e or other;
Kentucky, I believe it is. She's short and plump, and olive and smooth
as ivory satin, with soft, lazy brown eyes, a voice like rich cream, a
smile which says: "Please like me"; and pretty, crinkly dark hair that
is beginning to glitter with silver network here and there, though she
isn't exactly old, even for a woman--perhaps about thirty.

I knew that Miss Woodburn rather fancied me, and I was quite pleased to
take her up to her room, when she and her elder cousin arrived, about
an hour before dinner. I stopped for a few minutes, and then left her
with her maid, while I went to help Vic, and get myself ready. We've
only one maid between the three of us, nowadays; which means (unless
there's some reason why Vic should be made particularly smart), that
Mother gets more than a third of Thompson's services. That's as it
should be, of course, and we don't grudge it; but Vic's rather
helpless, and I always have to hurry, to see her through.

This evening, though, I found Thompson in Vic's room, next to mine; and
just as I scientifically dislocated my arms to unhook my frock, which
does up behind, Mother came in. "Betty," she said, quite playfully for
her, "I have a very pleasant surprise for you. You would never be able
to guess, so I will tell you. I have consented to let you go and visit
Mrs. Stuyvesant-Knox and Miss Woodburn in America. Aren't you
delighted?"

I felt as if the wall of the house were tumbling down, and I would
presently be crumpled up underneath.

"My goodness gracious, Mother!" I managed to stammer, forgetting how
I've always stood in awe of her, since I could toddle. "How--how
perfectly extraordinary! _Why_ am I going? And is it all decided,
whether I like or not?"

"Of course you will like. To travel with pleasant companions and see a
great, new country under such charming auspices, is an immense
privilege, a very unusual privilege for a young girl," Mother replied
promptly. "As for the 'why,' you are going because you have been
cordially invited; because I think the experience will be for your
advantage, present and future; because also it will be good for a
growing girl like you to have the bracing effect of a sea voyage."

"Mother, I haven't a thing the matter with me, and I haven't grown the
eighth of an inch this whole last year; you can see by my frocks," I
protested, more on principle than because it would be any use to
protest, or because I was sure that I wanted Mother to ch