“Oh, that remains to be discovered,” said Madeline with a shrug. “See what you can make of her. But whatever you make of her,” she added, “be sure that you keep Dr. Eaton interested. The cream of the joke, you know, will be seeing what he says when Miss Stuart confides to him how he’s been fooled.”
“Maybe you’ll never know what he said,” suggested Bob.
“Oh, yes, we shall,” declared Mary. “Betty can ask her. Betty and she have been great friends ever since that time when she didn’t meet Betty at the station. By the way, Betty Wales, how is it that you always manage to get the things you want?”
“I don’t,” laughed Betty.
“Oh, yes, you do,” insisted Mary. “You said the word and ‘The Merry Hearts’ turned philanthropic. There was Bob and the Hilton House toads, and this morning I caught Babe being nice to that queer Miss Ray on the way out of chapel.”
“As if I wasn’t always nice to everybody,” muttered Babe shamefacedly.
“What I want to know”—Mary went on—“is how you do it. It would be very useful to me in my business if I could wind people around my little finger the way you can.”
“Please don’t be silly,” protested Betty, blushing happily. She would have liked to think that she had an influence over her friends, but she couldn’t believe it. She was only “little Betty Wales,” who was not noted for anything in particular, and was always being taken for a freshman.
“Let’s call her the ‘Power Behind the Throne,’” said Madeline. “That’s what she is, and she gets the things she wants because she never teases for them the way you do, President Brooks.”