Betty Lee

“ Betty saw an anxious, lined face, not very old but having large, troubled eyes with which she scanned the girls, holding to the arms of her chair and ready to rise.
“Not this time, Grandmother,” replied Lucia in cheerful tones. “I came to show you the doll that I’m going to dress for Christmas. Some little girl that doesn’t have a doll is going to get it. The girls of one of my little clubs are coming here to dress dolls this afternoon and this is Betty Lee, one of my friends at school.” ”

“ But Betty had clapped a hand over that pretty and mischievous mouth of her small sister. “Amy Lou, your imagination works overtime!”
Amy Lou struggled, but laughed. “Doris says that the girl Kathryn calls ‘Finny’ and Jack Huxley got engaged this summer. Senior girls do!”
“Not if they have any sense,” said Betty, but her mother shook her head at her. “What, Mother—do you approve? Is the world coming to an end?”
“I do not approve for you, Betty, or Doris,” said Mrs. Lee, much amused by the whole incident, “but I should not say that it is out of place for all girls to marry early.” ”

“ She tramped ten miles one day with a Lyon “Y” group whose leader became rather mixed as to route and the five-mile hike became ten. Oh, well, Betty said, it would count just that much more toward your points. But she had gotten some gravel in her shoes and limped for the rest of the week-end. Life was not always free from drawbacks!
School was nearly out. Betty Lee, junior, would soon be Betty Lee, senior. As usual, the girls “couldn’t realize it.” Some of them were going to attend summer school. Betty, still keeping on the honor roll, knew that there would be no necessity for her doing it ”

“ But the year went on and Betty had many more interesting things to take up her mind. The semester examinations were a nightmare, Carolyn claimed, but they managed to live through them, as they usually do. Miss Heath was particularly fond of Betty, she told her mother when Mrs. Lee, without Amy Lou, came to visit Betty’s classes one day. “Betty is a very charming little girl, Mrs. Lee, and very bright. She is a friend of some of our best freshman girls, too, as I imagine you’d like to know. It is rather important, you know, what sort of friends the children like.” ”

“ Shortly Betty found herself flying among the shadows, through patches of moonlight, around the breath-taking curve, shooting down a straight, steep descent, holding tight, breathing in the fresh, frosty air, happy as a bird. Again and again they climbed and descended till they were tired and lit the great pile prepared by the boys in an open space. The flames shot up, lighting the gay colors of the sweaters and coats, the bright young faces and the snow man that some one started to build while marshmallows were really being toasted. ”

“ With some of the girls as they were, about notice from the “nobility,” it was impossible not to feel self-conscious at times. But Betty had none of that toadying quality in her and was rather inclined to the other extreme, of letting the “society” people go more than their half way if they wanted her company. She knew the sort of people her father and mother admired and numbered among their friends, people who were in character and ideals, and it must be confessed that Betty liked “folks that were smart!” ”

“ Peggy herself ladled out the iced lemonade from the punch bowl. “Please drink all that you want, girls; I can’t seem to get enough myself.”
A wood thrush sang from the thicket near them, and they heard a meadow lark from out toward Carolyn’s. “Can you realize, girls, that tomorrow we get our grade cards and won’t be freshmen any longer?” Kathryn waved her pretty glass of lemonade as she spoke.
“That is so,” said Betty. “I’ll not be Betty Lee, freshman, but Betty Lee, SOPHOMORE! I presume that I will receive a card since I escaped examinations!” ”

“ It was just as well, she thought, that Marcella would never know the heart-aches she had had over the missing letter. What could have become of it? And why hadn’t Larry written again? No, he would think she didn’t care.
Betty flew to the privacy of her room. Larry’s letter was brief but very much to the point. “Respected Sister,” he began. “In view of what I said to you on the evening of your party, it might have occurred to you that my question about Betty Lee was important. I enclose addressed envelope with special delivery stamps. Please reply at once. Is Betty sick? Have you seen her? ”

