“Of course. I have told you all that, Fanny.”
“When you both reached the gardens she suggested that you should wear the marguerites in your hair?”
“She did, Fanny; and I thought it was such a charming idea.”
“Did it not once occur to you that she wanted to get you out of the way, that she did not care one scrap how you looked at the Speciality entertainment?”
“That certainly did not occur to me,” answered Sibyl; then she added stoutly, for she was a faithful little thing at heart, “and I don’t believe it either.”
“Well, believe it or not as you please; I know it to have been a fact. And now I’ll just tell you something. You must never, never repeat it; if you do, I sha’n’t speak to you again. I know what I am saying to be a fact: I know the reason why Betty Vivian is no longer a Speciality.”
“Oh! oh!” said Sibyl. She colored deeply.
“No longer a Speciality,” repeated Fanny; “and I know the reason why; only, of course, I can never say. But there’s a vacancy in the Speciality Club now for a girl who is faithful and zealous, and who can prove herself my friend.”
Sibyl’s heart began to beat very fast. “A vacancy in the Specialities!” she said in a low tone.
Fanny turned quickly round and faced her. “I could get you in if I liked,” she said. “Would it suit you to be a Speciality?”