“Agreed!” said they all; and after a little more conversation the Specialities separated, having no room in their hearts for games or any other frivolous nonsense that evening.
CHAPTER XVI
AFTERWARDS
When Betty had made her confession, and had left Susie Rushworth’s room, she went straight to bed; she went without leave, and dropped immediately into profound slumber. When she awoke in the morning her head felt clear and light, and she experienced a sense of rejoicing at what she had done.
“I have told them, and they know,” she said to herself. “I have given them the whole story in a nutshell. I don’t really care what follows.”
Mingled with her feeling of rejoicing was a curious sense of defiance. Her sisters asked her what was the matter. She said “Nothing.” They remarked on her sound sleep of the night before, on the early time she had retired from the Specialities’ meeting. They again ventured to ask if anything was the matter. She said “No.”
Then Sylvia began to break a very painful piece of information: “Dickie’s gone!”
“Oh,” said Betty, her eyes flashing with anger, “how can you possibly have been so careless as to let the spider loose?”