“ A successful and almost too well attended concert of glee clubs and orchestra finished Betty’s “fiddling” for the year, she said, though she still attended practices. She was happy over having the largest “score” and thus winning that past swimming meet. Swimming and music ought to go together, she told her father. He agreed and reminded her how fishermen were lured to their doom by the Lorelei and other sirens.
“Oh—you’re a great daddy!” Betty told him, “but you’ll be proud of your little goldfish yet!”
“I am now, Betty. There isn’t a girl as fine as mine over there!” ”

“ Carolyn’s ideas started that line of thought. But Mathilde would work against her—oh well, things would turn out as they would.
It was after school when Marcella Waite spoke again to Betty. “Just a minute, Betty Lee. Are you rushing off to catch a car this time?”
“No, indeed. I’ve all the time in the world—not even anything of the G. A. A. this afternoon.”
“Then perhaps you can come along with me and some of the other girls and have dinner down town. Lucia is going, and perhaps we can get Carolyn and Peggy.” ”

“ Life was a happy proposition for Betty Lee this year. At home she had less responsibility. Her father’s business relations were apparently solid. Amy Lou had started to school. Doris and Dick were freshmen in Lyon High this year. Betty often met them in the halls, when they would exchange salutes; but Doris particularly wanted no interference from her older sister and Betty respected her desire for independence. She had been of some help to them at the start, however, and Doris was secretly quite proud of her pretty junior sister that “everybody” knew for her athletic record and “everything.” ”

“ Everybody must have been at home. But all that any of the girls ever knew about performances was what Gwen told them, as Archie informed her it was “some sort of an initiation.”
Betty Lee wondered how it was possible for the sea to be so calm on only the second day after a storm like the one she had witnessed. There was the swell, to be sure, and the rollers came in as usual. The surf was just as beautiful and she experienced the delights of cutting the waves as she and Carolyn swam out as far as they dared. ”

“ You didn’t squeal or anything. I was here just for fun, but I didn’t blow your candle out. I shut the door that had sprung open. See?”
“Oh!” gasped Betty, looking at the brown hands that lit the candle.
“Now you shall see somebody, if it isn’t your own true love,” whispered the voice. “Look in your mirror, Titania!”
Betty looked. She saw the dark costume of the Pirate of Penzance, whose amused face, without the mask, smiled at her from the mirror. “Oh!” she gasped again. ”

“ Lee. “So don’t worry. If I do get home it’s so much gained. I imagine it’s a good thing Chet’s in the university now. There won’t be anybody to dawdle around with between times.”
Mrs. Lee did not look much impressed with this statement, for it was quite likely that there would be some one yet to take an interest in Betty Lee. “Most of your hikes and picnics will be on Saturday, I suppose,” she suggested and Betty assented.
“We girls, the ‘Happy Hoodlums,’ or something like that,” she said, “are having a hike right away, and the G. A. A. is to have a big picnic again very soon.” ”

“ And Betty was proud of the Lyon High band, nearly fifty pieces, and “playing like professional musicians” under their instructor and leader, as one optimistic article in the school paper had declared. She gave a little skip as she thought of it, but slowed her step to enter her home room sedately.
Dotty Bradshaw, the same old Dotty, made big eyes at her, pretending to look shocked. Carolyn Gwynne, darling, precious Carolyn, still Betty’s dearest among the girls, scarcely excepting Kathryn Allen, gave Betty a demure look as she passed in front of her desk to report to Miss Heath. ”

“ Betty hadn’t heard at last accounts.”
“Well, Betty would be the first one. I wish she would come back. She and Peggy Pollard have a good deal of influence with the sorority girls. I sometimes think Betty should have gone in. She had the chance, I know, with the Kappa Upsilons.”
Carolyn did not reply to this, and Betty was turning back with the girls, who selected a grassy seat and dropped down to join their friends. “Can you realize it, girls?” queried Kathryn. “We’re actually seniors at last!”
“Let’s have a club,” suggested Betty. “I was thinking about that just before you and Gwen came up.” ”

