CHAPTER XII
THE EXCLUSIVE THREE
Kathryn von Wellering was lying back in her luxuriously upholstered reclining chair reading a novel with a title, which would have won the disapproval of Miss Snoopins if she had been able to find its hiding place, which, as yet, she had not.
The tall, dark girl, whose truly beautiful face was marred by a hard, selfish expression, unusual in one so young (for Kathryn was but sixteen), sat up when there came a light tap on her door.
“Come in,” she called languidly as she reached toward a small table nearby and took a chocolate from an elaborately beribboned box. “You’re five minutes late,” she addressed the two girls who had entered in a petulant manner.
Belle Wiley, plump, pretty, with wavy light hair, and clear hazel eyes, was followed by Anne Peterson who was tall and willowy, but whose yellowish eyes held an expression which suggested that she was not sincere. These girls were fifteen years of age, and, though their fathers were not as wealthy as Kathryn’s, she had chosen them to take the places of the two former members of “The Exclusive Three.” It was hard to understand why the pleasant-faced Belle Wiley was an admirer of Kathryn’s, but Anne Petersen was undeniably a girl whom their leader would choose as a comrade.
“Why did you call a meeting today, Kathryn?” Belle inquired. She remained standing, although Anne had at once seated herself among the soft pillows on a deep comfortable chair, and had helped herself to candy, not waiting to be asked.
Kathryn Von Wellering lifted her dark eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders. “Should the dictates of a leader be questioned?” she inquired.
She turned toward the girl who was seated, and Anne at once replied. “I’ll say not. You may send for me at any old time. Whatever you’re scheming, you may count on me, old dear, I’m game.”
“That’s what I call loyalty.” Kathryn smiled, though she ended it with an almost cynical lifting of one eyebrow. Then to Belle, who was still lingering near the door, she said impatiently, “For goodness sakes, sit down! What’s the big idea anyway, of seeming to be in such a rush? You haven’t a pressing engagement in some other part of the school, have you?”
“Probably she’s going to squeal your whole plan to that teacher’s darling, Virginia Davis.” This rather sarcastically, while the speaker helped herself to another candy.