Betty Vivian Part 35

We are all fond of Betty. We think her wonderful."

f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y, "for I can a.s.sure you it was more than you looked."

"Oh f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y.

"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, f.a.n.n.y. 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 f.a.n.n.y.

"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 f.a.n.n.y. "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, f.a.n.n.y."

"When you both reached the gardens she suggested that you should wear the marguerites in your hair?"

"She did, f.a.n.n.y; 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 sc.r.a.p 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 f.a.n.n.y; "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.

f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y.

"Of course I don't know that I could get you in; but I'd have a good try, provided you help me now."

"f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y. "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, f.a.n.n.y."