Betty Vivian Part 21

"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 f.a.n.n.y. "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 f.a.n.n.y, 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 rest.i.tution. 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. G.o.d 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 f.a.n.n.y, 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."

f.a.n.n.y 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 s.n.a.t.c.h-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 f.a.n.n.y Crawford. "f.a.n.n.y," she said, "do you know what is the matter with Betty Vivian?"

f.a.n.n.y 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!"

f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y Crawford. What was the matter with f.a.n.n.y? 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 f.a.n.n.y 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 a.s.semble 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!"