Lady Betty Across the Water

								

who is so much older and bigger, and apparently able to make the gentle
little Southern relative do as she wills?
Mrs. Ess Kay, terribly glittering this evening in a gown contrasting
strongly with our simple things, was almost too nice to me, saying
several times over how glad she was that I was going to visit her. At
dinner, she painted word-pictures of the "good times" she would give
me, and though I've never been able to care for her, and don't a bit
more now, I began to be rather excited by her talk, for she made things
seem so interesting and new. Besides, it appears that Sally Woodburn
will be at Newport most of the summer, so I shall have her to fall back
upon.
As for me, I was good as gold, and Vic threw me approving glances, for
which I was grateful, for I like being in Vic's good graces. She
doesn't often bother with me much, but when she does, she is so sweet
it makes up for everything--and she knows that well.
I could hardly wait to hear her "explanations," and so I was glad Mrs.
Ess Kay and Miss Woodburn were hypnotised by Mother into thinking they
wanted to go early to bed. Mother is very clever about such things.
She didn't come again to talk to me in my room; I suppose she thought
it best to let the new ideas simmer. Anyhow, she sent Thompson away,
and shut the door between Vic's room and hers sooner than usual.
Presently Vic slipped quietly in to me, in the new blue dressing-gown
which was to have been mine, only when she saw it finished, she wanted
it, and had four inches taken up above the hem.
"Well, how are you feeling about things now?" she asked, sitting down
in front of the mirror, with her hairbrush in her hand.
"I'll tell you after you've told me why I ought to feel one way more
than another," I said with prudent reserve.
"Then, like a good child, brush my hair. I wouldn't let Thompson do
anything, because I knew you'd be dying to have me, and I can talk so
beautifully while my hair is being done. It makes me wish I were a
pussy cat, so that I could purr."
"I hate having mine touched by anyone," said I.
"Well, perhaps I should hate it too, if mine were curly and about six
inches thick, and came down to my knees; I should be afraid of being
pulled to pieces. There! That's heavenly. Well, now I can begin. You
know, Baby, this isn't a quite new idea about your going to America.
Mrs. Ess Kay did say something on the subject when she was staying
here before."
"Oh, yes, when she was going away she said how much she would like to
have either of us visit her. Is that all?"
"It's something, isn't it? Enough to make a handle of, when a handle's
needed."
"But why is a handle needed?"
"I'm going to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Mother had a letter from Sir Gilbert Mantell this morning."
"Oh, that big, splashy crest was his, then. It looked like him, now I
come to think of it. Nobody but a brand-new knight, with piles and