on the moors at Craigie Muir? +There's an open door. Let's get away quite by ourselves." + +The Vivians managed this quite easily. They raced down a side-walk until +they came to an overhanging oak tree of enormous dimensions. Into this +tree they climbed, getting up higher and higher until they were lost to +view in the topmost branches. Here they contrived to make a cozy nest +for themselves, where they sat very close together, not talking much, +although Betty now and then said calmly, "I like Mrs. Haddo; she is the +only one in the whole school I can tolerate." + +"Fan's worse than ever!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Oh, don't let's talk of her!" said Betty. + +"It will be rather fun going to London to-morrow," said Hester. + +"Fun!" exclaimed Betty. "I suppose we shall be put into odious +fashionable dresses, like those stuck-up dolls the other girls. But I +don't think, try as they will, they'll ever turn _me_ into a fashionable +lady. How I do hate that sort!" + +"Yes, and so do I," said Sylvia; while Hetty, who always echoed her +sisters' sentiments, said ditto. + +"Mrs. Haddo was kind about Dickie," said Betty after a thoughtful pause. + +"And it is nice," added Sylvia, "to have the Vivian attic." + +"Oh, dear!" said Hester; "I wish all those girls would keep out of +sight, for then I'd dash back to the house and bring out the pieces of +heather and plant them right away. They ought not to be long out of the +ground." + +"You had best go at once," said Betty, giving Hester a somewhat vigorous +push, which very nearly upset the little girl's balance. "Go boldly back +to the house; don't be afraid of any one; don't speak to any one unless +it happens to be Mrs. Haddo. Be sure you are polite to her, for she is a +lady. Go up to the Vivian attic and bring down the clumps of heather, +and the little spade we brought with us in the very bottom of the fifth +trunk." + +"Oh, and there's the watering-can; don't forget that!" cried Sylvia. + +"Yes, bring the watering-can, too. You had best find a pump, or a well, +or something, so that you can fill it up to the brim. Bring them all +along; and then just whistle 'Robin Adair' at the foot of this tree, and +we two will come swarming down. Now, off with you; there's no time to +lose!" + +Hester descended without a word. She was certainly born without a scrap +of fear of any kind, and adventure appealed to her plucky little spirit. +Betty settled herself back comfortably against one of the forked +branches of the tree where she had made her nest. + +"If we are careful, Sylvia, we can come up here to hide as often as we +like. I rather fancy from the shape of those other girls that they're +not specially good at climbing trees." + +"What do you mean by their shape?" asked Sylvia. + +"Oh, they're so squeezed in and pushed out; I don't know how to explain +it. Now, _we_ have the use of all our limbs; and I say, you silly little +Sylvia, won't we use them just!" + +"I always love you, Betty, when you call me 'silly little Sylvia,' for I +know you are in a good humor and not inclined to howl. But, before Hetty +comes back, I want to say something." + +"How mysterious you look, Sylvia! What can you have to say that poor +Hetty's not to hear? I am not going to have secrets that are not shared +among us three, I can tell you. We share and share alike--we three. We +are just desolate orphans, alone in the world; but at least we share and +share alike." + +"Of course, of course," said Sylvia; "but I saw--and I don't think Hetty +did----" + +"And what did you see?" + +"I saw Fan looking at us; and then she came rather close. It was that +time when we were all stifling in that odious sitting-room; Fan came and +sat very close to you, and I saw her put her hand down to feel your +dress. I know she felt that flat pocket where the little sealed packet +is." + +Betty's face grew red and then white. + +"And don't you remember," continued Sylvia, "that Fan was with us on the +very, very day when darling auntie told us about the packet--the day +when you came out of her room with your eyes as red as a ferret's; and +don't you remember how you couldn't help howling that day, and how far +off we had to go for fear darlingest auntie would hear you? And can't +you recall that Fan crept after us, just like the horrid sneak that she +is? And I know she heard you say, 'That packet is mine; it belongs to +all of us, and I--I _will_ keep it, whatever happens.'" + +"She may do sneaky things of that sort every hour of every day that she +likes," was Betty's cool rejoinder. "Now, don't get into a fright, silly +little Sylvia. Oh, I say, hark! that's Hester's note. She is whistling +'Robin Adair'!" + +Quick as thought, the girls climbed down from the great tree and stood +under it. Hester was panting a little, for she had run fast and her arms +were very full. + +"I saw a lot of _them_ scattered everywhere!" she exclaimed; "but I +don't _think_ they saw me, but of course I couldn't be sure. Here's the +heather; its darling little bells are beginning to droop, poor sweet +pets! And here's the spade; and here's the watering-can, brimful of +water, too, for I saw a gardener as I was coming along, and I asked him +to fill it for me, and he did so at once. Now let's go to our gardens +and let's plant. We've just got a nice sod of heather each--one for each +garden. Oh, do let's be quick, or those dreadful girls will see us!" + +"There's no need to hurry," said Betty. "I rather think I can take care +of myself. Give me the watering-can. Sylvia, take the heather; and, +Hetty--your face is perfectly scarlet, you have run so fast--you follow +after with the spade." + +The little plots of ground which had been given over to the Vivian girls +had been chosen by Mrs. Haddo on the edge of a wild, uncultivated piece +of ground. The girls of Haddo Court were proud of this piece of land, +which some of them--Margaret Grant, in particular--were fond of calling +the "forest primeval." But the Vivians, fresh from the wild Scotch +moors, thought but poorly of the few acres of sparse grass and tangled +weed and low under-growth. It was, however, on the very edge of this +piece of land that the three little gardens were situated. Mrs. Haddo +did nothing by halves; and already--wonderful to relate--the gardens had +been marked out with stakes and pieces of stout string, and there was a +small post planted at the edge of the center garden containing the words +in white paint: THE VIVIANS' PRIVATE GARDENS. + +Even Betty laughed. "This is good!" she said. "Girls, that is quite a +nice woman." + +The twins naturally acknowledged as very nice indeed any one whom Betty +admired. + +Betty here gave a profound sigh. "Come along; let's be quick," she said. +"We'll plant our heather in the very center of each plot. I'll have the +middle plot, of course, being the eldest. You, silly Sylvia, shall have +the one on the left-hand side; and you, Het, the one on the right-hand +side. I will plant my heather first." + +The others watched while Betty dug vigorously, and had soon made a hole +large enough and soft enough to inclose the roots of the wild Scotch +heather. She then gave her spade to Sylvia, who did likewise; then +Hetty, in her turn, also planted a clump of heather. The contents of the +watering-can was presently dispersed among the three clumps, and the +girls turned back in the direction of the house. + +"She _is_ nice!" said Betty. "I will bring her here the first day she +has a minute to spare and show her the heather. She said she knew all +about Scotch heather, and loved it very much. I shouldn't greatly mind, +for my part, letting her know about the packet." + +"Oh, better not!" said Hester in a frightened tone. "Remember, she is +not the only one in that huge prison of a house." Here she pointed to +the great mansion which constituted the vast edifice, Haddo Court. "She +is by no means the only one," continued Hester. "If she were, I could be +happy here." + +"You are right, Het; you are quite a wise, small girl," said Betty. "Oh, +dear," she added, "how I hate those monstrous houses! What would not I +give to be back in the little, white stone house at Craigie Muir!" + +"And with darling Jean and dearest old Donald!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Yes, and the dogs," said Hester. "Oh, Andrew! oh, Fritz! are you +missing us as much as we miss you? And, David, you darling! are you +pricking up your ears, expecting us to come round to you with some +carrots?" + +"We'd best not begin too much of this sort of talk," said Betty. "We've +got to make up our minds to be cheerful--that is, if we wish to please +Mrs. Haddo." + +The thought of Mrs. Haddo was certainly having a remarkable effect on +Betty; and there is no saying how soon she might, in consequence, have +been reconciled to her school-life but for an incident which took place +that very evening. For Fanny Crawford, who would not tell a tale against +another for the world, had been much troubled since she heard of her +cousins' arrival. Her conscientious little mind had told her that they +were the last sort of girls suitable to be in such a school as Haddo +Court. She had found out something about them. She had not meant to spy +on them during her brief visit to Craigie Muir, but she had certainly +overheard some of Betty's passionate words about the little packet; and +that very evening, curled up on the sofa in the tiny sitting-room at +Craigie Muir Cottage, she had seen Betty--although Betty had not seen +her--creep into the room in the semi-darkness and remove a little sealed +packet from one of Miss Vivian's drawers. As Fanny expressed it +afterwards, she felt at the moment as though her tongue would cleave to +the roof of her mouth. She had tried to utter some sound, but none +would come. She had never mentioned the incident to any one; and as she +scarcely expected to see anything more of her cousins in the future, she +tried to dismiss it from her thoughts. But as soon as ever she was told +in confidence by Miss Symes that the Vivian girls were coming to Haddo +Court, she recalled the incident of what she was pleased to regard as +the stolen packet. It had haunted her while she was at Craigie Muir; it +had even horrified her. Her whole nature recoiled against what she +considered clandestine and underhand dealings. Nevertheless she could +not, she would not, tell. But she had very nearly made up her mind to +say something to the girls themselves--to ask Betty why she had taken +the packet, and what she had done with it. But even on this course she +was not fully decided. + +On the morning of that very day, however, just before Fanny bade her +father good-bye, he had said to her, "Fan, my dear, there's a trifle +worrying me, although I don't suppose for a single moment you can help +me in the matter." + +"What is it, father?" asked the girl. + +"Well, the fact is this. I am going, as you know, to India for the next +few years, and it is quite possible that as the cottage at Craigie Muir +will belong to the Vivian girls--for poor Frances bought it and allowed +those Scotch folk the Macfarlanes to live there--it is, I say, quite +possible that you may go to Craigie Muir for a summer holiday with your +cousins. The air is superb, and would do you much good, and of course +the girls would be wild with delight. Well, my dear, if you go, I want +you to look round everywhere--you have good, sharp eyes in your head, +Fan, my girl--and try if you can find a little sealed packet which poor +Frances left to be taken care of by me for your three cousins." + +"A sealed packet?" said Fanny. She felt herself turning very pale. + +"Yes. Do you know anything about it?" + +"Oh, father!" said poor Fanny; and her eyes filled with tears. + +"What is the matter, my child?" + +"I--I'd so much rather not talk about it, please." + +"Then you do know something?" + +"Please, please, father, don't question me!" + +"I won't if you don't wish it; but your manner puzzles me a good deal. +Well, dear, if you can get it by any chance, you had better put it into +Mrs. Haddo's charge until I return. I asked those poor children if they +had seen it, and they denied having done so." + +Fanny felt herself shiver, and had to clasp her hands very tightly +together. + +"I also asked that good shepherd Donald Macfarlane and his wife, and +they certainly knew nothing about it. I can't stay with you any longer +now, my little girl; but if you do happen to go to Craigie Muir you +might remember that I am a little anxious on the subject, for it is my +wish to carry out the directions of my dear cousin Frances in all +particulars. Now, try to be very, very good to your cousins, Fan; and +remember how lonely they are, and how differently they have been brought +up from you." + +Fanny could not speak, for she was crying too hard. Sir John presently +went away, and forgot all about the little packet. But Fanny remembered +it; in fact, she could not get it out of her head during the entire day; +and in the course of the afternoon, when she found that the Vivian girls +joined the group of the Specialities, she forced a chair between Betty +and Olive Repton, and seated herself on it, and purposely, hating +herself all the time for doing so, felt Betty's pocket. Beyond doubt +there was something hard in it. It was not a pocket-handkerchief, nor +did it feel like a pencil or a knife or anything of that sort. + +"I shall know no peace," thought Fanny to herself, "until I get that +unhappy girl to tell the truth and return the packet to me. I shall be +very firm and very kind, and I will never let out a single thing about +it in the school. But the packet must be given up; and then I will +manage to convey it to Mrs. Haddo, who will keep it until dear father +returns." + +But although Fan intended to act the part of the very virtuous and +proper girl, she did not like her cousins the more because of this +unpleasant incident. Fanny Crawford had a certain strength of character; +but it is sad to relate that she was somewhat overladen with +self-righteousness, and was very proud of the fact that nothing would +induce _her_ to do a dishonorable thing. She sadly lacked Mrs. Haddo's +rare and large sympathy and deep knowledge of life, and Fanny certainly +had not the slightest power of reading character. + +That very evening, therefore, when the Vivian girls had gone to their +room, feeling very tired and sleepy, and by no means so unhappy as they +expected, Fanny first knocked at their door and then boldly entered. +Each girl had removed her frock and was wearing a little, rough, gray +dressing-gown, and each girl was in the act of brushing out her own very +thick hair. + +"Brushing-hair time!" exclaimed Fanny in a cheerful tone. "I trust I am +not in the way." + +"We were going to bed," remarked Betty. + +"Oh, Betty, what a reproachful tone!" Fanny tried to carry matters off +with a light hand. "Surely I, your own cousin, am welcome? Do say I am +welcome, dear Betty! and let me bring my brush and comb, and brush my +hair in your room." + +"No," said Betty; "you are not welcome, and we'd all much rather that +you brushed your hair in your own room." + +"You certainly are sweetly polite," said Fanny, with a smile on her face +which was not remarkable for sweetness. She looked quite calmly at the +girls for a moment. Then she said, "This day, on account of your +arrival, rules are off, so to speak, but they begin again to-morrow +morning. To-morrow evening, therefore, I cannot come to your bedroom, +for it would be breaking rules." + +"Oh, how just awfully jolly!" exclaimed Sylvia. + +"Thanks," said Fanny. She paused again for a minute. Then she added, +"But as rules are off, I may as well say that I have come here to-night +on purpose. Just before father left, he told me that there was a little +sealed packet"--Betty sat plump down on the side of her bed; Sylvia and +Hetty caught each others hands--"a little sealed packet," continued +Fanny, "which belonged to poor Miss Vivian--your aunt Frances--and which +father was to take charge of for you." + +"No, he wasn't," said Betty; "you make a mistake." + +"Nonsense, Betty! Father never makes a mistake. Anyhow, he has Miss +Vivian's letter, which proves the whole thing. Now, the packet cannot be +found. Father is quite troubled about it. He says he has not an idea +what it contains, but it was left to be placed under his care. He asked +you three about it, and you said you knew nothing. He also asked the +servants in that ugly little house----" + +"How dare you call it ugly?" said Betty. + +"Well, well, pray don't get into a passion! Anyhow, you all denied any +knowledge of the packet. Now, I may as well confess that, although I +have not breathed the subject to any one, I saw you, Betty, with my own +eyes, take it out of Miss Vivian's drawer. I was lying on the sofa in +the dark, or almost in the dark, and you never noticed me; but I saw you +open the drawer and take the packet out. That being the case, you _do_ +know all about it, and you have told a lie. Please, Betty, give me the +packet, and I will take it to-morrow to Mrs. Haddo, and she will look +after it for you until father returns; and I promise you faithfully that +I will never tell a soul what you did, nor the lie you told father about +it. Now, Betty, do be sensible. Give it to me, without any delay. I +felt it in the pocket under your dress to-day, so you can't deny that +you have it." + +Fanny's face was very red when she had finished speaking, and there were +two other faces in that room which were even redder; but another face +was very pale, with shining eyes and a defiant, strange expression about +the lips. + +The three Vivians now came up to Fanny, who, although older than the two +younger girls, was built much more slightly, and, compared with them, +had no muscle at all. Betty was a very strong girl for her age. + +"Come," said Betty, "we are not going to waste words on you. Just march +out of this!" + +"I--what do you mean?" + +"March! This is our room, our private room, and therefore our castle. If +you like to play the spy, you can; but you don't come in here. Go +along--be quick--out you go!" + +A strong hand took Fanny forcibly by her right arm, and a strong hand +took her with equal force by her left, then two very powerful hands +pushed from behind; so that Fanny Crawford, who considered herself one +of the most dignified and lady-like girls in the school, was summarily +ejected. She went into her room, looked at the cruel marks on her arms +caused by the angry girls, and burst into tears. + +Miss Symes came in and found Fanny crying, and did her best to comfort +the girl. "What is wrong, dear?" she said. + +"Oh, don't--don't ask me!" said poor Fanny. + +"You are fretting about your father, darling." + +"It's not that," said Fanny; "and I can't ever tell you, dear St. +Cecilia. Oh, please, leave me! Oh, oh, I am unhappy!" + +Miss Symes, finding she could do no good, and believing that Fanny must +be a little hysterical on account of her father, went away. When she +had gone Fanny dried her eyes, and stayed for a long time lost in +thought. She had meant to be good, after her fashion, to the Vivian +girls; but, after their treatment of her, she felt that she understood +for the first time what hate really meant. If she could not force the +girls to deliver up the packet, she might even consider it her duty to +tell the whole story to Mrs. Haddo. Never before in the annals of that +great school had a Speciality been known to tell a story of another +girl. But Fanny reflected that there were great moments in life which +required that a rule should be broken. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A CRISIS + + +The Specialities had made firm rules for themselves. Their numbers were +few, for only those who could really rise to a high ideal were permitted +to join. + +The head of the Specialities was Margaret Grant. It was she who first +thought of this little scheme for bringing the girls she loved best into +closer communion each with the other. She had consulted Susie Rushworth, +Fanny Crawford, Mary and Julia Bertram, and Olive Repton. Up to the +present there were no other members of the Speciality Club. These girls +managed it their own way. They had their private meetings, their earnest +conversations, and their confessions each to make to the other. They +swore eternal friendship. They had all things in common--that is, +concealments were not permitted amongst the Specialities; and the +influence of this small and apparently unimportant club did much towards +the formation of the characters of its members. + +Now, as poor Fanny sat alone in her pretty room she thought, and +thought again, over what had occurred. According to the rules of the +club to which she belonged, she ought to consult the other girls with +regard to what the Vivians had done. _The_ great rule of the +Specialities was "No secrets." Each must know all that the others knew. +Never before in the annals of the school had there been a secret of such +importance--in short, such a horrible secret--to divulge. Fanny made up +her mind that she could not do it. + +There was to be a great meeting of the Specialities on the following +evening. They usually met in each other's bedrooms, taking the task of +offering hospitality turn and turn about. At these little social +gatherings they had cocoa, tempting cakes, and chocolate creams; here +they laughed and chatted, sometimes having merely a merry evening, at +others discussing gravely the larger issues of life. Fanny was the one +who was to entertain the Specialities on the following evening, and she +made preparations accordingly. Sir John had brought her a particularly +tempting cake from Buzzard's, a couple of pounds of the best chocolate +creams, a tin of delicious cocoa, and, last but not least, a beautiful +little set of charming cups and saucers and tiny plates, and real silver +spoons, also little silver knives. Notwithstanding her grief at parting +from her father, Fanny was delighted with her present. Hitherto there +had been no attempt at style in these brief meetings of the friends. But +Fanny's next entertainment was to be done properly. + +There was no secret about these gatherings. Miss Symes had been told +that these special girls wanted to meet once a week between nine and ten +o'clock in their respective bedrooms. She had carried the information to +Mrs. Haddo, who had immediately given the desired permission, telling +the girls that they might hold their meeting until the great bell rang +for chapel. Prayers were always read at a quarter to ten in the +beautiful chapel belonging to Haddo Court, but only the girls of the +upper school attended in the evening. Fanny would have been in the +highest spirits to-night were it not for the Vivians, were it not for +the consciousness that she was in possession of a secret--a really +terrible secret--which she must not tell to her companions. Yes, she +must break her rule; she must not tell. + +She lay down on her bed at last and fell asleep, feeling tired and very +miserable. She was horrified at Betty's conduct with regard to the +little packet, and could not feel a particle of sympathy for the other +girls in the matter. + +It was soon after midnight on that same eventful night. The great clock +over the stables had struck twelve, and sweet chimes had come from the +other clock in the little tower of the chapel. The whole house was +wrapped in profound slumber. Even Mrs. Haddo had put away all cares, and +had laid her head on her pillow; even the Rev. Edmund Fairfax and his +wife had put out the lights in their special wing of the Court, and had +gone to sleep. + +It was shortly after the clocks had done their midnight work that Betty +Vivian raised herself very slowly and cautiously on her elbow, and +touched Sylvia on her low, white forehead. The little girl started, +opened her eyes, and was about to utter an exclamation when Betty +whispered, "Don't make a sound, silly Sylvia! It's only me--Betty. I +want you to get very wide awake. And now you are wide awake, aren't +you?" + +"Yes, oh yes," said Sylvia; "but I don't know where I am. Oh yes, of +course I remember; I am in----" + +"You are in prison!" whispered Betty back to her. "Now, lie as still as +a statue while I waken Hester." + +Soon the two little sisters were wide awake. + +"Now, both of you creep very softly into my bed. We can all squeeze up +together if we try hard." + +"Lovely, darlingest Betty!" whispered Sylvia. + +"You are nice, Bet!" exclaimed Hester. + +"Now I want to speak," said Betty. "You know the packet?" + +The two younger girls squeezed Betty's hands by way of answer. + +"You know how _she_ spoke to-night?" + +Another squeeze of Betty's hands, a squeeze which was almost ferocious +this time. + +"Do you think," continued Betty, "that she is going to have her way, and +we are going to give it up to her?" + +"Of course not," said Sylvia. + +"I might," said Betty--"I _might_ have asked Mrs. Haddo to look after it +for me; but never now--never! Girls, we've got to bury it!" + +"Oh Bet!" whispered Sylvia. + +"We can't!" said Hester with a sort of little pant. + +"We can, and we will," said Betty. "I've thought it all out. I am going +to bury it my own self this very minute." + +"Betty, how--where? Betty, what do you mean?" + +"You must help me," said Betty. "First of all, I am going to get up and +put on my thick skirt of black serge. I won't make a sound, for that +creature Fan sleeps next door. Lie perfectly still where you are while I +am getting ready." + +The girls obeyed. It was fearfully exciting, lying like this almost in +the dark; for there was scarcely any moon, and the dim light in the +garden could hardly be called light at all. Betty moved mysteriously +about the room, and presently came up to her two sisters. + +"Now, you do exactly what you are told." + +"Yes, Betty, we will." + +"I am going, first of all," said Betty, "to fetch the little spade." + +"Oh Bet, you'll wake the house!" + +"No," said Betty. She moved towards the door. She was a very observant +girl, and had noticed that no door creaked in that well-conducted +mansion, that no lock was out of order. She managed to open the door of +her bedroom without making the slightest sound. She managed to creep +upstairs and reach the Vivian attic. She found the little spade and +brought it down again. She re-entered the beautiful big bedroom and +closed the door softly. + +"Here's the spade!" she whispered to her sisters. "Did you hear me +move?" + +"No, Bet. Oh, you are wonderful!" + +"Now," said Betty, "we must take the sheets off our three beds. The +three top sheets will do. Sylvia, begin to knot the sheets together. +Make the knots very strong, and be quick about it." + +Sylvia obeyed without a word. + +"Hester, come and help me," said Betty now. She took the other twin's +hand and led her to one of the French windows. The window happened to be +a little open, for the night was a very warm and balmy one. Betty pushed +it wider open, and the next minute she was standing on the balcony. + +"Go back," she whispered, speaking to Hester, "and bring Sylvia out with +the sheets!" + +In a very short time Sylvia appeared, dragging what looked like a +tangled white rope along with her. + +"Now, then," said Betty, "you've got to let me down to the ground by +means of these sheets. I am a pretty good weight, you know, and you +mustn't drop me; for if you did I might break my leg or something, and +that would be horrid. You two have got to hold one end of these knotted +sheets as firmly as ever you can, and not let go on any account. Now, +then--here goes!" + +The next instant Betty had clutched hold of one of the sheets herself, +and had climbed over the somewhat high parapet of the balcony. A minute +later, still firmly holding the white rope, she was gradually letting +herself down to the ground, hand over hand. By-and-by she reached the +bottom. When she did this she held up both hands, which the girls, as +they watched her from above, could just see. She was demanding the +little spade. Sylvia flung it on the soft grass which lay beneath. Betty +put her hand, making a sort of trumpet of it, round her lips, and +whispered up, "Stay where you are till I return." + +She then marched off into the shrubbery. She was absent for about twenty +minutes, during which time both Sylvia and Hetty felt exceedingly cold. +She then came back, fastened the little spade securely into the broad +belt of her dress, and, aided by her sisters, pulled herself up and up, +and so on to the balcony once more. + +The three girls re-entered the bedroom. Not a soul in that great house +had heard them, or seen them, or knew anything about their adventure. + +"It is quite safe now--poor, beautiful darling!" whispered Betty. +"Girls, we must smooth out these sheets; they _do_ look rather dragged. +And now we'll get straight into bed." + +"I am very cold," said Sylvia. + +"You'll be warm again in a minute," replied Betty; "and what does a +little cold matter when I have saved _It_? No, I am not going to tell +you where it is; just because it's safer, dear, dearest, for you not to +know." + +"Yes, it's safer," said Sylvia. + +The three sisters lay down again. By slow degrees warmth returned to the +half-frozen limbs of the poor little twins, and they dropped asleep. But +Betty lay awake--warm, excited, triumphant. + +"I've managed things now," she thought; "and if every girl in the school +asks me if I have a little packet, and if every teacher does likewise, +I'll be able truthfully to say 'No.'" + +Early the next morning Mrs. Haddo announced her intention to take the +Vivians to London. School-work was in full swing that day; and Susie, +Margaret, Olive, and the other members of the Specialities rather envied +the Vivians when they saw them driving away in Mrs. Haddo's most elegant +landau to the railway station. + +Sibyl Ray openly expressed her sentiments on the occasion. She turned to +her companion, who was standing near. "I must say, and I may as well say +it first as last, that I do not understand your adorable Mrs. Haddo. Why +should she make such a fuss over common-looking girls like those?" + +"Do you call the Vivians common-looking girls?" was Martha West's +response. + +"Of course I do, and even worse. Why, judging from their dress, they +might have come out of a laborer's cottage." + +"Granted," replied Martha; "but then," she added, "they have something +else, each of them, better than dress." + +"Oh, if you begin to talk in enigmas I for one shall cease to be your +friend," answered Sibyl. "What have they got that is so wonderful?" + +"It was born in them," replied Martha. "If you can't see it for +yourself, Sibyl, I am not able to show it to you." + +Mrs. Haddo took the girls to London and gave them a very good day. It is +true they spent a time which seemed intolerably long to Betty in having +pretty white blouses and smartly made skirts and neat little jackets +fitted on. They spent a still more intolerable time at the dressmaker's +in being measured for soft, pretty evening-dresses. They went to a +hairdresser, who cut their very thick hair and tied it with broad black +ribbon. They next went to a milliner and had several hats tried on. They +went to a sort of all-round shop, where they bought gloves, boots, and +handkerchiefs innumerable, and some very soft black cashmere and even +black silk stockings. Oh, but _they_ didn't care; they thought the +whole time wasted. Nevertheless they submitted, and with a certain +grace; for was not the precious packet safe--so safe that no one could +possibly discover its whereabouts? And was not Betty feeling her queer, +sensitive heart expanding more and more under Mrs. Haddo's kind +influence? + +"Now, my dears," said that good lady, "we will go back to Miss Watts the +dressmaker at three o clock; but we have still two hours to spare. +During that time we'll have a little lunch, for I am sure you must be +hungry; and afterwards I will take you to the Wallace Collection, which +I think you will enjoy." + +"What's a collection?" asked Sylvia. + +"There are some rooms not far from here where beautiful things are +collected--pictures and other lovely things of all sorts and +descriptions. I think that you, at least, Betty, will love to look at +them." + +Betty afterwards felt, deep down in her heart, that this whole day was a +wonderful dream. She was starvingly hungry, to begin with, and enjoyed +the excellent lunch that Mrs. Haddo ordered at the confectioners. She +felt a sense of curious joy and fear as she looked at one or two of the +great pictures in the Wallace Collection, and so excited and uplifted +was she altogether that she scarcely noticed when they returned to the +shops and the coarse, ugly black serges were exchanged for pretty coats +and skirts of the finest cloth, for neat little white blouses, for +pretty shoes and fine stockings. She did not even object to the hat, +which, with its plume of feathers, gave a look of distinction to her +little face. She was not elated over her fine clothes, neither was she +annoyed about them. + +"Now, Miss Watts," said Mrs. Haddo in a cheerful tone, "you will hurry +with the rest of the young ladies' things, and send them to me as soon +as ever you can. I shall want their evening-dresses, without fail, by +the beginning of next week." + +They all went down into the street. Sylvia found herself casting shy +glances at Betty. It seemed to her that her sister was changed--that she +scarcely knew her. Dress did not make such a marked difference in +Hetty's appearance; but Hetty too looked a different girl. + +"And now we are going to the Zoological Gardens," said Mrs. Haddo, +"where we may find some spiders like Dickie, and where you will see all +sorts of wonderful creatures." + +"Oh Mrs. Haddo!" exclaimed Betty. + +They spent an hour or two in that place so fascinating for children, and +arrived back at Haddo Court just in time for supper. + +"We have had a happy day, have we not?" said Mrs. Haddo, looking into +Betty's face and observing the brightness of her eyes. + +"Very happy, and it was you who gave it to us," answered the girl. + +"And to-morrow," continued Mrs. Haddo, "must be just as happy--just as +happy--because lessons will begin; and to an intelligent and clever girl +there is nothing in the world so delightful as a difficulty conquered +and knowledge acquired." + +That evening, when the Vivian girls entered the room where supper was +served, every girl in the upper school turned to look at them. The +change in their appearance was at once complete and arresting. They +walked well by nature. They were finely made girls, and had not a scrap +of self-consciousness. + +"Oh, I say, Fan," whispered Susie in her dear friend's ear, "your +cousins will boss the whole school if this sort of thing goes on. To be +frank with you, Fan, I have fallen in love with that magnificent Betty +myself. There is nothing I wouldn't do for her." + +"You ought not to whisper in English, ought you?" was Fanny's very +significant response, uttered in the German tongue. + +Susie shrugged her shoulders. The Specialities generally sat close to +each other; and she looked down the table now, and saw that Margaret, +and the Bertrams, and Olive Repton were equally absorbed in watching the +Vivian girls. Nothing more was said about them, however; and when the +meal came to an end Miss Symes took them away with her, to give them +brief directions with regard to their work for the morrow. She also +supplied them with a number of new books, which Betty received with +rapture, for she adored reading, and hitherto had hardly been able to +indulge in it. Miss Symes tried to explain to the girls something of the +school routine; and she showed each girl her own special desk in the +great schoolroom, where she could keep her school-books, and her +different papers, pens, pencils, ink, etc. + +"I cannot tell until to-morrow what forms you will be in, my dears; but +I think Betty will probably have a good deal to do with me in her daily +tuition; whereas you, Sylvia, and you, Hester, will be under the charge +of Miss Oxley. I must introduce you to Miss Oxley to-morrow morning. And +now you would like, I am sure, to go to bed. Mrs. Haddo says that you +needn't attend prayers to-night, for you have had a long and tiring day; +so you may go at once to your room." + +The girls thanked Miss Symes, and went. They heard voices busily +conversing in Fanny's room--eager voices, joined to occasional peals of +merry laughter. But they were too tired, too sleepy, and, it may be +added, too happy, to worry themselves much over these matters. They were +very quickly in bed and sound asleep. + +Meanwhile Fanny was much enjoying the unstinted praise which her friends +were bestowing on the beautiful tea-set which her father had given her. + +"Oh, but it is perfectly lovely!" exclaimed Olive. "Why, Fan, you are in +luck; it's real old Crown Derby!" + +"Yes," said Fanny; "I thought it was. Whenever father does a thing he +does it well." + +"We'll be almost afraid to drink out of it, Fanny!" exclaimed Julia +Bertram. "Fancy, if I were to drop one of those little jewels of cups! +Don't the colors just sparkle on them! Oh, if I were to drop it, and it +got broken, I don't think I'd ever hold up my head again!" + +"Well, dear Julia, don't drop it," said Fanny, "and then you will feel +all right." + +Cocoa was already prepared; the rich cake graced the center of the +board; the chocolate creams were certainly in evidence; and the girls +clustered round, laughing and talking. Fanny was determined to choke +back that feeling of uneasiness which had worried her during the whole +of that day. She could not tell the Specialities what her cousins had +done; she could not--she would not. There must be a secret between them. +She who belonged to a society of whom each member had to vow not to have +a secret from any other member, was about to break her vow. + +The girls were in high spirits to-night, and in no mood to talk +"sobersides," as Mary Bertram sometimes called their graver discussions. + +But when the little meal of cocoa and cake had come to an end, Margaret +said, "I want to make a proposal." + +"Hush! hush! Let the oracle speak!" cried Olive, her pretty face beaming +with mirth. + +"Oh Olive, don't be so ridiculous!" said Margaret. "You know perfectly +well I am no oracle; but I have a notion in my head. It is this: why +should not those splendid-looking girls, the Vivians, join the +Specialities? They did look rather funny, I will admit, yesterday; but +even then one could see that clothes matter little or nothing to them. +But now that they're dressed like the rest of us, they give distinction +to the whole school. I don't think I ever saw a face like Betty's. Fan, +you, of course, will second my proposal that Betty Vivian, even if her +sisters are too young, should be asked to become a Speciality?" + +Fanny felt that she was turning very pale. Susie Rushworth gazed at her +in some wonder. + +"I propose," exclaimed Margaret Grant, "that Miss Betty Vivian shall be +invited to join our society and to become a Speciality. I further +propose that we ask her to join our next meeting, which takes place this +day week, and is, by the way, held in my room. Now, who will second my +suggestion?" + +"You will, of course, Fan," said Susie. "Betty is your cousin, so you +are the right person to second Margaret's wish." + +Fanny's face grew yet paler. After a minute she said, "Just because +Betty is my cousin I would rather some one else seconded Margaret +Grant's proposal." + +All the girls looked at her in astonishment. + +"Very well; I second it," responded Susie. + +"Girls," said Margaret, "will you all agree? Those who do _not_ agree, +please keep their hands down. Those who _do_ agree, please hold up +hands. Now, then, is Betty Vivian to be invited to join the +Specialities? Which has it--the 'ayes' or the 'noes'?" + +All the girls' hands, with one exception, were eagerly raised in favor +of Betty Vivian. Fanny sat very still, her hands locked one inside the +other in her lap. Something in her attitude and in the expression of her +face caused each of her companions to gaze at her in extreme wonder. + +"Why, Fanny, what is the meaning of this?" asked Margaret. + +"I cannot explain myself," said Fanny. + +"Cannot--and you a Speciality! Don't you know that we have no secrets +from one another?" + +"That is true," said Fanny, speaking with a great effort. "Well, then, +I will explain myself. I would rather Betty Vivian did not join our +club." + +"But why, dear--why?" + +"Yes, Fanny, why?" echoed Susie. + +"What ridiculous nonsense you are talking!" cried Olive Repton. + +"The most striking-looking girl I ever saw!" said Julia Bertram. "Why, +Fan, what is your reason for this?" + +"Call it jealousy if you like," said Fanny; "call it any name under the +sun, only don't worry me about it." + +As she spoke she rose deliberately and left the room, her companions +looking after her in amazement. + +"What does this mean?" said Julia. + +"I can't understand it a bit," said Margaret. Then she added after a +pause, "I suppose, girls, you fully recognize that the Speciality Club +is supposed to be a club without prejudice or favor, and that, as the +'ayes' have carried the day, Miss Betty Vivian is to be invited to +join?" + +"Of course she must be invited to join," replied Susie; "but it is very +unpleasant all the same. I cannot make out what can ail Fanny Crawford. +She hasn't been a bit herself since those girls arrived." + +The Specialities chatted a little longer together, but the meeting was +not convivial. Fanny's absence prevented its being so; and very soon the +girls broke up, leaving the pretty cups and saucers and the remains of +the feast behind them. The chapel bell rang for prayers, and they all +trooped in. But Fanny Crawford was not present. This, in itself, was +almost without precedent, for girls were not allowed to miss prayers +without leave. + +As each Speciality laid her head on her pillow that night she could not +but reflect on Fanny's strange behavior, and wondered much what it +meant. As to Fanny herself, she lay awake for hours. Some of the girls +and some of the mistresses thought that she was grieving for her father; +but, as a matter of fact, she was not even thinking of him. Every +thought of her mind was concentrated on what she called her present +dilemma. It was almost morning before the tired girl fell asleep. + +At half-past six on the following day the great gong sounded through the +entire upper school. Betty started up in some amazement, her sisters in +some alarm. + +By-and-by a kind-looking woman, dressed as a sort of housekeeper or +upper servant, entered the room. "Can I help you to dress, young +ladies?" she said. + +The girls replied in the negative. They had always dressed themselves. + +"Very well," replied the woman. "Then I will come to fetch you in +half-an-hour's time, so that you will be ready for prayers in chapel." + +Perhaps Betty Vivian never, as long as she lived, forgot that first day +when she stood with her sisters in the beautiful little chapel and heard +the Reverend Edmund Fairfax read prayers. He was a delicate, +refined-looking man, with a very intellectual face and a beautiful +voice. Mrs. Haddo had begged of him to accept the post of private +chaplain to her great school for many reasons. First, because his health +was delicate; second, because she knew she could pay him well; and also, +for the greatest reason of all, because she was quite sure that Mr. +Fairfax could help her girls in moments of difficulty in their spiritual +life, should such moments arise. + +Prayers came to an end; breakfast came to an end. The Vivians passed a +very brisk examination with some credit. As Miss Symes had predicted, +Betty was put into her special form, in which form Susie Rushworth and +Fanny Crawford also had their places. The younger Vivians were allowed +to remain in the upper school, but were in much lower forms. Betty took +to her work as happily (to use a well-known expression) as a duck takes +to water. Her eyes were bright with intelligence while she listened to +Miss Symes, who could teach so charmingly and could impart knowledge in +such an attractive way. + +In the middle of the morning there was the usual brief period when the +girls might go out and amuse themselves for a short time. Betty wanted +to find her sisters; but before she could attempt to seek for them she +felt a hand laid on her arm, and, glancing round, saw that Fanny +Crawford was by her side. + +"Betty," said Fanny, "I want to speak to you, and at once. We have only +a very few minutes; will you, please, listen?" + +"Is it really important?" asked Betty. "For, if it is not, I do want to +say something to Sylvia. She forgot to give Dickie his raw meat this +morning." + +"Oh, aren't you just hopeless!" exclaimed Fanny. "You think of that +terrible spider when--when----Oh, I don't know what to make of you!" + +"And I don't know what to make of you, Fanny!" retorted Betty. "What are +you excited about? What is the matter?" + +"Listen!--do listen!" said Fanny. + +"Well, I am listening; but you really must be quick in getting out +whatever's troubling you." + +"You have heard of the Specialities, haven't you?" said Fanny. + +"Good gracious, no!" exclaimed Betty. "The Specialities--what are they?" + +"There is nothing _what_ about them. They are people--girls; they are +not things." + +"Oh, girls! What a funny name to give girls! I haven't heard of them, +Fanny." + +"You won't be long at Haddo Court without hearing a great deal about +them," remarked Fanny. "I am one, and so is Susie Rushworth, and so are +the Bertrams, and so is that handsome girl Margaret Grant. You must +have noticed her; she is so dark and tall and stately. And so, also, is +dear little Olive Repton----" + +"And so is--and so is--and so is--" laughed Betty, putting on her most +quizzical manner. + +"You must listen to me. The Specialities--oh, they're not like any other +girls in the school, and it's the greatest honor in the world to be +asked to belong to them. Betty, it's this way. Margaret Grant is the +sort of captain of the club--I don't know how to express it exactly; but +she is our head, our chief--and she has taken a fancy to you; and last +night we had a meeting in my bedroom----" + +"Oh, that was what the row was about!" exclaimed Betty. "If we hadn't +been hearty sleepers and girls straight from the Scotch moors, you would +have given us a very bad night." + +"Never mind about that. Margaret Grant proposed last night that you +should be asked to join." + +"_I_ asked to join?" + +"Yes, you, Betty. Doesn't it sound absurd? And they all voted for +you--every one of them, with the exception of myself." + +"And it's a great honor, isn't it?" said Betty, speaking very quietly. + +"Oh yes--immense." + +"Then, of course, you wouldn't vote--would you, dear little Fan?" + +"Don't talk like that! We shall be returning to the schoolroom in a few +minutes, and Margaret is sure to talk to you after dinner. You are +elected by the majority, and you are to be invited to attend the next +meeting. But I want you to refuse--yes, I do, Betty; for you can't +join--you know you can't. With that awful, awful lie on your conscience, +you can't be a Speciality. I shall go wild with misery if you join. +Betty, you must say you won't." + +Betty looked very scornfully at Fanny. "There are some people in the +world," she said, "who make me feel very wicked, and I am greatly +afraid you are one. Now, let me tell you plainly and frankly that if you +had said nothing I should probably not have wished to become that +extraordinary thing, a Speciality; but because you are in such a mortal +funk I shall join your club with the utmost pleasure. So now you know." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SCOTCH HEATHER + + +Betty was true to her word. After school that day, Margaret Grant and +Olive Repton came up to her and asked her in a very pretty manner if she +would become a member of their Speciality Club. + +"Of course," said Margaret, "you don't know anything about us or our +rules at present; but we think we should like you to join, so we are +here now to invite you to come to our next meeting, which will take +place on Thursday of next week, at eight o'clock precisely, in my +bedroom." + +"I don't know where your bedroom is," said Betty. + +"But I know where yours is!" exclaimed Olive; "so I will fetch you, +Betty, and bring you to Margaret's room. Oh, I am sure you will enjoy +it--we have such fun! Sometimes we give quite big entertainments--that +is, when we invite the other girls, which we do once or twice during the +term. By the way, that reminds me that you will be most useful in that +respect, for you and your sisters have the largest bedroom in the house. +You will, of course, lend us your room when your turn comes; but that is +a long way off." + +"I am so glad you are coming!" said Margaret. "You are the sort of girl +we want in our club. And now, please, tell me about your life in +Scotland." + +"I will with pleasure," replied Betty. She looked full up into +Margaret's face as she spoke. + +Margaret was older than Betty, and taller; and there was something about +her which commanded universal respect. + +"I don't mind telling you," said Betty--"nor you," she added as Olive's +dancing blue eyes met hers; "for a kind of intuition tells me that you +would both love my wild moors and my beautiful heather. Oh, I say, do +come, both of you, and see our three little plots of garden! There's +Sylvia's plot, and Hester's, and mine; and we have a plant of heather, +straight from Craigie Muir, in the midst of each. Our gardens are quite +bare except for that tiny plant. Do, _do_ come and see it!" + +Margaret laughed. + +Olive said, "Oh, what fun!" and the three began to walk quickly under +the trees in the direction of the Vivians' gardens. + +As they passed under the great oak-trees Betty looked up, and her eyes +danced with fun. "Are you good at climbing trees?" she asked of +Margaret. + +"I used to be when I was very, very young; but those days are over." + +"There are a few very little girls in the lower school who still climb +one of the safest trees," remarked Olive. + +Betty's eyes continued to dance. "You give me delightful news," she +said. "I am so truly glad none of you do anything so vulgar as to climb +trees." + +"But why, Betty?" asked Margaret. + +"I have my own reasons," replied Betty. "You can't expect me to tell you +everything right away, can you?" + +"You must please yourself," said Margaret. + +Olive looked at Betty in a puzzled manner; and the three girls were +silent, only that they quickened their steps, crunching down some broken +twigs as they walked. + +By-and-by they reached the three bare patches of ground, which were +railed in in the simple manner which Mrs. Haddo had indicated, and in +the center of which stood the wooden post with the words, "THE VIVIANS' +PRIVATE GARDENS," painted on it. + +"How very funny!" exclaimed Olive. + +"Yes, it is rather funny," remarked Betty. "Did you ever in the whole +course of your existence see anything uglier than these three patches of +ground? There is nothing whatever planted in them except our darling +Scotch heather; and oh, by the way, I don't believe the precious little +plants are thriving! They are drooping like anything! Oh dear! oh dear! +I think I shall die if they die!" As she spoke she flung herself on the +ground, near the path. + +"Of course you won't, Betty," said Margaret. "Besides, why should they +die? They only want watering." + +"I'll run and fetch a canful of water," said Olive, who was extremely +good-natured. + +Betty made no response. She was still lying on the ground, resting on +her elbows, while her hands tenderly touched the faded and drooping +bells of the wild heather. She had entered her own special plot. Olive +had disappeared to fetch the water, but Margaret still stood by Betty's +side. + +"Do you think they'll do?" said Betty at last, glancing at her +companion. + +Margaret noticed that her eyes were full of tears. "I don't think they +will," she said after a pause. "But I'll tell you what we must do, +Betty: we must get the right sort of soil for them--just the sandy soil +they want. We'll go and consult Birchall; he is the oldest gardener in +the place, and knows something about everything. For that matter, we are +sure to get the sort of sand we require on this piece of waste +ground--our 'forest primeval,' as Olive calls it." + +"Oh dear!" said Betty, dashing away the tears from her eyes, "you are +funny when you talk of a thing like that"--she waved her hand in the +direction of the uncultivated land--"as a 'forest primeval.' It is the +poorest, shabbiest bit of waste land I ever saw in my life." + +"Let's walk across it," said Margaret. "Olive can't be back for a minute +or two." + +"Why should we walk across it?" + +"I want to show you where some heather grows. It is certainly not rich, +nor deep in color, nor beautiful, like yours; but it has grown in that +particular spot for two or three years. I am quite sure that Birchall +will say that the soil round that heather is the right sort of earth to +plant your Scotch heather in." + +"Well, come, and let's be very quick," said Betty. + +The girls walked across the bit of common. Margaret pointed out the +heather, which was certainly scanty and poor. + +Betty looked at it with scorn. "I think," she said after a pause, "I +don't want to consult Birchall." Then she added after another pause, "I +think, on the whole, I'd much rather have no heather than plants like +those. You are very kind, Margaret; but there are some things that can't +be transplanted, just as there are some hearts--that break--yes, +break--if you take them from home. That poor heather--once, doubtless, +it was very flourishing; it is evidently dying now of a sort of +consumption. Let's come back to our plots of ground, please, Margaret." + +They did so, and were there greeted by Olive, who had a large can of +cold water standing by her side, and was eagerly talking to Sylvia and +Hester. Betty marched first into the center plot of ground. + +"I've got lots of water," said Olive in a cheerful tone, "so we'll do +the watering at once. Sylvia and Hester say that they must have a third +each of this canful; but of course we can get a second can if we want +it." + +"No!" said Betty. + +Sylvia, who was gazing with lack-lustre eyes at the fading heather, now +started and looked full at her sister. Hester, who always clung to +Sylvia in moments of emotion, caught her sister's hand and held it very +tight. + +"No," said Betty again; "I have made a discovery. Scotch heather does +not grow here in this airless sort of place. Sylvia and Hester, Margaret +was good enough to show me what she calls heather. There are a few +straggling plants just at the other side of that bit of common. I don't +want ours to die slowly. Our plants shall go at once. No, we don't water +them. Sylvia, go into your garden and pull up the plant; and, Hester, +you do likewise Go, girls; go at once!" + +"But, Betty----" said Margaret. + +"You had better not cross her now," said Sylvia. + +Margaret started when Sylvia addressed her in this tone. + +Betty's face was painfully white, except where two spots of color blazed +in each cheek. As her sisters stooped obediently to pull up their +heather, Betty bent and wrenched hers from the ground by which it was +surrounded, which ground was already dry and hard. "Let's make a +bonfire," she said. "I sometimes think," she added, "that in each little +bell of heather there lives the wee-est of all the fairies; and perhaps, +if we burn this poor, dear thing, the little, wee fairies may go back to +their ain countree." + +"It all seems quite dreadful to me," said Margaret. + +"It is right," replied Betty; "and I have a box of matches in my +pocket." + +"Oh, have you?" exclaimed Olive. "If--if Mrs. Haddo knew----" + +But Betty made no response. She set her sisters to collect some dry +leaves and bits of broken twigs; and presently the bonfire was erected +and kindled, and the poor heather from the north country had ceased to +exist. + +"Now, you must see _our_ gardens," said Margaret, "for you must have +gardens, you know. Olive and I will show you the sort of things that +grow in the south, that flourish here, and look beautiful." + +"I cannot see them now," replied Betty. She brushed past Margaret, and +walked rapidly across the common. + +Sylvia's face turned very white, and she clutched Hetty's hand still +more tightly. + +"What is she going to do? What