Chapter 18 Betty Vivian by L. T. Meade
NOT ACCEPTABLE
It was Thursday evening, and Fanny Crawford did not altogether like the prospect which lay before her. Ever since Sibyl had put the little sealed packet into her hands, that packet had lain on Fanny's heart with the weight of lead. Now that she had obtained the packet she did not want it; she did not dare to let any one guess how it had come into her hands. Fanny the proud, the looked-up-to, the respected, the girl whose conduct had hitherto been so immaculate, had stooped to employ another girl to act as a spy. Fanny was absolutely in the power of that very insignificant person, Sibyl Ray. Sibyl demanded her reward. Fanny must do her utmost to get Sibyl admitted to the club.
On that very evening, as Fanny was going towards the Bertrams' room, where the meeting was to be held, she was waylaid by Sibyl.
"You won't forget?--you have promised."
"Of course I won't forget, Sibyl. What a tease you are!"
"Can you possibly give me a hint afterwards? You might come to my room just for an instant, or you might push a little note under the door. I am so panting to know. I do so dreadfully want to belong to the club. I have been counting up all the privileges. I shall go mad with joy if I am admitted."
"I will do my best for you; but whether I can tell you anything or not to-night is more than I can possibly say," replied Fanny. "Now, do go away, Sibyl; go away, and be quick about it!"
"All right," said Sibyl. "Of course you know, or perhaps you don't know, that Betty isn't well? The doctor came an hour ago, and he says she is to be kept very quiet. I am ever so sorry for her, she is so--so----Oh dear, I am almost sorry now that I took that little packet from under the root of the Scotch heather!"
"Go, Sibyl. If we are seen together it will be much more difficult for me to get you elected," was Fanny's response; and at last, to Fanny's infinite relief, Sibyl took her departure.
All the other members of the club were present when Fanny made her appearance. They were talking in low tones, and as Fanny entered she heard Betty's name being passed from lip to lip.
"She does look bad, poor thing!" said Olive.
"Did you know," exclaimed Susie Rushworth, "that after doing that splendid piece of recitation in the class to-day she fainted right off? Miss Symes was quite terrified about her."
"They say the doctor has been sent for," said Martha. "Oh dear," she added, "I never felt so unhappy about a girl before in my life!"
Fanny was not too gratified to hear these remarks. She perceived all too quickly that, notwithstanding the fact that Betty was no longer a member of the club, she still reigned in the hearts of the girls.
"Well, Fan, here you are!" exclaimed Margaret. "Is there anything very special for us to do to-night? I have no inclination to do anything. We are all so dreadfully anxious about Betty and those darling little twins. Do you know, the doctor has ordered them not to sleep in Betty's room to-night; so Miss Symes is going to look after them. They are such sweet pets! The doctor isn't very happy about Betty. Sometimes I think we made a mistake--that we were cruel to Betty to turn her out of the club."
Fanny felt that if she did not quickly assert herself all would be lost. She therefore said quietly, "I don't pretend to share your raptures with regard to Betty Vivian, and I certainly think that if rules are worth anything they ought not to be broken."
"I suppose you are right," remarked Olive; "only, Betty seemed to make an exception to every rule."
"Well," said Fanny, "if we want a new member----"
"Another Speciality?" said Margaret.
"I was thinking," continued Fanny, her pretty pink cheeks glowing brightly and her eyes shining, "that we might be doing a kindness to a very worthy little girl who will most certainly not break any of the rules."
"Whom in the world do you mean?" asked Susie.
"I suppose you will be surprised at my choice; but although seven is the perfect number, there is no rule whatever against our having eight, nine, ten, or even more members of the club."
"There is no rule against our having twenty members, if those members are worthy," said Margaret Grant. "But whom have you in the back of your head, Fanny? You look so mysterious."
"I cannot think of any one myself," said Martha West.
When Martha said this Fanny made a little gesture of despair. "Well," she said, "I have taken a fancy to her. I think she is very nice; and I know she is poor, and I know she wants help, and I know that Mrs. Haddo takes a great interest in her. I allude to that dear little thing, Sibyl Ray. You, Martha, surely will support me?"
"Sibyl Ray!" The girls looked at each other in unbounded astonishment. Martha was quite silent, and her cheeks turned pale.