“ It’s good and frozen tonight and getting colder. You’ll all come in the house and meet Mother first. But we’re going to make a big bonfire to get warm by and Louise, Ted’s girl, you know, says we can roast marshmallows the same as if it were summer.”
“So this is Betty Lee,” said pretty Mrs. Dorrance, holding Betty’s hand a trifle longer, as she was the last girl of the group. “Both Ted and Chet have spoken of you. I am glad to meet you and I hope that my boys can give all you girls a good time tonight. I’ve cautioned them to be careful of you.”
“Now, Mother!” cried Chet. “You don’t understand. ”

“ One of the girls that Betty had recently met at camp passed now with a clatter of horse’s hoofs and a flapping of girl elbows.
“She can’t ride any better than we can,” cried Kathryn, grinning. “It’s us for riding lessons this fall, isn’t it Betty?”
Betty only nodded. This was great fun, riding up hill and down dale in the country-side near the camp to which Betty had duly come, although all that they had planned had not been carried out. Mr. Lee had not brought Mrs. Lee and Amy Lou to New England, since business in New York held him there. ”

“ Lucia’s dark eyes surveyed Betty thoughtfully. “You always think of everything, Betty. How do you do it? I like you, Betty Lee!” and Lucia turned to find Mathilde, who was limping away with a small group of sophomores.
“You’re pretty nice, yourself, Lucia,” Betty sent after her, and Lucia waved a deprecatory hand.
CHAPTER XIII: LIGHT ON THE SORORITY QUESTION
Betty had to decide what she would do about “sororities.” She had discussed them frankly with a few of the girls, those she knew well, perfectly sincere girls and her good friends. ”

“ Janet was always a little quiet when she was first with girls strange to her, but her lack of conversation was not noticeable in the babel of voices after the girls were fairly launched upon various topics that interested them.
“Yes,” replied Betty to one, “I’ve met the mysterious ‘Don.’ His real name is Ramon, but the boys all call him ‘Don’ now, I’ve noticed, so I suppose we might as well. He doesn’t mind, he said.”
“Did you hear that, Lucille? Betty Lee knows the ‘Don.’ Well, what is he, anyhow? Spanish, as they say. I always think that the boys may be ‘kiddin’ us, you know.” ”

“ I’ll try to be good!”
In a few minutes Betty was off. Mr. Lee was just drawing his own car from the curb when a handsome car drew up behind his. He was glad to see that it was full of young people. The lad had not come for Betty in his roadster. Oh, to put off the special pairing and above all, love-making, as long as possible! But after all, his girl would have to handle it herself.
In the car Betty found herself with several persons whom she did not know. Mathilde was there, and Jack informed Betty that this was the “inner circle” of guests. ”

“ Betty explained. “And oh, I hope I may accept his invitation to his birthday party his mother’s giving for him. I’m to get an invitation, but Jack said that he wanted me to save the date.”
“He must think that you are popular,” smiled Mr. Lee. “I presume that you may go. He seemed rather an engaging youth. I liked him. As a rule, though, I don’t want you to go driving with the boys yet.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dinner was being put on the table as the car was driven into the garage and Betty and her father hastened to make themselves ready for the meal. ”

“ LITTLE FLIES IN THE OINTMENT On guard against the dangers of a city, or of doubtful companionship, Betty Lee’s parents had little to worry over; for Betty had a healthy mind and body, wholesome activities to occupy her time and girls very like herself for her best friends. ”

“ Truly the summer could offer no more! Betty’s former chum at the little town of Buxton, Janet Light, with whom Betty still corresponded fitfully, as her full life permitted, wrote Betty that she was a “lucky girl,” and Betty thought so too.
It was all the better that it was a motor trip, with the opportunity to stop in all sorts of fascinating places, little and big, where there were thrilling associations of history; and these were as much for Carolyn’s benefit as for Kathryn and Betty. ”

“ Her parents were also receiving congratulations and did not try to reach Betty for some time. Countess Coletti, presently, was turning up Betty’s chin with a light touch of her jeweled hand, to kiss her and threaten to carry her off with Lucia to Switzerland for the summer. The count offered his congratulations with dignity and stopped to talk with the principal on American public schools.
It was late before the combined Lee family felt sleepy. Mrs. Lee came into Betty’s room to say goodnight again to her honor girl, and found Betty, half undressed but sitting on her bed “just thinking.” ”