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+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: 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 ***
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