“Well,” said Madeline, “whatever the matter is, ‘The Merry Hearts’ will have to take her in hand. We meet to-night, don’t we?”
“Yes,” said Betty, “in my room. But I don’t know—are you sure Ethel would like it?”
“She won’t know,” said Madeline, “but of course it’s just as you say. I only thought we might tell the B’s, who are in her classes, to jolly her up a little, or make Mary Brooks come with us when we call. Mary is such a cheerful person.”
To all this Betty heartily assented, but when evening came the B’s appeared in costume as Alice in Wonderland, the White Rabbit, and the Queen of Hearts. There was a wild scramble for more costumes, and the Wonderland party was so absorbing that nobody thought of anything else until a freshman admirer of Betty’s knocked on the door with a letter.
“Oh, I beg your pardon,” she said, staring about her in blank amazement. “But I thought you’d like this letter. It was on the floor behind the table.”
“Thank you ever so much. Won’t you come in?” asked Betty, who represented the Mock Turtle, in a costume composed of a gray bathrobe and tissue paper paws and ears. “Would you please put the letter on the table? You see my hands are underneath.”
But when she caught sight of the English stamps and her father’s handwriting on the envelope, she speedily dispensed with the encumbering “flippers” that Rachel had adjusted so carefully, and retired to a quiet corner to read her letter.
“Nassau, B. I.,” was the heading. “Girls, where is ‘Nassau, B. I.’?” demanded Betty, reading on down the page as she spoke.
“I don’t know,” said Madeline frankly.
“Near Bermuda, isn’t it?” hazarded Mary.