Lady Betty Across the Water

								

is beginning to glitter with silver network here and there, though she
isn't exactly old, even for a woman--perhaps about thirty.
I knew that Miss Woodburn rather fancied me, and I was quite pleased to
take her up to her room, when she and her elder cousin arrived, about
an hour before dinner. I stopped for a few minutes, and then left her
with her maid, while I went to help Vic, and get myself ready. We've
only one maid between the three of us, nowadays; which means (unless
there's some reason why Vic should be made particularly smart), that
Mother gets more than a third of Thompson's services. That's as it
should be, of course, and we don't grudge it; but Vic's rather
helpless, and I always have to hurry, to see her through.
This evening, though, I found Thompson in Vic's room, next to mine; and
just as I scientifically dislocated my arms to unhook my frock, which
does up behind, Mother came in. "Betty," she said, quite playfully for
her, "I have a very pleasant surprise for you. You would never be able
to guess, so I will tell you. I have consented to let you go and visit
Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox and Miss Woodburn in America. Aren't you
delighted?"
I felt as if the wall of the house were tumbling down, and I would
presently be crumpled up underneath.
"My goodness gracious, Mother!" I managed to stammer, forgetting how
I've always stood in awe of her, since I could toddle. "How--how
perfectly extraordinary! Why am I going? And is it all decided,
whether I like or not?"
"Of course you will like. To travel with pleasant companions and see a
great, new country under such charming auspices, is an immense
privilege, a very unusual privilege for a young girl," Mother replied
promptly. "As for the 'why,' you are going because you have been
cordially invited; because I think the experience will be for your
advantage, present and future; because also it will be good for a
growing girl like you to have the bracing effect of a sea voyage."
"Mother, I haven't a thing the matter with me, and I haven't grown the
eighth of an inch this whole last year; you can see by my frocks," I
protested, more on principle than because it would be any use to
protest, or because I was sure that I wanted Mother to change her mind.
Naturally the protest had no effect, but Mother's mood mercifully
remained placid, and she didn't give me a single freezing look.
"Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox is a woman of good family and position in her own
country," she went calmly on. "I have satisfied myself on those points
beyond doubt, or I should not dream of allowing you to be her guest.
She has a cottage at Newport, and will take you there, as summer, it
seems, is not the Season in New York. You may stay with her through
July and August,--even for September, if you are amusing yourself.
Later, Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox will send you home with friends of hers,
who can be trusted to take good care of you. She knows several people,
she tells me, who are crossing in the autumn, to winter abroad; and