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 f.a.n.n.y"s face.
"Do ask her; I shall be delighted," remarked f.a.n.n.y. "Only, whatever you do, don"t ask her friend, Sibyl Ray."
"I have no present intention of doing so. f.a.n.n.y, 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. f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y"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 d.i.c.kie 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 f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y.
"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 f.a.n.n.y. "You can"t object to my doing that, can you?"
"We mean to run," said Hetty.
"Oh no, you don"t!" said f.a.n.n.y. 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, f.a.n.n.y; 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, f.a.n.n.y?"
"No, you mayn"t. You must take a message from me to Betty."
"I thought so," remarked Sylvia.
f.a.n.n.y 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 f.a.n.n.y"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 sc.r.a.pe, 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 sc.r.a.pe 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 sc.r.a.pe!" repeated f.a.n.n.y.
"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? f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y, 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 f.a.n.n.y, "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 f.a.n.n.y was not prepared, Hester loosened her hand from f.a.n.n.y"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.
f.a.n.n.y 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.