is the matter?" said Margaret, turning to +the twins. + +"She can't help it," said Sylvia; "she must do it. She is going to +howl." + +"To do what?" said Margaret Grant. + +"Howl. Did you never howl? Well, perhaps you never did. Anyhow, she must +get away as far as possible before she begins, and we had better go back +to the house. You wouldn't like the sound of Betty's howling." + +"But are you going to let her howl, as you call it, alone?" + +"Let her? We have no voice in the matter," replied Hester. "Betty always +does exactly what she likes. Let's go quickly; let's get away. It's the +best thing she can do. She's been keeping in that howling-fit for over a +week, and it must find vent. She'll be all right when you see her next. +But don't, on any account, ever again mention the heather that we +brought from Craigie Muir. She may get over its death some day, but not +yet." + +"Your sister is a very strange girl," said Margaret. + +"Every one says that," replied Sylvia. "Don't they, Het?" + +"Yes; we're quite tired of hearing it," said Hetty. "But do let's come +quickly. Which is the farthest-off part of the grounds--the place where +we are quite certain not to hear?" + +"You make me feel almost nervous," said Margaret. "But come along, if +you wish to." + +The four girls walked rapidly. At last they found a little summer-house +which was built high up on the very top of a rising mound. From here you +could get a good view of the surrounding country; and very beautiful it +was--at least, for those whose eyes were trained to observe the rich +beauty of cultivated land, of flowing rivers, of forests, of carefully +kept trees. Very lonely indeed was the scene from Haddo Court +summer-house; for, in addition to every scrap of land being made to +yield its abundance, there were pretty cottages dotted here and +there--each cottage possessing its own gay flower-garden, and, in most +cases, its own happy little band of pretty boys and girls. + +As soon as the four girls found themselves in the summer-house, Margaret +began to praise the view to Sylvia. + +Sylvia looked round to right and to left. "_We_ don't admire that sort +of thing," she said. "Do we, Hetty?" + +Hetty shook her head with vehemence. "Oh no, no," she said. Then, coming +a little closer to Margaret, she looked into her face and continued, +"Are you the sort of kind girl who will keep a secret?" + +Margaret thought of the Speciality Club. But surely this poor little +secret belonging solely to the Vivians need not be related to any one +who was not in sympathy with them. "I never tell tales, if that is what +you mean," she said. + +"Then that is all right," remarked Sylvia. "And are you the same sort of +girl, Olive? You look very kind." + +"It wouldn't be hard to be kind to one like you," was Olive's response. + +Whereupon Sylvia smiled, and Hetty came close to Olive and looked into +her face. + +"Then we want you," continued Sylvia, "never, never to tell about the +burnt sacrifice of the Scotch heather, nor about the flight of the +fairies back to Scotland. It tortured Betty to have to do it; but she +thought it right, therefore it was done. There are some people, +however, who would not understand her; and we would much rather be able +to tell our own Betty that you will never speak of it, when she has come +back to herself and has got over her howling." + +"Of course we'll never tell," said Olive; and Margaret nodded her head +without speaking. + +"I think you are just awfully nice," said Sylvia. "We were so terrified +when we came to this school. We thought we'd have an awful time. We +still speak of it as a prison, you know. Do you speak of it to your +dearest friend as a prison?" + +"Prison!" said Margaret. "There isn't a place in the world I love as I +love Haddo Court." + +"Then you never, never lived in a dear little gray stone house on a wild +Scotch moor; and you never had a man like Donald Macfarlane to talk to, +nor a woman like Jean Macfarlane to make scones for you; and you never +had dogs like our dogs up there, nor a horse like David. I pity you from +my heart!" + +"I never had any of those things," said Margaret; "but I shall like to +hear about them from you." + +"And so shall I like to hear about them," said Olive. + +"We will tell you, if Betty gives us leave," said one of the twins. "We +never do anything without Betty's leave. She is the person we look up +to, and obey, and follow. We'd follow her to the world's end; we'd die +for her, both of us, if it would do her any good." + +Margaret took Sylvia's hand and began to smooth it softly. "I wish," she +said then in a slow voice, "that I had friends to love me as you love +your sister." + +"Perhaps you aren't worthy," said Sylvia. "There is no one living like +Betty in all the world, and we feel about her as we do because she is +Betty." + +"But, all the same," said Hester, frowning as she spoke, "our Betty has +got an enemy." + +"An enemy, my dear child! What do you mean? You have just been praising +her so much! Did any one take a dislike to her up in that north +country?" + +"It may have begun there," remarked Hetty; "but the sad and dreadful +thing is that the enemy is in this house. Sylvia and I don't mind your +knowing. We rather think you like her, but we don't. Her name is Fanny +Crawford." + +"Oh, really, though, that is quite nonsense!" said Margaret, flushing +with annoyance. "Poor dear Fanny, there is not a better or sweeter girl +in the school!" + +Sylvia laughed. "That is your point of view," she said. "She is our +enemy; she is not yours. Oh, hurrah! hurrah! I see Betty! She is coming +back, walking very slowly. She has got over the worst of the howls. We +must both go and meet her. Don't be anywhere about, please, either of +you. Keep quite in the shade, so that she won't see you; and the next +time you meet talk to her as though this had never happened." + +The twins dashed out of sight. They certainly could run very fast. + +When they had gone Margaret looked at Olive. "Well," she said, "that +sort of scene rather takes one's breath away. What do you think, Olive?" + +"It was exceedingly trying," said Olive. + +"All the same," said Margaret, "I feel roused up about those girls in +the most extraordinary manner. Didn't you notice, too, what Sylvia said +about poor Fanny? Isn't it horrid?" + +"Of course it isn't true," was Olive's remark. + +"We have made up our minds not to speak evil of any one in the school," +said Margaret after a pause; "but I cannot help remembering that Fanny +did not wish Betty to become a Speciality. And don't you recall how +angry she was, and how she would not vote with the 'ayes,' and would +not give any reason, and although she was hostess she walked out of the +room?" + +"It's very uncomfortable altogether," said Olive. "But I don't see that +we can do anything." + +"Well, perhaps not yet," said Margaret; "but I may as well say at once, +Olive, that I mean to take up those girls. Until to-day I was only +interested in Betty, but now I am interested in all three; and if I can, +without making mischief, I must get to the bottom of what is making poor +little Betty so bitter, and what is upsetting the equanimity of our dear +old Fan, whom we have always loved so dearly." + +Just at that moment Fanny Crawford herself and Susie Rushworth appeared, +walking together arm in arm. They saw Margaret and Olive, and came to +join them. Susie was in her usual high spirits, and Fanny looked quite +calm and collected. There was not even an allusion made to the Vivian +girls. Margaret was most thankful, for she certainly did not wish the +little episode she had witnessed to reach any one's ears but her own and +Olive's. Susie was talking eagerly about a great picnic which Mrs. Haddo +had arranged for the following Saturday. The whole school, both upper +and lower, were to go. Mr. Fairfax and his wife, most of the teachers, +and Mrs. Haddo herself would also accompany the girls. They were all +going to a place about twenty miles away; and Mrs. Haddo, who kept two +motor-cars of her own, had made arrangements for the hire of several +more, so that the party could quickly reach their place of rendezvous +and thus have a longer time there to enjoy themselves. + +"She does things so well, doesn't she?" said Susie. "There never was her +like. Do you know, there was a sort of insurrection in the lower school +early this morning, for naughty sprites had whispered that all the small +children were to go in ordinary carriages and dogcarts and wagonettes. +Then came the news that Mrs. Haddo meant each girl in the school to +have an equal share of enjoyment; and, lo and behold! the cloud has +vanished, and the little ones are making even merrier than the older +girls." + +"I wish I felt as amiable as I used to feel," said Fanny at that moment. + +"Oh, but, Fan, why don't you?" asked Olive. "You ought to feel more and +more amiable every day--that is, if training means anything." + +"Training is all very well," answered Fanny, "and you may think you are +all right; but when temptation comes----" + +"Temptation!" said Margaret. "In my opinion, that is the worst of Haddo +Court: we are so shielded, and treated with such extreme kindness, that +temptation cannot come." + +"Then you wish to be tested, do you, Margaret?" asked Fanny. + +Margaret shivered slightly. "Sometimes I do wish it," she said. + +"Oh, Margaret dear, don't!" said Olive. "You'll have heaps of troubles +in life, for my mother says that no one yet was exempt from them. There +never was a woman quite like my darling mother--except, indeed, Mrs. +Haddo. Mother has quite peculiar ideas with regard to bringing up girls. +She says the aim of her life is to give me a very happy childhood and +early youth. She thinks that such a life will make me all the stronger +to withstand temptation." + +"Let us hope so, anyhow," said Fanny. Then she added, "Don't suppose I +am grumbling, although it has been a trial father going away--so very +far away--to India. But I think the real temptation comes to us in this +way: when we have to meet girls we can't tolerate." + +"Now she's going to say something dreadful!" thought Olive to herself. + +Margaret rose as though she would put an end to the colloquy. + +Fanny was watching Margaret's face. "The girl I am specially thinking of +now," she said, "is Sibyl Ray." + +"Oh!" said Margaret. She gave a sigh of such undoubted relief that Fanny +was certain she had guessed what her first thoughts were. + +"And now I will tell you why I don't like Sibyl," Fanny continued. "I +have nothing whatever to say against her. I have never heard of her +doing anything underhand or what we might call low-down or ill-bred. At +the same time, I do dislike Sibyl, just for the simple reason that she +is _not_ well-bred, and she never will be." + +"Oh! oh, give her her chance--do!" said Olive. + +"I am not going to interfere with her," remarked Fanny; "but she can +never be a friend of mine. There are some girls who like her very well. +There's Martha West, who is constantly with her." + +"I am quite sure," said Margaret, "that there isn't a better girl in the +school than Martha, and I have serious thoughts of asking her to become +a Speciality." As she spoke she fixed her very dark eyes on Fanny's +face. + +"Do ask her; I shall be delighted," remarked Fanny. "Only, whatever you +do, don't ask her friend, Sibyl Ray." + +"I have no present intention of doing so. Fanny, I don't want to be +nasty; but you are quite right about Sibyl. No one can say a word +against her; and yet she just is not well-bred." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A NEW MEMBER + + +The picnic was a great success. The day was splendid. The sun shone in a +sky which was almost cloudless. The motor-cars were all in prime +condition. There were no accidents of any sort. The girls laughed and +chatted, and enjoyed life to the utmost; and the Vivian girls were +amongst the merriest in those large and varied groups. + +The twins invariably followed in Betty's footsteps, and Betty possessed +that curious mixture of temperament which threw her into the depths of +anguish one moment and sent her spirits flying like a rocket skyward the +next. Betty's spirits were tending skyward on this happy day. She was +also making friends in the school, and was delighted to walk with +Margaret and Susie and Olive. Fanny did not trouble her at all; but +Martha West chatted with her for a whole long hour, and, as Martha knew +Scotland, a very strong link was immediately established between the +girls. + +A thoroughly happy picnic--a perfect one--is usually lived through +without adventure. There are no _contretemps_, no unhappy moments, no +jealousies, no heart-burnings. These are the sort of picnics which come +to us very rarely in life, but they do come now and then. In one sense, +however, they are uninteresting, for they have no history--there is +little or nothing to say about them. Other picnics are to follow in this +story which ended differently, which led to tangled knots and bitter +heart-burnings. But the first picnics from Haddo Court in which Betty +Vivian took part was, in a way, something like that first morning when +she joined the other girls in whispering her prayers in the beautiful +chapel. + +The picnic came and went, and in course of time the day arrived when +Betty was to be the honored guest of the Specialities. On the morning of +that day Fanny made another effort to induce Betty to renounce the idea +of becoming a Speciality. She had spent a sleepless night thinking over +the matter, and by the morning had made up her mind what to do. + +Betty was making friends rapidly in the school. But the twins, although +they were quite popular, still clung very much to each other; and +Fanny's idea was to get at Betty through her sisters. She knew quite +well that often, during recess, Sylvia and Hester rushed upstairs, for +what purpose she could not ascertain, the existence of the Vivians' +attic being unknown to her. There, however, day by day, Sylvia and Hetty +fed Dickie on raw meat, and watched the monstrous spider getting larger +and more ferocious-looking. + +"He'd be the sort," said Sylvia, opening her eyes very wide and fixing +them on her sister, "to do mischief to _some one_ if _some one_ were not +very careful." + +"Oh, don't, silly Sylvia!" said Hetty with some annoyance. "You know +Mrs. Haddo would not like you to talk like that. Now let's examine our +caterpillars." + +"There isn't much to see at the present moment," remarked Sylvia, "for +they're every one of them in the chrysalis stage." + +The girls, having spent about five minutes in the Vivians' attics, now +ran downstairs, and went out, as was their custom, by a side-door which +opened into one of the gardens. It was here that Fanny pounced on them. +She came quickly forward, trying to look as pleasant as she could. + +"Well, twins," she said, "and how goes the world with you?" + +"Oh, all right!" replied Sylvia. "We can't stay to talk now; can we, +Het? We've got to meet a friend of ours in the lower garden--old +Birchall. By the way, do you know old Birchall, Fan?" + +"Doddering old creature! of course I know him," replied Fanny. + +"He isn't doddering," said Sylvia; "he has a great deal more sense than +most of us. I wish I had half his knowledge of worms, and spiders, and +ants, and goldfish, and--and--flies of every sort. Why, there isn't a +thing he doesn't know about them. I call him one of the most delightful +old men I ever met." + +"Oh," said Hetty, "you shouldn't say that, Sylvia! Birchall is nice, but +he isn't a patch upon Donald Macfarlane." + +"If you want to see Birchall, I will walk with you," said Fanny. "You +can't object to my doing that, can you?" + +"We mean to run," said Hetty. + +"Oh no, you don't!" said Fanny. Here she took Hetty's hand, pulled it +violently through her arm. "You've got to talk to me, both of you. I +have something important I want to say." + +Sylvia laughed. + +"Why do you laugh, you naughty, rude little girl?" + +"Oh, please forgive me, Fanny; but it does sound so silly for you to say +that you have something important to talk over with us, for of course we +know perfectly well that you have nothing of the sort." + +"Then you are wrong, that's all; and I sha'n't waste time arguing with +you." + +"That's all right," said Hetty. "We may be off to Birchall now, mayn't +we, Fanny?" + +"No, you mayn't. You must take a message from me to Betty." + +"I thought so," remarked Sylvia. + +Fanny had great difficulty in controlling her temper. After a minute she +said, speaking quietly, "I don't permit myself to lower myself by +arguing with children like you two. But I have an important message to +give your sister, and if you won't give it you clearly understand that +you will rue it to the last days of your lives--yes, to the last day of +your lives." + +Sylvia began to dance. Hetty tried to tug her hand away from Fanny's +arm. + +"Come, children, you can do it or not, just as you please. Tell Betty +that if she is wise, and does not wish to get into a most serious and +disgraceful scrape, she will not attend the meeting of some girls in +Margaret Grant's room this evening." + +"Let's try if we know it exactly right," said Sylvia. "Betty will get +into a serious scrape if she goes to Margaret Grant's room to-night? +What a pity! For, you see, Fan, she is going." + +"Do listen to me, Sylvia. You have more sense in your little head than +you imagine. Persuade Betty not to go. Believe me, I am only acting for +her best interests." + +"We'll give her the message all right," said Hester. "But as to +persuading Betty when Betty's mind is made up, I'd like to know who can +persuade her to change it then." + +"But you are her sisters; she will do what you wish." + +"But we _don't_ wish her not to go. We'd much rather she went. Why +shouldn't she have a bit of fun? Some one told us--I forget now who it +was--that there are always splendid chocolates at those funny +bedroom-parties. I only wish we were asked!" + +"I tell you that your sister will get into a scrape!" repeated Fanny. + +"You tell us so indeed," said Sylvia, "and it's most frightfully +annoying of you; for we sha'n't have a minute to talk to Birchall, and +he promised to have four different kinds of worms ready for us to look +at this morning. Oh dear, dear! mayn't we go? Fanny, if you are so fond +of Betty, why don't you speak to her yourself?" + +"I have spoken, and she won't listen to me." + +"There! wasn't I right?" said Sylvia. "Oh Fanny, do you think she'd mind +what we said--and coming from you, too? If she didn't listen to you +direct, she certainly won't listen to you crookedwise--that's not +Betty." + +"I was thinking," said Fanny, "that you might persuade her--that is, if +you are very, very clever, just from yourselves--not to go. You needn't +mention my name at all; and if you really manage this, I can tell you +I'll do a wonderful lot for you. I'll get father to send me curious +spiders and other creatures, all the way from India, for you. He can if +he likes. I will write to him by the very next mail." + +"Bribes! bribes!" cried Sylvia. "No, Fan, we can't be bribed. Good-bye, +Fan. We'll give the message, but she'll go all the same." + +With a sudden spring, for which Fanny was not prepared, Hester loosened +her hand from Fanny's arm. The next minute she had caught Sylvia's hand, +and the two were speeding away in the direction of the lower garden and +the fascinating company of old Birchall. + +Fanny could have stamped her foot with rage. + +The Specialities always met at eight o'clock in the evening. They were +expected to wear their pretty evening-dress, and look as much like +grown-up young ladies as possible. In a great house like Haddo Court +there must be all sorts of rooms, some much bigger than others. Thus, +where every room was nice and comfortable, there were a few quite +charming. The Vivians had one of the largest rooms, but Margaret Grant +had the most beautiful. She had been for long years now in the school, +and was therefore accorded many privileges. She had come to Haddo Court +as a very little girl, and had worked her way steadily from the lower +school to the upper. Her people were exceedingly well-off, and her +beautiful room--half bedroom, half sitting-room--was furnished mostly +out of her own pocket-money. She took great pride in its arrangements, +and on this special evening it looked more attractive than usual. There +were great vases of late roses and early chrysanthemums on the different +whatnots and small tables. A very cheerful fire blazed in the grate, +for it was getting cold enough now to enjoy a fire in the evenings, and +Margaret's supper was all that was tasteful and elegant. + +Betty had received Fanny Crawford's message, and Betty's eyes had +sparkled with suppressed fun when her sisters had delivered it to her. +She had made no comment of any sort, but had asked the girls, before +they got into bed, to help her to fasten on her very prettiest frock. +She had not worn this frock before, and the simple, soft, white muslin +suited her young face and figure as nothing else could have done. The +black ribbon which tied back her thick hair, and was worn in memory of +dear Aunt Frances, was also becoming to her; and the twin girls' eyes +sparkled with rapture as they looked at their darling. + +"Good-night, Bet!" said Sylvia. + +"Have a splendid time, Bet!" whispered Hester. + +Then Sylvia said, "I am glad you are going!" + +"But of course I am going," said Betty. "Good-night, chickabiddies; +good-night. I won't wake you when I come back. Sleep well!" Betty left +the room. + +In the corridor outside she met Olive Repton, who said, "Oh, there you +are, Betty! Now let's come. We'll be two of the first; but that's all +the better, seeing that you are a new member." + +"It sounds so mysterious--a sort of freemasonry," remarked Betty, +laughing as she spoke. "I never did think that exciting things of this +sort happened at school." + +"They don't at most schools," replied Olive. "But, then, there is only +one Haddo Court in the world." + +"Shall I have to take an awful vow; shall I have to write my name in +blood in a queer sort of book, or anything of that sort?" asked Betty. + +"No, no! You are talking nonsense now." + +By this time they had reached Margaret's room, and Margaret was waiting +for them. Betty gave a cry of rapture when she saw the flowers, and, +going from one glass bowl to the other, she buried her face in the +delicious perfume. + +By-and-by the rest of the Specialities appeared--the Bertrams (who were +greatly excited at the thought of Betty joining), Susie Rushworth, and, +last to enter, Fanny Crawford. + +Fanny had taken great pains with her dress, and she looked her best on +this occasion. She gave one quick glance at Betty. Then she went up to +her and said, "Welcome, Betty!" and held out her hand. + +Betty was not prepared for this most friendly greeting. She scarcely +touched Fanny's hand, however, and by so doing put herself slightly in +the wrong in the presence of the girls, who were watching her; while +Fanny, far cleverer in these matters, put herself in the right. + +"Now, then, we must all have supper," said Margaret. "After that we'll +explain the rules to Betty, and she can decide whether she will join us +or not. Then we can be as jolly as we please. It is our custom, you +know, girls, to be extra jolly when a new member joins the +Specialities." + +"I'm game for all the fun in the world," said Betty. Her curious, eager, +beautiful eyes were fixed on Margaret's face; and Margaret again felt +that strange sense of being wonderfully drawn to her, and yet at the +same time of being annoyed. What did Fanny's conduct mean? But one girl, +however much she may wish to do so, cannot quite spoil the fun of six +others. Margaret, therefore, was prepared to be as amiable and merry and +gay as possible. + +Was there ever a more delicious supper? Did ever cake taste quite so +nice? Were chocolate creams and Turkish delight ever quite so good? And +was not Margaret's lemonade even more admirable than her delicate cups +of cocoa? And were not the dried fruits which were presently handed +round quite wonderful in flavor? And, above all things, were not the +sandwiches which Margaret had provided as a sort of surprise (for as a +rule they had no sandwiches at these gatherings) the greatest success of +all? + +The merry supper came to an end, and the girls now clustered in a wide +circle round the fire; and Margaret, as president, took the book of +rules and began to read aloud. + +"There are," she said, opening the book, which was bound beautifully in +white vellum, "certain rules which each member receives a copy of, and +which she takes to heart and obeys. If she deliberately breaks any +single one of these rules, and such a lapse of principle is discovered, +she is expected to withdraw from the Specialities. This club was first +set on foot by a girl who has long left the school, and who was very +much loved when she was here. Up to the present it has been a success, +although its numbers have varied according to the tone of the girls who +belong to the upper school. No girl belonging to the lower school has +ever yet been asked to join. We have had at one time in the Speciality +Club as many as one dozen members. At present we are six; although we +hope that if you, Betty, decide to join us, we shall have seven members. +That will be very nice," continued Margaret, smiling and looking across +the room at Betty, whose eyes were fixed on her face, "for seven is the +mystic, the perfect number. Now, I will begin to read the rules aloud to +you. If you decide to think matters over, we will ask you to come to our +next gathering this day week, when you will receive the badge of +membership, and a copy of the rules would be made by me and sent to you +to your room. + +"Now I will begin by telling you that the great object of our club is to +encourage the higher thought. Its object is to discourage and, if +possible, put a stop to low, small, mean, foolish, uncharitable +thoughts. Its object is to set kindness before each member as the best +thing in life. You can judge for yourself, Betty, that we aim high. +Yes, what were you going to say?" + +"I was thinking," said Betty, whose eyes were now very wide open indeed, +while her cheeks grew paler than ever with some concealed emotion, "that +the girl who first thought of this club must have sat on a Scotch moor +one day, with the purple heather all round her, and that to her it was +vouchsafed to hear the fairies speak when they rang the little purple +bells of the heather." + +"That may have been the case, dear," said Margaret in her kindest tone. +"Now, I will read you the rules. They are quite short and to the point: + + "'RULE I.--Each girl who is a member of the Specialities gives + perfect confidence to her fellow-members, keeps no secret to + herself which those members ought to know, is ready to consider + each member as though she were her own sister, to help her in time + of trouble, and to rejoice with her in periods of joy.' + +"That is Rule I., and I need not say, Betty, that it is a very important +rule." + +Betty's eyes were now lowered, so that only her very black lashes were +seen as they rested against her pale cheeks. + +"Rule II. is this: + + "'RULE II.--That the Specialities read each day, for one quarter of + an hour, a book of great thoughts.' + +"The books are generally selected at the beginning of term, and each +member is expected to read the same amount and from the same book. This +term, for instance, we occupy one quarter of an hour daily in reading +Jeremy Taylor's 'Holy Living.' It is not very long, but there's a vast +amount of thought in it. If we feel puzzled about anything in this +wonderful book we discuss it with each other at the next meeting of the +Specialities, and if, after such a discussion, the whole matter does not +seem quite clear, we ask Mr. Fairfax to help us. He is most kind, +although of course he is not in the secret of our club. + +"Rule III. is quite different. It is this: + + "'RULE III.--Each day we give ourselves up, every one of us, to + real, genuine fun--to having what may be called a jolly time.' + +"We never miss this part of the Speciality life. We get our fun either +by chatting gaily to each other, or by enjoying the society of a +favorite schoolfellow. + +"Rule IV. does not come into every day life; nevertheless it is +important: + + "'RULE IV.--We meet once a week in one of our bedrooms; but four + times during the term we all subscribe together, and get up as big + a party as ever we can of girls who are not Specialities. These + girls have supper with us, and afterwards we have round games or + music or anything that gives us pleasure.' + +"Rule V. is this: + + "'RULE V.--That whoever else we are cross with, we are always very + careful to show respect to our teachers, and, if possible, to love + them. We also try to shut our eyes to their faults, even if we see + them.' + +"Rule VI. is perhaps the most difficult of all to follow completely. It +is the old, old rule, Betty Vivian, of forgetting ourselves and living +for others. It is a rule that makes the secret of happiness. It is +impossible to keep it in its fullness in this world; but our aim is to +have a good try for it, and I think, on the whole, we succeed. + +"Now, these are the six rules. When you read them over, you will see +that they are comprehensive, that they mean a vast lot. They are, every +one of them, rules which tend to discipline--the sort of discipline that +will help us when we leave the school and enter into the big school of +the world. Betty, do you feel inclined to join the club or not?" + +"I don't know," replied Betty. "It is impossible to answer your +question on the spur of the moment. But I should greatly like to see a +copy of the rules." + +"I will have them copied and sent to your bedroom, Betty. Then if you +decide to join, you will be admitted formally this day week, and will +receive the badge of the Specialities--a little true-lovers' knot made +of silver--which you will wear when the Specialities give their +entertainments, and which will remind you that we are bound together in +one sisterhood of love for our fellow-creatures." + +Betty got up somewhat nervously. "I must think a great deal; and if I +may come to whichever room the Specialities are to meet in this day +week, I will let you know what I have decided." + +"Very well, dear," said Margaret, shutting the book and completely +altering her tone. "That is all, I think to-night. Now, you must sit +down and enjoy yourself. Which girl would you like to sit close to? We +are going to have some round games, and they are quite amusing." + +"I should like to sit close to you, Margaret, if I may." + +"You certainly may, Betty; and there is a seat near mine, just by that +large bowl of white chrysanthemums." + +Betty took the seat; and now all the girls began to chat, each of them +talking lovingly and kindly to the other. There was a tone about their +conversation which was as different from the way they spoke in their +ordinary life as though they were girls in a nunnery who had made solemn +vows to forsake the world. Even Fanny's face looked wonderfully kind and +softened. She did not even glance at Betty; but Betty looked at her once +or twice, and was astonished at the expression that Fanny wore. + +"Just one minute, girls, before we begin our fun," said Margaret. +"Martha West is most anxious to join the Specialities. Betty, of course, +has no vote, as she is not yet a member. But the rest of us know Martha +well, and I think we would all like her to join. Those who are opposed +to her, will they keep down their hands? Those who wish for her as a +member, will they hold them up?" + +All hands were held up on this occasion, and Fanny held hers the +straightest and highest of all. + +"Three cheers for Martha West!" said Susie Rushworth. + +"It will be splendid to have Martha!" said both the Bertrams; while +Olive, always gay, spirited, and full of fun, laughed from sheer +delight. + +The usual formula was then gone through, and Fanny Crawford was deputed +to take a note to Martha inviting her to be present at the next meeting. + +"Now, we shall have about half an hour for different sorts of fun," said +Margaret. "By the way, Betty," she continued, "sometimes our meetings +are rather solemn affairs; we want to discuss the book we are reading, +or something has happened that we wish to talk over. On the other hand, +there are times when we have nothing but fun and frolic. We're not a bit +solemn on these occasions; we loosen all the tension, so to speak, and +enjoy ourselves to the utmost." + +"And there are times, also," said Olive, "when we are just as busy as +bees planning out our next entertainment. Oh Margaret, we can't have one +this day week because of Betty and Martha. But don't you think we might +have one this day three weeks? And don't you think it might be a very +grand affair? And supposing Betty becomes a member--which, of course, +you will, Betty, for you couldn't disappoint us now--supposing we have +it in Betty's palatial mansion of a bedroom! We can ask no end of girls +to that. Oh, won't it be fun?" + +"If you ask my sisters, I don't mind at all--that is, _if_ I am a +member," said Betty. + +"Of course we'll ask the dear twins," said Margaret. She took Betty's +hand as she spoke and squeezed it with sudden affection. + +Betty pressed a little nearer to her. It was worth even giving up the +Scotch moors, and the society of Donald and Jean, and the dogs and the +horse, to have such a friend as Margaret Grant. + +But now the fun began in earnest, and very good fun it was; for every +girl had a considerable sense of humor, so much so that their games were +carried on with great spirit. Their laughter was so merry as to be quite +infectious; and no one was more amazed than Betty herself when the +ordeal of this first visit to the Specialities was over and she was +walking quickly downstairs, with Olive by her side, on her way to the +chapel. + +How beautifully Mr. Fairfax read the evening prayers that night! How +lovely it was to listen to his melodious voice and to look at his +earnest, intelligent face! How sweet, how wonderful, was the soft, soft +music which Mrs. Haddo herself played on the organ! + +"Oh yes," thought Betty, "one could be good here, and with the sort of +help that Margaret talks about; and high thoughts are nice thoughts, +they seem to be what I might call close to the angels. Nevertheless----" + +A cloud seemed to fall on the little girl's spirit. She thought of +Fanny, and, raising her eyes at the moment, observed that Fanny's eyes +were fixed on her. Fanny's eyes were full of queer warning, even of +menace; and Betty suddenly experienced a revulsion of all those noble +feelings which had animated her a short time ago. Were there two Fanny +Crawfords? Or could she possibly look as she looked now, and also as she +had done when Margaret Grant read the rules of the Speciality Club +aloud? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +STRIVING FOR A DECISION + + +The week passed without anything very special occurring. The weather was +still warm and perfect. September had no idea of giving up her mantle of +late summer. But September was drawing to a close, and October, with +gusty winds and whirling, withered leaves, and much rain, would soon +take her place. October was certainly not nearly such a pleasant month +as September. Nevertheless, the young and healthy girls who lived their +regular life at Haddo Court were indifferent to the weather. They were +always busy. Each minute was planned out and fully occupied. There was +time for work, and time for play, and time for happy, confidential talks +in that bright and pleasant school. There were all kinds of surprises, +too; now an unexpected tea-party with Mrs. Haddo, given to a few select +girls; then, again, to another few who unexpectedly found themselves +select. There were also delightful cocoa-parties in the big private +sitting-room of the upper school, as well as games of every description, +outdoor and indoor. Night came all too soon in this happy family, and +each girl retired to bed wondering what could have made the day so very +short. + +But during this week Betty was not quite happy. She had received a copy +of the rules, and had studied them very carefully. She was, in her heart +of hearts, most anxious to become a Speciality. The higher life appealed +to her. It appealed to her strong sense of imagination; to her +passionate and really unworldly nature; to that deep love which dwelt in +her heart, and which, just at present, she felt inclined to bestow on +Margaret Grant. But there was Rule I. The rules had been sent, as +Margaret had promised, neatly copied and in a sealed envelope, to +Betty's room. She had read them upstairs all alone in the Vivians' +attic. She had read them while the queer, uncanny eyes of Dickie looked +at her. She certainly was not afraid of Dickie; on the contrary, she +admired him. She and her sisters were very proud of his increasing size, +and each day it was the turn of one girl or the other to take Dickie out +of his cage and give him exercise. He was rather alarming in his +movements, going at a tremendous rate, and giving more than one uncanny +glance at the Vivian girl who was his jailer for the time. + +On this special occasion, when Betty brought the rules to the Vivian +attic, she forgot all about Dickie. He was out, running round and round +the attic, rushing up the walls, peering at Betty from over the top of +the door, creeping as far as the ceiling and then coming down again. He +was, as a rule, easily caught, for Sylvia and Hetty always kept his meal +of raw meat till after he had had his exercise. But Betty had now +forgotten that it was necessary to have a bait to bring Dickie once more +into the shelter of his cage. She had consequently fed him first, then +let him free, and then stood by the small window of the attic reading +the rules of the Specialities. It was Rule I. which troubled her. Rule +I. ran as follows: "Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow +members, keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know, +is ready to consider each member as though she were her own sister, to +help her in time of trouble and to rejoice with her in periods of joy." + +To be quite frank, Betty did not like this rule. She was willing to give +a certain amount of affection to most of the girls who belonged to the +Specialities; but as to considering even nice girls like the Bertrams as +her own sisters, and Susie Rushworth (who was quite agreeable and gay +and kind) in that relationship, and Olive Repton also, as she would +Sylvia and Hetty, she did not think she could do it. She could be kind +to them--she would love to be kind to them; she would love to help each +and all in times of trouble, and to rejoice with them in periods of joy; +but to feel that they were her sisters--that certainly _was_ difficult. +She believed it possible that she could admit Margaret Grant into a +special and close relationship; into a deep friendship which partook +neither of sisterhood nor of anything else, but stood apart and +alone--the sort of friendship that a young, enthusiastic girl will give +to a friend of strong character a little older than herself. But as to +Fanny--she could never love Fanny. From the very first moment she had +set eyes on her--away, far away, in Scotland--she had disliked her, she +had pronounced her at once in her own mind as "niminy-priminy." She had +told her sisters frankly what she felt about Fanny. She had said in her +bold, independent way, "Fanny is too good for the likes of me. She is +the sort of girl who would turn me into a bad un. I don't want to have +anything to do with her." + +Fanny, however, had taken no notice of Betty's all too evident +antagonism. Fanny was, in her heart of hearts, essentially good-natured; +but Betty was as impossible for her to understand as it was impossible +for the moon to comprehend the brightness of the sun. Fanny had been +shocked at what she had witnessed when she saw Betty take the sealed +packet from the drawer. She remembered the whole thing with great +distress of mind, and had felt a sense of shock when she heard that the +Vivian girls were coming to the school. But her feelings were very much +worse when her father had informed her that the packet could nowhere be +found--that he had specially mentioned it to Betty, who declared that +she knew nothing about it. Oh yes, Fanny and Betty were as the poles +apart; and Betty knew now that were she to take the vows of the +Specialities fifty times over she could never keep them, as far as Fanny +Crawford was concerned. Then there was another unpleasant part of the +same rule: "Each girl gives perfect confidence to her fellow-members, +keeps no secret to herself which those members ought to know." Betty +undoubtedly had a secret--a very precious one. She had even told a lie +in order to hug that secret to her breast. She had brought it away with +her to the school, and now it was safe--only Betty knew where. + +What puzzled her was this: was it necessary for the members to know her +secret? It had nothing to do with any of them. Nevertheless, she was an +honest sort of girl and could not dismiss the feeling from her own mind +that Rule I. was practically impossible to her. The Specialities had met +on Thursday in Margaret Grant's room. The next meeting was to be held in +Susie Rushworth's. Susie's room was in another wing of the building, and +was not so large or luxurious as that of Margaret. The next meeting +would, however, be quite formal--except for the admission of Betty to +the full privileges of the club, and the reading aloud of the rules to +Martha West. During the course of the week the Specialities seldom or +never spoke of their meeting-day. Nevertheless, Betty from time to time +caught Fanny's watchful eyes fixed on her. + +On the next Thursday morning she awoke with a slight headache. Miss +Symes noticed when she came downstairs that Betty was not quite herself, +and at once insisted on her going back to her room to lie down and be +coddled. Betty hated being coddled. She was never coddled in the gray +stone house; she was never coddled on the Scotch moors. She had +occasional headaches, like every one else, and occasional colds; but +they had to take care of themselves, and get well as best they could. +Betty used to shake herself with anger when she thought of any one +making a fuss about her when she was ill, and was consequently rather +cross when Miss Symes took her upstairs, made her lie down, and put a +wrap over her. + +"You must lie down and try to sleep, Betty. I hope you will be quite +well by dinner-time. Don't stir till I come for you, dear." + +"Oh, but I will!" said Betty, raising her head and fixing her bright, +almost feverish eyes on Miss Symes's face. + +"What do you mean, dear? I have desired you to stay quiet." + +"And I cannot obey," replied Betty. "Please, Miss Symes, don't be angry. +If I were a low-down sort of girl, I'd sneak out without telling you; +but as I happen to be Betty Vivian, I can't do that. I want to get into +the fresh air. Nothing will take away my headache like a walk. I want to +get as far as that dreadful piece of common land you have here, and +which you imagine is like a moor. I want to walk about there for a +time." + +"Very well, Betty; you are a good girl to have confided in me. You have +exactly two hours. Stay quiet for one hour. If at the end of that time +your head is no better, out for an hour; then return to your usual +duties." + +Betty lay very still for the whole of that hour. Her thoughts were busy. +She was haunted by Rule I., and by the passionate temptation to ignore +it and yet pretend that she would keep it--in short, to be a member of +the Specialities under false colors. One minute she was struggling hard +with the trouble which raged within her, the next minute she was making +up her mind to decline to be associated with the Specialities. + +When the hour had quite expired she sprang to her feet. Oh yes, her head +still ached! But what did that matter? She could not be bothered with a +trifling thing like a mere headache. She ran upstairs to the Vivian +attic. Dickie was in his cage. Betty remembered what terrible trouble +she had had to catch him on the day when she received a copy of the +rules. She shook her head at him now, and said, "Ah Dickie, you're a bad +boy! I am not going to let you out of your cage again in a hurry." Then +she went out. + +The wind had changed during the night, and heavy clouds were coming up +from the north. Betty felt herself much colder than she had ever done in +Scotland. She shivered, and walked very fast. She passed the celebrated +oak-tree where she and her sisters had hidden during their first day at +school. She went on to the place where the three little gardens were +marked for their benefit. But up to the present no Vivian had touched +the gardens, and there were the black remains of the bonfire where the +poor Scotch heather had been burnt almost in the center of Betty's +patch of ground. + +Oh, the school was horrible--the life was horrible! Oh why had she ever +come here? She wanted to be a Speciality; but she could not, it was not +in her. She hated--yes, she hated--Fanny Crawford more each minute, and +she could never love those other uninteresting girls as though they were +her sisters. In analyzing her feelings very carefully, she came to the +conclusion that she only wanted to join the Specialities in order to be +Margaret's friend. She knew quite well what privileges would be accorded +to her were she a member; and she also knew--for she had been told--that +it was a rare thing to allow a girl so lately come to the school to take +such an important position. + +Betty had a natural love of power. With a slight shudder she walked past +the little patches of ground and across what she contemptuously called +the miserable common. This common marked the boundaries of Mrs. Haddo's +school. There were iron railings at least six feet high guarding it from +the adjacent land. The sight of these railings was absolute torture to +Betty. She said aloud, "Didn't I know the whole place was a prison? But +prison-bars sha'n't keep me long in restraint!" + +She took out her handkerchief, and, pulling up some weedy grass, put the +handkerchief on one spiked bar and the grass on the other, and thus +protecting herself, made a light bound over the fence. The exercise and +the sense of freedom did her good. She laughed aloud, and continued her +walk through unexplored regions. She could not go very fast, however; +for she was hindered here by and there by a gateway, and here again by a +farmstead, and yet again by a cottage, with little children running +about amongst the autumn flowers. + +"How can people live in a place like this?" thought Betty. + +Then, all of a sudden, two ferocious dogs rushed out upon the girl, +clamored round her, and tried to stop her way. Betty laughed softly. +There was a delightful sound in her laugh. Probably those dogs had never +heard its like before. It was also possible, notwithstanding the fact +that Betty was wearing a new dress, that something of that peculiar +instinct which is imparted to dogs told these desperate champions that +Betty had loved a dog before. + +"Down, silly creature!" said Betty, and she patted one on the head and +put her arm on the neck of the other. Soon they were fawning about her +and jumping on her and licking her hands. She felt thoroughly happy now. +Her headache had quite vanished. The dogs, the darlings, were her true +friends! There was a little piece of grass quite close to where they had +attacked her, and she squatted deliberately down on it and invited the +dogs to stretch themselves by her side. They did so without a minute's +delay. They were in raptures with her, and one dog only growled when she +paid too much attention to the other. + +She began to whisper alternately in the shaggy ears of each. "Ah, you +must have come from Scotland! You must, anyhow, have met Andrew! Do you +think you are as brave as Andrew, for I doubt it?" + +Then she continued to the other dog, "And you must have been born in the +same litter with Fritz. Did you ever look into the eyes of Fritz and see +straight down into his gallant heart? I should be ashamed of you, +ashamed of you, if you were not as brave and noble as Fritz." + +There was such pathos in Betty's voice that the dogs became quite +penitent and abject. They had certainly never been in Scotland, and +Andrew and Fritz were animals unknown to them; but for some reason the +mysterious being who understood dogs was displeased with them, and they +fawned and crouched at her feet. + +It was just at that moment that a sturdy-looking farmer came up. He +gazed at Betty, then at the two dogs, uttered a light guffaw, and +vanished round the corner. In a very few minutes he returned, +accompanied by his sturdy wife and his two rough, growing sons. + +"Wife," he said, "did you ever see the like in all your life--Dan and +Beersheba crouching down at that young girl's feet? Why, they're the +fiercest dogs in the whole place!" + +"I heard them barking a while back," said Mrs. Miles, the farmer's wife, +"and then they stopped sudden-like. If I'd known they were here I'd have +come out to keep 'em from doing mischief to anybody; but hearing no more +sound I went on with my churning. Little miss," she added, raising her +voice, "you seem wonderful took with dogs." + +Betty instantly rose to a standing position. "Yes, I am," she said. +"Please, are these Scotch, and have they come from Aberdeenshire?" + +The farmer laughed. "No, miss," he said; "we bred 'em at home." + +Betty was puzzled at this. + +The dogs did not take the slightest notice of the farmer, his wife, or +his sons, but kept clinging to the girl and pressing their noses against +her dress. + +"May I come again to see them, please?" asked Betty. "They've got the +spirit of the Scotch dogs. They are the first true friends I have met +since I left Scotland." + +"And may I make bold to ask your name, miss?" inquired the farmer's +wife. + +"Yes, you may," said Betty. "It isn't much of a name. It's just Betty +Vivian, and I live at Haddo Court." + +"My word! Be you one of them young ladies?" + +"I don't know quite what you mean; but I am Betty Vivian, and I live at +Haddo Court." + +"But how ever did you get on the high road, miss?" asked the farmer. + +Betty laughed. "I went to the edge of what they call the common," she +said. "I found a fence, and I vaulted over--that is all. I don't like +your country much, farmer; there's no space about it. But the dogs, they +are darlings!" + +"You're the pluckiest young gel I ever come across," said the man. "How +you managed to tame 'em is more than I can say. Why, they are real +brutes when any one comes nigh the farm; and over and over I has said to +the wife, 'You ought to lock them brutes up, wife.' But she's rare and +kindhearted, and is very fond of them, whelps that they be." + +"I wonder," said the woman, "if missie would come into the house and +have a bite of summat to eat? We makes butter for the Court, miss; and +we sends up all our eggs, and many a pair of fat chickens and turkeys +and other fowl. We're just setting down to dinner, and can give you some +potatoes and pork." + +Betty laughed gleefully. "I'd love potatoes and pork more than +anything," she said. "May Dan and Beersheba dine with us?" + +"Well, miss, I don't expect you'll find it easy to get 'em parted from +you." + +So Betty entered the farmyard, and walked through, in her direct +fashion, without picking her steps; for she loved, as she expressed it, +a sense of confusion and the sight of different animals. She had a knack +of making herself absolutely at home, and did so on the present +occasion. Soon she was seated in the big bright kitchen of the +farmhouse, and was served with an excellent meal of the best fresh pork +and the most mealy potatoes she had seen since she left Scotland. Mrs. +Miles gave her a great big glass of rich milk, but she preferred water. +Dan sat at one side of her, Beersheba at the other. They did not ask for +food; but they asked imploringly for the pat of a firm, brown little +hand, and for the look of love in Betty's eyes. + +"I have enjoyed myself," said the girl, jumping up. "I do think you are +the nicest people anywhere; and as to your dogs, they are simply +glorious. Might not I come here again some day, and--and bring my +sisters with me? They are twins, you know. Do you mind twins?" + +"Bless your sweet voice!" said Mrs. Miles; "is it a-minding twins we be +when we has two sets ourselves?" + +"My sisters are very nice, considering that they are twins," said Betty, +who was always careful not to overpraise her own people; "and they are +just as fond of dogs as I am. Oh, by the way, we have a lovely spider--a +huge, glorious creature. His name is Dickie, and he lives in an attic at +the Court. He's as big as this." Betty made an apt illustration with her +fingers. + +"Lor', miss, he must be an awful beast! We're dead nuts agen spiders at +the Stoke Farm." + +Betty looked sad. "It is strange," she said, "how no one loves Dickie +except our three selves. We won't bring him, then; but may _we_ come?" + +"It all depends, miss, on whether Mrs. Haddo gives you leave. 