ILLUSTRATIONS
| Richard Hunt Sat Down on a Wayside Bench With Her | [Frontispiece] |
| PAGE | |
| He Glanced Quickly About Him and Then Disappeared | [39] |
| Angel Had Caught Bettina's Attitude Almost Exactly | [167] |
| She Sprang Out of Bed Herself the Next Moment | [239] |
The Camp Fire Girls in
After Years
CHAPTER I
The Inaugural Ball
FACING the hills, the great house had a wonderful view of the curving banks of a river.
Half an hour before sunset a number of workmen hurried away across the grounds, while a little later from behind the closed blinds glowed hundreds of softly shaded electric lights. The lawns were strung with rows and rows of small lamps suspended from one giant tree to the next, but waiting for actual darkness to descend before shedding forth their illumination.
Evidently preparations had been made on a splendid scale, both inside the house and out, for an entertainment of some kind. Yet curiously there seemed to be a strange hush over everything, a sense of anxiety and suspense pervading the very atmosphere. Then, in odd contrast to the other lights, the room on the third floor to the left was in almost total darkness save for a single tiny flame no larger than a nurse's covered candle.