opelessly out of date,
which Betty considered as one of the many contrary circumstances of life
which continually thwarted her good endeavours.

"Don't worry yourself. She will enjoy being stared at!" she said
coldly. "She knows we watch her coming in and out, and shows off all
her little tricks for our benefit. She's the most conceited, stuck-up,
affected little wretch I ever saw, without a thought in her head but her
clothes, and her own importance. I wouldn't have anything to do with
her for the world!"

"Jolly good thing then that you are never likely to get a chance! Her
people will never trouble to call upon us; they are much too high and
mighty. That's no reason, though, why you should be so down on the poor
little soul. I should have thought that you would have felt sorry for
her, cooped up with that old governess all her time, with not a soul to
keep her company! But girls are such cads--they never play fair."

Miles strode out of the room in a fume, and Betty's lips compressed
themselves into a thin straight line, the meaning of which the others
knew full well. To incur Miles' displeasure was Betty's bitterest
punishment, and the "Pampered Pet" was not likely to fare any better at
her hands in consequence of his denouncement. Jill beckoned furtively
to Jack. There was no chance of any more fun in the schoolroom now that
Miles had departed, and Betty was in the sulks; it would be wise to go
and disport themselves elsewhere. They left the room arm-in-arm, heads
almost touching, as they whispered and giggled together, the most
devoted pair of twins that ever existed, and eight-year-old Pam leant
her elbows on the table and stared fixedly at her big sister.

Betty was seventeen, nearly grown-up, inasmuch as she had left school,
and now took classes to complete her education. Her blue serge dress
came down to her ankles, and she made a gallant attempt to "do up" her
hair in the style of the period. Mrs Trevor considered the style too
elaborate for such a young girl, but after all it did not much matter
what was aimed at, since every morning someone exclaimed innocently,
"You've done your hair a new way, Betty!" and was fully justified in the
remark. One day Betty's ambition ran to curls and waves, and she
appeared at the breakfast-table with a fuzz worthy of a negress. The
next day better judgment prevailed, when she brushed hard for ten
minutes, and then pinned on a hair-net, with the result tha