'Tain't +the custom, sure and certain, for young ladies from the Court to come +a-visiting at Stoke Farm; but if so be she says yes, you'll be heartily +welcome, and more than welcome. I can't say more, can I, miss?" + +"Well, I have had a happy time," said Betty; "and now I must be going +back." + +"But," said the farmer, "missie, you surely ain't going to get over that +big fence the same way as you come here?" + +"And what else should I do?" said Betty. + +"'Taint to be done, miss. There's a drop at our side which makes the +fence ever so much higher, and how you didn't hurt yourself is little +less than a miracle to me. I'll have the horse put to the cart and drive +you round to the front entrance in a jiffy. Dan and Beersheba can +follow, the run'll do them no end of good." + +"Yes, missie, you really must let my husband do what he wishes," said +Mrs. Miles. + +"Thank you," said Betty in a quiet voice. Then she added, looking up +into Mrs. Miles's face, "I love Mrs. Haddo very much, and there is one +girl at the school whom I love. I think I shall love you too, for I +think you have understanding. And when I come to see you next--for of +course Mrs. Haddo will give me leave--I will tell you about Scotland, +and the heather, and the fairies that live in the heather-bells; and I +will tell you about our little gray stone house, and about Donald +Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane. Oh, you will love to hear! You are +something like them, except that unfortunately you are English." + +"Don't put that agen me," said Mrs. Miles, "for I wouldn't be nothing +else if you was to pay me fifty pounds down. There, now, I can't speak +squarer than that!" + +Just at that moment the farmer's voice was heard announcing that the +trap was ready. Betty hugged Mrs. Miles, and was followed out of the +farm-kitchen by the excited dogs. + +The next minute they were driving in the direction of the Court, and +Betty was put down just outside the heavy wrought-iron gates. "Good-bye, +Farmer Miles," she said, "and take my best thanks. I am coming again to +see those darling dogs. Good-bye, dears, good-bye." + +She pressed a kiss on each very rough forehead, passed through the +little postern door, heard the dogs whining behind her, did not dare to +look back, and ran as fast as she could to the house. She was quite late +for the midday dinner; and the first person she met was Miss Symes, who +came up to her in a state of great excitement. "Why, Betty!" she said, +"where have you been? We have all been terribly anxious about you." + +"I went out for a walk," said Betty, "and----" + +"Did you go beyond the grounds? We looked everywhere." + +"Oh yes," said Betty. "I couldn't be kept in by rails or bars or +anything of that sort. I am a free creature, you know, Miss Symes." + +"Come, Betty," said Miss Symes, "you have broken a rule; and you have no +excuse, for a copy of the rules of the school is in every sitting-room +and every classroom. You must see Mrs. Haddo about this." + +"I am more than willing," replied Betty. + +Betty felt full of courage, and keen and well, after her morning's +adventure. Miss Symes took Betty's hand, and led her in the direction of +Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room. That good lady was busy over some +work which she generally managed to accomplish at that special hour. She +was seated at her desk, putting her signature to several notes and +letters which she had dictated early that morning to her secretary. She +looked up as Betty and Miss Symes entered. + +"Ah, Miss Symes!" said Mrs. Haddo. "How do you do, Betty? Sit down. Will +you just wait a minute, please?" she added, looking up into the face of +her favorite governess. "I want you to take these letters as you are +here, and so save my ringing for a servant. Get Miss Edgeworth to stamp +them all, and put them into their envelopes, and send them off without +fail by next post." + +A pile of letters was placed in Miss Symes's hands. She went away at +once; and Mrs. Haddo, in her usual leisurely and gracious manner, turned +and looked at Betty. + +"Well, Betty Vivian," she said kindly, "I have seen you for some time at +prayers and in the different classrooms, and also at chapel; but I have +not had an opportunity of a chat with you, dear, for several days. Sit +down, please, or, rather, come nearer to the fire." + +"Oh, I am so hot!" said Betty. + +"Well, loosen your jacket and take off your hat. Now, what is the +matter? Before we refer to pleasant things, shall we get the unpleasant +ones over? What has gone wrong with you, Betty Vivian?" + +"But how can you tell that anything has gone wrong?" + +"I know, dear, because Miss Symes would not bring you to my private +sitting-room at this hour for any other reason." + +"Well, I don't think anything has gone wrong," said Betty; "but Miss +Symes does not quite agree with me. I will tell you, of course; I am +only longing to." + +"Begin, dear, and be as brief as possible." + +"I had a headache this morning, and went to lie down," began Betty. +"Miss Symes wanted me to stay lying down until dinner-time, but +afterwards she gave me leave to go out when I had been in my room for an +hour. I did so. I went as far as that bit of common of yours." + +"Our 'forest primeval'?" said Mrs. Haddo with a gracious smile. + +"Oh, but it isn't really!" said Betty. + +"Some of us think it so, Betty." + +Betty gave a curious smile; then with an effort she kept back certain +words from her lips, and continued abruptly, "I got to the end of the +common, and there was a railing----" + +"The boundary of my estate, dear." + +"Well," said Betty, "it drove me mad. I felt I was in prison, and that +the railing formed my prison bars. I vaulted over, and got into the +road. I walked along for a good bit--I can't quite tell how far--but at +last two dogs came bounding out of a farmyard near by. They barked at +first very loudly; but I looked at them and spoke to them, and after +that we were friends of course. I sat on the grass and played with them, +and they--I think they loved me. All dogs do--there is nothing in that. +The farmer and his wife came out presently and seemed surprised, for +they said that Dan and Beersheba were very furious." + +"My dear girl--Dan and Beersheba--_those_ dogs!" + +"Those were the names they called them. We call our dogs on the Scotch +moors Andrew and Fritz. They are much bigger dogs than Dan and +Beersheba; but Dan and Beersheba are darlings for all that. I went into +the Mileses' house and had my dinner with them. It was a splendid +dinner--pork and really _nice_ potatoes--and the dogs sat one on each +side of me. Mrs. Haddo, I want to go to the Mileses' again some day to +tea, and I want to take Sylvia and Hester with me. The Mileses don't +mind about their being twins, and they'll be quite glad to see them, and +Sylvia and Hester are about as fond of dogs as I am. Mrs. Miles said she +was quite willing to have us if you gave leave, but not otherwise." + +"Betty!" said Mrs. Haddo when the girl had ceased. She raised her head, +and looked full into the wonderful, pathetic, half-humorous, +half-defiant eyes, and once again between her soul and Betty's was felt +that firm, sure bond of sympathy. Involuntarily the girl came two or +three steps closer. Mrs. Haddo, with a gesture, invited her to kneel by +her, and took one of her hands. "Betty, my child, you know why you have +come to this school?" + +"I am sure I don't," said Betty, "unless it is to be with you and--and +Margaret Grant." + +"I am glad you have made Margaret your friend. She is a splendid +girl--quite the best girl in the whole school; and she likes you, +Betty--she has told me so. I am given to understand that you are to have +the honorable distinction of becoming a Speciality. The club is a most +distinguished one, and has a beneficial effect on the tone of the upper +school. I am glad that you are considered worthy to join. I know nothing +about the rules; I can only say that I admire the results of its +discipline on its members. But now to turn to the matter in hand. You +broke a very stringent rule of the school when you got over that fence, +and the breaking of a rule must be punished." + +"I don't mind," said Betty in a low tone. + +"But I want you to mind, Betty. I want you to be truly sorry that you +broke one of my rules." + +"When you put it like that," said Betty, "I do get a bit choky. Don't +say too much, or perhaps I'll howl. I am not so happy as you think. I am +fighting hard with myself every minute of the time." + +"Poor little girl! can you tell me why you are fighting?" + +"No, Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you." + +"I will not press you, dear. Well, Betty, one of my rules is that the +girls never leave the grounds without leave; and as you have broken that +rule you must receive the punishment, which is that you remain in your +room for the rest of the day until eight o'clock this evening, when I +understand that you are due at the meeting of the Specialities." + +"I will go to my room," said Betty. "I don't mind punishment at all." + +"You ran a very great risk, dear, when you went into that byroad and +were attacked by those fierce dogs. It was a marvel that they took to +you. It is extremely wrong of Farmer Miles to have them loose, and I +must speak to him." + +"And please," said Betty, "may we go to tea there--we three--one +evening?" + +"I will see about that. Try to keep every rule. Try, with all your might +and main, to conquer yourself. I am not angry with you, dear. It is +impossible to tame a nature like yours, and I am the last person on +earth to break your spirit. But go up to your room now, and--kiss me +first." + +Betty almost choked when she gave that kiss, when her eyes looked still +deeper into Mrs. Haddo's beautiful eyes, and when she felt her whole +heart tingle within her with that new, wonderful sensation of a love +for her mistress which even exceeded her love for Margaret Grant. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +RULE I. ACCEPTED + + +Betty's room was empty, and at that time of day was rather chill, for +the three big windows were wide open in order to let in the fresh, keen +air. Betty walked into the room still feeling that mysterious tingling +all over her, that tingling which had been awakened by her sudden and +unexpected love for Mrs. Haddo. That love had been more or less dormant +within her heart from the very first; but to-day it had received a new +impetus, and the curious fact was that she was almost glad to accept +punishment because it was inflicted by Mrs. Haddo. Being the sort of +girl she was, it occurred to her that the more severe she herself made +the punishment the more efficacious it would be. + +She accordingly sat down by one of the open windows, and, as a natural +consequence, soon got very chilled. As she did not wish to catch cold +and become a nuisance in the school, she proceeded to shut the windows, +and had just done so--her fingers blue and all the beautiful glow gone +from her young body--when there came a tap at the room door. Betty at +first did not reply. She hoped the person, whoever that person might be, +would go away. But the tap was repeated, and she was obliged in +desperation to go to the door and see who was there. + +"I, and I want to speak to you," replied the voice of Fanny Crawford. + +Instantly there rose a violent rebellion in Betty's heart. All her love +for Mrs. Haddo, with its softening influence, vanished; it melted slowly +out of sight, although, of course, it was still there. Her pleasant +time at the Mileses' farm, the delightful affection of the furious dogs, +the excellent dinner, the quick drive back, were forgotten as though +they had never existed; and Betty only remembered Rule I., and that she +hated Fanny Crawford. She stood perfectly still in the middle of the +room. + +Fanny boldly opened the door and entered. "I want to speak to you, +Betty," she said. + +"But I don't want to speak to you," replied Betty. + +"Oh, how bitterly cold this room is!" said Fanny, not taking much notice +of this remark. "I shall light the fire myself; yes, I insist. It is all +laid ready; and as it is absolutely necessary for us to have a little +chat together, I may as well make the room comfortable for us both." + +"But I don't want you to light the fire; I want you to go." + +Fanny smiled. "Betty, dear," she said, "don't be unreasonable. You can't +dislike me as much as you imagine you do! Why should you go on in this +fashion?" As Fanny spoke she knelt down by the guard, put a match to the +already well-laid fire, and soon it was crackling and roaring up the +chimney. + +"You are here," said Fanny, "because you broke a rule. We all know, +every one in the school knows, Mrs. Haddo is not angry, but she insists +on punishment. She never, never excuses a girl who breaks a rule. The +girl must pay the penalty; afterwards, things are as they were before. +It is amazing what an effect this has in keeping us all up to the mark +and in order. Now, Betty--Bettina, dear--come and sit by the fire and +let me hold your hands. Why, they're as blue as possible; you are quite +frozen, you poor child!" + +Fanny spoke in quite a nice, soothing voice. She had the same look on +her face which she had worn that evening in Margaret Grant's bedroom. +She seemed really desirous to be nice to Betty. She knew that Betty was +easily influenced by kindness; this was the case, for even Fanny did +not seem quite so objectionable when she smiled sweetly and spoke +gently. She now drew two chairs forward, one for herself and one for +Betty. Betty had been intensely cold, and the pleasant glow of the fire +was grateful. She sank into the chair which Fanny offered her with very +much the air of being the proprietor of the room, and not Betty, and +waited for her companion to speak. She did not notice that Fanny had +placed her own chair so that the back was to the light, whereas Betty +sat where the full light from the three big windows fell on her face. + +"Well, now, I call this real comfy!" said Fanny. "They will send up your +tea, you know, and you can have a book from the school library if you +like. I should recommend 'The Daisy Chain' or 'The Heir of Redclyffe.'" + +"I don't want any books, thanks," said Betty. + +"But don't you love reading?" + +"I can't tell you. Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't." + +"Betty, won't you tell me anything?" + +"Fanny, I have nothing to tell you." + +"Oh, Betty, with a face like yours--nothing!" + +"Nothing at all--to you," replied Betty. + +"But to others--for instance," said Fanny, still keeping her good +temper, "to Margaret Grant, or to Mrs. Haddo?" + +"They are different," said Betty. + +Fanny was silent for a minute. Then she said, "I want to tell you +something, and I want to be quite frank. You have made a very great +impression so far in the school. For your age and your little +experience, you are in a high class, and all your teachers speak well of +you. You are the sort of girl who is extremely likely to be popular--to +have, in short, a following. Now, I don't suppose there is in all the +world anything, Betty Vivian, that would appeal to a nature like yours +so strongly as to have a following--to have other girls hanging on your +words, understanding your motives, listening to what you say, perhaps +even trying to copy you. You will be very difficult to copy, Betty, +because you are a rare piece of original matter. Nevertheless, all these +things lie before you if you act warily now." + +"Go on," said Betty; "it is interesting to hear one's self discussed. Of +course, Fan, you have a motive for saying all this to me. What is it?" + +"I have," said Fanny. + +"You had better explain your motive. Things will be easier for us both +afterwards, won't they?" + +"Yes," said Fanny in a low tone, "that is true." + +"Go on, then," said Betty. + +"I want to speak about the Specialities." + +"Oh, I thought you were coming to them! They are to meet to-night, are +they not, in Susie Rushworth's room?" + +"That is correct." + +"And I am to be present?" said Betty. + +"You are to be present, if you will." + +"Why do you say 'if you will?' You know quite well that I shall be +present." + +"Martha West will also be there," continued Fanny. "She will go through +very much the sort of thing you went through last week, and she will be +given a week to consider before she finally decides whether she will +join. Betty, have you made up your mind what to do? You might tell me, +mightn't you? I am your own--your very own--cousin, and it was through +my father you got admitted to this school." + +"Thanks for reminding me," said Betty; "but I don't know that I do feel +as grateful as I ought. Perhaps that is one of the many defects in my +nature. You have praised me in a kind way, but you don't know me a bit. +I am full of faults. There is nothing good or great about me at all. You +had best understand that from the beginning. Now, I may as well say at +once that I intend to be present at the Specialities' meeting to-night." + +"You do! Have you read Rule I.?" + +"Oh, yes, I have read it. I have read all the rules." + +"Don't you understand," said Fanny, speaking deliberately, "that there +is one dark spot in your life, Betty Vivian, that ought to preclude you +from joining the Specialities? That dark spot can only be removed by +confession and restitution. You know to what I allude?" + +Betty stood up. Her face was as white as death. After a minute she said, +"Are you going to do anything?" + +"I ought; it has troubled me sorely. To tell you the truth, I did not +want you to be admitted to the club; but the majority were in your +favor. If ever they know of this they will not be in your favor. Oh, +Betty, you cannot join because of Rule I.!" + +"And I will join," said Betty, "and I dare you to do your very worst!" + +"Very well, I have nothing more to say. I am sorry for you, Betty +Vivian. From this moment on remember that, whatever wrong thing you did +in the past, you are going to do doubly and trebly wrong in the future. +You are going to take a false vow, a vow you cannot keep. God help you! +you will be miserable enough! But even now there is time, for it is not +yet four o'clock. Oh, Betty, I haven't spoken of this to a soul; but can +you not reconsider?" + +"I mean to join," said Betty. "Rule I. will not, in my opinion, be +broken. The rule is that each member keeps no secret to herself which +the other members ought to know. Why ought they know what concerns only +me--me and my sisters?" + +"Do you think," said Fanny, bending towards her, and a queer change +coming over her face--"do you think for a single moment that you would +be made a Speciality if the girls of this school knew that you had told +my father a _lie_? I leave it to your conscience. I will say no more." + +Fanny walked out of the room, shutting the door carefully behind her. +Miss Symes came up presently. It was the custom of St. Cecilia to be +particularly kind to the girls who were in disgrace. Often and often +this most sweet woman brought them to see the error of their ways. Mrs. +Haddo had told her about Betty, and how endearing she had found her, and +what a splendid nature she fully believed the girl to possess. But when +Miss Symes, full of thoughts for Betty's comfort, entered the room, +followed by a servant bringing a little tray of temptingly prepared tea, +Betty's look was, to say the least of it, dour; she did not smile, she +scarcely looked up, there was no brightness in her eyes, and there were +certainly no smiles round her lips. + +"The tray there, please, Hawkins," said Miss Symes. The woman obeyed and +withdrew. + +"I am glad you have a fire, Betty, dear," said Miss Symes when the two +were alone. "Now, you must be really hungry, for you had what I consider +only a snatch-dinner. Shall I leave you alone to have your tea in +comfort, or would you like me to sit with you for a little?" + +"Oh, thanks so much!" replied Betty; "but I really would rather be +alone. I have a good deal to think over." + +"I am afraid, my dear child, you are not very well." + +"On the contrary, I never was better," was Betty's response. + +"Your headache quite gone?" + +"Quite," said Betty with an emphatic nod. + +"Well, dear, I am sorry you have had to undergo this unpleasant time of +solitary confinement. But our dear Mrs. Haddo is not really angry; she +knows quite well that you did not consider. She takes the deepest +interest in you, Betty, my child." + +"Oh, don't speak of her now, please!" said Betty with a sort of groan. +"I would rather be alone." + +"Haven't you a book of any sort? I will go and fetch one for you; and +you can turn on the electric light when it gets dark." + +"If you have something really interesting--that will make me forget +everything in the world except what I am reading--I should like it." + +Miss Symes went away, and returned in a few minutes with "Treasure +Island." Strange as it may seem, Betty had not yet read this wonderful +book. + +Without glancing at the girl, Miss Symes again left the room. In the +corridor she met Fanny Crawford. "Fanny," she said, "do you know what is +the matter with Betty Vivian?" + +Fanny smiled. "I have been to see her," she said. "Is she in bad +spirits? It didn't occur to me that she was." + +"Oh, you have been to see her, have you?" + +"Yes, only a short time ago. She looked very cold when I entered the +room; but I took the liberty to light the fire, and sat with her until +suddenly she got cross and turned me out. She is a very queer girl is +Betty." + +"A very fine girl, my dear!" + +Fanny made no response of any sort. She waited respectfully in case Miss +Symes should wish to say anything further. But Miss Symes had nothing +more to say; she only guessed that the change between the Betty in whom +Mrs. Haddo had been so interested, and the Betty she had found, must be +caused in some inexplicable way by Fanny Crawford. What was the matter +with Fanny? It seemed to Miss Symes that, since the day when she had +taken the girl into her full confidence with regard to the coming of the +Vivians, she was changed, and not for the better. There was a coldness, +an impatience, a want of spontaneity about her, which the teacher's +observant eye noticed, but, being in the dark as to the cause, could not +account for. + +Meanwhile Betty ate her tea ravenously, and when it was finished turned +on the electric light and read "Treasure Island." This book was so +fascinating that she forgot everything else in its perusal: the sealed +packet in its safe hiding-place, the Specialities themselves, the odious +Fanny Crawford, Rule I.--everything was forgotten. Presently she raised +her head with a start. It was half-past seven. Olive Repton was coming +to fetch her at five minutes to eight, when the Specialities were all +expected to assemble in Susie Rushworth's room. + +Betty put on a black dress that evening. It was made of a soft and +clinging material, and was sufficiently open at the neck to show the +rounded purity of the young girl's throat, and short in the sleeves to +exhibit the moldings of her arms. She was a beautifully made creature, +and black suited her almost better than white. Her curiously pale +face--which never had color, and yet never showed the slightest +indication of weak health--was paler than usual to-night; but her eyes +were darker and brighter, and there was a determination about her which +slightly altered the character of her expression. + +The twins came rushing in at ten minutes to eight. + +"Oh, Bet, you are ready!" exclaimed Sylvia. "You are going to become a +real Speciality! What glorious fun! How honored we'll be! I suppose you +won't let us into any of the secrets?" + +"Of course not, silly Sylvia!" replied Betty, smiling again at sight of +her sisters. "But I tell you what," she added; "if you both happen to be +awake when I come back, which I think very doubtful, I am going to tell +you what happened this morning--something too wonderful. Don't be too +excited about it, for it will keep until to-morrow; but think that I had +a marvelous adventure, and, oh, my dears, it had to do with dogs!" + +"Dogs!" cried both twins simultaneously. + +"Yes, such glorious darlings! Oh, I've no time now--I must be off! +Good-bye, both of you. Go to sleep if you like; I can tell you +everything in the morning." + +"I think we'll lie awake if it has anything to do with dogs," said +Hetty. "We have been starving for them ever since we came here." + +But Betty was gone. Olive took her hand. "Betty," she said as they +walked very quickly towards the other wing of the house, "I like you +better in black than in white. Black seems to bring out the +wonderful--oh, I don't know what to call it!--the wonderful difference +between you and other people." + +"Don't talk about me now," said Betty. "I am only one, and we shall be +seven in a very short time. Seven in one! Isn't it curious? A sort of +body composed of seven people!" + +"There'll be eight before long. The Specialities are going to be the +most important people this term, that I am quite sure of," said Olive. +"Well, here's Susie's room, and it wants two minutes to eight." + +Susie greeted her guests with much cordiality. They all found seats. +Supper was laid on a round table in one corner of the room. Olive, being +an old member, was quite at home, and handed round cups of cocoa and +delicious cakes to each of the girls. They ate and chatted, and when +Martha West made her appearance there was a shout of welcome from every +one. + +"Hail to the new Speciality!" exclaimed each girl in the room, Betty +Vivian alone excepted. + +Martha was a heavily made girl, with a big, sallow face; quantities of +black hair, which grew low on her forehead, and which, as no effort on +her part would keep it from falling down on one side, gave her a +somewhat untidy appearance; she had heavy brows, too, which were in +keeping with the general contour of her face, and rather small gray +eyes. There was no one, however, in the whole school who was better +loved than Martha West. Big and ungainly though she was, her voice was +one of the sweetest imaginable. She had also great force of character, +and was regarded as one of the strong girls of the school. She was +always helping others, was the soul of unselfishness, and although not +exactly clever, was plodding and persevering. She was absolutely without +self-consciousness; and when her companions welcomed her in this cheery +manner she smiled broadly, showing a row of pearly white teeth, and then +sat down on the nearest chair. + +When supper was over, Margaret Grant came forward and stood by the +little center-table, on which lay the vellum-bound book of the rules of +the club. Margaret opened it with great solemnity, and called to Betty +Vivian to stand up. + +"Betty Vivian," she said, "we agreed a week ago to-day to admit you to +the full membership of a Speciality. According to our usual custom, we +sent you a copy of the rules in order that you might study them in their +fullness. We now ask you if you have done so?" + +"I have," replied Betty. "I have read them, I should think, thirty or +forty times." + +"Are you prepared, Betty Vivian, to accept our rules and become a member +of the Specialities, or do you prefer your full liberty and to return to +the ordinary routine of the school? We, none of us, wish you to adopt +the rules as part of your daily life unless you are prepared to keep +them in their entirety." + +"I wish to be a Speciality," replied Betty. Then she added slowly--and +as she spoke she raised her brilliant eyes and fixed them on Fanny +Crawford's face--"I am prepared to keep the rules." + +"Thank you, Betty! Then I think, members, Betty Vivian can be admitted +as a member of our little society. Betty, simple as our rules are, they +comprise much: openness of heart, sisterly love, converse with great +thoughts, pleasure in its truest sense (carrying that pleasure still +further by seeing that others enjoy it as well as ourselves), respect to +all our teachers, and, above all things, forgetting ourselves and living +for others. You see, Betty Vivian, that though the rules are quite +simple, they are very comprehensive. You have had a week to study them. +Again I ask, are you prepared to accept them?" + +"Yes, I am prepared," said Betty; and again she flashed a glance at +Fanny Crawford. + +"Then I, as head of this little society for the time being, admit you as +a member. Please, Betty, accept this little true-lovers' knot, and wear +it this evening in your dress. Now, girls, let us every one cheer Betty +Vivian, and take her to our hearts as our true sister in the highest +sense of the word." + +The girls flocked round Betty and shook hands with her. Amongst those +who did so was Fanny Crawford. She squeezed Betty's hand significantly, +and at the same moment put her finger to her lips. This action was so +quick that only Betty observed it; but it told the girl that, now that +she had "crossed the Rubicon," Fanny would not be the one to betray her. + +Betty sank down on a chair. She felt excited, elated, pleased, and +horrified. The rest of the evening passed as a sort of dream. She could +scarcely comprehend what she had done. She was a Speciality. She was +bound by great and holy rules, and yet in reality she was a far lower +girl than she had ever been in all her life before. + +The rules were read aloud in their fullness to Martha West, and the +usual week's grace was accorded her. Then followed the fun, during the +whole of which time Betty was made the heroine of the occasion, as +Martha would doubtless be that day week. The girls chatted a great deal +to-night, and Betty was told of all the privileges which would now be +hers. She had never known until that moment that Mrs. Haddo, when she +found what excellent work the Speciality Club did in the school, had +fitted up a charming sitting-room for its members. Here, in winter, the +fire burned all day. Fresh flowers were always to be seen. Here were to +be found such books as those of Ruskin, Tennyson, Browning--in short, a +fine collection of the greater writers. Betty was told that she was now +free to enter this room; that, being a Speciality, she would be exempt +from certain small and irksome duties in order to give her more time to +attend to those broad rules of life which she had now adopted as her +code. + +Betty listened, and all the time, as she listened, her heart sank lower +and lower. Fanny did not even pretend to watch Betty now. She had, so to +speak, done with her. Fanny felt as sure as though some angel in the +room were recording the fact that Betty was now well started on the +downward track. She felt ashamed of her as a cousin. She felt the +greatest possible contempt for her. But if she was herself to keep Rule +I., she must force these feelings out of sight, and tolerate Betty until +she saw the error of her ways. + +"The less I have to do with her in the future the better," thought +Fanny. "It would be exceedingly unpleasant for me if it were known that +I had allowed her to be admitted without telling Margaret what I knew. +But, somehow, I couldn't do it. I thought Betty herself would be great +enough to withstand a paltry temptation of this sort. How different +Martha West is! She will be a famous stand-by for us all." + +The evening came to an end. The girls went down to prayers. + +Betty was now a Speciality. She wore the beautiful little silver badge +shining in the folds of her black evening frock. But she did not enjoy +the music in the chapel nor Mr. Fairfax's rendering of the evening +prayers as she had done when last she was there. Betty had a curious +faculty, however, which she now exercised. Hers was a somewhat complex +nature, and she could shut away unpleasant thoughts when she so desired. +She was a Speciality. She might not have become one but for Fanny. Mrs. +Haddo's influence, though unspoken, might have held her back. Margaret +Grant might have kept her from doing what she herself would have +scorned to do. But Fanny! Fanny had managed to bring out the worst in +Betty; and the worst in a character like hers was very vigorous, very +strong, very determined while it was in the ascendant. Instead of +praying to-night, she turned her thoughts to the various and delightful +things which would now be hers in the school. She would be regarded on +all hands with added respect. She would have the entree to the +Specialities' delightful sitting-room. She would be consulted by the +other girls of the upper school, for every one consulted the +Specialities on all manner of subjects. People would cease to speak of +her as "that new girl Betty Vivian;" but they would say when they saw +her approach, "Oh, she is one of the Specialities!" Her position in the +school to-night was assured. She was safe; and Fanny, with that swift +gesture, had indicated to her that she need not fear anything from her +lips. Fanny would be silent. No one else knew what Fanny knew. And, +after all, she had done no wrong, because her secret had nothing +whatever to do with the other members of the club. The wrong--the one +wrong--which she felt she had committed was in promising to love each +member as though she were her sister, especially as she had to include +Fanny Crawford in that number. But she would be kind to all, and perhaps +love might come--she was not sure. Fanny would be kind to her, of +course. In a sort of way they must be friends in the future. Oh, yes, it +was all right. + +She was startled when Olive Repton touched her. She rose from her knees +with a hot blush on her face. She had forgotten chapel, she had not +heard the words of the benediction. The girls streamed out, and went at +once to their respective bedrooms. + +Betty was glad to find her sisters asleep. After the exciting events of +that evening, even Dan and Beersheba had lost their charm. So weary was +she at that moment that she dropped her head on her pillow and fell +sound asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +A SPECIALITY ENTERTAINMENT + + +Certainly it was nice to be a Speciality. Even Fanny Crawford completely +altered her manner to Betty Vivian. There were constant and earnest +consultations amongst the members of the club in that charming +sitting-room. Betty, of course, was eagerly questioned, and Betty was +able to give daring and original advice. Whenever Betty spoke some one +laughed, or some one looked with admiration at her; and when she was +silent one or other of the girls said anxiously, "But do you approve, +Betty? If you don't approve we must think out something else." + +Betty soon entered into the full spirit of the thing, and one and all of +the girls--Fanny excepted--said that she was the most delightful +Speciality who had ever come to Haddo Court. During this time she was +bravely trying to keep her vows. She had bought a little copy of Jeremy +Taylor's "Holy Living," and read the required portion every day, but she +did not like it; it had to do with a life which at one time she would +have adored, but which now did not appeal to her. She liked that part of +each day which was given up to fun and frolic, and she dearly loved the +respect and consideration and admiration shown her by the other girls of +the school. + +It was soon decided that the next great entertainment of the +Specialities was to be given in Betty Vivian's bedroom. Each girl was to +subscribe three shillings, and the supper, in consequence, was to be +quite sumptuous. Fanny Crawford, as the most practical member, was to +provide the viands. She was to go into the village, accompanied by one +of the teachers, two days before the date arranged in order to secure +the most tempting cakes and pastry, and ginger-beer, and cocoa, and +potted meat for sandwiches. Betty wondered how the provisions could be +procured for so small a sum; but Fanny was by no means doubtful. + +Now, Betty had of worldly wealth the exact sum of two pounds ten +shillings; and when it is said that Betty possessed two pounds ten +shillings, this money was really not Betty's at all, but had to be +divided into three portions, for it was equally her sisters'. But as +Sylvia and Hester always looked upon Betty as their chief, and as +nothing mattered to them provided Betty was pleased, she gave three +shillings from this minute fund without even telling them that she had +done so. Then the invitations were sent round, and very neatly were they +penned by Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton. It was impossible to ask all +the girls of the school; but a select list from the girls in the upper +school was carefully made, each Speciality being consulted on this +point. + +Martha West, who was now a full-blown member, suggested Sibyl Ray at +once. + +Fanny gave a little frown of disapproval. "Martha," she said, "I must +say that I don't care for your Sibyl." + +"And I like her," replied Martha. "She is not your style, Fan; but she +just needs the sort of little help we can give her. We cannot expect +every one to be exactly like every one else, and Sibyl is not half bad. +It would hurt her frightfully if she were not invited to the first +entertainment after I have become a Speciality." + +"Well, that settles it," said Fanny in a cheerful tone; "she gets an +invitation of course." + +The teachers were never invited to these assemblies, but there was a +murmur of anticipation in the whole school when the invitations went +round. Who were to be the lucky ones? Who was to go? Who was not to go? +As a rule, it was so managed by the Specialities that the whole of the +upper school was invited once during the term to a delightful evening in +one of the special bedrooms. But the first invitation of the season--the +one after the admission of two new members, that extraordinary Betty +Vivian and dear, good old Martha West--oh, it was of intense interest to +know who were to go and who to stay behind! + +"I've got my invitation," said a fat young girl of the name of Sarah +Butt. + +"And I," "And I," "And I," said others. + +"I am left out," said a fifth. + +"Well, Janie, don't fret," said Sarah Butt; "your turn will come next +time." + +"But I did so want to see Betty Vivian! They say she is the life of the +whole club." + +"Silly!" exclaimed Sarah; "why, you see her every day." + +"Yes, but not as she is in the club. They all say that she is too +wonderful! Sometimes she sits down cross-legged and tells them stories, +and they get so excited they can't move. Oh, I say, do--do look! look +what is in the corner of your card, Sarah! 'After supper, story-telling +by Betty Vivian. Most of the lights down.' There, isn't it maddening! I +do call it a shame; they might have asked me!" + +"Well, I will tell you all the stories to-morrow," said Sarah. + +"You!" The voice was one of scorn. "Why, you can't tell a story to save +your life; whereas Betty, she looks a story herself all the time. She +has it in her face. I can never take my eyes off her when she is in the +room." + +"Well, I can't help it," answered Sarah. "I am glad I'm going, that is +all. The whole school could not be asked, for the simple reason that the +room wouldn't hold us. I shall be as green as grass when your invitation +comes, and now you must bear your present disappointment." + +Fanny Crawford made successful and admirable purchases. On the nights +when the Specialities entertained, unless it was midsummer, the girls +met at six-thirty, and the entertainment continued until nine. + +On that special evening Mrs. Haddo, for wise reasons all her own, +excused the Specialities and their guests from attending prayers in the +chapel. She had once made a little speech about this. "You will pray +earnestly in your rooms, dears, and thank God for your happy evening," +she had said; and from that moment the Specialities knew that they might +continue their enjoyment until nine o'clock. + +Oh, it was all fascinating! Betty was very grave. Her high spirits +deserted her that morning, and she went boldly to Mrs. Haddo--a thing +which few girls dared to do. + +Mrs. Haddo was seated by her fire. She was reading a new book which had +just been sent to her by post. "Betty, what do you want?" she said when +the girl entered. + +"May I take a very long walk all alone? Do you mind, Mrs. Haddo?" + +"Anywhere you like, dear, provided you do not leave the grounds." + +"But I want to leave the grounds, Mrs. Haddo." + +"No, dear Betty--not alone." + +Betty avoided the gaze of Mrs. Haddo, who looked up at her. Betty's +brilliant eyes were lowered, and the black, curling lashes lay on her +cheeks. + +Mrs. Haddo wanted to catch Betty's soul by means of her eyes, and so +draw her into communion with herself. "Betty, why do you want to walk +outside the grounds, and all alone?" + +"Restless, I suppose," answered Betty. + +"Is this club too exciting for you, my child?" + +"Oh no, I love it!" said Betty. Her manner changed at the moment. "And, +please, don't take my hand. I--oh, it isn't that I don't want to hold +your hand; but I--I am not worthy! Of course I will stay in the grounds +to please you. Good-bye." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +A VERY EVENTFUL DAY + + +Having got leave to take her walk, Betty started off with vigor. The +fresh, keen air soothed her depressed spirits; and soon she was racing +wildly against the gale, the late autumn leaves falling against her +dress and face as she ran. She would certainly keep her word to Mrs. +Haddo, although her desire--if she had a very keen desire at that +moment--was again to vault over those hideous prison-bars, and reach the +farm, and receive the caresses of Dan and Beersheba. But a promise is a +promise, and this could not be thought of. She determined, therefore, to +tire herself out by walking. + +She had managed to avoid all her companions. The Specialities were very +much occupied making arrangements for the evening. The twins had found +friends of their own, and were happily engaged. No one noticed Betty as +she set forth. She walked as far as the deserted gardens. Then she +crossed the waste land, and stood for a minute looking at that poor +semblance of Scotch heather which grew in an exposed corner. She felt +inclined to kick it, so great was her contempt for the flower which +could not bloom out of its native soil. Then suddenly her mood changed. +She fell on her knees, found a bit of heather which still had a few +nearly withered bells on it; and, raising it tenderly to her lips, +kissed it. "Poor little exile!" she said. "Well, I am an exile too!" + +She rose and skirted the waste land; at one side there was a somewhat +steep incline which led through a plantation to a more cultivated part +of the extensive grounds. Betty had never been right round the grounds +of Haddo Court before, and was pleased at their size, and, on a day like +this, at their wildness. She tried to picture herself back in Scotland. +Once she shut her eyes for a minute, and bringing her vivid imagination +to her aid, seemed to see Donald Macfarlane and Jean Macfarlane in their +cosy kitchen; while Donald said, "It'll be a braw day to-morrow;" or +perhaps it was the other way round, and Jean remarked, "There'll be a +guid sprinklin' o' snaw before mornin', or I am much mistook." + +Betty sighed, and walked faster. By-and-by, however, she stood still. +She had come suddenly to the stump of an old tree. It was a broken and +very aged stump, and hollow inside. Betty stood close to it. The next +moment, prompted by an uncontrollable instinct, she thrust in her hand +and pulled out a little sealed packet. She looked at it wildly for a +minute, then put it back again. It was quite safe in this hiding-place, +for she had placed it in a corner of the old stump where it was +sheltered from the weather, and yet could never by any possibility be +seen unless the stump was cut down. She had scarcely completed this +action before a voice from behind caused her to jump and start. + +"Whatever are you doing by that old stump of a tree, Betty?" + +Betty turned swiftly. The color rushed to her face, leaving it the next +instant paler than ever. She was confronted by the uninteresting and +very small personality of Sibyl Ray. + +"I am doing nothing," said Betty. "What affair is it of yours?" + +"Oh, I am not interested," said Sibyl. "I was just taking a walk all +alone, and I saw you in the distance; and I rushed up that steep path +yonder as fast as I could, hoping you would let me join you and talk to +you. You know I am going to be present at your Speciality party +to-night. I do admire you so very much, Betty! Then, just as I was +coming near, you thrust your hand down into that old stump, and you +certainly did take something out. Was it a piece of wood, or what? I saw +you looking at it, and then you dropped it in again. It looked like a +square piece of wood, as far as I could tell from the distance. What +were you doing with it? It was wood, was it not?" + +"If you like to think it was wood, it was wood," replied Betty. Here was +another lie! Betty's heart sank very low. "I wish you would go away, +Sibyl," she said, "and not worry me." + +"Oh, but mayn't I walk with you? What harm can I do? And I do admire you +so immensely! And won't you take the thing out of the tree again and let +me see it? I want to see it ever so badly." + +"No, I am sure I won't. You can poke for it yourself whenever you +please," said Betty. "Now, come on, if you are coming." + +"Oh, may I come with you really?" + +"I can't prevent you, Sibyl. As a matter of fact, I was going out for a +walk all alone; but as you are determined to bear me company, you must." + +Betty felt seriously alarmed. She must take the first possible +opportunity to get the precious packet out of its present hiding-place +and dispose of it elsewhere. But where? That was the puzzle. And how +soon could she manage this? How quickly could she get rid of Sibyl Ray? + +Sibyl's small, pale-blue eyes were glittering with curiosity. Betty felt +she must manage her. Then suddenly, by one of those quick transitions of +thought, Rule VI. occurred to her. It was her duty to be kind to Sibyl, +even though she did not like her. She would, therefore, now put forth +her charm for the benefit of this small, unattractive girl. She +accordingly began to chatter in her wildest and most fascinating way. +Sibyl was instantly convulsed with laughter, and forgot all about the +old stump of tree and the bit of wood that Betty had fished out, looked +at, and put back again. The whole matter would, of course, recur to +Sibyl by-and by; but at present she was absorbed in the great delight of +Betty's conversation. + +"Oh, Betty, I do admire you!" she said. + +"Well, now, listen to one thing," said Betty. "I hate flattery." + +"But it isn't flattery if I mean what I say. If I do admire a person I +say so. Now, I admire our darling Martha West. She has always been kind +to me. Martha is a dear, a duck; but, of course, she doesn't fascinate +in the way you do. Several of the other girls in my form--I'm in the +upper fifth, you know--have been talking about you and wondering where +your charm lay. For you couldn't be called exactly pretty; although, of +course, that very black hair of yours, and those curious eyes which are +no color in particular, and yet seem to be every color, and your pale +face, make you quite out of the common. We love your sisters too; they +are darlings, but neither of them is like you. Still, you're not exactly +pretty. You haven't nearly such straight and regular features as Olive +Repton; you're not as pretty, even, as Fanny Crawford. Of course Fan's a +dear old thing--one of the very best girls in the school; and she is +your cousin, isn't she, Betty?" + +"Yes." + +"Betty, it is delightful to walk with you! And isn't it just wonderful +to think that you've not been more than a few weeks in the school before +you are made a Speciality, and with all the advantages of one? Oh, it +does seem quite too wonderful!" + +"I am glad you think so," said Betty. + +"But it is very extraordinary. I don't think it has ever been done +before. You see, your arrival at the school and everything else was +completely out of the common. You didn't come at the beginning of term, +as most new girls do; you came when term was quite a fortnight old; and +you were put straight away into the upper school without going through +the drudgery, or whatever you may like to call it, of the lower school. +Oh, I do--yes, I do--call it perfectly wonderful! I suppose you are +eaten up with conceit?" + +"No, I am not," said Betty. "I am not conceited at all. Now listen, +Sibyl. You are to be a guest, are you not, at our Speciality party +to-night?" + +"Of course I am; and I am so fearfully excited, more particularly as you +are going to tell stories with the lights down. I'm going to wear a +green dress; it's a gauzy sort of stuff that my aunt has just sent me, +and I think it will suit me very well indeed. Oh, it is fun to think of +this evening!" + +"Yes, of course it's fun," said Betty. "Now, I tell you what. Why don't +you go into the front garden and ask the gardener for permission to get +a few small marguerite daisies, and then make them into a very simple +wreath to twine round your hair? The daisies would suit you so well; you +don't know how nice they'll make you look." + +"Will they?" said Sibyl, her eyes sparkling. "Do you really think so?" + +"Of course I think so. I have pictures of all the girls in my mind; and +I often shut my eyes and think how such a girl would look if she were +dressed in such a way, and how such another girl would look if she wore +something else." + +"And when you think of me?" said Sibyl. + +But Betty had never thought of Sibyl. She was silent. + +"And when you think of me?" repeated Sibyl, her face beaming all over +with delight. "You think of me, do you, darling Betty, as wearing green, +with a wreath of marguerites in my hair?" + +"Yes, that is how I think of you," said Betty. + +"Very well, I'll go and find the gardener. Mrs. Haddo always allows us +to have cut flowers that the gardener gives us." + +"Don't have the wreath too big," said Betty; "and be sure you get the +gardener to choose small marguerites. Now, be off--won't you?--for I +want to continue my walk." + +Sibyl, in wild delight, rushed into one of the flower-gardens. Betty +watched her till she was quite out of sight. Then, quick as thought, she +retraced her steps. She must find another hiding-place for the packet. +With Sibyl's knowledge, her present position was one of absolute danger. +Sibyl would tell every girl she knew all about Betty's action when she +stood by the broken stump of the old tree. She would describe how Betty +thrust in her hand and took something out, looked at it, and put it back +again. The girls would go in a body, and poke, and examine, and try to +discover for themselves what Betty had taken out of the trunk of the old +oak-tree. Betty must remove the sealed packet at once, or it would be +discovered. + +"What a horrible danger!" thought the girl. "But I am equal to it." + +She ran with all her might and main, and presently, reaching the tree, +thrust her hand in, found the brown packet carefully tied up and sealed, +and slipped it into her pocket. Quite close by was a little broken +square of wood. Betty, hating herself for doing so, dropped it into the +hollow of the tree. The bit of wood would satisfy the girls, for Sibyl +had said that Betty had doubtless found some wood. Having done this, she +set off to retrace her steps again, going now in the direction of the +deserted gardens and the patch of common. She had no spade with her, +but that did not matter. She went to the corner where the heather was +growing. Very carefully working round a piece with her fingers, she +loosened the roots; they had gone deep down, as is the fashion with +heather. She slipped the packet underneath, replaced the heather, kissed +it, said, "I am sorry to disturb you, darling, but you are doing a great +work now;" and then, wiping the mud from her fingers, she walked slowly +home. + +The packet would certainly be safe for a day or two under the Scotch +heather, which, as a matter of fact, no one thought of interfering with +from one end of the year to another. Before Betty left this corner of +the common she took great care to remove all trace of having disturbed +the heather. Then she walked back to the Court, her heart beating high. +The tension within her was so great as to be almost unendurable. But she +would not swerve from the path she had chosen. + +On the occasion of the Specialities' first entertainment, Betty Vivian, +by request, wore white. Her sisters, who of course would be amongst the +guests, also wore white. The little beds had been removed to a distant +part of the room, where a screen was placed round them. All the toilet +apparatus was put out of sight. Easy-chairs and elegant bits of +furniture were brought from the other rooms. Margaret Grant lent her own +lovely vases, which were filled with flowers from the gardens. The +beautiful big room looked fresh and fragrant when the Specialities +assembled to welcome their guests. Betty stood behind Margaret. Martha +West--a little ungainly as usual, but with her strong, firm, reliable +face looking even stronger and more reliable since she had joined the +great club of the school--was also in evidence. Fanny Crawford stood +close to Betty. Just once she looked at her, and then smiled. Betty +turned when she did so, and greeted that smile with a distinct frown of +displeasure. Yet every one knew that Betty was to be the heroine of the +evening. + +Punctual to the minute the guests arrived--Sibyl Ray in her vivid-green +dress, with the marguerites in her hair. + +No one made any comment as the little girl came forward; only, a minute +later, Fanny whispered to Betty, "What a ridiculous and conceited idea! +I wonder who put it into her head?" + +"I did," said Betty very calmly; "But she hasn't arranged them quite +right." She left her place, and going up to Sibyl, said a few words to +her. Sibyl flushed and looked lovingly into Betty's face. Betty then +took Sibyl behind the screen, and, lo and behold! her deft fingers put +the tiny wreath into a graceful position; arranged the soft, light hair +so as to produce the best possible effect; twisted a white sash round +the gaudy green dress, to carry out the idea of the marguerites; and +brought Sibyl back, charmed with her appearance, and looking for once +almost pretty. + +"What a wonder you are, Betty!" said Martha West in a pleased tone. +"Poor little Sib, she doesn't understand how to manage the flowers!" + +"She looks very nice now," said Betty. + +"It was sweet of you to do it for her," said Martha. "And, you know, she +quite worships you; she does, really." + +"There was nothing in my doing it," replied Betty. She felt inclined to +add, "For she was particularly obliging to me to-day;" but she changed +these words into, "I suggested the idea, so of course I had to see it +carried out properly." + +"The white sash makes all the difference," said Martha. "You are quite a +genius, Betty!" + +"Oh no," said Betty. She looked for a minute into Martha's small, gray, +very honest eyes, and wished with all her heart and soul that she could +change with her. + +The usual high-jinks and merriment went on while the eatables were +being discussed. But when every one had had as much as she could consume +with comfort, and the oranges, walnuts, and crackers were put aside for +the final entertainment, Margaret (being at present head-girl of the +Specialities) proposed round games for an hour. "After that," she said, +"we will ask Betty Vivian to tell us stories." + +"Oh, but we all want the stories now!" exclaimed several voices. + +Margaret laughed. "Do you know," she said, "it is only a little past +seven o'clock, and we cannot expect poor Betty to tell stories for close +on two hours? We'll play all sorts of pleasant and exciting games until +eight o'clock, and then perhaps Betty will keep her word." + +Betty had purposely asked to be excused from joining in these games, and +every one said she understood the reason. Betty was too precious and +valuable and altogether fascinating to be expected to rush about playing +Blind-Man's Buff, and Puss-in-the-Corner, and Charades, and Telegrams, +and all those games which schoolgirls love. + +The sound from the Vivians' bedroom was very hilarious for the next +three-quarters of an hour; but presently Margaret came forward and asked +all the girls if they would seat themselves, as Betty was going to tell +stories. + +"With the lights down! Oh, please, please, don't forget that! All the +lights down except one," said Susie Rushworth. + +"Yes, with all the lights down except one," said Margaret. "Betty, will +you come and sit here? We will cluster round in a semi-circle. We shall +be in shadow, but there must be sufficient light for us to see your +face." + +The lights were arranged to produce this effect. There was now only one +light in the room, and that streamed over Betty as she sat cross-legged +on the floor, her customary attitude when she was thoroughly at home and +excited. There was not a scrap of self-consciousness about Betty at +these moments. She had been working herself up all day for the time when +she might pour out her heart. At home she used to do so for the benefit +of Donald and Jean Macfarlane and of her little sisters. But, up to the +present, no one at school had heard of Betty's wild stories. At last, +however, an opportunity had come. She forgot all her pain in the +exercise of her strong faculty for narrative. + +"I see something," she began. She had rather a thrilling voice--not +high, but very clear, and with a sweet ring in it. "I see," she +continued, looking straight before her as she spoke, "a great, great, a +very great plain. And it is night, or nearly so--I mean it is dusk; for +there is never actual night in my Scotland in the middle of summer. I +see the great plain, and a girl sitting in the middle of it, and the +heather is beginning to come out. It has been asleep all the winter; but +it is coming out now, and the air is full of music. For, of course, you +all understand," she continued--bending forward so that her eyes shone, +growing very large, and at the same moment black and bright--"you all +know that the great heather-plants are the last homes left in England +for the fairies. The fairies live in the heather-bells; and during the +winter, when the heather is dead, the poor fairies are cold, being +turned out of their homes." + +"Where do they go, then, I wonder?" asked a muffled voice in the +darkened circle of listeners. + +"Back to the fairies' palace, of course, underground," said Betty. "But +they like the world best, they're such sociable little darlings; and +when the heather-bells are coming out they all return, and each fairy +takes possession of a bell and lives there. She makes it her home. And +the brownies--they live under the leaves of the heather, and attend to +the fairies, and dance with them at night just over the vast heather +commons. Then, by a magical kind of movement, each little fairy sets her +own heather-bell ringing, and you can't by any possibility imagine what +the music is like. It is so sweet--oh, it is so sweet that no music one +has ever heard, made by man, can compare to it! You can imagine for +yourselves what it is like--millions upon millions of bells of heather, +and millions upon millions of fairies, and each little bell ringing its +own sweet chime, but all in the most perfect harmony. Well, that is what +the fairies do." + +"Have you ever seen them?" asked the much-excited voice of Susie +Rushworth. + +"I see them now," said Betty. She shut her eyes as she spoke. + +"Oh, do tell us what they are like?" asked a girl in the background. + +Betty opened her eyes wide. "I couldn't," she answered. "No one can +describe a fairy. You've got to see it to know what it is like." + +"Tell us more, please, Betty?" asked an eager voice. + +"Give me a minute," said Betty. She shut her eyes. Her face was deadly +white. Presently she opened her eyes again. "I see the same great, vast +moor, and it is winter-time, and the moor from one end to the other is +covered--yes, covered--with snow. And there's a gray house built of +great blocks of stone--a very strong house, but small; and there's a +kitchen in that house, and an old man with grizzled hair sits by the +fire, and a dear old woman sits near him, and there are two dogs lying +by the hearth. I won't tell you their names, for their names are--well, +sacred. The old man and woman talk together, and presently girls come in +and join them and talk to them for a little bit. Then one of the girls +goes out all alone, for she wants air and freedom, and she is never +afraid on the vast white moor. She walks and walks and walks. Presently +she loses sight of the gray house; but she is not afraid, for fear never +enters her breast. She walks so fast that her blood gets very warm and +tingles within her, and she feels her spirits rising higher and higher; +and she thinks that the moor covered with snow is even more lovely and +glorious than the moor was in summer, when the fairy bells were ringing +and the fairies were dancing all over the place. + +"I see her," continued Betty; "she is tired, and yet not tired. She has +walked a very long way, and has not met one soul. She is very glad of +that; she loves great solitudes, and she passionately loves nature and +cold cannot hurt her when her heart is so warm and so happy. But +by-and-by she thinks of the old couple by the fireside and of the girls +she has left behind. She turns to go back. I see her when she turns." +Betty paused a minute. "The sky is very still," she continued. "The sky +has millions of stars blazing in its blue, and there isn't a cloud +anywhere; and she clasps her hands with ecstasy, and thanks God for +having made such a beautiful world. Then she starts to go home; but----" + +Up to this point Betty's voice was glad and triumphant. Now its tone +altered. "I see her. She is warm still, and her heart glows with +happiness; and she does not want anything else in all the world except +the gray house and the girls she left behind, and the dogs by the +fireside, and the old couple in the kitchen. But presently she discovers +that, try as she will, and walk as hard as she may, she cannot find the +gray stone house. She is not frightened--that isn't a bit her way; but +she knows at once what has happened, for she has heard of such things +happening to others. + +"It is midnight--a bitterly cold midnight--and she is lost in the snow! +She knows it. She does not hesitate for a single minute what to do, for +the old man in the gray house has told her so many stories about other +people who have been lost in the snow. He has told her how they fell +asleep and died, and she knows quite well that she must not fall asleep. +When the morning dawns she will find her way back right enough; but +there are long, long hours between now and the morning. She finds a +place where the snow is soft, and she digs and digs in it, and then lies +down in it and covers herself up. The snow is so dry that even with the +heat of her body it hardly melts at all, and the great weight of snow +over her keeps her warm. So now she knows she is all right, provided +always she does not go to sleep. + +"She is the sort of girls who will never, by any possibility, give in +while there is the most remote chance of her saving the situation. She +has covered every scrap of herself except her face, and she is--oh, +quite warm and comfortable! And she knows that if she keeps her thoughts +very busy she may not sleep. There is no clock anywhere near, there is +no sound whatever to break the deep stillness. The only way she can keep +herself awake is by thinking. So she thinks very hard. That girl has +often had a hard think--a very hard think--in the course of her life; +but never, never one like this before, when she buries herself in the +snow and forces her brain to keep her body awake. + +"She tries first of all to count the minutes as they pass; but that is +sleepy work, more particularly as she is tired, and really sometimes +almost forgets herself for a minute. So she works away at some stiff, +long sums in arithmetic, doing mental arithmetic as rapidly as ever she +can. And so one hour passes, perhaps two. At the end of the second hour +something very strange happens. All of a sudden she feels that +arithmetic is pure nonsense--that it never leads anywhere nor does any +one any good; and she feels also that never in the whole course of her +life has she lain in a snugger bed than her snow-bed. And she remembers +the fairies and their music in the middle of the summer night; +and--hark! hark!