The Camp Fire Girls at Sunrise Hill | Page 8

but perhaps as a part of her inheritance. Now she made a
little bow to Betty. "I am sorry I was rude to you, Princess," she said
gently, "but tell you the reason for my special tirade against poverty
to-night, I will not and Mollie shall not tell either."

Without replying Betty turned to pick up her blue cloak which had
dropped from her shoulders as she knelt by the lounge. It had a cap
attached with a blue silk lining and this she slipped over her head.
"It isn't worth while for me to talk of my plan to-night, then," she
returned, "for if Polly won't be interested, you and, I could never make
a go of it by ourselves, Mollie. Good-night; I promised not to stay very
long." Passing by the lounge Mrs. O'Neill reached out, slipping her
hand in Betty's and drew her to a place beside her. Usually a girl with
the three other girls there was now and then a note in Mrs. O'Neill's
voice which they seldom failed to recognize.
"Mollie is right, as Betty is almost one of our family, it is only fair to
tell her what has put Polly in her present mood. The truth is, dear, the
doctor thinks I am not very well and am needing a rest, so I am being
made to lie down every evening after my work, by my daughters, and I
am sure when warm weather comes I shall be all right again."
"You won't," Polly interrupted, "and if that is all you mean to tell Betty,
why I shall certainly tell her everything now you have started."
Polly went on quickly, with two bright spots of color in her cheeks:
"Resting in the evenings is not going to help mother; Dr. Hawkes says
she needs months and months of rest and unless she has it she will soon
be having a nervous breakdown or something else; that working for
nearly eight years in an office supporting herself and two daughters is
enough to tire any woman out. Then to-day a wonderful invitation
came from my father's relatives, who have never paid the least attention
to us before, asking mother to spend the summer with them in Ireland,
and--"
Betty's hands were clapped eagerly together as she concluded, "So you
are going to accept and Polly's blue at the thought of being separated
from you, but really I can't see any reason why I should not have been
told of this."
Instead of replying, Polly frowned and Mrs. O'Neill shook her head, so
the explanation fell to Mollie. "No, mother is not going to accept; that

is what the trouble is and that is why Polly and I sometimes feel cross
with you, Betty, because rich people never seem to be able to
understand about poor ones. You do what you like without thinking of
the money, and we can't do anything we like without thinking of it.
Mother feels she can't afford to go."
Looking almost as depressed as her two friends, Betty now turned her
back deliberately on both girls to whisper in the older woman's ear.
"Oh, Mary, won't you, can't you; you know how happy it would make
us." But she knew her answer even before it was given and also
understood that Polly's pride would never have agreed to let her mother
accept any favor through her. Indeed, never in all the long years of their
friendship had Betty ever dared do half the things she longed to do for
her two friends, and indeed Mrs. Ashton often said that Betty accepted
far more than she was able to return, since she spent so much of her
time in Mrs. O'Neill's home.
"You are awfully foolish, Mary," Betty argued, "because if you should
really get ill--"
"That is just what I have been saying, Betty dear, for the past two
hours," Polly protested, forgetting the difference between herself and
her friend and edging close enough to the lounge to lay her head in, the
other girl's lap. "And the worst of it is, Mr. Wharton says mother can
have the holiday, he will pay her salary while she is away, and she only
won't go because she says she can't leave Mollie and me alone and can't
afford to pay any one to look after us. It is so foolish, when we are old
enough to be taking care of her! I suppose she wouldn't be afraid to
leave Mollie, it is just me! Sometimes it does not seem quite fair to be
born a twin, because see how things are put into Mollie divided, all the
good got and all the bad into me; so I suppose mother thinks I would
set the house on fire or run away and