“That’s all very well,” said Dick Van Court, “but if I know Betty, she’d attend to the matter and be back in time for the march at three o’clock.”
“It’s after three now,” said Dorothy. “Whatever can we do?”
Nobody knew just what to do. It didn’t seem possible that anything unfortunate had occurred, and yet what else could be keeping Betty away, wherever she was?
Meanwhile what had become of Betty?
Well, it was just this:
While she was in her own room, just about to dress in her green suit, a note was brought to her by one of the servants.
The note read thus:
“Deer Bety: Susie isent going to the Forth a July Party atall. She’s mad at you.
“Jennie Hale.”
Jennie Hale was Susie’s younger sister, and Betty saw at once that she had written this note without Susie’s knowledge.
But for Susie, the president of the club, to stay away from the garden-party would be a catastrophe indeed! Betty would be censured for making trouble, and Susie’s friends would say all sorts of things. It was hard on Betty. She had truly tried to make friends with Susie, and thought she had overcome the girl’s silly jealousy. What especial thing Susie was “mad at” now, Betty didn’t know. But she must find out, and make peace, if possible, before time for the garden-party to begin.