--she hears them again! Why have they left their palace +underground to come and see her? It is sweet of them, it is beautiful! +They sit on her chest, they press close to her face, they kiss her with +their wee lips, they bring comforting thoughts into her heart, they +whisper lovely things into her ears. She has not felt alone from the +very first; but now that the fairies have come she never, never could be +happier than she is now. And then, away from the fairies (who stay close +to her all the time), she lifts her eyes and looks at the stars; and oh, +the stars are so bright! And, somehow, she remembers that God is up +there; and she thinks about white-clad angels who came down once, +straight from the stars, by means of a ladder, to help a good man in a +Bible story; and she really sees the ladder again, and the angels going +up and coming down--going up and coming down--and she gives a cry and +says, 'Oh, take me too! Oh, take me too!' One angel more beautiful than +she could possibly describe comes towards her, and the fairies give a +little cry--for, sweet as they are, they have nothing to do with +angels--and disappear. The angel has his strong arms round her, and he +says, 'Your bed of snow is not so beautiful as where you shall lie in +the land where no trouble can come.' Then she remembers no more." + +At this point in her narrative Betty made a dramatic pause. Then she +continued abruptly and in an ordinary tone, "It is the dogs who find +her, and they dig her out of the snow, and the dear old shepherd and his +wife and some other people come with them; and so she is brought back to +the gray house, and never reaches the open doors where the angels ladder +would have led her through. She is sorry--for days she is terribly +sorry; for she is ill, and suffers a good bit of pain. But she is all +right again now; only, somehow, she can never forget that experience. I +think I have told you all I can tell you to-night." + +Instantly, at a touch, the lights were turned on again, and the room was +full of brilliancy. Betty jumped up from her posture on the floor. The +girls flocked round her. + +"But, oh Betty! Betty! say, please say, was it you?" + +"I am going to reveal no secrets," said Betty. "I said I saw the girl. +Well, I did see her." + +"Then she must have been you! She must have been you!" echoed voice +after voice. "And were you really nearly killed in the snow? And did you +fall asleep in your snow-bed? And did--oh, did the fairies come, and +afterwards the angels? Oh Betty, do tell!" + +But Betty's lips were mute. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A SPOKE IN HER WHEEL + + +If Betty Vivian really wished to keep her miserable secret, she had done +wisely in removing the little packet from its shelter in the trunk of +the old oak-tree; for of course Sibyl remembered it in the night, +although Betty's wonderful story had carried her thoughts far away from +such trivial matters for the time being. Nevertheless, when she awoke in +the night, and thought of the fairies in the heather, and of the girl +lying in the snow-bed, she thought also of Betty standing by the stump +of a tree and removing something from within, looking at it, and putting +it back again. + +Sibyl, therefore, took the earliest opportunity of telling her special +friends that there was a treasure hidden in the stump of the old tree. +In short, she repeated Betty's exact action, doing so in the presence of +Martha West. + +Martha was a girl who invariably kept in touch with the younger girls. +There are girls who in being removed from a lower to an upper school +cannot stand their elevation, and are apt to be a little queer and +giddy; they have not quite got their balance. Such girls could not fall +into more excellent hands than those of Martha. She heard Sibyl now +chatting to a host of these younger girls, and, catching Betty's name, +asked immediately what it was all about. Sibyl repeated the story with +much gusto. + +"And Betty did look queer!" she added. "I asked her if it was a piece of +wood, and she said 'Yes;' but, all the same, she didn't like me to see +her. Of course she's a darling--there's no one like her; and she +recovered herself in a minute, and walked with me a long way, and then +suggested that I should wear the marguerites. Of course I had to go into +the flower-garden to find Birchall and coax him to cut enough for me. +Then I had to get Sarah Butt to help me to make the wreath, for I never +made a wreath before in my life. But Sarah would do anything in the +world that Betty suggested, she is so frightfully fond of her." + +"We are all fond of her, I think," said Martha. + +"Well, then she went off for a walk by herself, and I don't think she +came in until quite late." + +"You don't know anything about it," said Martha. "Now, look here, girls, +don't waste your time talking rubbish. You are very low down in the +school compared to Betty Vivian, and, compared to Betty Vivian, you are +of no account whatever, for she is a Speciality, and therefore holds a +position all her own. Love her as much as you like, and admire her, for +she is worthy of admiration. But if I were you, Sibyl, I wouldn't tell +tales out of school. Let me tell you frankly that you had no right to +rush up to Betty when she was alone and ask her what she was doing. She +was quite at liberty to thrust her hand into an old tree as often as +ever she liked, and take some rubbish out, and look at it, and drop it +in again. You are talking sheer folly. Do attend to your work, or you'll +be late for Miss Skeene when she comes to give her lecture on English +literature." + +No girl could ever be offended by Martha, and the work continued +happily. But during recess that day Sibyl beckoned her companions away +with her; and she, followed by five or six girls of the lower fifth, +visited the spot where Betty had stood on the previous evening. Betty +was much taller than any of these girls, and they found when they +reached the old stump that it was impossible for them to thrust their +hands in. But this difficulty was overcome by Sibyl volunteering to sit +on Mabel Lee's shoulders--and, if necessary, even to stand on her +shoulders while the other girls held her firm--in order that she might +thrust her hand into the hollow of the oak-tree. This feat was +accomplished with some difficulty, but nothing whatever was brought up +except withered leaves and debris and a broken piece of wood much +saturated with rain. + +"This must have been what she saw," said Sibyl. "I asked her if it was +wood, and I think she said it was. Only, why did she look so very +queer?" + +The girls continued their walk, but Martha West stayed at home. +She had hushed the remarks made by the younger girls that morning, +nevertheless she could not get them out of her mind. Sibyl's story was +circumstantial. She had described Betty's annoyance and distress when +they met, Betty's almost confusion. She had then said that it was Betty +who suggested that she was to wear the marguerites. + +Now Martha, in her heart of hearts, thought this suggestion of Betty's +very far-fetched; and being a very shrewd, practical sort of girl, there +came an awful moment when she almost made up her mind that Betty had +done this in order to get rid of Sibyl. Why did she want to get rid of +her? Martha began to believe that she was growing quite uncharitable. + +At that moment, who should appear in sight, who should utter a cry of +satisfaction and seat herself cosily by Martha's side, but Fanny +Crawford! + +"This is nice," said Fanny with a sigh. "I did so want to chat with you, +Martha. I so seldom see you quite all by yourself." + +"I am always to be seen if you really wish to find me, Fanny," replied +Martha. "I am never too busy not to be delighted to see my friends." + +"Well, of course we are friends, being Specialities," was Fanny's +remark. + +"Yes," answered Martha, "and I think we were friends before. I always +liked you just awfully, Fan." + +"Ditto, ditto," replied Fanny. "It is curious," she continued, speaking +in a somewhat sententious voice, "how one is drawn irresistibly to one +girl and repelled by another. Now, I was always drawn to you, Matty; I +always liked you from the very, very first. I was more than delighted +when I heard that you were to become one of us." + +Martha was silent. It was not her habit to praise herself, nor did she +care to hear herself praised. She was essentially downright and honest. +She did not think highly of herself, for she knew quite well that she +had very few outward charms. + +Fanny, however, who was the essence of daintiness, looked at her now +with blue-gray eyes full of affection. "Martha," she said, "I have such +a lot to talk over! What did you think of last night?" + +"I thought it splendid," replied Martha. + +"And Betty--what did you think of Betty?" + +"Your cousin? She is very dramatic," said Martha. + +"Yes, that is it," replied Fanny; "she is dramatic in everything. I +doubt if she is ever natural or her true self." + +"Fanny!" + +"Oh, dear old Martha, don't be so frightfully prim! I don't intend to +break Rule No. I. Of course I love Betty. As a matter of fact, I have +loved her before any of you set eyes on her. She is my very own cousin, +and but for father's strong influence would never have been at this +school at all. Still, I repeat that she is dramatic and hardly ever +herself." + +"She puzzles me, I confess," said Martha, a little dubiously; "but +then," she added, "I can't help yielding to her charm." + +"That is it," said Fanny--"her charm. But look down deep into your +heart, Martha, and tell me if you think her charm healthy." + +"Well, I see nothing wrong about it." Then Martha became abruptly +silent. + +"For instance," said Fanny, pressing a little closer to her companion, +"why ever did she make your special protege Sibyl Ray such a figure of +fun last night?" + +"I thought Sibyl looked rather pretty." + +"When she entered the room, Martha?" + +"Oh no; she was quite hideous then, poor little thing! But Betty soon +put that all right; she had very deft fingers." + +"I know," said Fanny. "But what I want to have explained is this: why +Betty, a girl who is more or less worshiped by half the girls in the +school, should trouble herself with such a very unimportant person as +Sibyl Ray, I want to know. Can you tell me?" + +"Even if I could tell you, remembering Rule No. I., I don't think I +would," said Martha. + +Fanny sat very still for a minute or two. Then she got up. "I don't +see," she remarked, "why Rule No. I. should make us unsociable each with +the other. The very object of our club is that we should have no +secrets, but should be quite open and above-board. Now, Martha West, +look me straight in the face!" + +"I will, Fanny Crawford. What in the world are you accusing me of?" + +"Of keeping something back from me which, as a member of the +Specialities, you have no right whatever to do." + +A slow, heavy blush crept over Martha's face. She got up. "I am going to +look over my German lesson," she said. "Fraeulein will want me almost +immediately." Then she left Fanny, who stared after her retreating +figure. + +"I will find out," thought Fanny, "what Martha is keeping to herself. +That little horror Betty will sow all kinds of evil seed in the school +if I don't watch her. I did wrong to promise her, by putting my finger +to my lips, that I would be silent with regard to her conduct. I see it +now. But if Betty supposes that she can keep her secret to herself she +is vastly mistaken. Hurrah, there's Sibyl Ray! Sib, come here, child; I +want to have a chat with you." + +It was a bitterly cold and windy day outside; there were even +sleet-showers falling at intervals. Winter was coming on early, and with +a vengeance. + +"Why have you come in?" asked Fanny. + +"It's so bitterly cold out, Fanny." + +"Well, sit down now you are in. You are a nice little thing, you know, +Sib, although at present you are very unimportant. You know that, of +course?" + +"Yes," said Sibyl; "I am told it nearly every hour of the day." She +spoke in a wistful tone. "Sometimes," she added, "I could almost wish I +were back in the lower school, where I was looked up to by the smaller +girls and had a right good time." + +"We can never go back, Sib; that is the law of life." + +"Of course not." + +"Well, sit down and talk to me. Now, I have something to say to you. Do +you know that I am devoured with curiosity, and all about a small girl +like yourself?" + +"Oh Fanny," said Sibyl, immensely flattered, "I am glad you take an +interest in me!" + +"I must be frank," said Fanny. "Up to the present I have taken no +special interest in you, except in so far as you are Martha's protege; +but when I saw you in that extraordinary dress last night I singled you +out at once as a girl with original ideas. Do look me in the face, Sib!" + +Sibyl turned. Fanny's face was exquisitely chiselled. Each neat little +feature was perfect. Her eyes were large and well-shaped, her brows +delicately marked, her complexion pure lilies and roses; her hair was +thick and smooth, and yet there were little ripples about it which gave +it, even in its schoolgirl form, a look of distinction. Sibyl, on the +contrary, was an undersized girl, with the fair, colorless face, +pale-blue eyes, the lack of eyebrows and eyelashes, the hair thin and +small in quantity, which make the most hopeless type of all as regards +good looks. + +"I wonder, Sib," said Fanny, "if you, you little mite, are really eaten +up with vanity?" + +"I--vain! Why should you say so?" + +"I only thought it from your peculiar dress last night." + +Sibyl colored and spoke eagerly. "Oh, but that wasn't me at all; it was +that quite too darling Betty!" + +"Do you mean my cousin, Betty Vivian?" + +"Of course, who else?" + +"Well, what had she to do with it?" + +"I will tell you if you like, Fanny. She didn't expect me to keep it a +secret. I met her when I was out----" + +"You--met Betty--when you were out?" + +"Yes." There was a kind of reserve in Sibyl's tone which made Fanny +scent a possible mystery. + +"Where did you meet her?" was the next inquiry. + +"Well, she was standing by the stump of an old tree which is hollow +inside. It is just at the top of the hill by the bend, exactly where the +hill goes down towards the 'forest primeval.'" + +"Can't say I remember it," said Fanny. "Go on, Sib. So Betty was +standing there?" + +"Yes, oh yes. I saw her in the distance. I was expecting to meet Clarice +and Mary Moss; but they failed me, although they had faithfully promised +to come. So when I saw Betty I could not resist running up to her; but +when I got quite close I stood still." + +"Well, you stood still. Why?" + +"Oh Fan, she was doing such a funny thing! She was bending down and +looking over into the hollow of the tree. Then, all of a sudden, she +thrust her hand in--far down--and took something out of the tree and +looked at it. I could just catch sight of what it was----" + +"Yes, go on. What was it? Don't be afraid of me, Sib. I have a lot of +chocolates in my pocket that I will give you presently." + +"Oh thank you, Fanny! It is nice to talk to you. I couldn't see very +distinctly what she had in her hand, only she was staring at it, and +staring at it; and then she dropped it in again, right down into the +depths of the tree; and I saw her bending more than ever, as though she +were covering it up." + +"But you surely saw what it was like?" + +"It might have been anything--I wasn't very near then. I ran up to her, +and asked her what it was." + +"And what did she say?" + +"Oh, she said it was a piece of wood, and that she had dropped it into +the tree." + +Fanny sat very still. A coldness came over her. She was nearly stunned +with what she considered the horror of Betty's conduct. + +"What is the matter?" asked Sibyl. + +"Nothing at all, Sib; nothing at all. And then, what happened?" + +"Betty was very cross at being disturbed." + +"That is quite probable," said Fanny with a laugh. + +"She certainly was, and I--I--I am afraid I annoyed her; but after a +minute or two she got up and allowed me to walk with her. We walked +towards the house, and she told me all kinds of funny stories; she +really made me scream with laughter. She is the jolliest girl! Then, all +of a sudden, we came in sight of the flower-gardens; and she asked me +what I was going to wear last night, and I told her about the green +chiffon dress which auntie had sent me; and then she suggested a wreath +of small marguerites, and told me to get Birchall to cut some for me. +She said they would be very becoming, and of course I believed her. +There's nothing in my story, is there, Fanny?" + +"That depends on the point of view," answered Fanny. + +"I don't understand you." + +"Nor do I mean you to, kiddy." + +"Well, there's one thing more," continued Sibyl, who felt much elated at +being allowed to talk to one of the most supercilious of all the +Specialities. "I couldn't get out of my head about Betty and the +oak-tree; so just now--a few minutes ago--I got some of my friends to +come with me, and we went to the oak-tree, and I stood on Mabel Lee's +shoulder, and I poked and poked amongst the debris and rubbish in the +hollow of the trunk, and there was nothing there at all--nothing except +just a piece of wood. So, of course, Betty spoke the truth--it was +wood." + +"How many chocolates would you like?" was Fanny's rejoinder. + +"Oh Fanny, are you going to give me some?" + +"Yes, if you are a good girl, and don't tell any one that you repeated +this very harmless and uninteresting little story to me about my Cousin +Betty. Of course she is my cousin, and I don't like anything said +against her." + +"But I wasn't speaking against darling Betty!" Sibyl's eyes filled with +tears. + +"Of course not, monkey; but you were telling me a little tale which +might be construed in different ways." + +"Yes, yes; only I don't understand. Betty had a perfect right to poke +her hand into the hollow of the tree, and to bring up a piece of wood, +and look at it, and put it back again; and I don't understand your +expression, Fanny, that it all depends on the point of view." + +"Keep this to yourself, and I will give you some more chocolates +sometime," was Fanny's answer. "I can be your friend as well as +Martha--that is, if you are nice, and don't repeat every single thing +you hear. The worst sin in a schoolgirl--at least, the worst minor +sin--is to be breaking confidences. No schoolgirl with a shade of honor +in her composition would ever do that, and certainly no girl trained at +Haddo Court ought to be noted for such a characteristic. Now, Sibyl, you +are no fool; and, when I talk to you, you are not to repeat things. I +may possibly want to talk to you again, and then there'll be more +chocolates and--and--other things; and as you are in the upper school, +and are really quite a nice girl, I shouldn't be at all surprised if I +invited you to have tea with me in my bedroom some night--oh, not quite +yet, but some evening not far off. Now, off with you, and let me see how +well you can keep an innocent little confidence between you and me!" + +Sibyl ran off, munching her chocolates, wondering a good deal at Fanny's +manner, but in the excitement of her school-life, soon forgetting both +her and Betty Vivian. For, after all, there was no story worth thinking +about. There was nothing in the hollow of the old tree but the piece of +wood, and nothing--nothing in the wide world--could be made interesting +out of that. + +Meanwhile, Fanny thought for a time. The first great entertainment of +the Specialities was over. Betty was now a full-blown member, and as +such must be treated in a manner which Fanny could not possibly have +assumed towards her before this event took place. Fanny blamed herself +for her weakness in consenting to keep Betty's secret. She had done so +on the spur of the moment, influenced by the curious look in the girl's +eyes, and wondering if she would turn to her with affection if she, +Fanny, were so magnanimous. But Betty had not turned to her with either +love or affection. Betty was precisely the Betty she had been before she +joined the club. It is true she was very much sought after and consulted +on all sorts of matters, and her name was whispered in varying notes of +admiration among the girls, and she was likely (unless a spoke were put +in her wheel) to rise to one of the highest positions in the great +school. Betty had committed one act of flagrant wickedness. Fanny was +not going to mince matters; she could not call it by any other name. +There were no extenuating circumstances, in her opinion, to excuse this +act of Betty's. The fact that she had first stolen the packet, and then +told Sir John Crawford a direct lie with regard to it, was the sort of +thing that Fanny could never get over. + +"One act of wickedness leads to another," thought Fanny. "Contrary to my +advice, my beseechings, she has joined our club. She has taken a vow +which she cannot by any possibility keep, which she breaks every hour of +every day; for she holds a secret which, according to Rule No. I., the +other Specialities ought to know. What was she doing by the old stump? +What did she take out and look at so earnestly? It was not a piece of +wood. That idea is sheer nonsense." + +Fanny thought and thought, and the more she thought the more +uncomfortable did she grow. "It is perfectly horrible!" she kept saying +to herself. "I loathe myself for even thinking about it, but I am afraid +I must put a spoke in her wheel. The whole school may be contaminated at +this rate. If Betty could do what she did she may do worse, and there +isn't a girl in the place who isn't prepared to worship her. Oh, of +course I'm not jealous; why should I be? I should be a very unworthy +member of the Specialities if I were. Nevertheless----" + +Just then Sylvia and Hetty Vivian walked through the great +recreation-hall arm in arm. + +Fanny called them to her. "Where's Betty?" she asked. + +"She told us she'd be very busy for half an hour in our room, and that +then she was going downstairs to have a sort of conference--with you, I +suppose, Fanny, and the rest of the Specialities." + +Sylvia gave a very impatient shrug of her shoulders. + +"Why do you look like that, Sylvia?" asked Fanny. + +"Well, the fact is, Hetty and I do hate our own Betty belonging to your +club. Whenever we want her now she is engaged; and she has such funny +talk all about committee meetings and private conferences in your odious +sitting-room. We don't like it a bit. We much, much preferred our Betty +before she joined the Specialities." + +"All the same," said Fanny, "you must have felt very proud of your Betty +last night." + +Hester laughed. "She wasn't half her true self," said the girl. "Oh, of +course she was wonderful, and much greater than others; but I wish you +could have heard her tell stories in Scotland. We used to have just one +blink of light from the fire, and we sat and held each other's hands, +and I tell you Betty made us thrill." + +"Well, now that you have reminded me," said Fanny, rising as she spoke, +"I must go and attend that committee meeting. I really forgot it, so I +am greatly obliged to you girls for reminding me. And you mustn't be +jealous of your sister; that is a very wrong feeling." + +The girls laughed and ran off, while Fanny slowly walked down the +recreation-hall and then ascended some stairs, until she found herself +in that particularly cosy and bright sitting-room which was set apart +for the Specialities. + +Martha West was there, also Susie Rushworth, the two Bertrams, and +Olive Repton. But Margaret Grant had not yet appeared, nor had Betty +Vivian. Fanny took her seat near Olive. The girls began to chat, and the +subject of last night's entertainment was discussed pretty fully. Most +of the girls present agreed that it was remarkably silly of Sibyl Ray to +wear marguerites in her hair, that they were very sorry for her, and +hoped she would not be so childish again. It was just at that moment +that Margaret Grant appeared, and immediately afterwards Betty Vivian. +The minutes of the last committee meeting were read aloud, and then +Margaret turned and asked the girls if they were thoroughly satisfied +with the entertainment of the previous night. They all answered in the +affirmative except Fanny, who was silent. Neither did Betty speak, for +she had been the chief contributor to the entertainment. + +"Well," continued Margaret, "I may as well say at once that I was +delighted. Betty, I didn't know that you possessed so great a gift. I +wish you would improvise as you did last night one evening for Mrs. +Haddo." + +Betty turned a little whiter than usual. Then she said slowly, "Alone +with her--and with you--I could." + +"I think she would love it," said Margaret. "It would surprise her just +to picture the scene as you threw yourself into it last night." + +"I could do it," said Betty, "alone with her and with you." + +There was not a scrap of vanity in Betty's manner. She spoke seriously, +just as one who, knowing she possesses a gift, accepts it and is +thankful. + +"I couldn't get it out of my head all night," continued Margaret, "more +particularly that part where the angels came. It was a very beautiful +idea, Betty dear, and I congratulate you on being able to conjure up +such fine images in your mind." + +It was with great difficulty that Fanny could suppress her feelings, +but the next instant an opportunity occurred for her to give vent to +them. + +"Now," said Margaret, "as the great object of our society is in all +things to be in harmony, I want to put it to the vote: How did the +entertainment go off last night?" + +"I liked every single thing about it," said Susie Rushworth; "the +supper, the games, and, above all things, the story-telling." + +The same feeling was expressed in more or less different words by each +girl in succession, until Fanny's turn came. + +"And you, Fanny--what did you think?" + +"I liked the supper and the games, of course," said Fanny. + +"And the story-telling, Fanny? You ought to be proud of having such a +gifted cousin." + +"I didn't like the story-telling, and Betty knows why I didn't like it." + +The unmistakable look of hatred on Fanny's face, the queer flash in her +eyes as she glanced at Betty, and Betty's momentary quiver as she looked +back at her, could not fail to be observed by each girl present. + +"Fanny, I am astonished at you!" said Margaret Grant in a voice of +marked displeasure. + +"You asked a plain question, Margaret. I should have said nothing if +nothing had been asked; but you surely don't wish me to commit myself to +a lie?" + +"Oh no, no!" said Margaret. "But sisterly love, and--and your own cousin +too!" + +"I want to say something in private to Betty Vivian; and I would +earnestly beg of you, Margaret, not to propose to Mrs. Haddo that Betty +should tell her any story until after I have spoken. I have my reasons +for doing this; and I do not think, all things considered, that I am +really breaking Rule No. I. in adopting this course of action." + +"This is most strange!" said Margaret. + +Betty rose and came straight up to Fanny. "Where and when do you want to +speak to me, Fanny?" she asked. + +"I will go with you now," said Fanny. + +"Then I think," said Margaret, "our meeting has broken up. The next +meeting of the Specialities will be held in Olive Repton's room on +Thursday next. There are several days between now and then; but +to-morrow at four o'clock I mean to give a tea to all the club here. I +invite you, one and all, to be present; and afterwards we can talk folly +to our hearts' content. Listen, please, girls: the next item on my +programme is that we invite dear Mr. Fairfax to tea with us, and ask him +a few questions with regard to the difficulties we find in the reading +of Jeremy Taylor's 'Holy Living.'" + +"I don't suppose, Margaret, it is absolutely necessary for me to attend +that meeting?" said Betty. + +"Certainly not, Betty. No one is expected to attend who does not wish +to." + +"You see, I have no difficulties to speak about," said Betty with a +light laugh. + +Margaret glanced at her with surprise. + +"Come, Betty," said Fanny; and the two left the room. + +"Where am I to go to?" asked Betty when they found themselves outside. + +"Out, if you like," said Fanny. + +"No, thank you. The day is very cold." + +"Then come to my room with me, will you, Betty?" + +"No," said Betty, "I don't want to go to your room." + +"I must see you somewhere by yourself," said Fanny. "I have something +important to say to you." + +"Oh, all right then," said Betty, shrugging her shoulders. "Your room +will do as well as any other place. Let's get it over." + +The girls ran upstairs. They presently entered Fanny's bedroom, which +was a small apartment, but very neat and cheerful. It was next door to +the Vivians' own spacious one. + +The moment they were inside Betty turned and faced Fanny. "Do you always +intend to remain my enemy, Fanny?" she asked. + +"Far from that, Betty; I want to be your truest friend." + +"Oh, for heaven's sake, don't talk humbug! If you are my truest friend +you will act as such. Now, what is the matter--what is up?" + +"I will tell you." + +"I am all attention," said Betty. "Pray begin." + +"I hurt your feelings downstairs just now by saying that I did not care +for your story-telling." + +"You didn't hurt them in the least, for I never expected you to care. +The story-telling wasn't meant for you." + +"But I must mention now why I didn't care," continued Fanny, speaking as +quickly as she could. "Had you been the Betty the rest of the school +think you I could have lost myself, too, in your narrative, and I could +have seen the picture you endeavored to portray. But knowing you as you +are, Betty Vivian, I could only look down into your wicked heart----" + +"What an agreeable occupation!" said Betty with a laugh which she tried +to make light, but did not quite succeed. + +Fanny was silent. + +After a minute Betty spoke again. "Do you spend all your time, Fanny, +gazing into my depraved heart?" + +"Whenever I think of you, Betty--and I confess I do think of you very +often--I remember the sin you have sinned, the lack of repentance you +have shown, and, above all things, your daring spirit in joining our +club. It is true that when you joined--after all my advice to you to the +contrary, my beseeching of you to withstand this temptation--I gave you +to understand that I would be silent. But my conscience torments me +because of that tacit promise I gave you. Nevertheless I will keep it. +But remember, you are in danger. You know perfectly well where the +missing packet is. It is--or was, at least--in the hollow stump of the +old oak-tree at the top of the hill, and you positively told Sibyl Ray a +lie about it when she saw you looking at it yesterday. Afterwards, in +order to divert her attention from yourself, you sent her to gather +marguerites to make a wreath for her hair--a most ridiculous thing for +the child to wear. What you did afterwards I don't know, and don't care +to inquire. But, Betty, the fact is that you, instead of being an +inspiring influence in this school, will undermine it--will ruin its +morals. You are a dangerous girl, Betty Vivian; and I tell you so to +your face. You are bound--bound to come to grief. Now, I will say no +more. I leave it to your conscience what to do and what not to do. There +are some fine points about you; and you could be magnificent, but you +are not. There, I have spoken!" + +"Thank you, Fanny," replied Betty in a very gentle tone. She waited for +a full minute; then she said, "Is that all?" + +"Yes, that is all." + +Betty went away to her own room. As soon as ever she entered, she went +straight to the looking-glass and gazed at her reflection. She then +turned a succession of somersaults from one end of the big apartment to +the other. Having done this, she washed her face and hands in ice-cold +water, rubbed her cheeks until they glowed, brushed her black hair, and +felt better. She ran downstairs, and a few minutes later was in the +midst of a very hilarious group, who were all chatting and laughing and +hailing Betty Vivian as the best comrade in the wide world. + +Betty was not only brilliant socially; at the same time she had fine +intellectual powers. She was the delight of her teachers, for she could +imbibe knowledge as a sponge absorbs water. On this particular day she +was at her best during a very difficult lesson at the piano from a +professor who came from London. Betty had always a passionate love of +music, and to-day she revelled in it. She had been learning one of +Chopin's Nocturnes, and now rendered it with exquisite pathos. The +professor was delighted, and in the midst of the performance Mrs. Haddo +came into the music-room. She listened with approval, and when the girl +rose, said, "Well done!" + +Another girl took her place; and Betty, running up to Mrs. Haddo, said, +"Oh, may I speak to you?" + +"Yes, dear; what is it? Come to my room for a minute, if you wish, +Betty." + +"It isn't important enough for that. Dear Mrs. Haddo, it's just that I +am mad for a bit of frolic." + +"Frolic, my child! You seem to have plenty." + +"Not enough--not enough--not nearly enough for a wild girl of +Aberdeenshire, a girl who has lived on the moors and loved them." + +"What do you want, dear child?" + +"I want most awfully, with your permission, to go with my two sisters +Sylvia and Hester to have tea with the Mileses. I want to pet those dogs +again, and I want to go particularly badly between now and next +Thursday." + +"And why especially between now and next Thursday?" + +"Ah, I can't quite give you the reason. There is a reason. +Please--please--please say yes!" + +"It is certainly against my rules." + +"But, dear Mrs. Haddo, it isn't against your rules if you give leave," +pleaded the girl. + +"You are very clever at arguing, Betty. I certainly have liberty to +break rules in individual cases. Well, dear child, it shall be so. I +will send a line to Mrs. Miles to ask her to expect you and your sisters +to-morrow. A servant shall accompany you, and will call again later on. +You can only stay about one hour at the farm. To-morrow is a +half-holiday, so it will be all right." + +"Oh, how kind of you!" said Betty. + +But again Mrs. Haddo noticed that Betty avoided looking into her eyes. +"Betty," she said, "this is a small matter--my yielding to the whim of +an impetuous girl in whom I take an interest. But, my dear child, I have +to congratulate you. You made a marvellous success--a marvellous +success--last night. Several of the girls in the school have spoken of +it, and in particular dear Margaret Grant. I wonder if you would +improvise for me some evening?" + +"Gladly!" replied Betty. And now for one minute her brilliant eyes were +raised and fixed on those of Mrs. Haddo. "Gladly," she repeated--and she +shivered slightly--"if you will hear me after next Thursday." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +TEA AT FARMER MILES'S + + +"It's all right, girls!" said Betty in her most joyful tone. + +"What is all right, Betty and Bess?" asked Sylvia saucily. + +"Oh, kiss me, girls," said Betty, "and let's have a real frolic! +To-morrow is Saturday--a half-holiday, of course--and we're going to the +Mileses' to have tea." + +"The Mileses'!" + +"Yes, you silly children; those dear farmer-folk who keep the dogs." + +"Dan and Beersheba?" cried Hetty. + +"Yes, Dan and Beersheba; and we're going to have a real jolly time, and +we're going to forget dull care. It'll be quite the most delightful +sport we've had since we came to Haddo Court. What I should love most +would be to vault over the fence and go all by our lonesome selves. But +we must have a maid--a horrid, stupid maid; only, of course, she'll walk +behind, and she'll leave us alone when we get to the farm. She'll fetch +us again by-and-by--that'll be another nuisance. Still, somehow, I don't +know what there is about school, but I'm not game enough to go without +leave." + +"You are changed a good bit," said Hetty. "I think myself it's since you +were made a Speciality." + +"Perhaps so," said Betty thoughtfully. + +Sylvia nestled close to her sister; while Hetty knelt down beside her, +laid her elbows on Betty's knee, and looked up into her face. + +"I wonder," said Sylvia, "if you like being a Special, or whatever they +call themselves, Betty mine?" + +Betty did not speak. + +"Do you like it?" said Hester, giving her sister a poke in the side as +she uttered the words. + +"I can't quite tell you, girls; it's all new to me at present. +Everything is new and strange. Oh girls, England is a cold, cold +country!" + +"But it is declared by all the geography-books to be warmer than +Scotland," said Sylvia, speaking in a thoughtful voice. + +"I don't mean physical cold," said Betty, half-laughing as she spoke. + +"I begin to like school," said Hetty. "Lessons aren't really a bit +hard." + +"I think school is very stimulating," said Sylvia. "The teachers are all +so kind, and we are making friends by degrees. The only thing that Hetty +and I don't like is this, Bet, that we see so very little of you." + +"Although I see little of you I never forget you," was Betty's answer. + +"And then," continued Sylvia, "we sleep in the same room, which is a +great blessing. That is something to be thankful for." + +"And perhaps," said Betty, "we'll see more of each other in the future." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Oh, nothing--nothing." + +"Betty, you are growing very mysterious." + +"I hope not," replied Betty. "I should just hate to be mysterious." + +"Well, you are growing it, all the same," said Hester. "But, oh Bet, +you're becoming the most wonderful favorite in the school! I can't tell +you what the other girls say about you, for I really think it would make +you conceited. It does us a lot of good to have a sister like you; for +whenever we are spoken to or introduced to a new girl--I mean a girl we +haven't spoken to before--the remark invariably is, 'Oh, are you related +to Betty Vivian, the Speciality?' And then--and then everything is all +right, and the girls look as if they would do anything for us. We are +the moon and stars, you are the sun; and it's very nice to have a sister +like you." + +"Well, listen, girls. We're going to have a real good time to-morrow, +and we'll forget all about school and the lessons and the chapel." + +"Oh, but I do like the chapel!" said Sylvia in a thoughtful voice. "I +love to hear Mr. Fairfax when he reads the lessons; and I think if I +were in trouble about anything I could tell him, somehow." + +"Could you?" said Betty. She started slightly, and stared very hard at +her sister. "Perhaps one could," she said after a moment's pause. "Mr. +Fairfax is very wonderful." + +"Oh yes, isn't he?" said Hester. + +"But we won't think of him to-night or to-morrow," continued Betty, +rising to her feet as she spoke. "We must imagine ourselves back in +Scotland again. Oh, it will be splendid to have that time at the +Mileses' farm!" + +The rest of the evening passed without anything remarkable occurring. +Betty, as usual, was surrounded by her friends. The younger Vivian girls +chatted gaily with others. Every one was quite kind and pleasant to +Betty, and Fanny Crawford left her alone. As this was quite the very +best thing Fanny could do, Betty thanked her in her heart. But that +evening, just before prayer-time, Betty crossed the hall, where she had +been sitting surrounded by a group of animated schoolfellows, and went +up to Miss Symes. "Have I your permission, Miss Symes," she said, "not +to attend prayers in chapel to-night?" + +"Aren't you well, Betty dear?" asked Miss Symes a little anxiously. + +Betty remained silent for a minute. Then she said, "Physically I am +quite well; mentally I am not." + +"Dear Betty!" + +"I can't explain it," said Betty. "I would just rather not attend +prayers to-night. Do you mind?" + +"No, dear. You haven't perhaps yet been acquainted with the fact that +the Specialities are never coerced to attend prayers. They are expected +to attend; but if for any reason they prefer not, questions are not +asked." + +"Oh, thank you!" said Betty. She turned and went slowly and thoughtfully +upstairs. When she got to her own room she sat quite still, evidently +thinking very hard. But when her sisters joined her (and they all went +to bed earlier than usual), Betty was the first to drop asleep. + +As has already been stated, Betty's pretty little bed was placed between +Sylvia's and Hetty's; and now, as she slept, the two younger girls bent +across, clasped hands, and looked down at her small white face. They +could just get a glimmer of that face in the moonlight, which happened +to be shining brilliantly through the three big windows. + +All of a sudden, Sylvia crept very softly out of bed, and, running round +to Hester's side, whispered to her, "What is the matter?" + +"I don't know," replied Hester. + +"But something is," remarked Sylvia. + +"Yes, something is," said Hester. "Best not worry her." + +Sylvia nodded and returned to her own bed. + +On the following morning, however, all Betty's apparent low spirits had +vanished. She was in that wild state of hilarity when she seemed to +carry all before her. Her sisters could not help laughing every time +Betty opened her lips, and it was the same during recess. When many +girls clustered round her with their gay jokes, they became convulsed +with laughter at her comic replies. + +It was arranged by Mrs. Haddo that Betty and her two sisters were to +start for the Mileses' farm at three o'clock exactly. It would not take +them more than half an hour to walk there. Mrs. Miles was requested to +give them tea not later than four o'clock, and they were to be called +for at half-past four. Thus they would be back at Haddo Court about +five. + +"Only two hours!" thought Betty to herself. "But one can get a great +deal of pleasure into two hours." + +Betty felt highly excited. Her sisters' delight at being able to go +failed to interest her. As a rule, with all her fun and nonsense and +hilarity, Betty possessed an abundance of self-control. But to-day she +seemed to have lost it. + +The very staid-looking maid, Harris by name, who accompanied them, could +scarcely keep pace with the Vivian girls. They ran, they shouted, they +laughed. When they were about half-way to the Mileses' farm they came to +a piece of common which had not yet been inclosed. The day was dry and +comparatively warm, and the grass on the common was green, owing to the +recent rains. + +"Harris," said Betty, turning to the maid, "would you like to see some +Catharine wheels?" + +Harris stared in some amazement at the young lady. + +"Come along, girls, do!" said Betty. "Harris must have fun as well as +the rest of us. You like fun, don't you Harris?" + +"Love it, miss!" said Harris. + +"Well, then, here goes!" said Betty. "Harris, please hold our hats." + +The next instant the three were turning somersaults on the green grass +of the common, to the unbounded amazement of the maid, who felt quite +shocked, and shouted to the young ladies to come back and behave +themselves. Betty stopped at once when she heard the pleading note in +Harris's voice. + +"You hadn't ought to have done it," said Harris; "and if my missis was +to know! Oh, what shows you all three do look! Now, let me put your hats +on tidy-like. There, that's better!" + +"I feel much happier in my mind now, Harris--and that's a good thing, +isn't it?" said Betty. + +"Yes, miss, it's a very good thing. But I shouldn't say, to look at you, +that you knew the meaning of the least bit of unhappiness." + +"Of course I don't," said Betty; "nor does my sister Sylvia, nor does my +sister Hester." + +"We did up in Scotland for a time," said Hester, who could not +understand Betty at all, and felt more and more puzzled at her queer +behavior. + +"Well, now, we'll walk sober and steady," said Harris. "You may reckon +on one thing, missies--that I won't tell what you done on the common, +for if I did you'd be punished pretty sharp." + +"You may tell if you like, Harris," said Betty. "I shouldn't dream of +asking you to keep a secret." + +"I won't, all the same," said Harris. + +The walk continued without any more exciting occurrences; and when the +girls reached the farm they were greeted by Mrs. Miles, her two big +boys, and the farmer himself. Here Harris dropped a curtsy and +disappeared. + +"Oh, I must kiss you, Mrs. Miles!" said Betty. "And, please, this is my +sister Sylvia, and this is Hester. They are twins; but, having two sets +yourself, you said you did not mind seeing them and giving them tea, +even though they are twins." + +"'Tain't no disgrace, missie, as I've heerd tell on," said the farmer. + +"Oh Farmer Miles, I am glad to see you!" said Betty. "Fancy dear, kind +Mrs. Haddo giving us leave to come and have tea with you!--I do hope, +Mrs. Miles, you've got a very nice tea, for I can tell you I am hungry. +I've given myself an appetite on purpose; for I would hardly touch any +breakfast, and at dinner I took the very teeniest bit." + +"And so did I," said Sylvia in a low tone. + +"And I also," remarked Hester. + +"Well, missies, I ha' got the best tea I could think of, and right glad +we are to see you. You haven't spoken to poor Ben yet, missie." + +Here Mrs. Miles indicated her eldest son, an uncouth-looking lad of +about twelve years of age. + +"Nor Sammy neither," said the farmer, laying his hand on Sammy's broad +shoulder, and bringing the red-haired and freckled boy forward. + +"I am just delighted to see you, Ben; and to see you, Sammy. And these +are my sisters. And, please, Mrs. Miles, where are the twins?" + +"The twinses are upstairs, sound asleep; but they'll be down by +tea-time," said Mrs. Miles. + +"And, above all things, where are the dogs?" said Betty. + +"Now, missie," said the farmer, "them dogs has been very rampageous +lately, and, try as we would, we couldn't tame 'em; so we have 'em +fastened up in their kennels, and only lets 'em out at night. You shall +come and see 'em in their kennels, missie." + +"Oh, but they must be let out!" said Betty, tears brimming to her eyes. +"My sisters love dogs just as much as I do. They must see the dogs. Oh, +we must have a game with them!" + +"I wouldn't take it upon me, I wouldn't really," said the farmer, "to +let them dogs free to-day. They're that remarkable rampageous." + +"Well, take me to them anyhow," said Betty. + +The farmer, his wife, Ben and Sammy, and the three Vivian girls tramped +across the yard, and presently arrived opposite the kennels where Dan +and Beersheba were straining at the end of their chains. When they heard +footsteps they began to bark vociferously, but the moment they saw Betty +their barking ceased; they whined and strained harder than ever in their +wild rapture. Betty instantly flung herself on her knees by Dan's side +and kissed him on the forehead. The dog licked her little hand, and was +almost beside himself with delight. As to poor Beersheba, he very nearly +went mad with jealousy over the attention paid to Dan. + +"You see for yourself," said Betty, looking into the farmer's face, "the +dogs will be all right with me. You must let them loose while I am +here." + +"It do seem quite wonderful," said the farmer. "Now, don't it, wife?" + +"A'most uncanny, I call it," said Mrs. Miles. + +"But before you let them loose I must introduce my sisters to them," +said Betty. "Sylvia, come here. Sylvia, kneel by me." + +The girl did so. The dogs were not quite so much excited over Sylvia as +they were over Betty, but they also licked their hands and wagged their +tails in great delight. Hester went through the same form of +introduction; and then, somewhat against his will, the farmer gave the +dogs their liberty. Betty said, in a commanding tone, "To heel, good +boys, at once!" and the wild and savage dogs obeyed her. + +She paced up and down the yard in a state of rapture at her conquest +over these fierce animals. Then she whispered something to Sylvia, who +in her turn whispered to Mrs. Miles, who in her turn whispered to Ben; +the result of which was that three wicker chairs were brought from the +house, Betty and her sisters seated themselves, and the dogs sprawled in +ecstasy at their side. + +"Oh, we are happy!" said Betty. "Mrs. Miles, was your heart ever very +starvingly empty?" + +"Times, maybe," said Mrs. Miles, who had gone, like most of her sex, +through a chequered career. + +"And weren't you glad when it got filled up to the brim again?" + +"That I was," said Mrs. Miles. + +"My heart was a bit starved this morning," said Betty; "but it feels +full to the brim now. Please, dear, good Mrs. Miles, leave us five alone +together. Go all of you away, and let us stay alone together." + +"Meanin' by that you three ladies and them dogs?" + +"Yes, that is what I mean." + +The farmer bent and whispered something to his wife, the result of which +was that a minute later Betty and her sisters were alone with the +animals. They did not know, however, that the farmer had hidden himself +in the big barn ready to spring out should "them fierce uns," as he +termed the animals, become refractory. Then began an extraordinary +scene. Betty whispered in the dogs' ears, and they grovelled at her +feet. Then she sang a low song to them; and they stood upright, +quivering with rapture. The two girls kept behind Betty, who was +evidently the first in the hearts of these extraordinary dogs. + +"I could teach them no end of tricks. They could be almost as lively +and delightful as Andrew and Fritz," said Betty, turning to her sisters. + +"Oh yes," they replied. Then Sylvia burst out crying. + +"Silly Sylvia! What is the matter?" said Betty. + +"It's only that I didn't know my heart was hungry until--until this very +minute," said Sylvia. "Oh, it is awful to live in a house without dogs!" + +"I have felt that all along," said Betty. "But I suppose, after a +fashion, we've got to endure. Oh do stop crying, Sylvia! Let's make the +most of a happy time." + +The culmination of that happy time was when Mrs. Miles appeared on the +scene, accompanied by four little children--two very pretty little +girls, dressed in white, their short sleeves tied up with blue ribbons +for the occasion; and two little boys a year or two older. + +"These be the twinses," said Mrs. Miles. "These two be Moses and +Ephraim, and these two be Deborah and Anna. The elder of the twinses are +Moses and Ephraim, and the younger Deborah and Anna. Now, then children, +you jest drop your curtsies to the young ladies, and say you are glad to +see them." + +"But, indeed, they shall do nothing of the kind," said Betty. "Oh, +aren't they the sweetest darlings! Deborah, I must kiss you. Anna, put +your sweet little arms round my neck." + +The children were in wild delight, for all children took immediately to +Betty. But, lo and behold! one of the dogs gave an ominous growl. Was +not his idol devoting herself to some one else? In one instant the brute +might have sprung upon poor little Deborah had not Betty turned and laid +her hand on his forehead. Instantly he gave a sound between a groan and +a moan, and crouched at her feet. + +"There! I never!" said Mrs. Miles. "You be a reg'lar out-and-out +lion-tamer, miss." + +"I'm getting more and more hungry every minute," said Betty. "Will--will +tea be ready soon, Mrs. Miles?" + +"I was coming out to fetch you in, my loves." + +The whole party then migrated to the kitchen, which was ornamented +especially for the occasion. The long center-table was covered with a +snowy cloth, and on it were spread all sorts of appetizing viands--great +slabs of honey in the comb, cakes of every description, hot +griddle-cakes, scones, muffins, cold chicken, cold ham, and the most +delicious jams of every variety. Added to these good things was a great +bowl full of Devonshire cream, which Mrs. Miles had made herself from a +well-known Devonshire recipe that morning. + +"Oh, but doesn't this look good!" said Betty. She sat down with a twin +girl at each side of her, and with a dog resting his head on the lap of +each of the twins, and their beseeching eyes fixed on Betty's face. + +"I ha' got a treat for 'em afterwards, missie," said Mrs. Miles; "two +strong beef-bones. They shall eat 'em, and they'll never forget you +arter that." + +Betty became so lively now that at a whispered word from Sylvia she +began to tell stories--by no means the sort of stories she had told at +the Specialities' entertainment, but funny tales, sparkling with wit and +humor--tales quite within the comprehension of her intelligent but +unlearned audience. Even the farmer roared with laughter, and said over +and over to his wife, as he wiped the tears of enjoyment from his eyes, +"Well, that do cap all!" + +Meanwhile the important ceremony of eating the many good things provided +went steadily on, until at last even Betty had to own that she was +satisfied. + +All rose from their seats, and as they did so Mrs. Miles put a pretty +little basket into each girl's hand. "A few new-laid eggs, dearies," she +said, "and a comb of honey for each of you. You must ask Mrs. Haddo's +leave afore you eats 'em, but I know she won't mind. And there's some +very late roses, the last of the season, that I've put into the top of +your basket, Miss Betty." + +Alack and alas, how good it all was! How pleasant was the air, how +genial the simple life! How Betty and Sylvia and Hester rejoiced in it, +and how quickly it was over! + +Harris appeared, and at this signal the girls knew they must go. Betty +presented her canine darlings with a beef-bone each; and then, with a +hug to Mrs. Miles, a hearty hand-clasp to the farmer and the boys, and +further hugs to both sets of twins, the girls returned to Haddo Court. