Betty Trevor

Betty Trevor
by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey (aka Jessie Mansergh)
CHAPTER ONE.
THE "PAMPERED PET."
"There goes the `Pampered Pet' again! Got its little keeper with it, as
usual. Why don't they lead her by a chain, and be done with it?"
Miles stood by the schoolroom window, hands jingling in pockets, as
he surveyed a prospect, sufficiently grey and drear to make any
diversity doubly welcome, and at his words there came the sound of a
general pushing-back of chairs, as the four other occupants of the room
dashed forward to share in the view.
They jostled each other with the scant courtesy which brothers and
sisters are apt to show each other in early days; five big boys and girls,
ranging between the ages of eight and nineteen. Miles kept his central
position by reason of superior strength, a vigorous dig of his pointed
elbow being enough to keep trespassers at a distance. Betty darted
before him and nimbly dropped on her knees, the twins stood on either
side of the window-sill, while poor Pam grumbled and fretted in the
background, dodging here and there to try all positions in turn, and
finding each as unsatisfactory as the last.
The Square gardens looked grey and sodden with the desolation of
autumn in a city, and the road facing the window was empty, except for
two female figures--a lady, and a girl of sixteen, who were slowly
approaching the corner. The lady was dressed in black, the girl was
noticeably smart, in a pretty blue costume, with dainty boots on her tiny
feet, and a fur cap worn at the fashionable angle on her golden head.
"That's a new dress,--the fifth I've seen her in this month!" sighed Betty

enviously. "Wearing it on an afternoon like this, too. The idea! Serve
her right if it were soaked through!"
"Look at her mincing over the puddles! She'd rather go a mile out of
her way than get a splash on those precious boots. I'm sure by the look
of them that they pinch her toes! I am glad you girls don't make ninnies
of yourselves by wearing such stupid things."
"Can't! Feet too big!" mumbled Jill, each cheek bulging in turn with the
lump of toffee which she was mechanically moving from side to side,
so as to lengthen the enjoyment as much as possible.
"Can't! Too poor! Only four shillings to last out till the end of the
quarter!" sighed Betty, dolorous again.
"Boots! Boots! What boots? Let me see her boots. It's mean! You won't
let me see a thing!" cried Pam, pushing her shaggy head round Miles'
elbow, and craning forward on the tip of her toes. "I say! She's grander
than ever to-day, isn't she?"
"Look at the umbrella! About as thick as a lead pencil!" scoffed Jill,
flattening her nose against the pane. "Aunt Amy had one like that when
she came to stay, and I opened it, because mother says it spoils them to
be left squeezed up, and she was as mad as a hatter. She twisted at it a
good ten minutes before she would take it out again. She'd never get
mine straight! I've carried things in it till the wires bulge out like hoops.
An umbrella is made for use; it's bosh pretending it's an ornament. ...
They are going a toddle round the Square between the showers for the
benefit of the Pet's complexion. I'm glad I haven't got one to bother
about!"
"True for you!" agreed Miles, with brotherly candour. "You are as
brown as a nigger, and the Pet is like a big wax-doll--yellow hair, blue
eyes, pink cheeks, all complete. Not a bad-looking doll, either. I passed
quite close to her one day, and she looked rattling. She'll be a jolly
pretty girl one of these days."
"Oh, if you admire that type. Personally, I don't care for niminy-

piminies. You never see her speaking, but I daresay if you poked her in
the right places she would bleat out `Mam-ma! Pa-pa!' ... Now watch!"
cried Betty dramatically. "When she gets to the corner, she will peer up
at this window beneath her eyelashes, and mince worse than ever when
she sees us watching. Don't shove so, Pam! You can see quite well
where you are. Now look! She's going to raise her head."
The five heads pressed still more curiously against the pane, and five
pairs of eyes were fixed unblinkingly upon the young girl who was
daintily picking her way round the corner of the Square. The fur cap
left her face fully exposed to view, and, true to Betty's prophecy, as she
reached a certain point in the road she turned her head over her
shoulder and shot a quick glance at the window