Again all hands were raised except Fanny’s.
“Fan—Fanny Crawford, you surely agree with us?” said Margaret.
“No, I do not,” said Fanny. “I think if the club is worth anything we ought not to have a girl in it who told a lie.”
“Ah,” said Margaret, “don’t you remember that very old story: ‘Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone’?” Then she continued, speaking in her sweet and noble voice, “I will own there is something about Betty which most wonderfully attracts me.”
“That sort of charm is fatal,” said Fanny.
“But,” continued Margaret, taking no notice of Fanny’s remark, “that sort of charm which she possesses, that sort of fascination—call it what you will—may be at once her ruin or her salvation. If we Specialities are unkind to her now, if we don’t show her all due compassion and tenderness, she may grow hard. We are certainly bound by every honorable rule not to mention one word of this to Mrs. Haddo or to any of the teachers. Are we, or are we not, to turn our backs on Betty Vivian?”
“If she confesses,” said Fanny, “and returns the packet, you have already decided by a majority of votes to allow her to retain her position in the club.”
“Yes,” said Margaret, “that is quite true. But suppose she does not confess, suppose she sticks to her resolve to keep the packet and not tell any one where she has hidden it, what then?”
“Ah, what then?” said they all.