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A GREAT DETERMINATION + + +The visit to the farm was long remembered by Betty Vivian. It was the +one bright oasis, the one brilliant spark of intense enjoyment, in a +dark week. For each day the shadow of what lay before her--and of what +she, Betty Vivian, had made up her mind to do--seemed to creep lower and +lower over her horizon, until, when Thursday morning dawned, it seemed +to Betty that there was neither sun, moon, nor stars in her heaven. + +But if Betty lacked much and was full of grave and serious thoughts, +there was one quality, admirable in itself, which she had to perfection, +and that was her undoubted bravery. To make up her mind to do a certain +thing was, with Betty Vivian, to do it. She had not quite made up her +mind on Saturday; but on Sunday morning she had very nearly done so, and +on Sunday evening she had quite done so. On Sunday evening, therefore, +she knelt rather longer than the others, struggling and praying in the +beautiful chapel; and when she raised her small white face, and met the +eyes of the chaplain fixed on her, a thrill went through her. He, at +least, would understand, and, if necessary, give her sympathy. But just +at present she did not need sympathy, or rather she would not ask for +it. She had great self-control, and she kept her emotions so absolutely +to herself that no one guessed what she was suffering. Every day, every +hour, she was becoming more and more the popular girl of the school; for +Betty had nothing mean in her nature, and could love frankly and +generously. She could listen to endless confidences without dreaming of +betraying them, and the girls got to know that Betty Vivian invariably +meant what she said. One person, however, she avoided, and that person +was Fanny Crawford. + +Thursday passed in its accustomed way: school in the morning, with +recess; school in the afternoon, followed by play, games of all sorts, +and many another delightful pastime. Betty went for a walk with her two +sisters; and presently, almost before they knew, they found themselves +surveying their three little plots of ground in the gardens, which they +had hitherto neglected. While they were so employed, Mrs. Haddo quite +unexpectedly joined them. + +"Oh, my dear girls, why, you have done nothing here--nothing at all!" + +Sylvia said, "We are going to almost immediately, Mrs. Haddo." + +And Hetty said, "I quite love gardening. I was only waiting until Betty +gave the word." + +"So you two little girls obey Betty in all things?" said Mrs. Haddo, +glancing at the elder girl's face. + +"We only do it because we love to," was the response. + +"Well, my dears, I am surprised! Why, there isn't a sight of your Scotch +heather! Has it died? What has happened to it?" + +"We made a burnt-offering of it," said Betty suddenly. + +"You did what?" said Mrs. Haddo in some astonishment. + +"You see," said Betty, "it was this way." She now looked full up at her +mistress. "The Scotch heather could not live in exile. So we burnt it, +and set all the fairies free. They are in Aberdeenshire now, and quite +happy." + +"What a quaint idea!" said Mrs. Haddo. "You must tell me more about this +by-and-by, Betty." + +Betty made no answer. + +"Meanwhile," continued Mrs. Haddo, who felt puzzled at the girl's +manner, she scarcely knew why, "I will tell a gardener to have the +gardens well dug and laid out in little walks. I will also have the beds +prepared, and then you must consult Birchall about the sort of things +that grow best in this special plot of ground. Let me see, this is +Thursday. I have no doubt Birchall could have a consultation with you on +the subject this very minute if you like to see him." + +"Oh yes, please!" said Sylvia. + +But Betty drew back. "Do you greatly mind if we do nothing about our +gardens until next week?" she asked. + +"If you prefer it, certainly," answered Mrs. Haddo. "The plots of ground +are your property while you stay at Haddo Court. You can neglect them, +or you can tend them. Some of the girls of this school have very +beautiful gardens, full of sweet, smiling flowers; others, again, do +nothing at all in them. I never praise those who cultivate their little +patch of garden-ground, and I never blame those who neglect it. It is +all a matter of feeling. In my opinion, the garden is meant to be a +delight; those who do not care for it miss a wonderful joy, but I don't +interfere." As Mrs. Haddo spoke she nodded to the girls, and then walked +quietly back towards the house. + +"Wasn't it funny of her to say that a garden was meant to be a +delight?" said Sylvia. "Oh Betty, don't you love her very much?" + +"Don't ask me," said Betty, and her voice was a little choked. + +"Betty," said Sylvia, "you seem to get paler and paler. I am sure you +miss Aberdeenshire." + +"Miss it!" said Betty; "miss it! Need you ask?" + +This was the one peep that her sisters were permitted to get into Betty +Vivian's heart before the meeting of the Specialities that evening. + +Olive Repton was quite excited preparing for her guests. School had +become much more interesting to her since Betty's arrival. Martha was +also a sort of rock of comfort to lean upon. Margaret, of course, was +always charming. Margaret Grant was Margaret Grant, and there never +could be her second; but the two additional members gave undoubted +satisfaction to the others--that is, with the exception of Fanny +Crawford, who had, however, been most careful not to say one word +against Betty since she became a Speciality. + +Olive's room was not very far from the Vivians', and as Betty on this +special night was hurrying towards the appointed meeting-place she came +across Fanny. Between Fanny and herself not a word had been exchanged +for several days. + +Fanny stopped her now. "Are you ill, Betty?" she said. + +Betty shook her head. + +"I wish to tell you," said Fanny, "that, after very carefully +considering everything, I have made up my mind that it is not my place +to interfere with you. If your conscience allows you to keep silent I +shall not speak. That is all." + +"Thank you, Fanny," replied Betty. She stood aside and motioned to Fanny +to pass her. Fanny felt, for some unaccountable reason, strangely +uncomfortable. The cloud which had been hanging over Betty seemed to +visit Fanny's heart also. For the first time since her cousin's arrival +she almost pitied her. + +Olive's room was very bright. She had a good deal of individual taste, +and as the gardeners were always allowed to supply the Specialities with +flowers for their weekly meetings and their special entertainments, +Olive had her room quite gaily decorated. Smilax hung in graceful +festoons from several vases and trailed in a cunning pattern round the +little supper-table; cyclamen, in pots, further added to the +decorations; and there were still some very beautiful white +chrysanthemums left in the green-house, a careful selection of which had +been made by Birchall that day for the young ladies' festivities. + +And now all the girls were present, and supper began. Hitherto, during +the few meetings of the Specialities that had taken place since she +became a member, Betty's voice had sounded brisk and lively; Betty's +merry, sweet laugh had floated like music in the air; and Betty's +charming face had won all hearts, except that of her cousin. But +to-night she was quite grave. She sat a little apart from the others, +hardly eating or speaking. Suddenly she got up, took a book from a +shelf, and began to read. This action on her part caused the other girls +to gaze at her in astonishment. + +Margaret said, "Is anything the matter, Betty? You neither eat nor +speak. You are not at all like our dear, lively Speciality to-night." + +"I don't want to eat, and I have nothing to say just yet," answered +Betty. "Please don't let me spoil sport. I saw this book of yours, +Olive, and I wanted to find a certain verse in it. Ah, here it is!" + +"What is the verse?" asked Olive. "Please read it aloud, Betty." + +Betty obeyed at once. + + "Does the road wind uphill all the way? + Yes, to the very end. + Will the day's journey take the whole long day? + From morn to night, my friend." + +There was a dead silence after Betty had read these few words of +Christina Rossetti. The girls glanced from one to another. For a minute +or so, at least, they could not be frivolous. Then Olive made a pert +remark; another girl laughed; and the cloud, small at present as a man's +hand, seemed to vanish. Betty replaced her book on Olive's book-shelf, +and sat quite still and quiet. She knew she was a wet blanket--not the +life and soul of the meeting, as was generally the case. She knew well +that Margaret Grant was watching her with anxiety, that Martha West and +also Fanny Crawford were puzzled at her conduct. As to the rest of the +Specialities, it seemed to Betty that they did not go as far down into +the root of things as did Margaret and Martha. + +This evening was to be one of the ordinary entertainments of the guild +or club. There was nothing particular to discuss. The girls were, +therefore, to enjoy themselves by innocent chatter and happy +confidences, and games if necessary. + +When, therefore, they all left the supper-table, Margaret, as president, +said, "We have no new member to elect to-night, therefore our six rules +need not be read aloud; and we have no entertainment to talk over, for +our next entertainment will not take place for some little time. I say, +therefore, girls, that the club is open to the amusement of all the +members. We are free agents, and can do what we like. Our object, of +course, will be to promote the happiness of each and all. Now, Susie +Rushworth, what do you propose that we shall do this evening?" + +Susie said in an excited voice that she would like to spend a good hour +over that exceedingly difficult and delightful game of "telegrams" and +added further that she had brought slips of paper and pencils for the +purpose. + +A similar question was asked of each girl, and each girl made a proposal +according to her state of mind. + +Betty was about the fourth girl to be asked. She rose to her feet and +said gravely, "I would propose that Susie Rushworth and the other +members of the Specialities have their games and fun afterwards; but I +have a short story to tell, and I should like to tell it first, if those +present are agreeable." + +Margaret felt that the little cloud as big as a man's hand had returned, +and that it had grown much bigger. A curious sense of alarm stole over +her. Martha, meanwhile, stared full at Betty, wondering what the girl +was going to do. Her whole manner was strange, aloof, and mysterious. + +"We will, of course, allow you to speak, Betty dear. We are always +interested in what you say," said Margaret in her gentlest tone. + +Betty came forward into the room. She stood almost in the center, +unsupported by any chair, her hands clasped in front of her, her eyes +fixed on Margaret Grant's face. Just for a minute there was a dead +silence, for the girl's face expressed tragedy; and it was impossible +for any one to think of "telegrams," or frivolous games, or of anything +in the world but Betty Vivian at the present moment. + +"I have something to say," she began. "It has only come to me very +gradually that it is necessary for me to say it. I think the necessity +for speech arose when I found I could not go to chapel." + +"My dear Betty!" said Margaret. + +"There were one or two nights," continued Betty, "when I could not +attend." + +"Betty," said the voice of Fanny Crawford, "don't you think this room is +a little hot, and that you are feeling slightly hysterical? Wouldn't +you rather--rather go away?" + +"No, Fanny," said Betty as she almost turned her back on the other girl. +Her nervousness had now left her, and she began to speak with her old +animation. "May I repeat a part of Rule No. I.: 'Each girl who is a +member of the Specialities keeps no secret to herself which the other +members ought to know'?" + +"That is perfectly true," said Margaret. + +"I _have_ a secret," said Betty. After having uttered these words she +looked straight before her. "At one time," she continued, "I thought I'd +tell. Then I thought I wouldn't. Now I am going to tell. I could have +told Mrs. Haddo had I seen enough of her--and you, Margaret, if ever you +had drawn me out. I could have told you two quite differently from the +manner in which I am going to tell that which I ought to speak of. I +stand now before the rest of you members of the Speciality Club as +guilty, for I have deliberately broken Rule No. I." + +"Go on, Betty," said Margaret. She pushed a chair towards the girl, +hoping she would put her hand upon it in order to steady herself. + +But Betty seemed to have gathered firmness and strength from her +determination to speak out. She was trembling no longer, nor was her +face so deadly pale. "I will tell you all my secret," she said. "Before +I came here I had great trouble. One I loved most dearly and who was a +mother to me, died. She died in a little lonely house in Scotland. She +was poor, and could not do much either for my sisters or myself. Before +her death she sent for me one day, and told me that we should be poor, +but she hoped we would be well-educated; and then she said that she was +leaving us girls something of value which was in a small, brown, sealed +packet, and that the packet was to be found in a certain drawer in her +writing-table. She told me that it would be of great use to us three +when we most needed it. + +"We were quite heartbroken when she died. I left her room feeling +stunned. Then I thought of the packet, and I went into the little +drawing-room where all my aunt's treasures were kept. It was dusk when I +went in. I found the packet, and took it away. I meant to keep it +carefully. I did keep it carefully. I still keep it carefully. I don't +know what is in it. + +"I have told you as much as I can tell you with regard to the packet, +but there is something else to follow. I had made up my mind to keep the +packet, being fully persuaded in my heart that Aunt Frances meant me to +do so; but when Sir John Crawford came to Aberdeenshire, and visited +Craigie Muir, and spent a night with us in the little gray house +preparatory to bringing us to Haddo Court, he mentioned that he had +received, amongst different papers of my aunt's, a document or letter--I +forget which--alluding to this packet. He said she was anxious that the +packet should be carefully kept for me and for my sisters, and he asked +me boldly and directly if I knew anything about it. I don't excuse +myself in the least, and, as a matter of fact, I don't blame myself. I +told him I didn't know anything about it. He believed me. You see, +girls, that I told a lie, and was not at all sorry. + +"We came here. I put the packet away into a safe hiding-place. Then, +somehow or other, you all took me up and were specially kind to me, and +I think my head was a bit turned; it seemed so charming to be a +Speciality and to have a great deal to do with you, Margaret, and indeed +with you all more or less. So I said to myself, I haven't broken Rule +No. I., for that rule says that 'no secret is to be kept by one +Speciality from another if the other ought really to know about it.' I +tried to persuade myself that you need not know about the packet--that +it was no concern of yours. But, somehow, I could not go on. There was +something about the life here, and--and Mrs. Haddo, and the chapel, and +you, Margaret, which made the whole thing impossible. I have not been +one scrap frightened into telling you this. But now I have told you. I +do possess the packet, and I did tell a lie about it. That is all." + +Betty ceased speaking. There was profound stillness in the room. + +Then Margaret said very gently, "Betty, I am sure that I am speaking in +the interests of all who love you. You will tell this story to-morrow +morning to dear Mrs. Haddo, and it will rest with her whether you remain +a member of the Specialities or not. Your frank confession to us, +although it is a little late in the day, and the peculiar circumstances +attending your gaining possession of the packet, incline us to be +lenient to you--if only, Betty, you will now do the one thing left to +you, and give the packet up--put it, in short, into Mrs. Haddo's hands, +so that she may keep it until Sir John Crawford, who is your guardian, +returns." + +Betty's face had altered in expression. The sweetness and penitence had +gone. "I have told you everything," she said. "I should have told you +long ago. I blame myself bitterly for not doing so. But I may as well +add that this story is not for Mrs. Haddo; that what I tell you in +confidence you cannot by any possibility relate to her--for that, +surely, must be against the rules of the club; also, that I will not +give the packet up, nor will I tell any one in this room where I have +hidden it." + +If Betty Vivian had looked interesting, and in the opinion of some of +the girls almost penitent, up to this moment, she now looked so no +longer. The expression on her face was bold and defiant. Her curious +eyes flashed fire, and a faint color came into her usually pale cheeks. +She had never looked more beautiful, but the spirit of defiance was in +her. She was daring the school. She meant to go on daring it. + +The girls were absolutely silent. Never before in their sheltered and +quiet lives had they come across a character like Betty's. Such a +character was bound to interest them from the very first. It interested +them now up to a point that thrilled them. They could scarcely contain +themselves. They considered Betty extremely wicked; but in their hearts +they admired her for this, and wondered at her amazing courage. + +Margaret, who saw deeper, broke the spell. "Betty," she said, "will you +go away now? You have told us, and we understand. We will talk this +matter over, and let you know our decision to-morrow. But, first, just +say once again what you have said already--that you will not give the +packet up, nor tell any one where you have hidden it." + +"I have spoken," answered Betty; "further words are useless." + +She walked towards the door. Susie Rushworth sprang to open it for her. +She passed out, and walked proudly down the corridor. The remaining +girls were left to themselves. + +Margaret said, "Well, I am bewildered!" + +The others said nothing at all. This evening was one of the most +exciting they had ever spent. What were "telegrams" or any stupid games +compared to that extraordinary girl and her extraordinary revelation? + +Margaret was, of course, the first to recover her self-control. "Now, +girls," she said, "we must talk about this; and, first, I want to ask a +question: Was there any member of the Specialities who knew of this--I +am afraid I must call it by its right name--this crime of Betty +Vivian's?" + +"I knew," said Fanny. Her voice was very low and subdued. + +"Then, Fanny, please come forward and tell us what you knew." + +"I don't think I can add to Betty's own narrative," said Fanny, "only I +happened to be a witness to the action. I was lying down on the sofa in +the little drawing-room at Craigie Muir when Betty stole in and took the +packet out of Miss Vivian's writing-table drawer. She did not see me, +and went away at once, holding the packet in her hand. I thought it +queer of her at the time, but did not feel called upon to make any +remark. You must well remember, girls, that I alone of all the +Specialities was unwilling to have Betty admitted as a member of the +club. I could see by your faces that you were surprised at my conduct. +You were amazed that I, her cousin, should have tried to stop Betty's +receiving this extreme honor. I did so because of that packet. The +knowledge that she had taken it oppressed me in a strange way at the +time, but it oppressed me much more strongly when my father said to me +that there was a little sealed packet belonging to Miss Vivian which +could not be found. I immediately remembered that Betty had taken away a +sealed packet. I asked him if he had spoken about it, and he said he +had; in especial he had spoken to Betty, who had denied all knowledge of +it." + +"Well," said Margaret, "she told us that herself to-night. You have not +added to or embellished her story or strengthened it in any way, Fanny." + +"I know that," said Fanny. "But I have to add now that I did not wish +her to join the club, and did my very utmost to dissuade her. When I saw +that it was useless I held my tongue; but you must all have noticed +that, although she is my cousin, we have not been special friends." + +"Yes, we have noticed it," said Olive gloomily, "and--and wondered at +it," she continued. + +"I am sorry for Betty, of course," continued Fanny. + +"It was very fine of her to confess when she did," said Margaret. + +"It would have been fine of her," replied Fanny, "if she had carried her +confession to its right conclusion--if what she told us she had told to +Mrs. Haddo and given up the packet. Now, you see, she refuses to do +either of these things; so I don't see that her confession amounts to +anything more than a mere spirit of bravado." + +"Oh no, I cannot agree with you there," said Margaret. "It is my opinion +(of course, not knowing all the circumstances) that Betty's sin +consisted in telling your father a lie--not in taking the little packet, +which she believed she had a right to keep. But we need not discuss her +sins, for we all of us have many--perhaps many more than poor dear Betty +Vivian. What we must consider is what we are to do at the present time. +The Specialities have hitherto kept constantly to their rules. I greatly +fear, girls, that we cannot keep Betty as a member of the club unless +she changes her mind with regard to the packet. If she does, I think I +must put it to the vote whether we will overlook this sin of hers and +keep her as one of the members, for we love her notwithstanding her +sin." + +"Yes, put it to the vote--put it to the vote!" said Susie Rushworth. + +Again all hands were raised except Fanny's. + +"Fan--Fanny Crawford, you surely agree with us?" said Margaret. + +"No, I do not," said Fanny. "I think if the club is worth anything we +ought not to have a girl in it who told a lie." + +"Ah," said Margaret, "don't you remember that very old story: 'Let him +who is without sin among you cast the first stone'?" Then she continued, +speaking in her sweet and noble voice, "I will own there is something +about Betty which most wonderfully attracts me." + +"That sort of charm is fatal," said Fanny. + +"But," continued Margaret, taking no notice of Fanny's remark, "that +sort of charm which she possesses, that sort of fascination--call it +what you will--may be at once her ruin or her salvation. If we +Specialities are unkind to her now, if we don't show her all due +compassion and tenderness, she may grow hard. We are certainly bound by +every honorable rule not to mention one word of this to Mrs. Haddo or to +any of the teachers. Are we, or are we not, to turn our backs on Betty +Vivian?" + +"If she confesses," said Fanny, "and returns the packet, you have +already decided by a majority of votes to allow her to retain her +position in the club." + +"Yes," said Margaret, "that is quite true. But suppose she does not +confess, suppose she sticks to her resolve to keep the packet and not +tell any one where she has hidden it, what then?" + +"Ah, what then?" said they all. + +Olive, the Bertrams, Susie, Martha, Margaret herself, looked full of +trouble. Fanny's cheeks were pink with excitement. She had never liked +Betty. In her heart of hearts she knew that she was full of uncharitable +thoughts against her own cousin. And how was it, notwithstanding Betty's +ignoble confession, the other girls still loved her? + +"What do you intend to do, supposing she does not confess?" said Fanny +after a pause. + +"In that case," answered Margaret, "having due regard to the rules of +the club, I fear we have no alternative--she must resign her membership, +she must cease to be a Speciality. We shall miss her, and beyond doubt +we shall still love her. But she must not continue to be a Speciality +unless she restores the packet." + +Fanny simulated a slight yawn. She knew well that Betty's days as a +Speciality were numbered. + +"She was so brilliant, so vivid!" exclaimed Susie. + +"There was no one like her," said Olive, "for suggesting all kinds of +lovely things. And then her story-telling--wasn't she just glorious!" + +"We mustn't think of any of those things," said Margaret. "But I think +we may all pray--yes, pray--for Betty herself. I, for one, love her +dearly. I love her notwithstanding what she said to-night." + +"I think it was uncommonly plucky of her to stand up and tell us what +she did," remarked Martha, speaking for the first time. "She needn't +have done it, you know. It was entirely a case of conscience." + +"Yes, that is it; it was fine of her," said Margaret. "Now, girls, +suppose we have a Speciality meeting to-morrow night? You know by our +rules we are allowed to have particular meetings. I will give my room +for the purpose; and suppose we ask Betty to join us there?" + +"Agreed!" said they all; and after a little more conversation the +Specialities separated, having no room in their hearts for games or any +other frivolous nonsense that evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AFTERWARDS + + +When Betty had made her confession, and had left Susie Rushworth's room, +she went straight to bed; she went without leave, and dropped +immediately into profound slumber. When she awoke in the morning her +head felt clear and light, and she experienced a sense of rejoicing at +what she had done. + +"I have told them, and they know," she said to herself. "I have given +them the whole story in a nutshell. I don't really care what follows." + +Mingled with her feeling of rejoicing was a curious sense of defiance. +Her sisters asked her what was the matter. She said "Nothing." They +remarked on her sound sleep of the night before, on the early time she +had retired from the Specialities' meeting. They again ventured to ask +if anything was the matter. She said "No." + +Then Sylvia began to break a very painful piece of information: +"Dickie's gone!" + +"Oh," said Betty, her eyes flashing with anger, "how can you possibly +have been so careless as to let the spider loose?" + +"He found a little hole just above the door in the attic, and crept into +it, and we couldn't get him out," said Sylvia. + +"No, he wouldn't come out," added Hetty, "though we climbed on two +chairs, one on top of the other, and poked at him with a bit of stick." + +"Oh, I dare say he's all right now," said Betty. "You will probably find +him again to-day. He's sure to come for his raw meat." + +"But don't you care, Bet? Won't it be truly awful if our own Dickie is +dead?" + +"Dead! He won't die," said Betty; "but there's quite a possibility he +may frighten some one. I know one person I'd like to frighten." + +"Oh Bet, who do you mean?" + +"That horrid girl--that cousin of ours, Fanny Crawford." + +"We don't like her either," said the twins. + +"She'd be scared to death at Dickie," said Betty. "She's a rare old +coward, you know. But never mind, don't bother; you'll probably find him +this morning when you go up with his raw meat. He's sure to come out of +his hole in order to get his food." + +"I don't think so," said Hester in a gloomy voice; "for there are lots +and lots of flies in that attic, and Dickie will eat them and think them +nicer than raw meat." + +"Well, it's time to go downstairs now," said Betty. + +She was very lively and bright at her lessons all day, and forgot Dickie +in the other cares which engrossed her mind. That said mind was in a +most curious state. She was at once greatly relieved and rebellious. +Sylvia and Hetty watched her, when they could, from afar. Betty's life +as a member of the Specialities separated her a good deal from her +sisters. She seldom saw them during the working-hours; but they were +quite happy, for they had made some friends for themselves, and the +three were always together at night. Betty was not specially reproachful +of herself on their account. She could not help being cleverer than +they, more brilliant, more able on all occasions to leap to a right +conclusion--to discover the meaning of each involved mystery as it was +presented to her. All the teachers remarked on her great intelligence, +on her curious and wonderful gift for dramatization. The girls in her +form were expected once a week to recite from Shakespeare; and Betty's +recitations were sufficiently striking to arrest the attention of the +entire room. She flung herself into the part. She was Desdemona, she was +Portia, she was Rosalind. She was whatever character she wished to +personate. Once she chose that of Shylock; and most uncanny became the +expression of her face, and her words were hurled forth with a defiance +worthy of the immortal Jew. + +All these things made Betty a great favorite with the teachers as well +as with the girls. She was, as a rule, neither cross nor bad-tempered. +She was not vain for her gifts. She was always ready to help the others +by every means in her power. + +During recess that day Betty received a small three-cornered note in +Margaret Grant's handwriting. She opened it, and saw that it was a +brief request that she, Betty Vivian, should meet Margaret and the other +members of the Speciality Club in Margaret's room at half-past seven +that evening. "Our meeting will be quite informal, but we earnestly beg +for your attendance." + +Betty slipped the note into her pocket. As she did so she observed that +Fanny Crawford's eyes were fixed on her. + +"Are you going to attend?" asked Fanny. + +"You will know," replied Betty, "when you go into the room to-night at +half-past seven and find me there or not there. Surely that is enough +for you!" + +"Thanks!" replied Fanny. Then, summoning a certain degree of courage, +she came a step nearer. "Betty, if I might consult with you, if I might +warn you----" + +"But as you may not consult with me, and as you may not warn me, there +is nothing to be done, is there?" said Betty. "Hallo!" she cried the +next minute, as a schoolgirl whose friendship she had made during the +last day or two appeared in sight, "I want to have a word with you, +Jessie. Forgive me, Fan; I am very much occupied just at present." + +"Her fall is certain," thought Fanny to herself. "I wonder how she will +like what lies before her to-night. I at least have done my best." + +Punctual to the hour, the Specialities met in Margaret's room. There was +no supper on this occasion, nor any appearance of festivity. The pretty +flowers which Margaret usually favored were conspicuous by their +absence. Even the electric light was used but sparingly. None of the +girls dressed for this evening, but wore their usual afternoon frocks. +Betty, however, wore white, and walked into the room with her head well +erect and her step firm. + +"Sit down, Betty, won't you?" said Margaret. + +"Thanks, Margaret!" answered Betty; and she sank into a chair. She chose +one that was in such a position that she could face the six girls who +were now prepared to judge her on her own merits. She looked at them +very quietly. Her face was pale, and her eyes not as bright as usual. + +"I am deputed by the others to speak to you, Betty," said Margaret. "We +will make no comment whatsoever with regard to what you told us last +night. It isn't for us to punish you for having told a lie. We have +ourselves done very wrong in our lives, and we doubtless have not been +tempted as you have been; and then, Betty Vivian, I can assure you that, +although you have been but a short time in the school, we all--I think I +may say all--love you." + +Betty's eyes softened. She hitched her chair round a little, so that she +no longer saw Fanny, but could look at Margaret Grant and Martha West, +who were sitting side by side. Susie's pretty face was fairly shining +with eagerness, and Olive's eyes were full of tears. The Bertrams +clasped each other's hands, and but for Margaret's restraining presence +would have rushed to Betty's there and then and embraced her. + +"But," said Margaret, "although we do love you--and I think will always +love you, Betty--we must do our duty by the club. You confessed a sin to +us--not at the time, as you ought to have done, but later on. No one +compelled you to confess what you did last night. There was no outside +pressure brought to bear on you. It must have been your conscience." + +"I told you so," said Betty. + +"Therefore," continued Margaret, "your conscience must be very +wide-awake, Betty, and you have done--well, so far--very nobly; so nobly +that nothing will induce us to ask you to withdraw from our club, +provided----" + +Betty's eyes brightened, and some of the tension in her face relaxed. + +"I have taken the votes of the members on that point," Margaret +continued, "therefore I know what I am speaking about. What we do most +emphatically require is that you carry your confession to its logical +conclusion--that what you have said to us you say to the kindest woman +in all the world, to dear Mrs. Haddo, and that you put the little packet +which has cost you such misery into Mrs. Haddo's hands. Don't speak for +a minute, please, Betty. We have been praying about you, all of us; we +have been longing--longing for you to do this thing. Please don't speak +for a minute. It is not in our power to turn you from the school, nor to +relate to Mrs. Haddo nor to any of the teachers what you have told us. +But we can dismiss you from the Speciality Club--that does lie in our +province; and we must do so, bitterly as we shall regret it, if you do +not carry your confession to its logical conclusion." + +"Then I must go," said Betty very gently. + +"Oh Betty!" exclaimed Olive; and she burst into a flood of weeping. +"Dear, dear, dear Betty, don't go--please don't go!" + +"We will all support you if you are nervous," continued Margaret. "I +think we may say we will all support you, and Mrs. Haddo is so sweet; +and then, if you want to see him, there's Mr. Fairfax, who could tell +you what to do better than we can. Don't decide now, dear Betty. Please, +please consider this question, and let us know." + +"But I have decided," said Betty. "I told you what I thought right. I +love the club, and every single member of it--except my cousin, Fanny +Crawford. I don't love Fanny, and she doesn't love me--I say so quite +plainly; therefore, once again, I break Rule I. You see, girls, I cannot +stay. I must become again an undistinguished member of this great +school. Don't suppose it will hurt my vanity; but it will touch deeper +things in me, and I shall never, never forget your kindness. I can by no +possibility do more than I have done. Good-bye, dear Margaret; I am +more than sorry that I have given you all this trouble." + +As Betty spoke she unclasped the little silver true-lover's knot from +the bosom of her dress and put it into Margaret's hand. Then she walked +out of the room, a Speciality no longer. + +When she had gone, the girls talked softly together. They were terribly +depressed. + +"We never had a member like her. What a pity our rules are so strict!" +said Olive. + +"Nonsense, Olive!" said Margaret. "We must do our best, our very best; +and even yet I have great hopes of Betty. She can be re-elected some +day, perhaps." + +"Oh, she is like no one else!" said one girl after another. + +The girls soon dispersed; but as Fanny was going to her room Martha West +joined her. "Fanny," she said, "I, as the youngest member of the +Specialities, would like to ask you a question. Why is it that your +cousin dislikes you so much?" + +"I can't tell," replied Fanny. "I have always tried to be kind to her." + +"But you don't cordially like her yourself!" + +"That is quite true," said Fanny; "but then I have seen her at home, +when you have not. She has great gifts of fascination; but I know her +for what she really is." + +"When you speak like that, Fanny Crawford, I no longer like you," +remarked Martha; and she walked away in the direction of her room. + +All the Speciality girls, including Betty, were present at prayers in +the chapel that evening. Betty sat a little apart from her companions, +she stood apart from them, she prayed apart from them. She seemed like +one isolated and alone. Her face was very white, her eyes large and dark +and anxious. From time to time the girls who loved her looked at her +with intense compassion. But Fanny gave her very different glances. +Fanny rejoiced in her discomfort, and heartily hoped that she would now +lose her prestige in the school. + +Until the advent of Betty Vivian, Fanny was rather a favorite at Haddo +Court. She was certainly not the least bit original. She was prim and +smug and self-satisfied to the last degree, but she always did the right +thing in the right way. She always looked pretty, and no one ever +detected any fault in her. Her mistresses trusted her, and some of the +girls thought it worth their while to become chums with her. + +Fanny, however, now saw at a glance that she was in the black looks of +the other Specialities. This fact angered her uncontrollably, and she +made up her mind to bring Betty to further shame. It was not sufficient +that she should be expelled from the Speciality Club; the usual formula +must be gone through. All the girls knew of this formula; and they all, +with the exception of Fanny, wished it not to be observed in the case of +Betty Vivian. But Fanny knew her power, and was resolved to use it. The +Speciality Club exercised too great an influence in the school for its +existence to be lightly regarded. A member of the club, as has been +said, enjoyed many privileges besides being accorded certain exemptions +from various irksome duties. It was long, long years since any member +had been dismissed in disgrace; it was certainly not within the memory +of any girl now in the school. But Fanny had searched the old annals, +and had come across the fact that about thirty years ago a Speciality +had done something which brought discredit on herself and the club, and +had therefore been expelled; she had also discovered that the fact of +her expulsion had been put up in large letters on a blackboard. This +board hung in the central hall, and generally contained notices of +entertainments or class-work of a special order for the day's programme. +Miss Symes wrote out this programme day by day. + +On the morning after Betty had been expelled from the Specialities, +Fanny ran up to Miss Symes. "By the way," she said, "I am afraid you +will have to do it, for it is the rule of the club." + +"I shall have to do what, my dear Fanny?" + +"You will just have to say, please, on the blackboard that Betty Vivian +is no longer a member of the Specialities." + +Miss Symes stopped writing. She was busily engaged notifying the hour of +a very important German lesson to be given by a professor who came from +town. "What do you mean, Fanny?" + +"What I say. By the rules of the club we can give no reasons, but must +merely state that Betty Vivian is no longer a member. It ought to be +known. Will you write it on the blackboard?" + +Miss Symes looked at Fanny with a curious expression on her face. "Thank +you for telling me," she said. She then crossed the great hall to where +Margaret and some other girls of the Specialities were assembled. She +told Margaret what Fanny had already imparted to her, and asked if it +was true. + +"It is true, alas!" said Margaret. + +"But I thought Betty was such a prime favorite with you all," said Miss +Symes; "and she really is such a sweet girl! I have never been more +attracted by any one." + +"I cannot give you any particulars, Miss Symes; but I think we have done +right," said Margaret. + +"If you have had any hand in it, dear, I make no doubt on the subject," +replied Miss Symes. "It is a sad pity. Fanny says it is one of your +rules that an expelled member has her name published on the blackboard, +the fact being also stated that she has been expelled." + +"Oh," said Margaret, "that is a very old rule. We don't want it to be +carried into effect in Betty's case." + +"But if it is a rule, dear, and if it has never been abolished----" + +"It has not been abolished," said Margaret. "It would distress Betty +very much." + +"Nevertheless, Margaret, if it is right to expel Betty it is right to +publish that fact on the blackboard, always provided it is a rule of the +Specialities." + +"I am afraid it is a rule," said Margaret. "But we are all unhappy about +her. We hate having her expelled." + +"Can I help you in any way, dear Margaret?" + +"No, Miss Symes; no one can help us, and the deed is done now." + +Miss Symes went very slowly to the blackboard, and wrote on it simply: +"Betty Vivian has resigned her membership of the Speciality Club." + +This notice caused flocks of girls to surround the blackboard during the +morning, and the news flew like wildfire all over the school. Betty +herself approached as an eager group were scrutinizing the words, saw +her name, read it calmly (her lips curling slightly with scorn), and +turned away. No one dared to question her, but all looked at her in +wonder. + +Betty went through her lessons with her accustomed force and animation, +and there was no difference to be observed between her manner of to-day +and that of yesterday. After school she very simply told her sisters +that she had withdrawn from the Specialities, and then begged of them +not to pursue the subject. "I am not going to explain," she said, "so +you needn't ask me. I shall have more time to devote to you in the +future, and that'll be a good thing." She then left them and went for a +long walk by herself. + +Now, it is one of those dreadful things which most surely happen to weak +human nature that when an evil and jealous and unkind thought gets into +the heart, that same thought, though quite unimportant at first, +gradually increases in dimensions until it overshadows all other +thoughts and gains complete and overwhelming mastery of the mind. Had +any one said to Fanny Crawford a fortnight or three weeks before the +Vivians' arrival at the school that she would have felt towards Betty as +she now did, Fanny would have been the first to recoil at the monstrous +fungus of hatred which existed in her mind. Had Betty been a very plain, +unattractive, uninteresting girl, Fanny would have patronized her, kept +her in her place, but at the same time been kind to her. But Fanny's +rage towards Betty now was almost breaking its bounds. Was not Fanny's +own father educating the Vivians? Was it not he who had persuaded Mrs. +Haddo to admit them to the school? She herself was the only daughter of +a rich and distinguished man. The Vivians were nobodies. Why should they +be fussed about, and talked of, and even loved--yes, loved--while she, +Fanny, was losing her friends? The thought was unbearable! Fanny had +managed by judicious precaution to get Betty to reveal part of her +secret, and Betty was no longer a member of the Specialities. Betty's +name was on the blackboard too, and by no means honorably mentioned. But +more things could be done. + +For Fanny felt that the school was turning against her--the upper +school, whose praise she so prized. The Specialities asked her boldly +why she did not love Betty Vivian. There would be no peace for Fanny +until Mrs. Haddo knew everything, and dismissed the Vivians to another +school. This she would, of course, do at once if she knew the full +extent of Betty's sin. Fanny felt that she must proceed very warily. +Betty had hidden the packet, and boldly declared that she would not give +it up to any one--that she would rather leave the Specialities than tell +her story to Mrs. Haddo and put the little sealed packet into her +keeping. Fanny's present aim, therefore, was to find the packet. She +wondered how she could accomplish this, and looked round her for a +ready tool. Presently she made up her mind that the one girl who might +help her was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was by no means strong-minded. Sibyl was +unpopular--she pined for notice. Sibyl adored Betty; but suppose--oh, +suppose!--Fanny could offer her, as a price for the dirty work she +wanted her to undertake, membership in the Speciality Club? Martha West +would be on Sibyl's side, for Martha was always friendly to the plain, +uninteresting, somewhat lonely girl. Fanny felt at once that the one +tool who could further her aims was Sibyl Ray. There was no time to +lose. + +Sibyl had been frightfully perturbed at seeing Betty's name on the +blackboard, and she was as eager to talk to Fanny as Fanny was pleased +to listen to her. + +"Oh Fan!" she said, running up to her on the afternoon of that same day, +"may I go for a very little walk with you? I do want to ask you about +poor darling Betty!" + +"Poor darling Betty indeed!" said Fanny. + +"Oh, but don't you pity her? What can have happened to cause her to be +no longer a member of the Specialities?" + +"Now, Sibyl, you must be a little goose! Do you suppose for a moment it +is within my power to enlighten you?" + +"I suppose it isn't; but I am very unhappy about her, and so are we all. +We are all fond of Betty. We think her wonderful." + +Fanny was silent. + +"'Tis good of you, Fan, to let me walk with you!" + +"I have something to say to you, Sibyl; but before I begin you must +promise me most faithfully that you won't repeat anything I am going to +say." + +"Of course not," said Sibyl. "As if I could!" + +"I don't suppose you would dare. You see, I am one of the older girls of +the school, and have been a Speciality for some little time, and it +wouldn't be at all to your advantage if you did anything to annoy me. I +should find out at once, for instance, if you whispered a syllable of +this to Martha West, Margaret Grant, or any other member of the +Speciality Club." + +"I won't! I won't! You may trust me, indeed you may," said Sibyl. + +"I think I may," answered Fanny, looking down at Sibyl's poor little +apology of a face. "I think you are the sort who would be faithful." + +Sibyl's small heart swelled with pride. "Betty was kind to me too," she +said; "and she did make me look nice--didn't she?