LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
[Betty drew closer to her mother’s side as she stood speechless before the beautiful tree] Frontispiece PAGE [Oh, Betty, what a beautiful cutter! May exclaimed] 7 [Hello, girls, he called, as his smiling face appeared in the doorway] 14 [Betty threw a sofa-pillow at Jack to stir him to greater enthusiasm] 31 [Why, Grandfather, I—I ran away!] 72 [On Saturday a messenger was sent with the precious box] 89 [Constance in the May Queen’s bower] 113 [Bob Carey as the lion in “March” selling marches] 120 [These two young women sat behind me in the street-car and overheard my conversation with a friend] 128 [Betty snatched up the desk calendar and held it before her grandfather’s eyes] 145 [Take my racket, said Betty, and play a set with Martha] 161 [Betty found Bobby in his nursery] 170 [Betty walked across the room with stiff, stagy strides] 179 [The Goddess of Honor placed the chaplet on the bowed head of Isabella of Spain] 197 [Where’s Betty! said Jack, wrapped in his Indian blanket] 214 [They went spinning away toward the Pine Hill road] 221 [He stopped his team, and waited as Betty came down the steps] 229 [Betty, with her sleeves rolled back, was whisking away at something in a bowl] 243 [The girl turned on Betty like a little fury] 260 [Just as the driver was about to start, a voice called, Hi! Hold on there!] 265 [A strange-looking, cloaked figure, with a lighted Jack-o’-lantern for a head, ushered them into the drawing-room] 279 [The three Fates ushered Betty with great pomp and ceremony to the chair facing the wizard] 285
BETTY’S HAPPY YEAR
I
A THANKSGIVING GUEST
“What a gorgeous day for a sleigh-ride! Did you ever see such sunny, twinkling snow, and such crisp, crackly air? It fairly snaps off as you breathe it!”
Betty McGuire stood on the steps of the veranda as she spoke. Her mother, in the doorway, was smiling down at her, and her pony, Dixie, was jingling his bells and pawing at the snow and ice in the driveway below.
It was the first trial of the pretty new cutter, and the joyous excitement of the occasion made Betty’s cheeks as red as her scarlet tam-o’-shanter cap, or her red cloth coat with its high fur collar. Betty drew on her driving-gloves, still talking to her mother.
“Isn’t it a darling sleigh, Mother? Did you ever see such a pretty one? And Dixie is so proud of it.”
“It’s a beauty, Betty. I know you’ll enjoy it. Are you taking Tilly for a ride?”
“No; I’m going for May Fordham to-day. We’re planning for the party, you know. I’ll take Tilly some other day.”