"Let me see it," said Sarah. "It's a new one, isn't it?"
"Oh, what handsome letters!" said Rachel. "There, now I see for the first time why the girls call you Mab. I always thought it was such a queer nickname for Marion."
"Why, didn't you know?" answered Marion. "M. A. B., Marion Ascott Berkley; but I never write my whole name; I like just the two, Marion Berkley, a great deal better."
"Do you know," said Sarah, in the most serious way, "I don't think 'Mab' seems to suit you so well as it used to? then you were sort of—well—but now you're kind of—I don't exactly know what, but different from the other."
"Sallie, you are a goose!" laughed Marion, as Sarah's lucid description of the change in her character produced a shout from the girls. "I shall have to muzzle you until you manage your tongue better;" and quick as a flash Marion seized her satchel, and clapped it over Sarah's head, who resisted violently; "will you be a good girl if I let you out?"
"Yes! yes!" cried Sallie, from the inside of the bag, her voice almost drowned by the laughter of the girls.
"Well now, behave yourself," said Marion, as she released her prisoner, "and next time don't talk of what you know nothing about."
"Well, you are, any way!" cried Sarah, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"Take care!" laughed Marion, shaking the satchel at Sarah; "you know what you have to expect."
"Come, girls, let's go downstairs and tell the others," said Rachel.