--when she suggested +that I should wear the marguerites." + +"To tell you the truth, Sibyl, you were a figure of fun that night. +Betty was laughing in her sleeve at you all the time." + +Sibyl colored, and her small light-blue eyes contracted. "Betty laughing +at me! I don't believe it." + +"Of course she was, child. We all spoke of it afterwards. Why, you don't +know what you looked like when you came into the room in that green +dress, with that hideous wreath on your head." + +"I know," said Sibyl in a humble tone. "I couldn't make it look all +right; but Betty took me behind a screen, and managed it in a twinkling, +and put a white sash round my waist, and--oh, I felt nice anyhow!" + +"I am glad you felt nice," said Fanny, "for I can assure you it was more +than you looked." + +"Oh Fanny, don't hurt me! You know I can't afford very pretty dresses +like you. We are rather poor at home, and there are so many of us." + +"I don't want to hurt you, child; only, haven't you a grain of sense? +Don't you know perfectly well why Betty wanted you to wear the wreath of +marguerites?" + +"Just because she was sweet," said Sibyl, "and she thought I'd look +really nice in them." + +"That is all you know! Now, recall something, Sibyl." + +"Yes?" + +"Do you remember when you saw Betty stoop over that broken stump of the +old oak and take something out?" + +"Of course I do," said Sibyl. "It was a piece of wood. I found it the +next day." + +"Well, it wasn't a piece of wood," said Fanny. + +"What can you mean?" asked Sibyl. She stood perfectly still, staring at +her companion. Then she burst into a sort of frightened laugh. "But it +was a piece of wood, really," she added. "You are mistaken, Fanny. Of +course you know a great deal, but even you can't know more than I have +proved by my own eyesight. It looked in the distance like a small brown +piece of wood; and I asked Betty if it was, and she admitted it." + +"Just like her! just like her!" said Fanny. + +"Well, then, the very next day," continued Sibyl, "several girls and I +went to the old stump and poked and poked, and found it; so, you +see----" + +"I don't see," replied Fanny. "And now, if you will allow me, Sibyl, and +if you won't chatter quite so fast, I will tell you what I really do +know about this matter. I don't think for a single moment--in fact, I am +certain--that Betty Vivian did not trouble herself to poke amongst +withered leaves in the stump of the old oak-tree in order to produce a +piece of sodden wood. There was something else; and when you asked her +if it was a piece of wood she told you--remember, Sibyl, this is in +absolute confidence--an untruth. Oh, I am trying to put it mildly; but I +must mention the fact--Betty told you an untruth. Did you observe, or +did you not, that she was excited and looked slightly annoyed when you +suddenly called to her and ran up to her side?" + +"I--yes, I think she did look a little put out; but then she is very +proud, is Betty, and I am not her special friend, although I love her so +hard," replied Sibyl. + +"She walked with you afterwards, did she not?" + +"Yes." + +"She went towards the house with you?" + +"Of course. I have told you all that, Fanny." + +"When you both reached the gardens she suggested that you should wear +the marguerites in your hair?" + +"She did, Fanny; and I thought it was such a charming idea." + +"Did it not once occur to you that she wanted to get you out of the way, +that she did not care one scrap how you looked at the Speciality +entertainment?" + +"That certainly did not occur to me," answered Sibyl; then she added +stoutly, for she was a faithful little thing at heart, "and I don't +believe it either." + +"Well, believe it or not as you please; I know it to have been a fact. +And now I'll just tell you something. You must never, never repeat it; +if you do, I sha'n't speak to you again. I know what I am saying to be a +fact: I know the reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a Speciality." + +"Oh! oh!" said Sibyl. She colored deeply. + +"No longer a Speciality," repeated Fanny; "and I know the reason why; +only, of course, I can never say. But there's a vacancy in the +Speciality Club now for a girl who is faithful and zealous, and who can +prove herself my friend." + +Sibyl's heart began to beat very fast. "A vacancy in the Specialities!" +she said in a low tone. + +Fanny turned quickly round and faced her. "I could get you in if I +liked," she said. "Would it suit you to be a Speciality?" + +"Would it suit me?" said Sibyl. "Oh Fanny, it sounds like heaven! I +don't know what I wouldn't do--I don't know what I wouldn't do to become +a member of that club." + +"And Martha West would second any suggestions I made," continued Fanny. +"Of course I don't know that I could get you in; but I'd have a good +try, provided you help me now." + +"Fanny, what is it you want me to do?" + +"I want you, Sibyl, to use your intelligence; and I want you, all alone +and without consulting any one, to find out where Betty Vivian has put +the treasure which she told you was a piece of wood and which she hid in +the old oak stump. You can manage it quite well if you like." + +"I don't understand!" gasped Sibyl. + +"If you repeat a word of this conversation I shall use my influence to +have you boycotted in the school," said Fanny. "My power is great to +help or to mar your career in the school. If you do what I want--well, +my dear, all I can say is this, that I shall do my utmost to get you +into the club. You cannot imagine how nice it is when you are a member. +Think what poor Betty has lost, and think how you will feel when you are +a Speciality and she is not." + +"I don't know that I shall feel anything," replied Sibyl. "Somehow or +other, I don't like this thing you want me to do, Fanny." + +"Well, don't do it. I will get some one else." + +"And, in the second place," continued Sibyl, "even if I were willing to +do it, I don't know how. If Betty chooses to hide things--parcels or +anything of that sort--I can't find out where she puts them." + +"You can watch her," said Fanny. "Now, if you have any gumption about +you--and it is my strong belief that you have--you will be able to tell +me this time to-morrow something about Betty Vivian and her movements. +If by this time to-morrow you know nothing--why, I will relieve you of +the task, and you will be as you were before. But if, on the other hand, +you help me to save the honor of a great school--which is, I assure you, +at the present moment in serious peril--I shall do my utmost to get you +admitted to the Speciality Club. Now, I think that is all." + +As Fanny concluded she shouted to Susie Rushworth, who was going towards +the arbor at the top of the grounds, and Sibyl found herself all alone. +Fanny had taken her a good long way. They had passed through a +plantation of young fir-trees to one of the vegetable-gardens, and +thence through an orchard, where the grass was long and dank at this +time of year. Somehow or other, Sibyl felt chilled to the bone and very +miserable. She had never liked Fanny less than she did at this moment. +But she was not strong-minded, and Fanny was one of the most important +girls in the school. She was rich, her father was a man of great +distinction; she might be head-girl of the school, and probably would +when Margaret Grant left; she was also quite an old member of the +Specialities. Besides Fanny, even Martha West seemed to fade into +insignificance. It was as though the friend of the Prime Minister--the +greatest possible friend--had held out a helping hand to a struggling +nobody, and offered that nobody a dazzling position. Sibyl was that poor +little nobody, and Fanny's words were weighted with such power that the +girl trembled and felt herself shaking all over. + +Sibyl's love for Martha was innocent, pure, and good. Her admiration for +Betty was the generous and romantic affection which a little schoolgirl +gives to another girl older than herself who is both brilliant and +captivating. But, after all, Betty had lost her sceptre and laid down +her crown. Betty, for some extraordinary reason, was in disgrace, and +Fanny was in the zenith of her power. It would be magnificent to be a +Speciality! How those girls who thought little or nothing of Sibyl now +would admire her when she passed into that glorious state! She thought +of herself as joining the other Specialities in arranging programmes, in +devising entertainments; she thought of the privileges which would be +hers; she thought of that delightful private sitting-room into which she +had once dared to peep, and then shot out her little face again, +half-terrified at her own audacity. There was no one in the room at the +moment; but it did look cosy--the chairs so easy and comfortable, and +all covered with such a delicate shade of blue. Sibyl knew that blue +became her. She thought how nice she would look sitting in one of those +chairs and being hail-fellow-well-met with Margaret Grant, and Martha +her own friend, and all the others. Even Betty would envy her then. She +and Betty would change places. It would be her part to advise Betty what +to do and what to wear. Oh, it was a very dazzling prospect! And she +could gain the coveted distinction--but how? + +Sibyl felt her heart beating very fast. She had not been trained in a +high school of morals. Her father was a very hard-working clergyman with +a large family of eight children. Her mother was dead; her elder sisters +were earning their own living. Mrs. Haddo had heard of Sibyl, and had +taken her into the school on special terms, feeling sure that charity +was well expended in such a case. Mr. Ray was far too busy over his +numerous duties to look after Sibyl as her mother would have done had +she lived. The little girl was brought up anyhow, and her new life at +Haddo Court was a revelation to her in more ways than one. She was not +pretty; she was not clever; she was not strong-minded; she was very +easily influenced. A good girl could have done much for her--Martha had +done her very best; but a bad girl could do even more. + +While Sibyl was dallying with temptation, thinking to herself how +attractive it would be to feel such an important person as Fanny +Crawford, she looked down from the height where she was standing and saw +Betty Vivian walking slowly across the common. + +Betty was alone. Her head was slightly bent, but the rest of her young +figure was bolt upright. She was going towards the spot where those +sparse clumps of heather occupied their neglected position at one side +of the "forest primeval." + +When first Sibyl saw Betty her heart gave a great throb of longing to +rush to her, to fling her arms round her, to kiss her, to cling to her +side. But she suppressed that impulse. She loved Betty, but she was +afraid of her. Betty was the last sort of girl to put up with what she +considered liberties; Sibyl was a person to whom she was utterly +indifferent, and she would by no means have liked Sibyl to kiss her. +From Sibyl's vantage-ground, therefore, she watched Betty, herself +unseen. Then it suddenly occurred to her that she might continue to +watch her, but from a more favorable point of view. + +There was a little knoll at one end of the orchard, and there was a very +old gnarled apple-tree at the edge of the knoll. If Sibyl ran fast she +could climb into the apple-tree and look right down on to the common. No +sooner did the thought come to her than she resolved to act on it. +Knowledge is always power, and she need not tell Fanny anything at all +unless she liked. She could be faithful to poor Betty, who was in +disgrace, and at the same time she might know something about her. It +was so very odd that Betty was expelled from the Specialities. She could +not possibly have resigned, for had she done so there would have been a +great fuss, and everything would have been explained to the satisfaction +of the school; whereas that mysterious sentence on the blackboard left +the whole thing involved in darkest night. What had Betty done? Had she +really told a lie about what she had found in the old stump of oak? Was +it not a piece of wood after all? Had she really sent Sibyl into the +flower-garden to gather marguerites and make herself a figure of fun at +the Specialities' entertainment? Had she done it to get rid of her just +because--because she wanted--she wanted to remove something from the +stump of the old oak-tree? Oh, if Betty were that sort--if it were +possible--even Sibyl Ray felt that she could not love her any longer! It +was Fanny, after all, who was a noble girl. Fanny wanted to get to the +bottom of things. Fanny herself could not do what an unimportant little +girl like Sibyl could do. After all, there was nothing shabby in it. If +it were shabby, Fanny Crawford, the last girl in the school to do wrong, +would not have asked her to attend to the matter. + +Sibyl therefore climbed into the old apple-tree and perched amongst its +branches, and gazed eagerly down on the bit of common land. She was far +nearer to Betty than Betty had the least idea of. She saw her walk +towards the pieces of heather, but could not, from her point of view, +see what the plants were. She had really no idea that there was any +special heather in the grounds; she was not interested in a stupid thing +like heather. But she did see Betty go on her knees, and she did see her +pull up a root of some sort or other, and she did see her take something +out and look at it and put it back again. Then Betty returned very +slowly across the common towards the house. + +Sibyl was fairly panting now with excitement. Was there ever, ever in +all the world, such an easy way of becoming a Speciality? Betty had a +secret; and she, Sibyl, had found it out without the slightest +difficulty. Betty had hidden something in the old oak, and now she had +buried it under some plants at the edge of the common. Sibyl forgot +pretence, she forgot honor, she forgot everything but the luring voice +of Fanny Crawford and her keen desire to perfect her quest. At that time +of year few girls troubled themselves to walk across the "forest +primeval." It was a sort of place that was pleasant enough in warm days +of summer, but damp and dull and dreary at this season, when the girls +of Haddo Court preferred the upper walks, or the hockey-ground, or the +different places where the various games were played. Certainly the +"forest primeval" did not occupy much of their attention. + +It was getting a little dusk; but Sibyl, too excited to care, scrambled +down from her tree, and a few minutes later had dashed across the +common, and had discovered by the loosened earth the exact spot where +Betty had stooped. She was now beside herself with excitement. It was +her turn to go on her knees. She was doing good work; she was, according +to Fanny Crawford, saving the honor of the school. She poked and poked +with her fingers, and soon got up the already loosened roots of the +piece of heather. Down went her hard little hands into the cold clay +until at last they touched the tiny packet, which was sealed and tied +firmly with strong string. + +"Eureka! I have found it!" was Sibyl's exclamation. She slipped the +packet into her pocket, put the heather back into its place, tried to +give the disturbed earth the appearance of not having been disturbed at +all, and went back to the house. She was so excited she could scarcely +contain herself. + +The days were getting shorter. Tea was at half-past four, and a kind of +light supper at seven o'clock. The girls of the lower school had this +meal a little earlier. Sibyl was just in time for tea, which was always +served in the great refectory; and here the various members of the upper +school were all assembled--except the Specialities, who had tea in their +own private room. + +"Well, Sibyl, you are late!" said Sarah Butt. "I wanted to take a long +walk with you. Where have you been?" + +"I have been for a walk with Fanny Crawford," replied Sibyl with an +important air. + +Betty, who was helping herself to a cup of tea, glanced up at that +moment and fixed her eyes on Sibyl. Sibyl colored furiously and looked +away. Betty took no further notice of her, but began to chat with a girl +near her. Soon a crowd of girls collected round Betty, and laughed +heartily at her remarks. + +On any other occasion Sibyl would have joined this group, and been the +first to giggle over Betty's witticisms. But the little parcel in her +pocket seemed to weigh like lead. It was a weight on her spirits too. +She was most anxious to deliver it over to Fanny Crawford, and to keep +Fanny to her word, in order that she might be proposed as a Speciality +at the next meeting. She knew this would not be until Thursday. Oh, it +was all too long to wait! But she could put on airs already, for would +she not very soon cease to be drinking this weak tea in the refectory? +Would she not be having her own dainty meal in the Specialities' private +room? + +"How red you are, Sibyl!" was Sarah Butt's remark. "I suppose the cold +wind has caught your cheeks." + +"I wish you wouldn't remark on my appearance," said Sibyl. + +"Dear, dear! Hoity-toity! How grand we are getting all of a sudden!" + +"You needn't snub me in the way you do, Sarah. You'll be treating me +very differently before long." + +"Indeed, your Royal Highness! And may I ask how and why?" + +"You may neither ask how nor why; but events will prove," said Sibyl. +She raised her voice a little incautiously, and once again Betty looked +at her. There was something about Betty's glance, at once sorrowful and +aloof, which stung Sibyl. Just because she had done Betty a wrong she no +longer loved her half as much as she had done. After a pause, she said +in a distinct voice, "I am a very great friend of Fanny Crawford, and I +am going to see her now on special business." With these words she +marched out of the refectory. + +Some of the girls laughed. Betty was quite silent. No one dared question +Betty Vivian with regard to her withdrawal from the Speciality Club, +nor did she enlighten them. But when tea was over she went up to Sylvia +and Hetty and said a few words to them both. They looked at her in +amazement, but made no kind of protest. After speaking to her sisters, +Betty left the refectory. + +"What can be the matter with your Betty?" asked one of the girls, +addressing the twins. + +"There's nothing the matter with her," said Sylvia in a stout voice. + +"Why are your eyes so red, then?" + +"My eyes are red because Dickie's lost." + +"Who's Dickie?" + +"He is the largest spider I ever saw, and he grows bigger and fatter +every day. But he is lost. We brought him from Scotland. He'd sting any +one who tried to hurt him; so if any of you see him in your bedrooms or +hiding under your pillows you'd best shriek out, for he is a dangerous +sort, and ought not to be interfered with." + +"How perfectly appalling!" said the girl now addressed. "You really +oughtn't to keep horrid pets of that sort. And I loathe spiders." + +"Oh, well, you're not Scotch," replied Sylvia with a disdainful gesture. +"Dickie is a darling to those he loves, but very fierce to those he +hates." + +"And is that really why your eyes are so red?" continued the girl--Hilda +Morton by name. "Has it nothing to do with that wonderful sister of +yours, and the strange fact that she has been expelled from the +Speciality Club?" + +"She hasn't been expelled!" said Sylvia in a voice of fury. + +"Don't talk nonsense! The fact was mentioned on the blackboard. If you +don't believe it, you can come and see for yourself." + +"She has left the club, but was not expelled," said Sylvia. "And I hate +you, Hilda! You have no right to speak of my sister like that." + +Meanwhile two girls were pursuing their different ways. Betty was going +towards that wing of the building where Mr. Fairfax's suite of rooms was +to be found. She had never yet spoken to him. She wished to speak to him +now. The rooms occupied by the Fairfaxes formed a complete little +dwelling, with its own kitchen and special servants. These rooms +adjoined the chapel; but his family lived apart from the school. It was +understood, however, that any girl at Haddo Court was at liberty to ask +the chaplain a question in a moment of difficulty. + +Betty now rang the bell of the little house. A neat servant opened the +door. On inquiring if Mr. Fairfax were within, Betty was told "Yes," and +was admitted at once into that gentleman's study. + +The clergyman rose at her entrance. He recognized her face, spoke to her +kindly, said he was glad she had come to see him, and asked her to sit +down. "Is anything the matter, my dear? Is there any way in which I can +help you?" + +"I don't know," answered the girl. "I thought perhaps you could; it +flashed through my mind to-day that perhaps you could. You have seen me +in the chapel?" + +"Oh yes; yours is not the sort of face one is likely to forget." + +"I am not happy," said Betty. + +"I am sorry to hear that. But don't you agree with me that we poor human +creatures think too much of our own individual happiness and too little +of the happiness of others? It seems to me that the golden rule to live +by in this: Provided my brother is happy, all is well with me." + +"That is true to a certain extent," said Betty; "but--" She paused a +minute. Then she said abruptly, "I am not at all the cringing sort, and +I am not the girl to grumble, and I love Mrs. Haddo; and, sir, there +have been moments when your voice in chapel has given me great +consolation. I also love one or two of my schoolfellows. But the fact +is, there is something weighing on my conscience, and I cannot tell you +what it is. I cannot do the right thing, sir; and I do not see my way +ever to do what I suppose you would say was the right thing. I will tell +you this much about myself. You have heard of our Speciality Club?" + +"Of course I have." + +"The girls were very good to me when I came here--for I am a comparative +stranger in the school--and they elected me to be a Speciality." + +"Indeed!" said Mr. Fairfax. "That is a very great honor." + +"I know it is; and I was given the rules, and I read them all carefully. +But, sir, in a sudden moment of temptation, before I came to Haddo +Court, I did something which was wrong, and I am determined not to mend +my ways with regard to that matter. Nevertheless, I became a Speciality, +knowing that by so doing I should break the first rule of the club." + +Mr. Fairfax was too courteous ever to interrupt any one who came to him +to talk over a difficulty. He was silent now, his hands clasped tightly +together, his deep-set eyes fixed on Betty's vivid face. + +"I was a Speciality for about a fortnight," she continued--"perhaps a +little longer. But at the last meeting I made up my mind that I could +not go on, so I told the girls what I had done. It is unnecessary to +trouble you with those particulars, sir. After I had told them they +asked me to leave the room, and I went. They had a special meeting of +the club last night to consult over my case, and I was invited to be +present. I was then told that, notwithstanding the fact that I had +broken Rule No. I., I might continue to be a member of the club if I +would give up something which I possess and to which I believe I have a +full right, and if I would relate my story in detail to Mrs. Haddo. I +absolutely refused to do either of these things. I was then _expelled_ +from the club, sir--that is the only word to use; and the fact was +notified on the blackboard in the great hall to-day." + +"Well," said Mr. Fairfax when Betty paused, "I understand that you +repent, and you do not repent, and that you are no longer a Speciality." + +"That is the case, sir." + +"Can you not take me further into your confidence?" + +"There is no use," said Betty, shaking her head. + +"I am not surprised, Miss Vivian, that you are unhappy." + +"I am accustomed to that," said Betty. + +"May I ask what you have come to see me about?" + +"I wanted to know this: ought I, or ought I not, being unrepentant of my +sin, to come to the chapel with the other girls, to kneel with them, to +pray with them, and to listen to your words?" + +"I must leave that to yourself. If your conscience says, 'Come,' it is +not for me to turn you out. But it is a very dangerous thing to trifle +with conscience. Of course you know that. I can see, too, that you are +peculiarly sensitive. Forgive me, but I have often noticed your face, +and with extreme interest. You have good abilities, and a great future +before you in the upward direction--that is, if you choose. Although you +won't take me into your confidence, I am well aware that the present is +a turning-point in your career. You must at least know that I, as a +clergyman, would not repeat to any one a word of what you say to me. Can +you not trust me?" + +"No, no; it is too painful!" said Betty. "I see that, in your heart of +hearts, you think that I--I ought not--I ought _not_ to come to chapel. +I am indeed outcast!" + +"No, child, you are not. Kneel down now, and let me pray with you." + +"I cannot stand it--no, I cannot!" said Betty; and she turned away. + +When she had gone Mr. Fairfax dropped on his knees. He prayed for a long +time with fervor. But that night he missed Betty Vivian at prayers in +the beautiful little chapel. + +Meanwhile Betty--struggling, battling with herself, determined not to +yield, feeling fully convinced that the only wrong thing she had done +was telling the lie to Sir John Crawford and prevaricating to Sibyl--was +nothing like so much to be pitied as Sibyl Ray herself. + +Sibyl had lingered about the different corridors and passages until she +found Fanny, who was talking to Martha West. Sibyl was so startled when +the two girls came out of the private sitting-room that she almost +squinted, and Fanny at once perceived that the girl had something +important to tell her. She must not, however, appear to notice Sibyl +specially in the presence of Martha. + +Martha, on the contrary, went up at once to Sibyl and said in her +pleasant voice, "Why, my dear child, it is quite a long time since we +have met! And now, I wonder what I can do for you or how I can possibly +help you. Would you like to come and have a cosy chat with me in my +bedroom for a little? The fact is this," continued Martha: "we +Specialities are so terribly spoilt in the school that we hardly know +ourselves. Fancy having a fire in one's bedroom, not only at night, but +at this hour! Would you like to come with me, Sib?" + +At another moment Sibyl would have hailed this invitation with rapture. +On the present occasion she was about to refuse it; but Fanny said with +a quick glance, which was not altogether lost on Martha, "Of course go +with Martha, Sibyl. You are in great luck to have such a friend." + +Sibyl departed, therefore, very unwillingly, with the friend she had +once adored. Martha's bedroom was very plain and without ornaments, but +there were snug easy-chairs and the fire burned brightly. Martha invited +the little girl to sit down, and asked her how she was. + +"Oh, I am all right," said Sibyl. + +Martha looked at her attentively. "I don't quite understand you, Sib. +You have rather avoided me during the last day or two. Is it because I +am a Speciality? I do hope that will make no difference with my old +friends." + +"Oh no," said Sibyl. "There's nothing so wonderful in being a +Speciality, is there?" + +Martha stared. "Well, to me it is very wonderful," she said; "and I +cannot imagine how those other noble-minded girls think me good enough +to join them." + +"Oh Martha, are they so good as all that?" + +"They are," said Martha; and her tone was very gloomy. She was thinking +of Betty, whom she longed to comfort, whom she earnestly longed to help. + +"It's so queer about Betty," said Sibyl after a pause. "She seemed to be +such a very popular Speciality. Then, all of a sudden, she ceased to be +one at all. I can't understand it." + +"And you are never likely to, Sibyl. What happens in the club is only +known to its members." + +Sibyl grew red. What was coming over her? Two or three hours ago she was +a girl--weak, it is true; insignificant, it is true--with a passion for +Martha West and a most genuine love and admiration for Betty Vivian. Now +she almost disliked Betty; and she could not make out what charm she had +ever discovered in poor, plain Martha. She got up impatiently. "You will +forgive me, Martha," she said; "but I have lots of things I want to do. +I don't think I will stay just now. Perhaps you will ask me to come and +talk to you another day." + +"No, Sibyl, I sha'n't. When you want me you must try to find me +yourself. I don't understand what is the matter with you to-day." + +Sibyl grew that fiery red which always distressed her inexpressibly. The +next minute she had disappeared. She ran straight to Fanny's room, +hoping and trusting that she might find its inmate within. She was not +disappointed, for Fanny was there alone; she was fully expecting Sibyl +to come and see her. To Sibyl's knock she said, "Come in!" and the girl +entered at once. + +"Well?" said Fanny. + +"I have done what you wanted," said Sibyl. "I watched her, and I saw. +Afterwards I went to the place where she had hidden it. I took it. It is +in my pocket. Please take it from me. I have done what you wished. I +want to get rid of it, and never to think of it again. Fanny, when shall +I be elected a Speciality?" + +But Fanny did not speak. She had snatched the little packet from Sibyl's +hand and was gazing at it, her eyes almost starting from her head. + +"When shall I become a Speciality?" whispered Sibyl. + +"Don't whisper, child! The Vivians' room is next to mine. Sibyl, we must +keep this a most profound secret, I am awfully obliged to you! You have +been very clever and prompt. I don't wish to ask any questions at all. +Thank you, Sibyl, from my heart. I will certainly keep my promise, and +at the next meeting will propose you as a member. Whether you are +elected or not must, of course, depend on the votes of the majority. In +the meanwhile forget all this. Be as usual with your schoolfellows. Rest +assured of my undying friendship and gratitude. Keep what you have done +a profound secret; if anything leaks out there is no chance of your +becoming a Speciality. Now, good-bye Sibyl. I mustn't be seen to take +any special notice of you; people are very watchful in cases of this +sort. But remember, though I don't talk to you a great deal, I shall be +your true friend; and after you have become a member of our club there +will, of course, be no difficulty." + +"Oh, I should love to be a member!" said Sibyl. "I do so hate the tea in +the refectory, and you do seem to have such cosy times in your +sitting-room." + +Fanny smiled very slightly. "May I give you one word of warning?" she +said. "You made a very great mistake to-day when you did not seem +willing to pay Martha West a visit. Your election depends far more on +Martha than on me. Between now and Thursday--when I mean to propose you +as a member in place of Betty Vivian, who has forfeited her right for +ever--Martha will be your most valuable ally. I do not say you will be +elected--for the rules of the club are very strict, and we are most +exclusive--but I will do my utmost." + +"But you promised! I thought I was sure!" said Sibyl, beginning to +whimper. + +"Nonsense, nonsense, child! I said I would do my best. Now, keep up your +friendship with Martha--that is, if you are wise." + +Sibyl left the room. Her momentary elation was over, and she began to +hate herself for what she had done. In all probability she would not be +elected a Speciality, and then what reward would she have for acting the +spy? She had acted the spy. The plain truth seemed now to flash before +her eyes. She had been very mean and hard; and she had taken something +which, after all, did not belong to her at all, and given it to Fanny. +She could never get that something back. She felt that she did not dare +to look at Betty Vivian. Why should not Betty hide things if she liked +in the stump of an old oak-tree or under a bit of tiresome heather in +the "forest primeval?" After all, Betty had not said the thing was wood; +but when Sibyl had asked her she had said, "Have it so if you like." Oh! +Sibyl felt just now that she had been made a sort of cat's-paw, and that +she did not like Fanny Crawford one bit. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A TURNING-POINT + + +After this exciting day matters seemed to move rather languidly in the +school. Betty was beyond doubt in low spirits. She did not complain; she +did not take any one into her confidence. Even to her sisters she was +gloomy and silent. She took long walks by herself. She neglected no +duty--that is, no apparent duty--and her lessons progressed swimmingly. +Her two great talents--the one for music, the other for recitation--were +bringing her into special notice amongst the different teachers. She was +looked upon by the educational staff as a girl who might bring marked +distinction to the school. Thus the last few days of that miserable week +passed. + +On Tuesday evening Miss Symes had a little talk with Mrs. Haddo. + +"What is it, dear St. Cecilia?" asked the head mistress, looking +lovingly into the face of her favorite teacher. + +"I am anxious about Betty," was the reply. + +"Sit down, dear, won't you? Emma, I have been also anxious. I cannot +understand why that notice was put up on the blackboard, and why Betty +has left the club. Have you any clue, dear?" + +"None whatsoever," was Miss Symes's answer. "Of course I, as a teacher, +cannot possibly question any of the girls, and they are none of them +willing to confide in me." + +"We certainly cannot question them," said Mrs. Haddo. "But now I wish to +say something to you. Betty has been absent from evening prayers at the +chapel so often lately that I think it is my duty to speak to her on the +subject." + +"I have also observed that fact," replied Miss Symes. "Betty does not +look well. There is something, beyond doubt, weighing on her mind. She +avoids her fellow-pupils, whereas she used to be, I may almost say, the +favorite of the school. She scarcely speaks to any one now. When she +walks she walks alone. Even her dear little sisters are anxious about +her; I can see it, although they are far too discreet to say a word. +Poor Betty's little face seems to me to grow paler every day, and her +eyes more pathetic. Mrs. Haddo, can you not do something?" + +"You know, Emma, that I never force confidences; I think it a great +mistake. If a girl wishes to speak to me, she understands me well enough +to be sure I shall respect every word she says; otherwise, I think it +best to allow a girl of Betty Vivian's age to fight out her difficulties +alone." + +"As her teacher, I have nothing to complain of," said Miss Symes. "She +is just brilliant. She seems to leap over mental difficulties as though +they did not exist. Her intuition is something marvellous, and she will +grasp an idea almost as soon as it is uttered. I should like you to hear +her play; it is a perfect delight to teach her; her little fingers seem +to be endowed with the very spirit of music. And then that delightful +voice of hers thrills one when she recites aloud, as she does twice a +week in my recitation-class. As a matter of fact, dear Mrs. Haddo, I am +deeply attached to Betty; but I feel there is something wrong just now." + +"A turning-point," said Mrs. Haddo. "How often we come to them in life!" + +"God grant she may take the right turning!" was Miss Symes's remark. She +sat silent, gazing gloomily into the fire. + +"It is not like you, Emma, to be so despondent," said the head mistress. + +"I cannot help feeling despondent, for I think there is mischief afoot +and that Betty is suffering. I wonder if----" + +At that moment there came a tap at the door. Mrs. Haddo said, "Come in," +and Mr. Fairfax entered. + +"Ah," said Mrs. Haddo, "you are just the very man we want, Mr. Fairfax! +Please sit down." + +Mr. Fairfax immediately took the chair which was offered to him. "I have +come," he said, "to speak to you and to Miss Symes with regard to one of +your pupils--Betty Vivian." + +"How strange!" said Mrs. Haddo. "Miss Symes and I were talking about +Betty only this very moment. Can you throw any light on what is +troubling her?" + +"No," said Mr. Fairfax. "I came here to ask if you could." + +"What do you mean?" + +"Well, you know in my capacity as chaplain different things come to my +ears; but I am under a promise not to repeat them. I am, however, under +no promise in this instance. I was walking through the shrubbery +half-an-hour ago--I was, in fact, thinking out the little address I want +to give the dear girls next Sunday morning--when I suddenly heard a low +sob. I paused to listen; it was some way off, but I heard it quite +distinctly. I did not like to approach--you understand one's feeling of +delicacy in such a matter; but it came again, and was so very +heartrending that I could not help saying, 'Who is there? Is any one in +trouble?' To my amazement, a girl started to her feet; she had been +lying full-length, with her face downwards, on the damp grass. She came +up to me, and I recognized her at once. She was Betty Vivian. There was +very little light, but I could see that she was in terrible distress. +She could scarcely get out her words. 'It is lost!' she said--'lost! +Some one has stolen it!' And then she rushed away from me in the +direction of the house. I thought it my duty to come and tell you, Mrs. +Haddo. The girl's grief was quite remarkable and out of the common. The +tone in which she said, 'It is lost--lost!' was tragic." + +Mrs. Haddo sat very still for a minute. Then she said gently, "Would you +rather speak to her, or shall I?" + +"Under the circumstances," said Mr. Fairfax, "it is only right for me to +say something more. Betty Vivian came to see me some days ago, and said +that she had been expelled from the Specialities; and she asked me if, +under such conditions, she ought to attend evening prayers in the +chapel. I begged for her full confidence. She would not give it." + +"And what did you say about evening prayers?" + +"I said that was a matter between her own conscience and God. I could +not get anything further out of her; but since then you may have +observed that she has hardly attended chapel at all." + +"I certainly have noticed it," said Miss Symes. + +Mrs. Haddo did not speak for a minute. Then she said in an authoritative +voice, "Thank you, Mr. Fairfax; I am deeply obliged to you for having +come to me and taken me so far into your confidence. Emma, will you ask +Betty to come to me here? If she resists, bring her, dear; if she still +resists, I will go to her. Dear Mr. Fairfax, we must pray for this +child. There is something very seriously wrong; but she has won my +heart, and I cannot give her up. Will you leave me also, dear friend, +for I must see Betty by herself?" + +Miss Symes immediately left the room. The clergyman shortly afterwards +followed her example. + +Of all the teachers, Miss Symes was the greatest favorite in the upper +school. She went swiftly through the lounge, where the girls were +usually to be found at this hour chatting, laughing, amusing themselves +with different games; for this was the relaxation-hour of the day, when +every girl might do precisely what she liked. Miss Symes did not for a +moment expect to find Betty in such an animated, lively, almost noisy +group. To her amazement, however, she was attracted by peals of +laughter; and--looking in the direction whence they came, she perceived +that Betty herself was the center of a circle of girls, who were all +urging her to "take-off" different girls and teachers in the school. + +Betty was an inimitable mimic. At that very moment it seemed to Miss +Symes that she heard her own voice speaking--her own very gentle, +cultivated, high-bred voice. Amongst the girls who listened and roared +with laughter might have been seen Sarah Butt, Sibyl Ray, and several +more who had only recently been moved to the upper school. + +"Now, please, take-off Mademoiselle. Whoever you neglect, please bestow +some attention on Mademoiselle, dear Betty!" cried several voices. + +Betty drew herself up, perked her head a little to one side, put on the +very slightest suspicion of a squint, and spoke in the high-pitched, +rapid tone of the Frenchwoman. She looked her part, and she acted it. + +"And now Fraeulein--Fraeulein!" said another voice. + +But before Betty could change herself into a stout German Fraeulein, Miss +Symes laid a quiet hand on her shoulder. "May I speak to you for a +minute, Betty?" + +"Why, certainly," said Betty, starting and reddening faintly. + +"Oh, dear St. Cecilia," exclaimed several of the girls, "don't take +Betty from us now! She is such fun!" + +"I was amusing the girls by doing a little bit of mimicry," said Betty. +"Miss Symes, did you see me mimicking you?" + +"I both saw and heard you, my dear. Your imitation was excellent." + +"Oh, please, dear St. Cecilia, don't say you are hurt!" cried Sarah +Butt. + +"Not in the least," said Miss Symes. "The gift of mimicry is a somewhat +dangerous one, but I don't think Betty meant it unkindly. I would ask +her, however, to spare our good and noble head mistress." + +"We begged of her to be Mrs. Haddo, but she wouldn't," said Sibyl. + +"Come, Betty," said Miss Symes. She took the girl's hand and led her +away. + +"What do you want with me?" said Betty. The brilliance in her eyes which +had been so remarkable a few minutes ago had now faded; her cheeks +looked pale; her small face wore a hungry expression. + +"Mrs. Haddo wants to see you, Betty." + +"Oh--but--must I go?" + +"Need you ask, Betty Vivian? The head mistress commands your presence." + +"Then I will go." + +"Remember, I trust you," said Miss Symes. + +"You may," answered the girl. She drew herself up and walked quickly and +with great dignity through the lounge into the great corridor beyond, +and so towards Mrs. Haddo's sitting-room. Here she knocked, and was +immediately admitted. + +"Betty, I wish to speak to you," said Mrs. Haddo. "Sit down, dear. You +and I have not had a chat for some time." + +"A very weary and long time ago!" answered Betty. All the vivacity which +had marked her face in the lounge had left it. + +But Mrs. Haddo, who could read character so rapidly and with such +unerring instinct, knew that the girl was, so to speak, on guard. She +was guarding herself, and was under a very strong tension. "I have +something to say to you, Betty," said Mrs. Haddo. + +Betty lowered her eyes. + +"Look at me, my child." + +With an effort Betty raised her eyes, glanced at Mrs. Haddo, and then +looked down again. "Wait, please, will you?" she said. + +"I am about to do so. You are unhappy." + +Betty nodded. + +"Will you tell me what is the matter?" + +Betty shook her head. + +"Do you think it is right for you to be unhappy in a school like mine, +and not to tell me--not to tell the one who is placed over you as a +mother would be placed were she alive--what is troubling you?" + +"It may be wrong," said Betty; "but even so, I cannot tell you." + +"You must understand," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking with great restraint +and extreme distinctness, "that it is impossible for me to allow this +state of things to continue. I know nothing, and yet in one sense I know +all. Nothing has been told me with regard to the true story of your +unhappiness, but the knowledge that you are unhappy reached me before +you yourself confirmed it. To-night Mr. Fairfax found you out of +doors--a broken rule, Betty, but I pass that over. He heard you sobbing +in the bitterness of your distress, and discovered that you were lying +face downwards on the grass in the fir-plantation. When he called you, +you went to him and told him you had lost something." + +"So I have," answered Betty. + +"Is it because of that you are unhappy?" + +"Yes, because of that--altogether because of that." + +"What have you lost, dear?" + +"Mrs. Haddo, I cannot tell you." + +"Betty, I ask you to do so. I have a right to know. I stand to you in +the place of a mother. I repeat that I have a right to know." + +"I cannot--I cannot tell you!" replied Betty. + +Mrs. Haddo, who had been seated, now rose, went over to the girl, and +put one hand on her shoulder. + +Betty shivered from head to foot. Then she sprang to her feet and moved +a little away. "Don't!" she said. "When you touch me it is like fire!" + +"My touch, Betty Vivian, like fire!" + +"Oh, you know that I love you!" sobbed poor Betty. + +"Prove it, then, dear, by giving me your confidence." + +"I would," said Betty, speaking rapidly, "if that which is causing me +suffering had anything at all to do with you. But it has nothing to do +with you, Mrs. Haddo, nor with the school, nor with the girls in the +school. It is my own private trouble. Once I had a treasure. The +treasure is gone." + +"You would, perhaps, like it back again?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Ah yes--yes! but I cannot get it. Some one has taken it. It is gone." + +"Once again, Betty, I ask you to give me your confidence." + +"I cannot." + +Mrs. Haddo resumed her seat. "Is that your very last--your +final--decision, Betty Vivian?" + +"It is, Mrs. Haddo." + +"How old are you, dear?" + +"I have told you. I was sixteen and a half when I came. I am rather more +now." + +"You are only a child, dear Betty." + +"Not in mind, nor in life, nor in circumstances," replied Betty. + +"We will suppose that all that is true," answered Mrs. Haddo. "We will +suppose, also, that you are cast upon the world friendless and alone. +Were such a thing to happen, what would you do?" + +Betty shivered. "I don't know," she replied. + +"Now, Betty, I cannot take your answer as final. I will give you a few +days longer; at the end of that time I will again beg for your +confidence. In the meanwhile I must say something very plainly. You came +to this school with your sisters under special conditions which you, my +poor child, had nothing to do with. But I must say frankly that I was +unwilling to admit you three into the school after term had begun, and +it was contrary to my rules to take girls straight into the upper school +who had never been in the lower school. Nevertheless, for the sake of my +old friend Sir John Crawford, I did this." + +"Not for Fanny's sake, I hope?" said Betty, her eyes flashing for a +minute, and a queer change coming over her face. + +"I have done what I did, Betty, for the sake of my dear friend Sir John +Crawford, who is your guardian and your sisters' guardian, and who is +now in India. I was unwilling to have you, my dears; but when you +arrived and I saw you, Betty, I thanked God, for I thought that I +perceived in you one whom I could love, whom I could train, whom I could +help. I was interested in you, very deeply interested, from the first. I +perceived with pleasure that my feelings towards you were shared by your +schoolfellows. You became a favorite, and you became so just because of +that beautiful birthright of yours--your keen wit, your unselfishness, +and your pleasant and bright ways. I did an extraordinary thing when I +admitted you into the school, and your schoolfellows did a thing quite +as extraordinary when they allowed you, a newcomer, to join that special +club which, more than anything else, has laid the foundation of sound +and noble morals in the school. You were made a Speciality. I have +nothing to do with the club, my dear; but I was pleased--nay, I was +proud--when I saw that my girls had such discernment as to select you as +one of their, I might really say august, number. You took your honors in +precisely the spirit I should have expected of you--sweetly, modestly, +without any undue sense of pride or hateful self-righteousness. Then, a +few days ago, there came a thunderclap; and teachers and girls were +alike amazed to find that you were no longer a member. By the rules of +the club we were not permitted to ask any questions----" + +"But I, as a late member, am permitted to tell you this much, Mrs. +Haddo. I was, and I think quite rightly, expelled from the club." + +"Betty!" + +"It is true," answered Betty. + +"And you will not tell me why?" + +"No more can I tell you why than I can explain to you what I have lost." + +"Betty, my poor child, there is a mystery somewhere. I am deeply puzzled +and terribly distressed. This is Wednesday evening. This day week, at +the same hour, I will send for you again and ask for your full and +absolute confidence. If you refuse to give it to me, Betty, I will not +expel you, my child; but I must send you from Haddo Court. I have an old +friend who will receive you until I can get into communication with Sir +John Crawford, for the sort of mystery which now exists is bad for the +school as a whole. You are intelligent enough to perceive that." + +"Yes, Mrs. Haddo, I am quite intelligent enough to perceive it." Betty +stood up as she spoke. + +"Have you anything more to say?" + +"Nothing," replied Betty. + +"This day week, then, my child. And one word before we part. The chapel +where Mr. Fairfax reads prayers--where God, I hope, is worshiped both in +spirit and in truth--is meant as much for the sorrowful, the erring, the +sinners, as for those who think themselves close to Him. For, Betty, the +God whom I believe in is a very present Help in time of trouble. I want +you to realize that at least, and not to cease attending prayers, my +dear." + +Betty bent her head. The next minute she went up to Mrs. Haddo, flung +herself on her knees by that lady's side, took her long white hand, +kissed it with passion, and left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +NOT ACCEPTABLE + + +It was Thursday evening, and Fanny Crawford did not altogether like the +prospect which lay before her. Ever since Sibyl had put the little +sealed packet into her hands, that packet had lain on Fanny's heart with +the weight of lead. Now that she had obtained the packet she did not +want it; she did not dare to let any one guess how it had come into her +hands. Fanny the proud, the looked-up-to, the respected, the girl whose +conduct had hitherto been so immaculate, had stooped to employ another +girl to act as a spy. Fanny was absolutely in the power of that very +insignificant person, Sibyl Ray. Sibyl demanded her reward. Fanny must +do her utmost to get Sibyl admitted to the club. + +On that very evening, as Fanny was going towards the Bertrams' room, +where the meeting was to be held, she was waylaid by Sibyl. + +"You won't forget?--you have promised." + +"Of course I won't forget, Sibyl. What a tease you are!" + +"Can you possibly give me a hint afterwards? You might come to my room +just for an instant, or you might push a little note under the door. I +am so panting to know. I do so dreadfully want to belong to the club. I +have been counting up all the privileges. I shall go mad with joy if I +am admitted." + +"I will do my best for you; but whether I can tell you anything or not +to-night is more than I can possibly say," replied Fanny. "Now, do go +away, Sibyl; go away, and be quick about it!" + +"All right," said Sibyl. "Of course you know, or perhaps you don't know, +that Betty isn't well? The doctor came an hour ago, and he says she is +to be kept very quiet. I am ever so sorry for her, she is so--so----Oh +dear, I am almost sorry now that I took that little packet from under +the root of the Scotch heather!" + +"Go, Sibyl. If we are seen together it will be much more difficult for +me to get you elected," was Fanny's response; and at last, to Fanny's +infinite relief, Sibyl took her departure. + +All the other members of the club were present when Fanny made her +appearance. They were talking in low tones, and as Fanny entered she +heard Betty's name being passed from lip to lip. + +"She does look bad, poor thing!" said Olive. + +"Did you know," exclaimed Susie Rushworth, "that after doing that +splendid piece of recitation in the class to-day she fainted right off? +Miss Symes was quite terrified about her." + +"They say the doctor has been sent for," said Martha. "Oh dear," she +added, "I never felt so unhappy about a girl before in my life!" + +Fanny was not too gratified to hear these remarks. She perceived all too +quickly that, notwithstanding the fact that Betty was no longer a member +of the club, she still reigned in the hearts of the girls. + +"Well, Fan, here you are!" exclaimed Margaret. "Is there anything very +special for us to do to-night? I have no inclination to do anything. We +are all so dreadfully anxious about Betty and those darling little +twins. Do you know, the doctor has ordered them not to sleep in Betty's +room to-night; so Miss Symes is going to look after them. They are such +sweet pets! The doctor isn't very happy about Betty. Sometimes I think +we made a mistake--that we were cruel to Betty to turn her out of the +club." + +Fanny felt that if she did not quickly assert herself all would be lost. +She therefore said quietly, "I don't pretend to share your raptures with +regard to Betty Vivian, and I certainly think that if rules are worth +anything they ought not to be broken." + +"I suppose you are right," remarked Olive; "only, Betty seemed to make +an exception to every rule." + +"Well," said Fanny, "if we want a new member----" + +"Another Speciality?" said Margaret. + +"I was thinking," continued Fanny, her pretty pink cheeks glowing +brightly and her eyes shining, "that we might be doing a kindness to a +very worthy little girl who will most certainly not break any of the +rules." + +"Whom in the world do you mean?" asked Susie. + +"I suppose you will be surprised at my choice; but although seven is the +perfect number, there is no rule whatever against our having eight, +nine, ten, or even more members of the club." + +"There is no rule against our having twenty members, if those members +are worthy," said Margaret Grant. "But whom have you in the back of your +head, Fanny? You look so mysterious." + +"I cannot think of any one myself," said Martha West. + +When Martha said this Fanny made a little gesture of despair. "Well," +she said, "I have taken a fancy to her. I think she is very nice; and I +know she is poor, and I know she wants help, and I know that Mrs. Haddo +takes a great interest in her. I allude to that dear little thing, Sibyl +Ray. You, Martha, surely will support me?" + +"Sibyl Ray!" The girls looked at each other in unbounded astonishment. +Martha was quite silent, and her cheeks turned pale. + +After a long pause Margaret spoke, "May I ask, Fanny, what one single +qualification Sibyl Ray has for election to membership in the Speciality +Club?" + +"But what possible reason is there against her being a member?" retorted +Fanny. + +"A great many, I should say," was Margaret's answer. "In the first +place, she is too young; in the second place, she has only just been +admitted to the upper school." + +"You can't keep her out on that account," objected Fanny, "for she has +been longer in the upper school than Betty Vivian." + +"Oh, please don't mention Betty and Sibyl in the same breath!" was +Margaret's answer. + +"I do not," said Fanny, who was fast losing her temper. "Sibyl is a +good, straightforward, honorable girl. Betty is the reverse." + +"Oh Fanny," exclaimed Martha, "I wouldn't abuse my own cousin if I were +you!" + +"Nonsense!" said Fanny. "Whether she is a cousin, or even a sister, I +cannot be blind to her most flagrant faults." + +"Of course you have a right to propose Sibyl Ray as a possible member of +this club," said Margaret, "for it is one of our by-laws that any member +can propose the election of another. But I don't really think you will +carry the thing through. In the first place, what do you know about +Sibyl? I have observed you talking to her once or twice lately; but +until the last week or so, I think, you hardly knew of her existence." + +"That is quite true," said Fanny boldly; "but during the last few days I +have discovered that Sibyl is a sweet girl--most charming, most +unselfish, most obliging. She is very timid, however, and lacks +self-confidence; and I have observed that she is constantly snubbed by +girls who are not fit to hold a candle to her and yet look down upon +her, just because she is poor. Now, if she were made a member of the +club all that would be put a stop to, and she would have a great chance +of doing her utmost in the school. We should be holding out a helping +hand to a girl who certainly is neither beautiful nor clever, but who +can be made a fine character. Martha, you at least will stand up for +Sibyl? You have always been her close friend." + +"And I am fond of her still," said Martha; "but I don't look upon her at +all in the light in which you do, Fanny. Sibyl, at present, would be +injured, not improved, by her sudden elevation to the rank of a +Speciality. The only thing I would suggest is that you propose her again +in a year's time; and if during the course of that year she has proved +in any sense of the word what you say, I for one will give her my +cordial support. At present I cannot honestly feel justified in voting +for her, and I will not." + +"Well spoken, Martha!" said Margaret. "Fanny, your suggestion is really +ill-timed. We are all unhappy about Betty just now; and to see poor +little Sibyl--of course, no one wants to say a word against her--in +Betty's shoes would make our loss seem more irreparable than ever." + +Fanny saw that her cause was lost. She had the grace not to say anything +more, but sat back in her chair with her eyes fixed on Margaret's face. +Fanny began to perceive for the first time that some of the girls in +this club had immensely strong characters. Margaret Grant and Martha +West had, for instance, characters so strong that Fanny discovered +herself to be a very unimportant little shadow beside them. The Bertrams +were the sort of girls to take sides at once and firmly with what was +good and noble, Susie Rushworth was devoted to Margaret, and Olive had +been the prime favorite in the club until Betty's advent. Now it seemed +to Fanny that each one of the Specialities was opposed to her, that she +stood alone. She did not like the situation. She was so exceedingly +anxious; for, strong in the belief that she herself was a person of +great importance, and in the further belief that Martha would support +her, she had been practically sure of getting Sibyl admitted to the +club. Now Sibyl had no chance whatever, and Sibyl knew things which +might make Fanny's position in the school the reverse of comfortable. + +Fanny Crawford on this occasion sat lost in thought, by no means +inclined to add her quota to the entertainment of the others, and +looking eagerly for the first moment when she might escape from the +meeting. Games were proposed; but games went languidly, and once again +Betty and Betty's illness became the subject of conversation. + +When this took place Fanny rose impatiently. "There are no further +questions to be discussed to-night?" she asked, turning to Margaret. + +"None that I know of." + +"Then, if you will excuse me, girls, I will go. I must tell poor little +Sibyl----" + +"You don't mean to say you spoke to Sibyl about it?" interrupted Martha. + +"Well, yes, I did." Fanny could almost have bitten out her tongue for +having made this unwary admission. "She was so keen, poor little thing, +that I told her I would do my best for her. I must say, once and for +all, that I have never seen my sister members so hard and cold and +indifferent to the interests of a very deserving little girl before. I +am, of course, sorry I spoke to her on the matter." + +"You really did very wrong, Fan," said Margaret in an annoyed voice. +"You know perfectly well that we never allude to the possibility of a +girl being proposed for membership to that girl herself until we have +first made up our minds whether she is worthy or not. Now, you have +placed us at a great disadvantage; but, of course, you forgot yourself, +Fan. You must tell Sibyl that the thing is not to be thought of. You can +put it down to her age or any other cause you like." + +"Of course I must speak the truth," said Fanny, raising her voice to a +somewhat insolent tone. "The club does not permit the slightest vestige +of prevarication. Is that not so?" + +"Yes, it is certainly so." + +The next minute Fanny had left the room. It was one of the rules of the +club that gossip, in the ordinary sense of the world, with regard to any +member was strictly forbidden; so no one made any comment when Fanny had +taken her departure. There was a sense of relief, however, felt by the +girls who remained behind. The meeting was a sorrowful one, and broke up +rather earlier than usual. + +At prayers that night in the chapel Margaret Grant and the other girls +of the Specialities were startled when Mr. Fairfax made special mention +of Betty Vivian, praying God to comfort her in sore distress and to heal +her sickness. The prayer was extempore, and roused the girls to amazed +attention. + +Fanny was not present that night at chapel. She was so angry that she +felt she must give vent to her feelings to some one; therefore, why not +speak to Sibyl at once? + +Sibyl was not considered very strong, and though she did belong to the +upper school, usually went to bed before prayers. She was in her small +room to-night. It was a pretty, neatly furnished room in the west +wing--one of those usually given to a lower-school girl on first +entering the upper school. Sibyl had no intention, however, of going to +bed. She sat by her fire, her heart beating high, her thoughts full of +the privileges which would so soon be hers. She was composing, in her +own mind, a wonderful letter to send to her people at home; she pictured +to herself their looks of delight when they heard that this great honor +had been bestowed upon her. For, of course, Sibyl, as a member of the +lower school at Haddo Court, had heard much of the Specialities, and +what she had heard she had repeated; so that when she wanted to amuse +her select friends in her father's parish, she frequently gave them +some information on this most interesting subject. Now she was on the +point of being a member herself! How she would enjoy her Christmas +holidays! How she would be feted and fussed over and petted! How +carefully she would guard the secrets of the club, and how very high she +would hold her own small head! She a member of the great Haddo Court +School, and also a Speciality! + +While Sibyl was thus engaged, seeing pictures in the fire and smiling +quietly to herself, she suddenly heard a light tap at her room door. She +started to her feet, and the next minute she had flown across the room +and opened the door. Fanny stood without. + +"Oh, you dear, darling Fan!" exclaimed Sibyl. "You are good! Come in--do +come in! Is the meeting over? And--and--oh, Fanny! what have they said? +Has my name been put to the vote? Of course you and Martha would be on +my side, and you and Martha are so strong that you would carry the rest +of the members with you. Fan, am I to have a copy of the rules? +And--and--oh, Fan! is it settled? Do--do tell me!" + +"I wish you weren't quite so excited, Sibyl! Let me sit down; I have a +bad headache." + +Fanny sank languidly into the chair which Sibyl herself had been +occupying. There was only one easy-chair in this tiny room. Sibyl had, +therefore, to draw forward a hard and high one for herself. But she was +far too excited to mind this at the present moment. + +"And what a fearful blaze of light you have!" continued Fanny, looking +round fretfully. "Don't you know, Sibyl, that, unless we are occupied +over our studies, we are not allowed to turn on such a lot of light? +Here, let me put the room in shadow." + +"Let's have firelight only," laughed Sibyl, who was not quick at +guessing things, and felt absolute confidence in Fanny's powers. The +next instant she had switched off the light and was kneeling by Fanny's +side. "Now, Fanny--now, do put me out of suspense!" + +"I will," said Fanny. "I have come here for the purpose. I did what I +could for you, Sib. You must bear your disappointment as best you can. I +am truly sorry for you, but things can't be helped." + +"You are truly sorry for me--and--and--things can't be helped!" +exclaimed Sibyl, amazement in her voice. "What do you mean?" + +"Well, they won't have you at any price as a member of the Specialities; +and the person who spoke most strongly against you was your dear and +special friend, Martha West. I am not at liberty to quote a single word +of what she did say; but you are not to be a Speciality--at least, not +for a year. If at the end of a year you have done something +wonderful--the sort of thing which you, poor Sibyl, could never possibly +do--the matter may be brought up again for reconsideration. As things +stand, you are not to be elected; so the sooner you put the matter out +of your head the better." + +Sibyl turned very white. Then her face became suffused with small +patches of vivid color. + +Fanny was not looking at her; had she looked she might have perceived +that Sibyl's expression was anything but amiable at that moment. The +girl's extraordinary silence, however--the absence of all remark--the +absence, even, of any expression of sorrow--presently caused Fanny to +glance round at her. "Well," she said, "I thought I'd tell you at once. +You must put it out of your head. I think I will go to bed now. +Good-night, Sibyl. Sorry I couldn't do more for you." + +"Don't go!" said Sibyl. "What do you mean?" + +There was a quality in Sibyl's voice which made Fanny feel +uncomfortable. + +"I am much too tired," Fanny said, "to stay up any longer chatting with +an insignificant little girl like you. I could not even stay to the +conclusion of our meeting, and I certainly don't want to be seen in your +room. I did my best for you. I have failed. I am sorry, and there's an +end of it." + +"Oh no, there isn't an end of it!" said Sibyl. + +"What do you mean, Sibyl?" + +"I mean," said Sibyl, "that you have got to reward me for doing your +horrid--_horrid_, dirty work!" + +"You odious little creature! what do you mean? My dirty work! Sibyl, I +perceive that I was mistaken in you. I also perceive that Martha West +and the others were right. You are indeed unworthy to be a Speciality." + +"If all were known," said Sibyl, "I don't think I am half as unworthy as +you are, Fanny Crawford. Anyhow, if I am not to be made a Speciality, +and if every one is going to despise me and look down on me, why, I have +nothing to lose, and I may as well make an example of you." + +"You odious child! what _do_ you mean?" + +"Why, I can tell Mrs. Haddo as well as anybody else. Every one in the +school knows that Betty is ill to-night. Something seems to have gone +wrong with her head, and she is crying out about a packet--a lost +packet. Now, _you_ know how the packet was lost. You and I both know how +it was found--and lost again. You have it, Fanny. You are the one who +can cure Betty Vivian--Betty, who never was unkind to any one; Betty, +who did not mean me to be a figure of fun, as you suggested, on the +night of the entertainment; Betty, who has been kind to me, as she has +been kind to every one else since she came to the school. _You_ have +done nothing for me, Fanny; so I--I can take care of myself in future, +and perhaps Betty too." + +To say that Fanny was utterly amazed and horrified at Sibyl's speech--to +say that Fanny was thunderstruck when she perceived that this poor +little worm, as she considered Sibyl Ray, had turned at last--would be +but very inadequately to describe the situation. Fanny lost her headache +on the spot. Here was danger, grave and imminent; here was the +possibility of her immaculate character being dragged through the mud; +here was the terrible possibility of Fanny Crawford being seen in her +true colors. She had now to collect her scattered senses--in short, to +pull herself together. + +"Oh Sibyl," she said after a pause, "you frightened me for a minute--you +really did! Who would suppose that you were such a spirited girl?" + +"I am not spirited, Fanny; but I love Betty, notwithstanding all you +have tried to do to put me against her. And if I am not to be a +Speciality I would ever so much rather be Betty's friend than yours. +There! Now I have spoken. Perhaps you would like to go now, Fan, as your +head is aching so badly?" + +"It doesn't ache now," said Fanny; "your conduct has frightened all the +aches away. Sibyl, you really are the very queerest girl! I came here +to-night full of the kindest feelings towards you. You can ask Martha +West how I spoke of you at the club." + +"But she won't tell me. Anything that you say in the club isn't allowed +to be breathed outside it." + +"I know that. Anyhow, I have been doing my utmost to get the school to +see you in your true light. I have taken great notice of you, and you +have been proud to receive my notice. It is certainly true that I have +failed to get you what I hoped I could manage; but there are other +things----" + +"Other things!" said Sibyl. She stood in a defiant attitude quite +foreign to her usual manner. + +"Oh yes, my dear child, lots and lots of other things! For instance, in +the Christmas holidays I can have you to stay with me at Brighton. What +do you say to that? Don't you think that would be a feather in your cap? +I have an aunt who lives there, Aunt Amelia Crawford; and she generally +allows me--that is, when father cannot have me--to bring one of my +school-friends with me to stay in her lovely house. I had a letter from +her only yesterday, asking me which girl I would like to bring with me +this year. I thought of Olive--Olive is such fun; but I'd just as soon +have you--that is, if you would like to come." + +Alas for poor Sibyl! She was not proof against such a tempting bait. + +"As far as you are concerned," continued Fanny, who saw that she was +making way with Sibyl, and breaking down, as she expressed it, her silly +little defences, "you would gain far more prestige in being Aunt +Amelia's guest than if you belonged to twenty Speciality Clubs. Aunt +Amelia is good to the girls who come to stay with her as my friends. And +I'd help you, Sib; I'd make the best of your dresses. We'd go to the +theatre, and the pantomime, and all kinds of jolly things. We'd have a +rattling fine time." + +"Do you really mean it?" said Sibyl. + +"Yes--that is, if you will give me your solemn word that you will refer +no more to that silly matter about Betty Vivian. Betty Vivian had no +right to that packet. It belonged to my father, and I have got it back +for him. Don't think of it any more, Sibyl, and you shall be my guest +this Christmas. But if you prefer to make a fuss, and drag me into an +unpleasant position, and get yourself, in all probability, expelled from +the school, then you must do as you please." + +"But if I were expelled, you'd be expelled too," said Sibyl. + +Fanny laughed. "I think not," she said. "I think, without any undue +pride, that my position in the school is sufficiently strong to prevent +such a catastrophe. No; you would be cutting off your nose to spite your +face--that is all you would be doing with this nice little scheme of +yours. Give it up, Sibyl, and you shall come to Brighton." + +"It is dull at home at Christmas," said Sibyl. "We are so dreadfully +poor, and father has such a lot to do; and there are always those +half-starved, smelly sort of people coming to the house--the sort that +want coal-tickets, you know, and grocery-tickets; and--and--we have to +help to give great big Christmas dinners. We are all day long getting up +entertainments for those dull sort of people. I often think they are not +a bit grateful, and after being at a school like this I really feel +quite squeamish about them." + +Fanny laughed. She saw, or believed she saw, that her cause was won. +"You'll have nothing to make you squeamish at Aunt Amelia's," she said. +"And now I must say good-night. Sorry about the Specialities; but, after +the little exhibition you have just made of yourself, I agree with the +other girls that you are not fit to be a member. Now, ta-ta for the +present." