Lady Betty Across the Water

Lady Betty Across the Water, Edited by

Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson, Illustrated by Orson Lowell
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Title: Lady Betty Across the Water
Editor: Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson
Release Date: November 10, 2007 [eBook #23441]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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LADY BETTY ACROSS THE WATER
[Illustration: "I found myself chatting away with those cadets as if I had grown up with them"]
LADY BETTY ACROSS THE WATER
Edited by
C. N. & A. M. WILLIAMSON
Authors of My Friend the Chauffeur
Illustrations by Orson Lowell

[Illustration]

New York McClure, Phillips & Co. MCMVI
Copyright, 1906, by McClure, Phillips & Co.
Published, May, 1906 Second Impression
Copyright, 1905, 1906, by The Curtis Publishing Company

To the people of that great, delightful, and hospitable land which gave Lady Betty the time of her life and inspiration, this story of her visit is admiringly Dedicated by Betty Bulkeley and C. N. and A. M. Williamson

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. ABOUT BEING BANISHED 3
II. ABOUT CROSSING THE WATER 20
III. ABOUT NEW YORK 50
IV. ABOUT SHOPPING AND MEN 83
V. ABOUT WEST POINT AND PROPOSALS 101
VI. ABOUT THE PARK AND LOVE STORIES 118
VII. ABOUT SKY-SCRAPERS AND BEAUTIFUL LADIES 133
VIII. ABOUT NEWPORT AND GORGEOUSNESS 141
IX. ABOUT BATHING, A DRESS, AND AN EARL 156
X. ABOUT A VIOLET TEA AND A MILLIONAIRE 170
XI. ABOUT A GREAT AFFAIR 180
XII. ABOUT A WEDDING AND A DISASTER 200
XIII. ABOUT RUNNING AWAY 211
XIV. ABOUT THE TWENTIETH CENTURY LIMITED AND CHICAGO 223
XV. ABOUT SEEING CHICAGO 227
XVI. ABOUT THE VALLEY FARM 238
XVII. ABOUT COWS AND NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 253
XVIII. ABOUT SOME COUNTRY FOLK, AND WALKER'S EMPORIUM 272
XIX. ABOUT GETTING ENGAGED 289
XX. ABOUT JIM AND THE DUKE 297

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"I found myself chatting away with those cadets as if I had grown up with them" Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
"He turned around quickly, glanced up and caught my eyes, as I was looking down, quite distressed" 34
"When I turned to speak to him he was gone ... and I was immediately surrounded by other men asking me for dances" 196
"I swept past him with my nose in the air, trying to look like mother" 206
"Mr. Trowbridge took me to the beehives to get some honey and show me what a queen bee is like" 258
"Jim smiled and kept his seat without the least apparent effort" 302

LADY BETTY ACROSS THE WATER

I
ABOUT BEING BANISHED
I don't know yet whether I'm pleased or not, but I do know that I'm excited--more excited than I've ever been in my life, except perhaps when Miss Mackinstry, my last governess, had hysterics in the schoolroom and fainted among the tea things.
I suppose I shan't be able to decide about the state of my feelings until I've had more of them on the same subject, or until I've written down in this book of mine everything exactly as it's happened. I like doing that; it makes things seem so clear when you try to review them afterwards.
The excitement began at breakfast by Mother having a letter that she liked. I knew she liked it by the way her eyes lighted up, as if they had been lamps and the letter a match. All the other letters, mostly with horrid, tradesmanny-looking envelopes, which had been making her quite glowery, she pushed aside.
Mother won't have a crown on her envelopes; she thinks it's vulgar; besides, putting it only on the paper saves expense. This envelope had a great sprawly gold crest, but she didn't seem to disapprove of it. She read on and on, then suddenly glanced up as if she would have said something quickly, to Victoria; she didn't say it, though, for she remembered me. I am never taken into family conclaves, because I'm not out yet. I don't see what difference that makes, especially as I'm not to be allowed to come out till after Vic's married, because she was presented four years ago, and isn't even engaged yet; so for all I can tell I may have to stay in till I'm a hundred, or leak out slowly when nobody is noticing, as Vic says girls do in the middle classes. This time I didn't mind, however, for I couldn't see how the letter concerned me; and as I was dying for a sight of Berengaria's puppies, which were born last night, I was glad when Mother told me