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"IT'S DICKIE!" + + +Fanny went straight to her own room. "What a nasty time I have lived +through!" she thought as she was about to enter. Then she opened the +door and started back. + +The whole room had undergone a metamorphosis. There was a shaded light +in one corner, and the door between Fanny's room and Betty's was thrown +open. A grave, kind-looking nurse was seated by a table, on which was a +shaded lamp; and on seeing Fanny enter she held up her hand with a +warning gesture. The next minute she had beckoned the girl out on the +landing. + +"What is the meaning of this?" asked Fanny. "What are you doing in my +room?" + +"The doctor wished the door to be opened and the room to be given up to +me," replied the nurse. "My name is Sister Helen, and I am looking after +dear little Miss Vivian. We couldn't find you to tell you about the +necessary alterations, which were made in a hurry. Ah, I mustn't leave +my patient! I hear her calling out again. She is terribly troubled about +something she has lost. Do you hear her?" + +"I won't give it up! I won't give it up!" called poor Betty's voice. + +"I was asked to tell you," said Sister Helen, "to go straight to Miss +Symes, who has arranged another room for you to sleep in--that is, if +you _are_ Miss Crawford." + +"Yes, that is my name. Have my things been removed?" + +"I suppose so, but I don't know. I am going back to my patient." + +The nurse re-entered the room, closing the door on Fanny, who stood by +herself in the corridor. She heard Betty's voice, and Betty's voice +sounded so high and piercing and full of pain that her first feeling was +one of intense thankfulness that she had been moved from close proximity +to the girl. The next minute she was speeding down the corridor in the +direction of Miss Symes's room. Half-way there she met St. Cecilia coming +to meet her. + +"Ah, Fanny, dear," said Miss Symes, "I thought your little meeting would +have been over by now. Do you greatly mind sharing my room with me +to-night? I cannot get another ready for you in time. Dr. Ashley wishes +the nurse who is looking after Betty to have your room for the present. +There was no time to tell you, dear; but I have collected the few things +I think you will want till the morning. To-morrow we will arrange +another room for you. In the meantime I hope you will put up with me. I +have had a bed put into a corner of my room and a screen around it, so +you will be quite comfortable." + +"Thank you," said Fanny. She wondered what further unpleasantness was +about to happen to her on that inauspicious night. + +"You would like to go to bed, dear, wouldn't you?" said Miss Symes. + +"Yes, thank you." + +"Well, you shall do so. I cannot go for a couple of hours, as Mrs. Haddo +wants me to sit up with her until the specialist arrives from London." + +"The specialist from London!" exclaimed Fanny, turning first red and +then white. "Do you mean that Mrs. Haddo has sent for a London doctor?" + +"Indeed she has. My dear, poor little Betty is dangerously ill. Dr. +Ashley is by no means satisfied about her." + +By this time the two had reached Miss Symes's beautiful room. Fanny gave +a quick sigh. Then, like a flash, a horrible thought occurred to her. +Her room had to be given up to-morrow. Her things would be removed. +Among her possessions--put safely away, it is true, but still not _too_ +safely--was the little sealed packet. If that packet were found, Fanny +felt that the world would be at an end as far as she was concerned. + +"You don't look well yourself, Fanny," said Miss Symes, glancing kindly +at the girl. "Of course you are sorry about Betty; we are all sorry, for +we all love her. If you had been at prayers to-night you would have been +astonished at the gloom which was felt in our beautiful little chapel +when Mr. Fairfax prayed for her." + +"But she can't be as ill as all that?" said Fanny. + +"She is--very, very ill, dear. The child has evidently got a bad chill, +together with a most severe mental shock. We none of us can make out +what is the matter; but it is highly probable that the specialist--Dr. +Jephson of Harley Street--will insist on the Specialities being +questioned as to the reason why Betty was expelled from the club. It is +absolutely essential that the girl's mind should be relieved, and that +as soon as possible. She is under the influence now of a composing +draught, and, we greatly trust, may be more like herself in the morning. +Don't look too sad, dear Fanny! I can quite understand that you must +feel this very deeply, for Betty is your cousin; and somehow, +dear--forgive me for saying it--but you do not act quite the cousin's +part to that poor, sweet child. Now I must leave you. Go to bed, dear. +Pray for Betty, and then sleep all you can." + +"Where are the twins?" suddenly asked Fanny. + +"They are sleeping to-night in the lower school. It was necessary to put +the poor darlings as far from Betty as possible, for they are in a +fearful state about her. Now I will leave you, Fanny. I am wanted +elsewhere. When I do come to bed I will be as quiet as possible, so as +not to disturb you." + +Fanny made no answer, and the next minute Miss Symes had left her. + +Fanny now went over to the corner of the room where a snug little white +bed had been put up, a washhand-stand was placed and where a small chest +of drawers stood--empty at present, for only a few of Fanny's things had +been taken out of her own room. The girl looked round her in a +bewildered way. The packet!--the sealed packet! To-morrow all her +possessions would be removed into a room which would be got ready for +her. There were always one or two rooms to spare at Haddo Court, and +Fanny would be given a room to herself again. She was far too important +a member of that little community not to have the best possible done for +her. Deft and skillful servants would take her things out of the various +drawers and move them to another room. They would find the packet. Fanny +knew quite well where she had placed it. She had put it under a pile of +linen which she herself took charge of, and which was always kept in the +bottom drawer of her wardrobe. Fanny had put the packet there in a +moment of excitement and hurry. She had not yet decided what to do with +it; she had to make a plan in her own mind, and in the meantime it was +safe enough among Fanny's various and pretty articles of toilet. For it +was one of the rules of Haddo Court that each girl, be she rich or poor, +should take care of her own underclothing. All that the servants had to +do was to see that the things were properly aired; but the girls had to +mend their own clothes and keep them tidy. + +Absolute horror filled Fanny's mind now. What was she to do? She was so +bewildered that for a time she could scarcely think coherently. Then she +made up her mind that, come what would, she must get that packet out of +her own bedroom before the servants came in on the following day. She +was so absorbed with the thought of her own danger that she had no time +to think of the very grave danger which assailed poor little Betty +Vivian. If she had disliked Betty before, she hated her now. Oh, how +right she had been when, in her heart of hearts, she had opposed Betty's +entrance into the school! What trouble those three tiresome, wild, +uncontrollable girls had brought in their wake! And now Betty--Betty, +who was so adored--Betty, who, in Fanny's opinion, was both a thief and +a liar--was dangerously ill; and she (Fanny) would in all probability +have to appear in a most sorry position. For, whatever Betty's sin, +Fanny knew well that nothing could excuse her own conduct. She had spied +on Betty; she had employed Sibyl Ray as a tool; she had got Sibyl to +take the packet from under the piece of heather; and that very night she +had excited the astonishment of her companions in the Speciality Club by +proposing a ridiculously unsuitable person for membership as poor Sibyl. + +"Things look as black as night," thought Fanny to herself. "I don't want +to go to bed. I wish I could get out of this. How odious things are!" + +Just then she heard footsteps outside her door--footsteps that came up +close and waited. Then, all of a sudden, the door was flung violently +open, and Sylvia and Hester entered. They had been crying so hard that +their poor little faces were disfigured almost beyond recognition. +Sylvia held a small tin box in her hand. + +"What are you doing, girls? You had better go to bed," said Fanny. + +Neither girl took the slightest notice of this injunction. They looked +round the room, noting the position of the different articles of +furniture. Then Sylvia walked straight up to the screen behind which +Fanny's bed was placed. With a sudden movement she pulled down the +bedclothes, opened the little tin box, and put something into Fanny's +bed. + +"It's Dickie!" said Sylvia. "I hope you will like his company. Come, +Hetty." + +Before Fanny could find words the girls had vanished. But the look of +hatred on Sylvia's face, the look of defiance and horror on Hetty's, +Fanny was not likely to forget. They shut the door somewhat noisily +behind them. Then, all of a sudden, Hetty opened it again, pushed in her +small face, and said, "You had better be careful. His bite is +dangerous!" + +The next instant quick feet were heard running away from Miss Symes's +room, in the center of which Fanny stood stunned and really frightened. +What had those awful children put into her bed? She had heard vague +rumors of a pet of theirs called Dickie, but had never been interested +enough even to inquire about him. Who was Dickie? What was Dickie? Why +was his bite dangerous? Why was he put into her bed? Fanny, for all her +careful training, for all her airs and graces, was by no means +remarkable for physical courage. She approached the bed once or twice, +and went back again. She was really afraid to pull down the bedclothes. +At last, summoning up courage, she did so. To her horror, she saw an +enormous spider, the largest she had ever beheld, in the center of the +bed! This, then, was Dickie! He was curled up as though he were asleep. +But as Fanny ventured to approach a step nearer it seemed to her that +one wicked, protruding eye fastened itself on her face. The next instant +Dickie began to run, and when Dickie ran he ran towards her. Fanny +uttered a shriek. It was the culmination of all she had lived through +during that miserable evening. One shriek followed another, and in a +minute Susie Rushworth and Olive Repton ran into the room. + +"Oh, save me! Save me!" said Fanny. "Those little horrors have done it! +I don't know where it is! Oh, it is such an odious, dangerous, awful +kind of reptile! It's the biggest spider I ever saw in all my life, and +those horrible twins came and put it into my bed! Oh, girls, what I am +suffering! Do have pity on me! Do help me to find it! Do help me to kill +it!" + +"To kill Dickie!" said Susie. "Why, the poor little twins were +heartbroken for two or three days because they thought he was lost. I +for one certainly won't kill Dickie." + +"Nor I," said Olive. + +"Oh, dear! what shall I do?" said poor Fanny. "I really never was in +such miserable confusion and wretchedness in my life." + +"Do, Fanny, cease to be such a coward!" said Susie. "I must say I am +surprised at you. The poor little twins are almost beside +themselves--that is, on account of darling Betty. Betty is so ill; and +they think--the twins do----I mean, they have got it into their heads +that you--you don't like Betty, although she is your cousin and the very +sweetest girl in all the world. But as to your being afraid of a spider! +We'll have a good hunt for him, and find him. Fanny, I never thought you +could scream out as you did. What a mercy that Miss Symes's room is a +good way off from poor darling Betty's!" + +"Do try to think of some one besides Betty for a minute!" said Fanny; +"and you find that horror and put him into his box, or put him into +anything, only don't have him loose in the room." + +"Well, we'll have a good search," said both the girls, "and we may find +him." + +But this was a thing easier said than done; for if there was a knowing +spider anywhere in the world, that spider was Dickie of Scotland. Dickie +was not going to be easily caught. Perhaps Dickie had a secret sense of +humor and enjoyed the situation--the terror of the one girl, the efforts +of the others to put him back into captivity. In vain Susie laid baits +for Dickie all over the room--bits of raw meat, even one or two dead +flies which she found in a corner. But Dickie had secured a hiding-place +for himself, and would not come out at present. + +"I can't sleep in the room--that's all!" said Fanny. "I really +can't--that's flat." + +"Oh, stop talking for a minute!" said Olive suddenly. "There! didn't you +hear it? Yes, that is the sound of the carriage coming back from the +station. Dr. Jephson has come. Oh, I wonder what he will say about her!" + +"Don't leave me, girls, please!" said Fanny. "I never was so utterly +knocked to bits in my whole life!" + +"Well, we must go to bed or we'll be punished," said Susie. + +"Susie, you are not a bit afraid of reptiles; won't you change rooms +with me?" asked Fanny. + +"I would, only it's against the rules," said Susie at once. + +Olive also shook her head. "It's against the rules, Fanny; and, really, +if I were you I'd pull myself together, and on a night like this, when +the whole house is in such a state of turmoil, I'd try to show a spark +of courage and not be afraid of a poor little spider." + +"A _little_ spider! You haven't seen him," said Fanny. "Why, he's nearly +as big as an egg! I tell you he is most dangerous." + +"That's the doctor! Oh, I wonder what he is going to say!" exclaimed +Olive. "Come, Susie," she continued, turning to her companion, "we must +go to bed. Good-night, Fanny; good-night." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +A TIME OF DANGER + + +Fanny was left alone with Dickie. It was really awful to be quite alone +in a room where a spider nearly the size of an egg had concealed +himself. If Dickie would only come out and show himself Fanny thought +she could fight him; but he was at once big enough to bite and terrify +her up to the point of danger, and small enough effectually to hide his +presence. Fanny was really nervous; all the events of the day had +conspired to make her so. She, who, as a rule, knew nothing whatever +about nerves, was oppressed by them now. There had been the meeting of +the Specialities; there had been the blunt refusal to make Sibyl one of +their number. Then there was the appalling fact that she (Fanny) was +turned out of her bedroom. There was also the unpleasantness of Sibyl's +insurrection; and last, but not least, a spider had been put into her +bed by those wicked girls. + +Oh, what horrors all the Vivians were! What turmoil they had created in +the hitherto orderly, happy school! "No wonder I hate them!" thought +Fanny. "Well, I can't sleep here--that's plain." She stood by the fire. +The fire began to get low; the hour waxed late. There was no sound +whatever in the house. Betty's beautiful room was in a distant wing. The +doctors might consult in the adjoining room that used to be Fanny's as +much as they pleased, but not one sound of their voices or footsteps +could reach the girl. The other schoolgirls had gone to bed. They were +all anxious, all more or less unhappy; but, compared to Fanny, they were +blessed with sweet peace, and could slumber without any sense of +reproach. + +Fanny found herself turning cold. She was also hungry. She looked at the +clock on the mantelpiece; the hour was past midnight. As a rule, she was +in bed and sound asleep long before this time. Her cold and hunger made +her look at the fire; it was getting low. + +Mrs. Haddo was so determined to give the girls of her school every +possible comfort that she never allowed them to feel cold in the house. +The passages were therefore heated in winter-time with steam, and each +bedroom had its own cheery fire. The governesses were treated almost +better than the pupils. But then people were not expected to sit up all +night. + +Fanny opened the coal-hod, intending to put fresh coals on the dying +fire; but, to her distress, found that the hod was empty. This happened +to be a mistake on the part of the housemaid who had charge of this +special room. + +Fanny felt herself growing colder and colder, and yet she dared not go +to bed. She had turned on all the electric lights, and the room itself +was bright as day. Suddenly she heard the sound of wheels crunching on +the gravel outside. She rushed to the window, and was relieved to +observe that the doctor's carriage was bowling down the avenue. The +doctors had therefore gone. Miss Symes would come to bed very soon now. +Perhaps Miss Symes would know how to catch Dickie. Anyhow, Fanny would +not be alone. She crouched in her chair near the dying embers of the +fire. The minutes ticked slowly on until at last it was a quarter to one +o'clock. Then Miss Symes opened the door and came in. She hardly noticed +the fact that Fanny was up, and the further fact that her fire was +nothing but embers did not affect her in the very least. Her eyes were +very bright, and there were red spots on each cheek. The expression on +her face brought Fanny to the momentary consciousness that they were all +in a house where the great Angel of Death might enter at any moment. + +Miss Symes sat down on the nearest chair, folded her hands on her lap, +and looked at Fanny. "Well," she said, "have you nothing to ask me?" + +"I am a very miserable girl!" said Fanny. "To begin with, I am hungry, +for I scarcely ate any supper to-night; I did not care for the food +provided by the Specialities. Hours and hours have passed by, and I +could not go to bed." + +"And why not, Fanny?" asked Miss Symes. "Why did you stay up against the +rules? And why do you think of yourself in a moment like the present?" + +"I am sorry," said Fanny; "but one must always think of one's self--at +least, I am afraid _I_ must. Not that I mean to be selfish," she added, +seeing a look of consternation spread over Miss Symes's face. "The fact +is this, St. Cecilia, I have had the most horrible fright. Those ghastly +little creatures the twins--the Vivian twins--brought a most enormous +spider into your room, hid it in the center of my bed, and then ran away +again. I never saw such a monster! I was afraid to go near the creature +at first; and when I did it looked at me--yes, absolutely looked at me! +I turned cold with horror. Then, before I could find my voice, it began +to run--and towards me! Oh, St. Cecilia, I screamed! I did. Susie and +Olive heard me, and came to the rescue. Of course they knew that the +spider was Dickie, that horrid reptile those girls brought from +Scotland. He has hidden himself somewhere in the room. The twins +themselves said that his bite was dangerous, so I am quite afraid to go +to bed; I am, really." + +"Come, Fanny, don't talk nonsense!" said Miss Symes. "The poor little +twins are to be excused to-night, for they are really beside themselves. +I have just left the poor little children, and Martha West is going to +spend the night with them. Martha is a splendid creature!" + +"I cannot possibly go to bed, Miss Symes." + +"But you really must turn in. We don't want to have more illnesses in +the house than we can help; so, my dear Fanny, get between the sheets +and go to sleep." + +"And you really think that Dickie won't hurt me?" + +"Of course not; and you surely can take care of yourself. If you are +nervous you can keep one of the electric lights on. Now, do go to bed. I +am going to change into a warm dressing-gown, for I want to help the +nurse in Betty's room." + +"And how is Betty?" asked Fanny in a low tone. "Why is there such a +frightful fuss about her? Is she so very ill?" + +"Yes, Fanny; your cousin, Betty Vivian, is dangerously ill. No one can +quite account for what is wrong; but that her brain is affected there is +not the slightest doubt, and the doctor from London says that unless she +gets relief soon he fears very much for the result. The child is +suffering from a very severe shock, and to-morrow Mrs. Haddo intends to +make most urgent inquiries as to the nature of what went wrong. But I +needn't talk to you any longer about her now. Go to bed and to sleep." + +While Miss Symes was speaking she was changing her morning-dress and +putting on a very warm woolen dressing-gown. The next minute she had +left the room without taking any further notice of Fanny. Fanny, +terrified, cold, afraid to undress, but unable from sheer sleepiness to +stay up any longer, got between the sheets and soon dropped into +undisturbed slumber. If Dickie watched her in the distance he left her +alone. There were worse enemies waiting to spy on poor Fanny than even +Dickie. + +In a school like Haddo Court dangerous illness must affect each member +of the large and as a rule deeply attached family. Betty Vivian had come +like a bright meteor into the midst of the school. She had delighted +her companions; she had fascinated them; she had drawn forth love. She +could do what no other girl had ever done in the school. No one supposed +Betty to be free from faults, but every one also knew that her faults +were exceeded by her virtues. She was loved because she was lovable. The +only one who really hated her was her cousin Fanny. + +Now, Fanny knew well that inquiries would be made; for the favorite must +not be ill if anything could be done to save her, nor must a stone be +left unturned to effect her recovery. + +Fanny awoke the next morning with a genuine headache, fearing she knew +not what. The great gong which always awoke the school was not sounded +that day; but a servant came in and brought Fanny's hot water, waking +her at the same time. Fanny rubbed her eyes, tried to recall where she +was, and then asked the woman how Miss Vivian was. + +"I don't know, miss. It's a little late, but if you are quick you'll be +down in hall at the usual time." + +Fanny felt that she hated the woman. As she dressed, however, she forgot +all about her, so intensely anxious was she to recover the packet from +its hiding-place in her own bedroom. She wondered much if she could +accomplish this, and presently, prompted by the motto, "Nothing venture, +nothing win," tidied her dress, smoothed back her hair, washed her face, +tried to look as she might have looked on an ordinary morning, and +finding that she had quite ten minutes to spare before she must appear +in hall, ran swiftly in the direction of her own room. + +She was sufficiently early to know that there was very little chance of +her meeting another girl en route, and even if she did she could easily +explain that she was going to her room to fetch some article of wardrobe +which had been forgotten. + +She reached the room. The door was shut. Very softly she turned the +handle; it yielded to her pressure, and she went in. + +The nurse turned at once to confront her. "You mustn't come in here, +miss." + +"I just want to fetch something from one of my drawers; I won't make the +slightest noise," said Fanny. "Please let me in." + +Sister Helen said nothing further. Fanny softly opened one of the +drawers. She knew the exact spot where the packet lay hidden. A moment +later she had folded it up in some of her under-linen and conveyed it +outside the room without Sister Helen suspecting anything. As soon as +she found herself in the corridor she removed the packet from its +wrappings and slipped it into her inner pocket. It must stay on her +person for the present, for in no other place could it possibly be safe. +When she regained Miss Symes's room she found that lady already there. +She was making her toilet. + +"Why, Fanny," she said, "what have you been doing? You haven't, surely, +been to your own room! Did Sister Helen let you in?" + +"She didn't want to; but I required some--some handkerchiefs and things +of that sort," said Fanny. + +"Well, you haven't brought any handkerchiefs," said Miss Symes. "You +have only brought a couple of night-dresses." + +"Sister Helen rather frightened me, and I just took these and ran away," +answered the girl. Then she added, lowering her voice, "How is Betty +to-day?" + +"You will hear all about Betty downstairs. It is time for you to go into +the hall. Don't keep me, Fanny." + +Fanny, only too delighted, left the room. Now she was safe. The worst of +all could not happen to her. When she reached the great central hall, +where the girls usually met for a few minutes before breakfast, she +immediately joined a large circle of girls of the upper school. They +were talking about Betty. Among the group was Sibyl Ray. Sibyl was +crying, and when Fanny appeared she turned abruptly aside as though she +did not wish to be seen. Fanny, who had been almost jubilant at having +secured the packet, felt a new sense of horror at Sibyl's tears. Sibyl +was the sort of girl to be very easily affected. + +As Fanny came near she heard Susie Rushworth say to Sibyl, "Yes, it is +true; Betty has lost something, and if she doesn't find it she will--the +doctor, the great London doctor, says that she will--die." + +Sibyl gave another great, choking sob. + +Fanny took her arm. "Sibyl," she said, "don't you want to come for a +walk with me during recess this morning?" + +"Oh, I don't know, Fanny!" said poor Sibyl, raising her eyes, streaming +with tears, to Fanny's face. + +"Well, I want you," said Fanny. Then she added in a low tone, "Don't +forget Brighton and Aunt Amelia, and the excellent time you will have, +and the positive certainty that before a year is up you will be a +Speciality. Don't lose all these things for the sake of a little +sentiment. Understand, too, that doctors are often wrong about people. +It is ridiculous to suppose that a strong, hearty girl like Betty Vivian +should have her life in danger because you happened to find----" + +"Oh, don't!" said Sibyl. "I--I _can't_ bear it! I saw Sylvia and Hetty +last night. I can't bear it!" + +"You are a little goose, Sibyl! It's my opinion you are not well. You +must cling to me, dear, and I will pull you through--see if I don't." + +As Fanny took her usual place at the breakfast-table Susie Rushworth +said to her, "You really are kind to that poor little Sibyl, Fan. After +all, we must have been a little hard on her last night. She certainly +shows the greatest distress and affection for poor dear Betty." + +"I said she was a nice child. I shouldn't be likely to propose her for +the club if she were not," said Fanny. + +Susie said nothing more. All the girls were dull, grave, distressed. The +twins were nowhere to be seen. Betty's sweet face, Betty's sparkling +eyes, Betty's gay laugh, were conspicuous by their absence. Miss Symes +did not appear at all. + +When breakfast was over, and the brief morning prayers had been gone +through by Mr. Fairfax--for these prayers were not said in the +chapel--Mrs. Haddo rose and faced the school. "Girls," she said, "I wish +to let you all know that one of your number--one exceedingly dear to us +all--is lying now at the point of death. Whether God will spare her or +not depends altogether on her mind being given a certain measure of +relief. I need not tell you her name, for you all know it, and I believe +you are all extremely grieved at what has occurred. It is impossible for +any of you to help her at this moment except by being extra quiet, and +by praying to God to be good to her and her two little sisters. I +propose, therefore, to make a complete alteration in the arrangements of +to-day. I am going to send the whole of the upper school--with the +exception of the members of the Speciality Club--to London by train. Two +of the teachers, Mademoiselle and Miss Oxley, will accompany you. You +will all be driven to the station, and win return to-night--having, I +hope, enjoyed a pleasant day. By that time there may be good news to +greet you. No lessons to-day for any of the upper school; so, girls, go +at once and get ready." + +All the girls began now to leave the great hall, with the exception of +the Specialities and Sibyl Ray. + +"Go, Sibyl!" said Fanny. "What are you lingering for?" + +"Yes, Sibyl, be quick; don't delay!" said Mrs. Haddo, speaking rather +sharply. "You will all be back in time to-night to hear the latest +report of dear Betty, and we trust we may have good news to tell you." + +Sibyl went with extreme slowness and extreme unwillingness. But for the +fact that Fanny kept her eye fixed on Sibyl she might have refused to +budge. As it was, she left the hall; and a very few minutes later +wagonettes and motors appeared in view, and the girls of the upper +school drove to the railway station. + +As Fanny saw Sibyl driving off with the others she became conscious of a +new sense of relief. She had been so anxious with regard to Sibyl that +she had not had time to wonder why the Specialities were not included in +the entertainment. Now, however, her thoughts were turned into a +different channel. + +Susie Rushworth came up to Fanny. "Fanny," she said, "you and I, and the +Bertrams, and Olive, and Margaret, and Martha are all to go immediately +to Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room." + +"What for?" asked Fanny. + +"I expect that she will explain. We are to go, and at once." + +Fanny did not dare to say any more. They all went slowly together in the +direction of that beautiful room where Mrs. Haddo, usually so bright, so +cheery, so full of enthusiasm, invited her young pupils to meet her. But +there was no smile of welcome on that lady's fine face on the present +occasion. She did not even shake hands with the girls as they +approached. All she did was to ask them to sit down. + +Fanny took her place between Olive and one of the Bertrams. She could +not help noticing a great change in their manner towards her. As a rule +she was a prime favorite, and to sit next Fanny Crawford was considered +a very rare honor. On this occasion, however, the girls rather edged +away from Fanny. + +Mrs. Haddo seated herself near the fire. Then she turned and spoke to +Margaret Grant. "Margaret," she said, "I ask you, in the name of the +other members of your club, to give me full and exact particulars with +regard to your expulsion of Betty Vivian. I must know, and fully, why +Betty was expelled. Pause a minute before you speak, dear. For long +years I have allowed this club to exist in the school, believing much in +its good influence--in its power to ennoble and raise the impressionable +character of a young girl. I have not interfered with it; on the +contrary, I have been proud of it. To each girl who became a Speciality +I immediately granted certain privileges, knowing well that no girl +would be lightly admitted to a club with so high an aim and so noble a +standard. + +"When Betty first came I perceived at once that she was fearless, very +affectionate, and possessed a strong, pronounced, willful character; I +saw, in short, that she was worth winning and loving. I liked her +sisters also; but Betty was superior to her sisters. I departed from +several established customs when I admitted the Vivians to this school, +and I will own that I had my qualms of conscience notwithstanding the +fact that my old friend Sir John Crawford was so anxious for me to have +them here. Nevertheless, when first I saw Betty I knew that he was right +and I was wrong. That such a girl might stir up deep interest, and +perhaps even bring sorrow into the school, I knew was within the bounds +of probability; but I did not think it possible that she could ever +disgrace it. I own I was a little surprised when I was told that so new +a girl was made a member of your club; but as you, Margaret, were +secretary, and as Susie Rushworth and my dear friend Fanny were members, +I naturally had not a word to say, and only admired your discernment in +reading aright that young character. + +"Then there came the news--the terrible news--that Betty was expelled; +and since then there has been confusion, sorrow, and now this most +alarming illness. The girl is dying of a broken heart. She has lost +something that she treasures. Margaret, the rules of the club must give +place to the greater rules of the school; and I demand a full +explanation from you of the exact reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a +member of the Specialities." + +Margaret looked round at the other members. All their faces were white. +No one spoke for a minute. + +Then Fanny rose and said, "Is it fair, for Betty's sake, that we should +break our own rules? The reason of her being no longer a member is at +present known only to the rest of us. Is it right that it should be made +public property?" + +"It must be made _my_ property, Fanny Crawford; and I do not ask you, +much as I esteem your father's friendship, to dictate to me in this +matter." + +Fanny sat down again. She felt the little packet in her pocket. That, at +least, was secure; that, at least, would not rise up and betray her. + +Margaret gave a very simple explanation of the reason why Betty could +not remain in the club. She said that Betty had taken the rules and +studied them carefully; had most faithfully promised to obey them; and +then, a fortnight later, had stood up and stated that she had broken +Rule No. I., for she had a secret which she had not divulged to the +other members. + +"And that secret, Margaret?" asked Mrs. Haddo. + +"She had, she said, a packet--a sealed packet of great value--that she +did not wish any one in the school to know about. It had been given to +her by one she loved. She was extremely reticent about it, and seemed to +be in great trouble. She explained why she had not spoken of it at first +by saying that she did not think that the secret concerned any one in +the school, but since she had joined the club she had felt that she +ought to tell. We asked her all the questions we could; and she +certainly gave us to understand that the packet was hers by right, but +that, rather than give it up, she had told an untruth about it to +Fanny's father, Sir John Crawford. We were very much stunned and +distressed at her revelation, and we begged of her to go with the story +to you, and also to put the packet in your charge, and tell you what she +had already told us. This she emphatically refused to do, saying that +she would never give the packet up under any conditions whatever. We had +a special meeting of the club on the following night, when we again +asked Betty what she meant to do. She said her intention was to keep +firmly to her resolve that she would never give up the packet nor tell +where she had hidden it. We then felt it to be our bounden duty to ask +her to withdraw from the club. She did so. I think that is all." + +"Only," said Mrs. Haddo, speaking in a voice of great distress, "that +the poor, unhappy child seems to have lost the packet--which contained +nobody knows what, but some treasure which she prized--and that the loss +and the shock together are affecting her life to the point of danger. +Girls, do any of you know--have you any clue whatsoever to--where the +packet is now? Please remember, dear girls, that Betty's life--that +beautiful, vivid young life--depends on that packet being restored. +Don't keep it a secret if you have any clue whatsoever to give me, for I +am miserable about this whole thing." + +"Indeed we wouldn't keep it a secret," said Margaret. "How could we? +We'd give all the world to find it for her. Who can have taken it?" + +"Some one has, beyond doubt," said Mrs. Haddo. "Children, this is a +terrible day for me. I have tried to be kind to you all. Won't you help +me now in my sorrow?" + +The girls crowded round her, some of them kneeling by her side, some of +them venturing to kiss her hand; but from every pair of lips came the +same words, "We know nothing of the packet." Even Fanny, who kept it in +her pocket, and who heartily wished that it was lying at the bottom of +the sea, repeated the same words as her companions. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +A RAY OF HOPE + + +A few minutes later the Speciality girls had left Mrs. Haddo's room. +There were to be no lessons that day; therefore they could spend their +time as they liked best. But an enforced holiday of this kind was no +pleasure to any of them. + +Martha said at once that she was going to seek the twins. "I have left +them in my room," she said. "They hardly slept all night. I never saw +such dear, affectionate little creatures. They are absolutely +broken-hearted. I promised to come to them as soon as I could." + +"Have you asked them to trust you--to treat you as a true friend?" asked +Fanny Crawford. + +"I have, Fanny; and the strange thing is, that although beyond doubt +they know pretty nearly as much about Betty's secret and about the lost +packet as she does herself, poor child, they are just as reticent with +regard to it. They will not tell. Nothing will induce them to betray +Betty. Over and over again I have implored of them, for the sake of her +life, to take me into their confidence; but I might as well have spoken +to adamant. They will not do it." + +"They have exactly the same stubborn nature," said Fanny. + +The other girls looked reproachfully at her. + +Then Olive said, "You have never liked your cousins, Fanny; and it does +pain us all that you should speak against them at a moment like the +present." + +"Then I will go away," said Fanny. "I can see quite well that my +presence is uncongenial to you all. I will find my own amusements. But I +may as well state that if I am to be tortured and looked down on in the +school, I shall write to Aunt Amelia and ask her to take me in until +father writes to Mrs. Haddo about me. You must admit, all of you, that +it has been a miserable time for me since the Vivians came to the +school." + +"You have made it miserable yourself, Fanny," was Susie's retort. + +Then Fanny got up and went away. A moment later she was joined by Martha +West. + +"Fanny, dear Fanny," said Martha, "won't you tell me what is changing +you so completely?" + +"There is nothing changing me," said Fanny in some alarm. "What do you +mean, Martha?" + +"Oh, but you look so changed! You are not a bit what you used to be--so +jolly, so bright, so--so very pretty. Now you have a careworn, anxious +expression. I don't understand you in the very least." + +"And I don't want you to," said Fanny. "You are all bewitched with +regard to that tiresome girl; even I, your old and tried friend, have no +chance against her influence. When I tell you I know her far better than +any of you can possibly do, you don't believe me. You suspect me of +harboring unkind and jealous thoughts against her; as if I, Fanny +Crawford, could be jealous of a nobody like Betty Vivian!" + +"Fanny, you know perfectly well that Betty will never be a nobody. There +is something in her which raises her altogether above the low standard +to which you assign her. Oh, Fanny, what is the matter with you?" + +"Please leave me alone, Martha. If you had spent the wretched night I +have spent you might look tired and worn out too. I was turned out of my +bedroom, to begin with, because Sister Helen required it." + +"Well, surely there was no hardship in that?" said Martha. "I, for +instance, spent the night gladly with dear little Sylvia and Hester; we +all had a room together in the lower school. Do you think I grumbled?" + +"Oh, of course you are a saint!" said Fanny with a sneer. + +"I am not, but I think I am human; and just at present, for some +extraordinary reason, you are not." + +"Well, you haven't heard the history of my woes. I had to share Miss +Symes's room with her." + +"St. Cecilia's delightful room! Surely that was no great hardship?" + +"Wait until you hear. St. Cecilia was quite kind, as she always is; and +I was told that I could have a room to myself to-night. I found, to +begin with, however, that most of the clothes I wanted had been left +behind in my own room. Still, I made no complaint; although, of course, +it was not comfortable, particularly as Miss Symes intended to sit up in +order to see the doctors. But as I was preparing to get into bed, those +twins--those horrid girls that you make such a fuss about, +Martha--rushed into the room and put an awful spider into the center of +my bed, and when I tried to get rid of it, it rushed towards me. Then I +screamed out, and Susie and Olive came in. But we couldn't catch the +spider nor find it anywhere. You don't suppose I was likely to go to bed +with _that_ thing in the room? The fire went nearly out. I was hungry, +sleepy, cold. I assure you I have my own share of misery. Then Miss +Symes came in and ordered me to bed. I went, but hardly slept a wink. +And now you expect me to be as cheerful and bright and busy as a bee +this morning!" + +"Oh, not cheerful, poor Fanny!--we can none of us be that with Betty in +such great danger; but you can at least be busy, you can at least help +others." + +"Thank you," replied Fanny; "self comes first now and then, and it does +on the present occasion;" and Fanny marched to Miss Symes's room. + +Martha looked after her until she disappeared from view; then, with a +heavy sigh, she went towards her own room. Here a fire was burning. Some +breakfast had been brought up for the twins, for they were not expected +to appear downstairs that morning. The untasted breakfast, however, +remained on the little, round table beside the fire, and Sylvia and +Hetty were nowhere to be seen. + +"Where have they gone?" thought Martha. "Oh, I trust they haven't been +so mad as to go to Betty's room!" + +She considered for a few minutes. She must find the children, and she +must not trouble any one else in the school about them. Dr. Ashley had +paid his morning visit, and there was quietness in the corridor just +outside Betty's room. Martha went there and listened. The high-strung, +anxious voice was no longer heard crying aloud piteously for what it +could not obtain. The door of the room was slightly ajar. Martha +ventured to peep in. Betty was lying with her face towards the wall, her +long, thick black hair covering the pillow, and one small hand flung +restlessly outside the counterpane. + +Sister Helen saw Martha, and with a wave of her hand, beckoned the girl +not to come in. Martha retreated to the corridor. Sister Helen followed +her. + +"What do you want, dear?" said the nurse. "You cannot possibly disturb +Betty. She is asleep. Both the doctor and I most earnestly hope that she +may awake slightly better. Dr. Jephson is coming to see her again this +evening. If by that time her symptoms have not improved he is going to +bring another brain specialist down with him. Dr. Ashley is to wire him +in the middle of the day, stating exactly how Betty Vivian is. If she is +the least bit better, Dr. Jephson will come alone; if worse, he will +bring Dr. Stephen Reynolds with him. Why, what is the matter? How pale +you look!" + +"You think badly of Betty, Sister Helen?" + +Sister Helen did not speak for a moment except by a certain look +expressed in her eyes. "Another nurse will arrive within an hour," she +said, "and then I shall be off duty for a short time. What can I do for +you? I mustn't stay whispering here." + +"I have come to find dear Betty's little sisters." + +"Oh, they left the room some time ago." + +"Left the room!" said Martha. "Oh, Sister Helen, have they been here?" + +"Yes, both of them, poor children. I went away to fetch some hot water. +Betty was lying very quiet; she had not spoken for nearly an hour. I +hoped she was dropping asleep. When I came back I saw a sight which +would bring tears to any eyes. Her two little sisters had climbed on to +the bed and were lying close to her, one on each side. They didn't +notice me at all; but as I came in I heard one of them say, 'Don't fret, +Bettina; we are going now, at once, to find it.' And then the other +said, 'And we won't come back until we've got it.' There came the ghost +of a smile over my poor little patient's face. She tried to speak, but +was too weak. I went up to one of the little girls and took her arm, and +whispered to her gently; and then they both got up at once, as meekly as +mice, and said, 'Betty, we won't come back until we've found it.' And +poor little Betty smiled again. For some extraordinary reason their +visit seemed to comfort her; for she sighed faintly, turned on her side, +and dropped asleep, just as she is now. I must go back to her at once, +Miss--Miss----" + +"West," replied Martha. "Martha West is my name." + +The nurse said nothing further, but returned to the sickroom. Martha +went very quickly back to her own. She felt she had a task cut out for +her. The twins had in all probability gone out. Their curious reticence +had been the most painful part of poor Martha's night-vigil. She had to +try to comfort the little girls who would not confide one particle of +their trouble to her. At intervals they had broken into violent fits of +sobbing, but they had never spoken; they had not even mentioned Betty's +name. By and by, towards morning, they each allowed Martha to clasp one +arm around them, and had dropped off into an uneasy slumber. + +Now they were doubtless out of doors. But where? Martha was by no means +acquainted with the haunts of the twins. She knew Sibyl Ray fairly well, +and had always been kind to her; but up to the present the younger +Vivian girls had not seemed to need any special kindness. They were +hearty, merry children; they were popular in the school, and had made +friends of their own. She wanted to seek for them now, but it never +occurred to her for a single moment where they might possibly be +discovered. + +The grounds round Haddo Court were very extensive, and Martha did not +leave a yard of these grounds unexplored, yet nowhere could she find the +twins. At last she came back to the house, tired out and very miserable. +She ran once more to her own room, wondering if they were now there. The +room was quite empty. The housemaid had removed the breakfast-things and +built up the fire. Martha had been told as a great secret that the +Vivians possessed an attic, where they kept their pets. She found the +attic, but it was empty. Even Dickie had forsaken it, and the different +caterpillars were all buried in their chrysalis state. Martha quickly +left the Vivians' attic. She wandered restlessly and miserably through +the lower school, and visited the room where she had slept, or tried to +sleep, the night before. Nowhere could she find them. + +Meanwhile Sylvia and Hester had done a very bold deed. They were +reckless of school rules at a moment like the present. Their one and +only desire was to save Betty at any cost. They knew quite well that +Betty had hidden the packet, but where they could not tell. Betty had +said to them in her confident young voice, "The less you know the +better;" and they had trusted her, as they always would trust her as +long as they lived, for Betty, to them, meant all that was noble and +great and magnificent in the world. + +It flashed now, however, through Sylvia's little brain that perhaps +Betty had taken the lost treasure to Mrs. Miles to keep. She whispered +her thought to Hester, who seized it with sudden rapture. + +"We can, at least, confide in Mrs. Miles," said Hetty; "and we can tell +the dogs. Perhaps the dogs could scent it out; dogs are such wonders." + +"We will go straight to Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +Betty had told them with great glee--ah, how merry Betty was in those +days!--how she had first reached the farm, of her delightful time with +Dan and Beersheba, of her dinner, of her drive back. Had not they +themselves also visited Stoke Farm? What a delightful, what a glorious, +time they had had there! That indeed was a time of joy. Now was a time +of fearful trouble. But they felt, poor little things! though they could +not possibly confide either in kind Martha West or in any of their +school-friends, that they might confide in Mrs. Miles. + +Accordingly they managed to vault over the iron railings, get on to the +roadside, and in course of time to reach Stoke Farm. The dogs rushed out +to meet them. But Dan and Beersheba were sagacious beasts. They hated +frivolity, they hated unfeeling people, but they respected great sorrow; +and when Hetty said with a burst of tears, "Oh, Dan, Dan, darling Dan, +Betty, your Betty and ours, is so dreadfully ill!" Dan fawned upon the +little girl, licked her hands, and looked into her face with all the +pathos in the world in his brown doggy eyes. Beersheba, of course, +followed his brother's example. So the poor little twins, accompanied by +the dogs, entered Mrs. Miles's kitchen. + +Mrs. Miles sprang up with a cry of rapture and surprise at the sight of +them. "Why, my dears! my dears!" she said. "And wherever is the elder of +you? Where do she be? Oh, then it's me is right glad to see you both!" + +"We want to talk to you, Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +"And we want to kiss you, Mrs. Miles," said Hester. + +Then they flung themselves upon her and burst into floods of most bitter +weeping. + +Mrs. Miles had not brought up a large family of children for nothing. +She was accustomed to childish griefs. She knew how violent, how +tempestuous, such griefs might be, and yet how quickly the storms would +pass, the sunshine come, and how smiles would replace tears. She treated +the twins, therefore, now, just as though they were her own children. +She allowed them to cry on her breast, and murmured, "Dear, dear! Poor +lambs! poor lambs! Now, this is dreadful bad, to be sure! But don't you +mind how many tears you shed when you've got Mrs. Miles close to you. +Cry on, pretties, cry on, and God comfort you!" + +So the children, who felt so lonely and desolate, did cry until they +could cry no longer. Then Mrs. Miles immediately did the sort of thing +she invariably found effectual in the case of her own children. She put +the exhausted girls into a comfortable chair each by the fire, and +brought them some hot milk and a slice of seed-cake, and told them they +must sip the milk and eat the cake before they said any more. + +Now, as a matter of fact, Sylvia and Hetty were, without knowing it in +the least, in a starving condition. From the instant that Betty's +serious illness was announced they had absolutely refused all food, +turning from it with loathing. Supper the night before was not for them, +and breakfast had remained untasted that morning. Mrs. Miles had +therefore done the right thing when she provided them with a comforting +and nourishing meal. They would have refused to touch the cake had one +of their schoolfellows offered it, but they obeyed Mrs. Miles just as +though she were their real mother. + +And while they ate, and drank their hot milk, the good woman went on +with her cooking operations. "I am having a fine joint to-day," she +said: "corned beef that couldn't be beat in any county in England, and +that's saying a good deal. It'll be on the table, with dumplings to +match and a big apple-tart, sharp at one o'clock. I might ha' guessed +that some o' them dear little missies were coming to dinner, for I +don't always have a hot joint like this in the middle o' the week." + +The girls suddenly felt that of all things in the world they would like +corned beef best; that dumplings would be a delicious accompaniment; and +that apple-tart, eaten with Mrs. Miles's rich cream, would go well with +such a dinner. They became almost cheerful. Matters were not quite so +black, and they had a sort of feeling that Mrs. Miles would certainly +help them to find the lost treasure. + +Having got her dinner into perfect order, and laid the table, and put +everything right for the arrival of her good man, Mrs. Miles shut the +kitchen door and drew her chair close to the children. + +"Now you are warm," she said, "and fed, you don't look half so miserable +as you did when you came in. I expect the good food nourished you up a +bit. And now, whatever's the matter? And where is that darling, Miss +Betty? Bless her heart! but she twined herself round us all entirely, +that she did." + +It would be wrong to say that Sylvia did not burst into fresh weeping at +the sound of Betty's name. + +But Hester was of stronger mettle. "We have come to you," she said--"Oh, +Sylvia, do stop crying! it does no manner of good to cry all the +time--we have come to you, Mrs. Miles, to help us to save Betty." + +"Lawk-a-mercy! and whatever's wrong with the dear lamb?" + +"We are going to tell you everything," said Hester. "We have quite made +up our minds. Betty is very, very ill." + +"Yes," said Sylvia, "she is so ill that Dr. Ashley came to see her twice +yesterday, and then again a third time with a great, wonderful special +doctor from London; and we were not allowed to sleep in her room last +night, and she's--oh, she's dreadfully bad! + +"They whispered in the school," continued Sylvia in a low tone--"I +heard them; they _did_ whisper it in the school--that perhaps Betty +would--would _die_. Mrs. Miles, that can't be true! God doesn't take +away young, young girls like our Betty. God couldn't be so cruel." + +"We won't call it cruelty," said Mrs. Miles; "but God does do it, all +the same, for His own wise purposes, no doubt. We'll not talk o' that, +my lambs; we'll let that pass by. The thing is for you to tell me what +has gone wrong with that bonny, strong-looking girl. Why, when she was +here last, although she was a bit pale, she looked downright healthy and +strong enough for anything. Eh, my dear dears! you can't mention her +name even now to Dan and Beersheba that they ain't took with fits o' +delight about her, dancing and scampering like half-mad dogs, and +whining for her to come to them. There, to be sure! they know you belong +to her, and they're lying down as contented as anything at your feet. I +don't expect, somehow, your sister will die, my loves, although gels as +young as she have passed into the Better Land. Oh, dear, I'm making you +cry again! It's good corned beef and dumplings you want. You mustn't +give way, my dears; people who give way in times o' trouble ain't worth +their salt." + +"We thought perhaps you'd help us," said Sylvia. + +"Help you, darlings! That I will! I'd help you to this extent--I'd help +you even to the giving up o' the custom o' Haddo Court. Now, what can I +do more than that?" + +"Oh, but your help--the help you can give us--won't do you any harm," +said Hester. "We'll tell you about Betty, for we know that you'll never +let it out--except, indeed, to your husband. We don't mind a bit his +knowing. Now, this is what has happened. You know we had great +trouble--or perhaps you don't know. Anyhow, we had great trouble--away, +away in beautiful Scotland. One we loved died. Before she died she left +something for Betty to take care of, and Betty took what she had left +her. It was only a little packet, quite small, tied up in brown paper, +and sealed with a good many seals. We don't know what the packet +contained; but we thought perhaps it might be money, and Betty said to +us that it would be a very good thing for us to have some money to fall +back upon in case we didn't like the school." + +"Now, whatever for?" asked Mrs. Miles. "And who could dislike a school +like Haddo Court?" + +"Of course we couldn't tell," said Sylvia, "not having been there; but +Betty, who is always very wise, said it was best be on the safe side, +and that perhaps the packet contained money, and if it did we'd have +enough to live on in case we chose to run away." + +"Oh, missies, did I ever hear tell o' the like! To run away from a +beautiful school like Haddo Court! Why, there's young ladies all over +England trying to get into it! But you didn't know, poor lambs! Well, go +on; tell me the rest." + +"There was a man who was made our guardian," continued Sylvia, "and he +was quite kind, and we had nothing to say against him. His name is Sir +John Crawford." + +"Miss Fanny's father, bless her!" said Mrs. Miles; "and a pretty young +lady she do be." + +"Fanny Crawford is our cousin," said Sylvia, "and we hate her most +awfully." + +"Oh, my dear young missies! but hate is a weed--a noxious weed that +ought to be pulled up out o' the ground o' your hearts." + +"It is taking deep root in mine," said Sylvia. + +"And in mine," said Hester. + +"But please let us tell you the rest, Mrs. Miles. Sir John Crawford had +a letter from our dear aunt, who left the packet for Betty; and we +cannot understand it, but she seemed to wish Sir John Crawford to take +care of the packet for the present. He looked for it everywhere, and +could not find it. Was he likely to when Betty had taken it? Then he +asked Betty quite suddenly if she knew anything about it, and Betty +stood up and said 'No.' She told a huge, monstrous lie, and she didn't +even change color, and he believed her. So we came here. Well, Betty was +terribly anxious for fear the packet should be found, and one night we +helped her to climb down from the balcony out of our bedroom. No one saw +her go, and no one saw her return, and she put the packet away +somewhere--we don't know where. Well, after that, wonderful things +happened, and Betty was made a tremendous fuss of in the school. There +was no one like her, and she was loved like anything, and we were as +proud as Punch of her. But all of a sudden everything changed, and our +Betty was disgraced. There were horrid things written on a blackboard +about her. She was quite innocent, poor darling! But the things +were written, and Betty is the sort of girl to feel such disgrace +frightfully. We were quite preparing to run away with her, for +we thought she wouldn't care to stay much longer in the +school--notwithstanding your opinion of it, Mrs. Miles. But all of a +sudden Betty seemed to go right down, as though some one had felled her +with an awful blow. She kept crying out, and crying out, that the packet +was lost. Anyhow, she thinks it is lost; she hasn't an idea where it can +be. And the doctors say that Betty's brain is in such a curious state +that unless the packet is found she--she may die. + +"So we went to her, both of us, and we told her we would go and find +it," continued Sylvia. "We have got to find it. That is what we have +come about. We don't suppose for a minute that it was right of Betty to +tell the lie; but that was the only thing she did wrong. Anyhow, we +don't care whether she did right or wrong; she is our Betty, the most +splendid, the very dearest girl in all the world, and she sha'n't die. +We thought perhaps you would help us to find the packet." + +"Well," said Mrs. Miles, "that's a wonderful story, and it's a queer +sort o' job to put upon a very busy farmer's wife. _Me_ to find the +packet?" + +"Yes; you or your husband, whichever of you can or will do it. It is +Betty's life that depends upon it. Couldn't your dogs help us? In +Scotland we have dogs that scent anything. Are yours that sort?" + +"They haven't been trained," said Mrs. Miles, "and that's the simple +truth. Poor darlings! you must bear up as best you can. It's a very +queer story, but of course the packet must be found. You stay here for +the present, and I'll go out and meet my husband as he comes along to +his dinner. I reckon, when all's said and done, I'm a right good wife +and a right good mother, and that there ain't a farm kept better than +ours anywhere in the neighborhood, nor finer fowls for the table, nor +better ducks, nor more tender geese and turkeys. Then as to our +pigs--why, the pigs themselves be a sight. And we rears horses, too, and +very good many o' them turn out. And in the spring-time we have young +lambs and young heifers; in fact, there ain't a young thing that can be +born that don't seem to have a right to take up its abode at Stoke Farm. +And I does for 'em all, the small twinses being too young and the old +twinses too rough and big for the sort o' work. Well, my dears, I'm good +at all that sort o' thing; but when it comes to dertective business I am +nowhere, and I may as well confess it. I am sorry for you, my loves; but +this is a job for the farmer and not for me, for he's always down on the +poachers, and very bitter he feels towards 'em. He has to be sharp and +sudden and swift and knowing, whereas I have to be tender and loving and +petting and true. That's the differ between us. He's more the person for +this 'ere job, and I'll go and speak to him while you sit by the kitchen +fire." + +"Do, please, please, Mrs. Miles!" said both the twins. + +Then she left them, and they sat very still in the warm, silent kitchen; +and by and by Sylvia, worn out with grief, and not having slept at all +during the previous night, dropped into an uneasy slumber, while Hetty +stroked her sister's hand and Dan's head until she also fell asleep. + +The dogs, seeing that the girls were asleep, thought that they might do +the same. When, therefore, Farmer Miles and his wife entered the +kitchen, it was to find the two girls and the dogs sound asleep. + +"Poor little lambs! Do look at 'em!" said Mrs. Miles. "They be wore out, +and no mistake." + +"Let's lay 'em on the sofa along here," said Miles. "While they're +having their sleep out you get the dinner up, wife, and I'll go out and +put on my considering-cap." + +The farmer had no sooner said this than--whispering to the dogs, who +very unwillingly accompanied him--he left the kitchen. He went into the +farmyard and began to pace up and down. Mrs. Miles had told her story +with some skill, the farmer having kept his attention fixed on the +salient points. + +Miss Betty--even he had succumbed utterly to the charms of Miss +Betty--had lost a packet of great value. She had hidden it, doubtless in +the grounds of Haddo Court. She had gone had gone to look for it, and it +was no longer there. Some one had stolen it. Who that person could be +was what the farmer wanted to "get at," as he expressed it. "Until you +can get at the thief," he muttered under his breath, "you are nowhere at +all." + +But at present he was without any clue, and, true man of business that +he was, he felt altogether at a loose end. Meanwhile, as he was pacing +up and down towards the farther edge of the prosperous-looking farmyard, +Dan uttered a growl and sprang into the road. The next minute there was +a piercing cry, and Farmer Miles, brandishing his long whip, followed +the dog. Dan was holding the skirts of a very young girl and shaking +them ferociously in his mouth. His eyes glared into the face of the +girl, and his whole aspect was that of anger personified. Luckily, +Beersheba was not present, or the girl might have had a sorry time of +it. With a couple of strides the farmer advanced towards her; dealt some +swift lashes with his heavy whip on the dog's head, which drove him +back; then, taking the girl's small hand, he said to her kindly, "Don't +you be frightened, miss; his bark's a sight worse nor his bite." + +"Oh, he did terrify me so!" was the answer; "and I've been running for +such a long time, and I'm very, very tired." + +"Well, miss, I don't know your name nor anything about you; but this +land happens to be private property--belonging to me, and to me alone. +Of course, if it weren't for that I'd have no right to have fierce dogs +about ready to molest human beings. It was a lucky thing for you, miss, +that I was so close by. And whatever be your name, if I may be so bold +as to ask, and where be you going now?" + +"My name is Sibyl Ray, and I belong to Haddo Court." + +"Dear, dear, dear! seems to me, somehow, that Haddo Court and Stoke Farm +are going to have a right good connection. I don't complain o' the +butter, and the bread, and the cheese, and the eggs, and the fowls as we +sarve to the school; but I never counted on the young ladies taking +their abode in my quarters." + +"What do you mean, and who are you?" said Sibyl in great amazement. + +"My name, miss, is Farmer Miles; and this house"--he pointed to his +dwelling--"is my homestead; and there are two young ladies belonging to +your school lying fast asleep at the present moment in my wife's +kitchen, and they has given me a problem to think out. It's a mighty +stiff one, but it means life or death; so of course I have, so to speak, +my knife in it, and I'll get the kernel out afore I'm many hours older." + +Sibyl, who had been very miserable before she started, who had endured +her drive with what patience she could, and whose heart was burning +with hatred to Fanny and passionate, despairing love for Betty Vivian, +was so exhausted now that she very nearly fainted. + +The farmer looked at her out of his shrewd eyes. "Being a member o' the +school, Miss Ray," he said, "you doubtless are acquainted with them +particularly charming young ladies, the Misses Vivian?" + +"Indeed I know them all, and love them all," said Sibyl. + +"Now, that's good hearing; for they be a pretty lot, that they be. And +as to the elder, I never see'd a face like hers--so wonderful, and with +such a light about it; and her courage--bless you, miss! the dogs +wouldn't harm _her_. It was fawning on her, and licking her hand, and +petting her they were. Is it true, miss, that Miss Betty is so mighty +bad?" + +"It is true," said Sibyl; "and I wonder----Oh; please don't leave me +standing here alone on the road. I am so miserable and frightened! I +wonder if it's Sylvia and Hester who are in your house?" + +"Yes, they be the missies, and dear little things they be." + +"And have they told you anything?" asked Sibyl. + +"Well, yes; they have set me a conundrum--a mighty stiff one. It seems +that Miss Betty Vivian has lost a parcel, and she be that fretted about +it that she's nigh to death, and the little uns have promised to get it +back for her; and, poor children! they've set me on the job, and how +ever I'm to do it I don't know." + +"I think perhaps I can help you," said Sibyl suddenly. "I'll tell you +this much, Farmer Miles. I can get that packet back, and I'd much rather +get it back with your help than without it." + +"Shake hands on that, missie. I wouldn't like to be, so to speak, in a +thing, and then cast out o' it again afore the right moment. But +whatever do you mean?" + +"You shall know all at the right time," said Sibyl. "Mrs. Haddo is so +unhappy about Betty that she wouldn't allow any of the upper-school +girls to have lessons to-day, so she sent them off to spend the day in +London. I happened to be one of them, and was perfectly wretched at +having to go; so while I was driving to the railway station in one of +the wagonettes I made up my mind. I settled that whatever happened I'd +never, never, never endure another night like the last; and I couldn't +go to London and see pictures or museums or whatever places we were to +be taken to while Betty was lying at death's door, and when I knew that +it was possible for me to save her. So when we got to the station there +was rather a confusion--that is, while the tickets were being +bought--and I suddenly slipped away by myself and got outside the +station, and ran, and ran, and ran--oh, so fast!--until at last I got +quite beyond the town, and then I found myself in the country; and all +the time I kept saying, and saying, 'I will tell. She sha'n't die; +nothing else matters; Betty shall not die.'" + +"Then what do you want me to help you for, missie?" + +"Because," said Sibyl, holding out her little hand, "I am very weak and +you are very strong, and you will keep me up to it. Please do come with +me straight back to the school!" + +"Well, there's a time for all things," said the farmer; "and I'm willing +to give up my arternoon's work, but I'm by no means willing to give up +my midday meal, for we farmers don't work for nothing--as doubtless you +know, missie. So, if you'll come along o' me and eat a morsel, we'll set +off afterwards, sure and direct, to Haddo Court; and I'll keep you up to +the mark if you're likely to fail." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +FARMER MILES TO THE RESCUE + + +Sylvia and Hetty had awakened when the farmer brought Sibyl Ray into the +pleasant farmhouse kitchen. The twin-boys were absent at school, and +only the little twins came down to dinner. The beef, potatoes, +dumplings, apple-tart and cream were all A1, and Sibyl was just as glad +of the meal as were the two Vivian girls. + +The Vivians did not know Sibyl very well, and had not the least idea +that she guessed their secret. She rather avoided glancing at them, and +was very shy and retiring, and stole up close to the farmer when the +dogs were admitted. But Dan and Beersheba knew what was expected of +them. Any one in the Stoke Farm kitchen had a right to be there; and +were they going to waste their precious time and affection on the sort +of girl they would love to bite, when Sylvia and Hetty were present? So +they fawned on the twin-girls, taking up a good deal of their attention; +and by and by the dinner came to an end. + +When it was quite over the farmer got up, wiped his mouth with a big, +red-silk handkerchief, and, going up to the Vivian twins, said quietly, +"You can go home, whenever you like; and I think the job you have put +upon me will be managed. Meanwhile, me and this young party will make +off to Haddo Court as fast as we can." + +As this "young party" happened to be Sibyl Ray, the girls looked up in +astonishment; but the farmer gave no information of any kind, not even +bestowing a wink on his wife, who told the little twins when he had left +the kitchen accompanied by Sibyl that she would be ready to walk back +with them to the school in about half an hour. + +"You need have no frets now, my loves," she said. "The farmer would +never have said words like he've spoken to you if he hadn't got his +knife right down deep into the kernel. He's fond o' using that +expression, dears, when he's nailed a poacher, and he wouldn't say no +less nor no more for a job like you've set him to." + +During their walk the farmer and Sibyl hardly exchanged a word. As they +went up the avenue they saw that the place was nearly empty. The day was +a fine one; but the girls of the lower school had one special +playground some distance away, and the girls of the upper school were +supposed to be in London. Certainly no one expected Sibyl Ray to put in +an appearance here at this hour. + +As they approached quite close to the mansion, Sibyl turned her very +pale face and stole her small hand into that of the farmer. "I am so +frightened!" she said; "and I know quite well this is going to ruin me, +and I shall have to go back home to be a burden to father, who is very +poor, and who thinks so much of my being educated here. But I--I will do +it all the same." + +"Of course you will, missie; and poverty don't matter a mite." + +"Perhaps it doesn't," said Sibyl. + +"Compared to a light heart, it don't matter a gossoon, as they say in +Ireland," remarked the farmer. + +Sibyl felt suddenly uplifted. + +"I'll see you through, missie," he added as they came up to the wide +front entrance. + +A doctor's carriage was standing there, and it was quite evident that +one or two doctors were in the house. + +"Oh," said Sibyl with a gasp, "suppose we are betrayed!" + +"No, we won't be that," said the farmer. + +Sibyl pushed open the door, and then, standing in the hall, she rang a +bell. A servant presently appeared. + +Before Sibyl could find her voice Farmer Miles said, "Will you have the +goodness to find Mrs. Haddo and tell her that I, Farmer Miles of the +Stoke Farm, have come here accompanied by one o' her young ladies, who +has something o' great importance to tell her at once?" + +"Perhaps you will both come into Mrs. Haddo's private sitting-room?" +said the girl. + +The farmer nodded assent, and he and Sibyl entered. When they were +inside the room Sibyl uttered a faint sigh. The farmer took out his +handkerchief and wiped his forehead. + +"What a lot o' fal-lals, to be sure!" he said, looking round in a by no +means appreciative manner. + +Sibyl and the farmer had to wait for some little time before Mrs. Haddo +made her appearance. When she did so a great change was noticeable in +her face; it was exceedingly pale. Her lips had lost their firm, their +even noble, expression of self-restraint; they were tremulous, as though +she had been suffering terribly. Her eyes were slightly red, as though +some of those rare tears which she so seldom shed had visited them. She +looked first at Farmer Miles and then in great amazement at Sibyl. + +"Why are you here, Sibyl Ray?" she said. "I sent you to London with the +other girls of the upper school this morning. What are you doing here?" + +"Perhaps I can tell you best, ma'am, if you will permit me to speak," +said the farmer. + +"I hope you will be very brief, Farmer Miles. I could not refuse your +request, but we are all in great trouble to-day at the school. One of +our young ladies--one greatly beloved by us all--is exceedingly, indeed +I must add most dangerously, ill." + +"It's about her we've come," said the farmer. + +Here Mrs. Haddo sank into a seat. "Why, what do you know about Miss +Betty Vivian?" + +"Ah, I met her myself, not once, but twice," said Miles; "and I love +her, too, just as the wife loves her, and the big twins, and the little +twins, and the dogs--bless 'em! We all love Miss Betty Vivian. And now, +ma'am, I must tell you that Miss Betty's little sisters came to see the +good wife this morning." + +Mrs. Haddo was silent. + +"They told their whole story to the good wife. A packet has been lost, +and Miss Betty lies at death's door because o' the grief o' that loss. +The little uns--bless 'em!--thought that the wife could find the packet. +That ain't in her line; it's mothering and coddling and loving as is in +her line. So she put the job on me; and, to be plain, ma'am, I never +were more flabbergasted in the whole o' my life. For to catch a poacher +is one thing, and to catch a lost packet--nobody knowing where it be nor +how it were lost--is another." + +"Well, why have you come to me?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Because, ma'am, I've got a clue, and a big one; and this young lady's +the clue." + +"You, Sibyl Ray--you?" + +"Yes," said Sibyl. + +"Speak out now, missie; don't be frightened. There are miles worse +things than poverty; there's disgrace and heart-burnings. Speak you out +bold, missie, and don't lose your courage." + +"I was miserable," said Sibyl. "I didn't want to go to town, and when I +got to the station I slipped away; and I got into the lane outside Stoke +Farm and a dog came out and frightened me, and--and--then this man +came--this kind man----" + +"Well, go on, Sibyl," said Mrs. Haddo; "moments are precious just now." + +"I--took the packet," said Sibyl. + +"_You_--took--the packet?" + +"Yes. I don't want to speak against another. It was my fault--or mostly +my fault. I did love Betty, and it didn't matter at all to me that she +was expelled from the Specialities; I should love her just as much if +she were expelled from fifty Specialities. But Fanny--she--she--put me +against her." + +"Fanny! What Fanny do you mean?" + +"Fanny Crawford." + +Mrs. Haddo rose at once and rang her bell. When the servant appeared she +said, "Send Miss Crawford here immediately, and don't mention that any +one is in my study. Now, Sibyl, keep the rest of your story until Fanny +Crawford is present." + +In about five minutes' time Fanny appeared. She was very white, and +looked rather worn and miserable. "Oh, dear!" she said as she entered, +"I am so glad you have sent for me, Mrs. Haddo; and I do trust I shall +have a room to myself to-night, for I didn't sleep at all last night, +and----Why, whatever is the matter? Sibyl, what are you doing here? And +who--who is that man?" + +"Sit down, Fanny--or stand, just as you please," said Mrs. Haddo; "only +have the goodness not to speak until Sibyl has finished her story. Now, +Sibyl, go on. You had come to that part where you explained that Fanny +put you against Betty Vivian. No, Fanny, you do not go towards the door. +Stay quietly where you are." + +Fanny, seeing that all chance of exit was cut off, stood perfectly +still, her eyes fixed on the ground. + +"Now, Sibyl, go on." + +"Fanny was very anxious about the packet, and she wanted me to watch," +continued Sibyl, "so that I might discover where Betty had hidden it. I +did watch, and I found that Betty had put it under one of the plants of +wild-heather in the 'forest primeval.' I saw her take it out and look at +it and put it back again, and when she was gone I went to the place and +took the packet out myself and brought it to Fanny. I don't know where +the packet is now." + +"Fanny, where is the packet?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"Sibyl is talking the wildest nonsense," said Fanny. "How can you +possibly believe her? I know nothing about Betty Vivian or her +concerns." + +"Perhaps, miss," said the farmer, coming forward at that moment, "that +pointed thing sticking out o' your pocket might have something to do +with it. You will permit me, miss, seeing that the young lady's life is +trembling in the balance." + +Before either Mrs. Haddo or Fanny could utter a word Farmer Miles had +strode across the room, thrust his big, rough hand into Fanny's neat +little pocket, and taken out the brown paper-packet. + +"There, now," he said, "that's the kernel of the nut. I thought I'd do +it somehow. Thank you kindly, ma'am, for listening to me. Miss Sibyl +Ray, you may be poor in the future, but at least you'll have a light +heart; and as to the dirty trick you did, I guess you won't do a second, +for you have learned your lesson. I'll be wishing you good-morning now, +ma'am," he added, turning to Mrs. Haddo, "for I must get back to my +work. It's twelve pounds o' butter the cook wants sent up without fail +to-night, ma'am; and I'm much obliged for the order." + +The farmer left the room. Fanny had flung herself on a chair and covered +her face with her hands. Sibyl stood motionless, awaiting Mrs. Haddo's +verdict. + +Once again Mrs. Haddo rang the bell. "Send Miss Symes to me," she said. + +Miss Symes appeared. + +"The doctor's last opinion, please, Miss Symes?" + +"Dr. Ashley says that Betty is much the same. The question now is how to +keep up her strength. He thinks it better to have two specialists from +London, as, if she continues in such intense excitement, further +complications may arise." + +"Do you know where Betty's sisters are?" was Mrs. Haddo's next inquiry. + +"I haven't seen them for some time, but I will find out where they are." + +"As soon as ever you find them, send them straight to me. I shall be +here for the present." + +Miss Symes glanced in some wonder from Sibyl to Fanny; then she went out +of the room without further comment. + +When she was quite alone with the girls Mrs. Haddo said, "Fanny, a fresh +bedroom has been prepared for you, and I shall be glad if you will go +and spend the rest of this day there. I do not feel capable of speaking +to you at present. As to you, Sibyl, your conduct has been bad enough; +but at the eleventh hour--and, we may hope, in time--you have made +restitution. You may, therefore, rejoin the girls of the lower school." + +"Of the lower school?" said Sibyl. + +"Yes. Your punishment is that you return to the lower school for at +least a year, until you are more capable of guiding your own conduct, +and less likely to be influenced by the wicked passions of girls who +have had more experience than yourself. You can go to your room also for +the present, and to-morrow morning you will resume your duties in the +lower school." + +Fanny and Sibyl both turned away, neither of them saying a word to the +other. They had scarcely done so before Miss Symes came in, her face +flushed with excitement, and accompanied by the twins. + +"My dear girls, where have you been?" said Mrs. Haddo. + +"With Mrs. Miles," said Sylvia. + +"I cannot blame you, under the circumstances, although you have broken a +rule. My dears, thank God for His mercies. Here is the lost packet." + +Sylvia grasped it. + +Hester rushed towards Sylvia and laid her hand over her sister's. "Oh! +oh!" she said. + +"Now, girls, can I trust you? I was told what took place this +morning--how you went to Betty without leave, and promised to return +with the packet. Is Betty awake at present, Miss Symes?" + +"Yes," said Miss Symes, "she has been awake for a long time." + +"Will you take the girls up to Betty's room? Do not go in yourself. Now, +girls, I trust to your wisdom, and to your love of Betty, to do this +thing very quietly." + +"You may trust us," said Hetty. + +They left the room. They followed Miss Symes upstairs. They entered the +beautiful room where Betty was lying, her eyes shining brightly, fever +high on her cheeks. + +It was Hetty who put the packet into her hand. "Here it is, Betty +darling. We said we'd find it for you." + +Then a wonderful thing happened; for Betty looked at the packet, then +she smiled, then she raised it to her lips and kissed it, then she put +it under her pillow. Finally she said, "Oh, I am sleepy! Oh, I am +tired!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +RESTORATION + + +Notwithstanding the fact that the lost packet was restored, Betty's life +hung in the balance for at least another twenty-four hours. During that +time she tossed and sighed and groaned. The fever ran high, and her +little voice kept on saying, "Oh, that I could find the packet!" + +It was in this emergency that Miss Symes came to the rescue. She called +Sylvia and Hester to her, and desired Hester to stand at one side of +Betty's little, narrow, white bed, and Sylvia to place herself at the +other. + +Betty did not seem even to know her sisters. Her eyes were glassy, her +cheeks deeply flushed, and there was a look of intense restlessness and +great pain in her face. "Oh, that I might find the packet!" she +murmured. + +"Do what your heart prompts you, Sylvia," said Miss Symes. + +Sylvia immediately pushed her hand under Betty's pillow, and, taking up +the lost packet, took one of the girl's little, feverish hands and +closed her fingers round the brown-paper parcel. + +"It is found, Bettina! it is found!" said Sylvia. "Here it is. You need +not fret any more." + +"What! what!" said Betty. Into her eyes there crept a new expression, +into her voice a new note. "Oh, I can't believe it!" she exclaimed. + +But here Hetty threw in a word of affection and entreaty. "Why, +Bettina," she said, "it is in your hand. Feel it, darling! feel it! We +got it back for you, just as we said we would. Feel it, Bettina! feel +it!" + +Betty felt. Her fingers were half-numbed; but she was able to perceive +the difference between the brown paper and the thick, strong cord, and +again the difference between the thick cord and the sealing-wax. "How +many seals are there?" she asked in a breathless, eager voice, turning +and looking full at her sisters. + +"Eight in all," said Sylvia, speaking rapidly: "two in front, two at +each side, and two, again, fastening down the naps at the back." + +"I knew there were eight," said Betty. "Let me feel them." + +Sylvia conducted Betty's fingers over the unbroken seals. + +"Count for me, darling, silly Sylvia!" said Betty. + +Sylvia began to count: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. + +"It is my lost packet!" said Betty with a cry. + +"It is, Betty! it is!" + +"And is any one going to take it from me?" + +"No one, Betty, ever again." + +"Let me hold it in my hand," said Betty. + +Sister Helen came up with a restorative; and when Betty had taken the +nourishing contents of the little, white china cup, she again made use +of that extraordinary expression, "Oh, I am so sleepy! Oh, I am tired!" + +Still holding the packet in her hand, Betty dropped off into slumber; +and when she came to herself the doctors said that the crisis was past. + +Betty Vivian recovered very slowly, during which time the rules of the +school were altogether relaxed, not only in her favor, but also in favor +of the twins, Sylvia and Hetty. They were allowed to spend some hours +every day with Betty, and although they spoke very little, they were +able to comfort their sister immensely. At last Betty was well enough to +leave her bed and creep to any easy-chair, where she would sit, feeling +more dead than alive; and, by slow degrees, the girls of the school whom +she loved best came to see her and comfort her and fuss over her. +Margaret Grant looked very strong and full of sympathy; Martha West had +that delightful voice which could not but attract all who heard her +speak. Susie Rushworth, the Bertrams, Olive, and all the other +Specialities, with the exception of Fanny, came to visit Betty, who, in +her turn, loved to see them, and grew better each day, and stronger, and +more inclined to eat the good, nourishing food which was provided for +her. + +All this time she had never once spoke of Fanny Crawford. The other +Speciality girls were rather nervous on this account. They wondered how +Betty would feel when she heard what had happened to Fanny; for Fanny, +after spending a whole day and night in the small and somewhat dismal +bedroom prepared for her by Mrs. Haddo's orders, refused to appear at +prayers the following morning, and, further, requested that her +breakfast should be taken up to her. + +Betty's life was still hanging in the balance, although the doctors were +not nearly so anxious as they had been the day before. Fanny was biding +her time. She knew all the rules of the school, having spent so many +years there. She also knew well what desolation awaited her in the +future in this bright and pleasant school; for, during that painful day +and that terrible night, and this, if possible, more dreadful morning, +no one had come near her but the servant who brought her meals, no one +had spoken to her. To all appearance she, one of the prime favorites of +the school and Sir John Crawford's only daughter, was forgotten as +though she had never existed. To Fanny's proud heart this sense of +desertion was almost intolerable. She could have cried aloud but that +she did not dare to give way; she could have set aside Mrs. Haddo's +punishment, but in her heart of hearts she felt convinced that none of +the girls would take her part. All the time, however, she was making up +her mind. Her nicely assorted garments--her pretty evening frocks, her +day-dresses of summer and winter, her underclothing, her jackets, her +hats, gloves, and handkerchiefs--had all been conveyed to the small, +dull room which she was now occupying. To herself she called it +Punishment Chamber, and felt that she could not endure the life there +even for another hour. + +Being well acquainted with the usual routine of the school, Fanny busied +herself immediately after breakfast in packing her different belongings +into two neat cane trunks which she had desired a servant to bring to +her from the box-room. Having done this, she changed the dress she was +wearing for a coat and skirt of neat blue serge and a little cap to +match. She wrote out labels at her desk and gummed them on the trunks. +She examined the contents of her purse; she had two or three pounds of +her own. She could, therefore, do pretty much what she pleased. + +But although Fanny Crawford had acted perhaps worse than any other girl +had acted in the school before, she scorned to run away. She would go +openly; she would defy Mrs. Haddo. Mrs. Haddo could not possibly keep a +girl of Fanny's age--for she would soon be seventeen--against her will. +Having packed her trunks, Fanny went downstairs. The rest of the upper +school were busy at their lessons. Sibyl Ray, who had returned to the +lower school, was of course nowhere in sight. Fanny marched bravely down +the corridor, along which she had hurried yesterday in nameless fear +and trepidation. She knocked at Mrs. Haddo's door. Mrs. Haddo said, +"Come in," and she entered. + +"Oh, it's you, Fanny Crawford! I haven't sent for you." + +"I know that," replied Fanny. "But I cannot stay any longer in disgrace +in one room. I have had enough of it. I wish to tell you, Mrs. Haddo, +that Haddo Court is no longer the place for me. I suppose I ought to +repent of what I have done; and, of course, I never for a moment thought +that Betty would be so absurd and silly to get an illness which would +nearly kill her. As a matter of fact, I do not repent. The wicked person +was Betty Vivian. She first stole the packet, and then told a lie about +it. I happened to see her steal it, for I was saying at Craigie Muir at +the time. When Miss Symes told me that the Vivians were coming to the +school I disliked the idea, and said so; but I wouldn't complain, and my +dislike received no attention whatsoever. Betty has great powers of +fascination, and she won hearts here at once. She was asked to join the +Specialities--an unheard-of-thing for a new girl at the school. I begged +and implored of her not to join, referring her to Rule No. I., which +prohibits any girl who is in possession of such a secret as Betty had to +become a member. She would not listen to me; she _would_ join. Then she +became miserable, and confessed what she had done, but would not carry +her confession to its logical conclusion--namely, confession to you and +restoration of the lost packet." + +"I wish to interrupt you for a minute here, Fanny," said Mrs. Haddo. +"Since your father left he has sent me several letters of the late Miss +Vivian's to read. In one of them she certainly did allude to a packet +which was to be kept safely until Betty was old enough to appreciate it; +but in another, which I do not think your father ever read, Miss Vivian +said that she had changed her mind, and had put the packet altogether +into Betty's charge. I do not wish to condone Betty's sins; but her only +sin in this affair was the lie she told, which was evidently uttered in +a moment of swift temptation. She had a right to the packet, according +to this letter of Miss Frances Vivian's." + +Fanny stood very still. "I didn't know that," she replied. + +"I dare say you didn't; but had you treated Betty differently, and been +kind to her from the first, she would probably have explained things to +you." + +"I never liked her, and I never shall," said Fanny with a toss of her +head. "She may suit you, Mrs. Haddo, but she doesn't suit me. And I wish +to say that I want you to send me, at once, to stay with my aunt Amelia +at Brighton until I can hear from my father with regard to my future +arrangements. If you don't send me, I have money in my pocket, and will +go in spite of you. I don't like your school any longer. I did love it, +but now I hate it; and it is all--all because of Betty Vivian." + +"Oh, Fanny, what a pity!" said Mrs. Haddo. Tears filled her eyes. But +Fanny would not look up. + +"May I go?" said Fanny. + +"Yes, my dear. Anderson shall take you, and I will write a note to your +aunt. Fanny, is there no chance of your turning to our Divine Father to +ask Him to forgive you for your sins of cruelty to one unhappy but very +splendid girl?" + +"Oh, don't talk to me of her splendor!" said Fanny. "I am sick of it." + +"Very well, I will say no more." + +Mrs. Haddo sank into the nearest chair. After a minute's pause she +turned to her writing-table and wrote a letter. She then rang her bell, +and desired Anderson to get ready for a short journey. + +About three o'clock that day Fanny, accompanied by Anderson, with her +trunks and belongings heaped on top of a station-cab, drove from Haddo +Court never to return. There were no girls to say farewell; in fact, not +one of her friends even knew of her departure until Mrs. Haddo mentioned +it on the following morning. + +"Fanny did right to go," she said. "And now we will try to live down all +that has been so painful, and turn our faces once again towards the +light." + + * * * * * + +Betty recovered all in good time; but it was not until Christmas had +long passed that she first asked for Fanny Crawford. When she heard that +Fanny had gone, a queer look--half of pleasure, half of pain--flitted +across her little face. + +"You're glad, aren't you? You're very, very glad, Bettina?" whispered +Sylvia in her sister's ear. + +"No, I am not glad," replied Betty. "If I had known she was going I +might have spoken to her just once. As it is, I am sorry." + +"Oh Bettina, why?" + +"Because she has lost the influence of so noble a woman as dear Mrs. +Haddo, and of so faithful a friend as Margaret Grant, and of so dear a +girl as Martha West. Oh, why did I ever come here to upset things? And +why did I ever tell that wicked, wicked lie?" + +"You have repented now, poor darling, if any one ever did!" said both +the twins. + +As they spoke Mrs. Haddo entered the room. "Betty," she said, "I wish to +tell you something. You certainly did exceedingly wrong when you told +Sir John Crawford that you knew nothing of the packet. But I know you +did not steal it, dear, for I hold a letter in my hand from your aunt, +in which she told Sir John that she had given the packet absolutely into +your care. Sir John could never have read that letter; but I have read +it, dear, and I have written to him on the subject." + +"Then I may keep the packet?" asked Betty in a very low voice. + +"Yes, Betty." + +"And it will read me a lesson," said Betty. "Oh, thank you! thank you!" +Then she sprang to her feet and kissed Mrs. Haddo's white hands first, +and then pressed a light kiss on that good lady's beautiful lips. "God +will help me to do better in the future," she added. + +And she was helped. + + THE END + + + + +The Girl Scouts Series + +BY EDITH LAVELL + +A new copyright series of Girl Scouts stories by an author of wide +experience in Scouts' craft, as Director of Girl Scouts of Philadelphia. + +Clothbound, with Attractive Color Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT MISS ALLEN'S SCHOOL + THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP + THE GIRL SCOUTS' GOOD TURN + THE GIRL SCOUTS' CANOE TRIP + THE GIRL SCOUTS' RIVALS + + +The Camp Fire Girls Series + +By HILDEGARD G. FREY + +A Series of Outdoor Stories for Girls 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS IN THE MAINE WOODS; + or, The Winnebagos go Camping. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT SCHOOL; + or, The Wohelo Weavers. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT ONOWAY HOUSE; + or, The Magic Garden. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS GO MOTORING; + or, Along the Road That Leads the Way. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS' LARKS AND PRANKS; + or, The House of the Open Door. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON ELLEN'S ISLE; + or, The Trail of the Seven Cedars. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS ON THE OPEN ROAD; + or, Glorify Work. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS DO THEIR BIT; + or, Over the Top with the Winnebagos. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS SOLVE A MYSTERY; + or, The Christmas Adventure at Carver House. + + THE CAMP FIRE GIRLS AT CAMP KEEWAYDIN; + or, Down Paddles. + + +The Blue Grass Seminary Girls Series + +BY CAROLYN JUDSON BURNETT + +For Girls 12 to 16 Years + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +Splendid stories of the Adventures of a Group of Charming Girls. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' VACATION ADVENTURES; + or Shirley Willing to the Rescue. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS' CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS; + or, A Four Weeks' Tour with the Glee Club. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS IN THE MOUNTAINS; + or, Shirley Willing on a Mission of Peace. + + THE BLUE GRASS SEMINARY GIRLS ON THE WATER; + or, Exciting Adventures on a Summerer's Cruise Through the Panama + Canal. + + +The Mildred Series + +BY MARTHA FINLEY + +For Girls 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +A Companion Series to the famous "Elsie" books by the same author. + + MILDRED KEITH + MILDRED AT ROSELAND + MILDRED AND ELSIE + MILDRED'S MARRIED LIFE + MILDRED AT HOME + MILDRED'S BOYS AND GIRLS + MILDRED'S NEW DAUGHTER + + +Marjorie Dean High School Series + +BY PAULINE LESTER + +Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean College Series + +These are clean, wholesome stories that will be of great interest to all +girls of high school age. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR + MARJORIE DEAN, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR + + +Marjorie Dean College Series + +BY PAULINE LESTER. + +Author of the Famous Marjorie Dean High School Series. + +Those who have read the Marjorie Dean High School Series will be eager +to read this new series, as Marjorie Dean continues to be the heroine in +these stories. + +All Clothbound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE FRESHMAN + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SOPHOMORE + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE JUNIOR + MARJORIE DEAN, COLLEGE SENIOR + + +The Radio Boys Series + +BY GERALD BRECKENRIDGE + +A new series of copyright titles for boys of all ages. + +Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE RADIO BOYS ON THE MEXICAN BORDER + THE RADIO BOYS ON SECRET SERVICE DUTY + THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE REVENUE GUARDS + THE RADIO BOYS' SEARCH FOR THE INCA'S TREASURE + THE RADIO BOYS RESCUE THE LOST ALASKA EXPEDITION + + +The Ranger Boys Series + +BY CLAUDE H. LA BELLE + +A new series of copyright titles telling of the adventures of three boys +with the Forest Rangers in the state of Maine. + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE RANGER BOYS TO THE RESCUE + THE RANGER BOYS FIND THE HERMIT + THE RANGER BOYS AND THE BORDER SMUGGLERS + THE RANGER BOYS OUTWIT THE TIMBER THIEVES + THE RANGER BOYS AND THEIR REWARD + + +The Boy Troopers Series + +BY CLAIR W. HAYES + +Author of the Famous "Boy Allies" Series. + +The adventures of two boys with the Pennsylvania State Police. + +All Copyrighted Titles + +Cloth Bound, with Attractive Cover Designs + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH. + + THE BOY TROOPERS ON THE TRAIL + THE BOY TROOPERS IN THE NORTHWEST + THE BOY TROOPERS ON STRIKE DUTY + THE BOY TROOPERS AMONG THE WILD MOUNTAINEERS + + +The Golden Boys Series + +BY L. P. WYMAN, PH.D. + +Dean of Pennsylvania Military College. + +A new series of instructive copyright stories for boys of High School +Age. + +Handsome Cloth Binding + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + + THE GOLDEN BOYS AND THEIR NEW ELECTRIC CELL + THE GOLDEN BOYS AT THE FORTRESS + THE GOLDEN BOYS IN THE MAINE WOODS + THE GOLDEN BOYS WITH THE LUMBER JACKS + THE GOLDEN BOYS ON THE RIVER DRIVE + + +The Boy Allies + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +With the Navy + +BY ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each other +in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war. Circumstances place +them on board the British cruiser, "The Sylph," and from there on, they +share adventures with the sailors of the Allies. Ensign Robert L. Drake, +the author, is an experienced naval officer, and he describes admirably +the many exciting adventures of the two boys. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; or, Striking the First Blow + at the German Fleet. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; or, Sweeping the Enemy from the + Sea. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; or, The Naval Raiders of + the Great War. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEA; or, The Last Shot of + Submarine D-16. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; or, The Vanishing Submarine. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; or, Through Fields of Ice to Aid the + Czar. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT JUTLAND: or, The Greatest Naval Battle of + History. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH UNCLE SAM'S CRUISERS; or, Convoying the + American Army Across the Atlantic. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE SUBMARINE D-32; or, The Fall of the Russian + Empire. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE VICTORIOUS FLEETS; or, The Fall of the + German Navy. + + +The Boy Allies + +(Registered in the United States Patent Office) + +With the Army + +BY CLAIR W. HAYES + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to +leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the +Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and +escapes are many, and furnish plenty of good, healthy action that every +boy loves. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; or, Through Lines of Steel. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; or, Twelve Days Battle Along the + Marne. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; or, A Wild Dash Over the + Carpathians. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the + Aisne. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; or, With the Italian Army in the + Alps. + + THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; or, The Struggle to Save a + Nation. + + THE BOY ALLIES ON THE SOMME; or, Courage and Bravery Rewarded. + + THE BOY ALLIES AT VERDUN; or, Saving France from the Enemy. + + THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES; or, Leading the + American Troops to the Firing Line. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH HAIG IN FLANDERS; or, The Fighting Canadians of + Vimy Ridge. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH PERSHING IN FRANCE; or, Over the Top at Chateau + Thierry. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE GREAT ADVANCE; or, Driving the Enemy + Through France and Belgium. + + THE BOY ALLIES WITH MARSHAL FOCH; or, The Closing Days of the Great + World War. + + +The Boy Scouts Series + +BY HERBERT CARTER + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +New Stories of Camp Life + + THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMPFIRE; or, Scouting with the Silver Fox + Patrol. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; or, Marooned Among the + Moonshiners. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; or, Scouting through the Big Game + Country. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The New Test for the Silver + Fox Patrol. + + THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; or, The Search for the Lost + Tenderfoot. + + THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Secret of the Hidden Silver + Mine. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; or, Marooned Among the Game-Fish + Poachers. + + THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; or, The Strange Secret of Alligator + Swamp. + + THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA; A story of Burgoyne's + Defeat in 1777. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; or, The Silver Fox Patrol + Caught in a Flood. + + THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; or, Caught Between Hostile + Armies. + + THE BOY SCOUTS AFOOT IN FRANCE; or, With The Red Cross Corps at the + Marne. + + +The Jack Lorimer Series + +BY WINN STANDISH + +For Boys 12 to 16 Years. + +All Cloth Bound Copyright Titles + +PRICE, 65 CENTS EACH + +CAPTAIN JACK LORIMER; or, The Young Athlete of Millvale High. + +Jack Lorimer is a fine example of the all-around American high-school +boys. His fondness for clean, honest sport of all kinds will strike a +chord of sympathy among athletic youths. + +JACK LORIMER'S CHAMPIONS; or, Sports on Land and Lake. + +There is a lively story woven in with the athletic achievements, which +are all right, since the book has been O. K.'d by Chadwick, the Nestor +of American Sporting journalism. + +JACK LORIMER'S HOLIDAYS; or, Millvale High in Camp. + +It would be well not to put this book into a boy's hands until the +chores are finished, otherwise they might be neglected. + +JACK LORIMER'S SUBSTITUTE; or, The Acting Captain of the Team. + +On the sporting side, this book takes up football, wrestling, and +tobogganing. There is a good deal of fun in this book and plenty of +action. + +JACK LORIMER, FRESHMAN; or, From Millvale High to Exmouth. + +Jack and some friends he makes crowd innumerable happenings into an +exciting freshman year at one of the leading Eastern colleges. The book +is typical of the American college boy's life, and there is a lively +story, interwoven with feats on the gridiron, hockey, basketball and +other clean honest sports for which Jack Lorimer stands. + +For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by the +Publishers + + +A. L. BURT COMPANY + +114-120 EAST 23rd STREET NEW YORK + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +1. Chapter VIII, A New Member, had a major typesetter's error in the +edition this etext was done from--the text for Rule I. was inadvertently +inserted for Rule IV. The staff of the Rare Books Collection at Marriott +Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City were kind enough to research +their version of the text, and provide the correction, from the original +1909 edition from W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh. + +2. Minor changes have been made to ensure consistent usage of +punctuation. + +3. A Table of Contents has been added for the reader's convenience. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty Vivian, by L. T. Meade + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BETTY VIVIAN *** + +***** This file should be named 25510.txt or 25510.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/1/25510/ + +Produced by D Alexander, the Marriott Library Rare Book +Collection at the University of Utah, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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