After a long pause Margaret spoke, "May I ask, Fanny, what one single qualification Sibyl Ray has for election to membership in the Speciality Club?"
"But what possible reason is there against her being a member?" retorted Fanny.
"A great many, I should say," was Margaret's answer. "In the first place, she is too young; in the second place, she has only just been admitted to the upper school."
"You can't keep her out on that account," objected Fanny, "for she has been longer in the upper school than Betty Vivian."
"Oh, please don't mention Betty and Sibyl in the same breath!" was Margaret's answer.
"I do not," said Fanny, who was fast losing her temper. "Sibyl is a good, straightforward, honorable girl. Betty is the reverse."
"Oh Fanny," exclaimed Martha, "I wouldn't abuse my own cousin if I were you!"
"Nonsense!" said Fanny. "Whether she is a cousin, or even a sister, I cannot be blind to her most flagrant faults."
"Of course you have a right to propose Sibyl Ray as a possible member of this club," said Margaret, "for it is one of our by-laws that any member can propose the election of another. But I don't really think you will carry the thing through. In the first place, what do you know about Sibyl? I have observed you talking to her once or twice lately; but until the last week or so, I think, you hardly knew of her existence."
"That is quite true," said Fanny boldly; "but during the last few days I have discovered that Sibyl is a sweet girl--most charming, most unselfish, most obliging. She is very timid, however, and lacks self-confidence; and I have observed that she is constantly snubbed by girls who are not fit to hold a candle to her and yet look down upon her, just because she is poor. Now, if she were made a member of the club all that would be put a stop to, and she would have a great chance of doing her utmost in the school. We should be holding out a helping hand to a girl who certainly is neither beautiful nor clever, but who can be made a fine character. Martha, you at least will stand up for Sibyl? You have always been her close friend."
"And I am fond of her still," said Martha; "but I don't look upon her at all in the light in which you do, Fanny. Sibyl, at present, would be injured, not improved, by her sudden elevation to the rank of a Speciality. The only thing I would suggest is that you propose her again in a year's time; and if during the course of that year she has proved in any sense of the word what you say, I for one will give her my cordial support. At present I cannot honestly feel justified in voting for her, and I will not."
"Well spoken, Martha!" said Margaret. "Fanny, your suggestion is really ill-timed. We are all unhappy about Betty just now; and to see poor little Sibyl--of course, no one wants to say a word against her--in Betty's shoes would make our loss seem more irreparable than ever."
Fanny saw that her cause was lost. She had the grace not to say anything more, but sat back in her chair with her eyes fixed on Margaret's face. Fanny began to perceive for the first time that some of the girls in this club had immensely strong characters. Margaret Grant and Martha West had, for instance, characters so strong that Fanny discovered herself to be a very unimportant little shadow beside them. The Bertrams were the sort of girls to take sides at once and firmly with what was good and noble, Susie Rushworth was devoted to Margaret, and Olive had been the prime favorite in the club until Betty's advent. Now it seemed to Fanny that each one of the Specialities was opposed to her, that she stood alone. She did not like the situation. She was so exceedingly anxious; for, strong in the belief that she herself was a person of great importance, and in the further belief that Martha would support her, she had been practically sure of getting Sibyl admitted to the club. Now Sibyl had no chance whatever, and Sibyl knew things which might make Fanny's position in the school the reverse of comfortable.
Fanny Crawford on this occasion sat lost in thought, by no means inclined to add her quota to the entertainment of the others, and looking eagerly for the first moment when she might escape from the meeting. Games were proposed; but games went languidly, and once again Betty and Betty's illness became the subject of conversation.
When this took place Fanny rose impatiently. "There are no further questions to be discussed to-night?" she asked, turning to Margaret.
"None that I know of."
"Then, if you will excuse me, girls, I will go. I must tell poor little Sibyl--"
"You don't mean to say you spoke to Sibyl about it?" interrupted Martha.
"Well, yes, I did." Fanny could almost have bitten out her tongue for having made this unwary admission. "She was so keen, poor little thing, that I told her I would do my best for her. I must say, once and for all, that I have never seen my sister members so hard and cold and indifferent to the interests of a very deserving little girl before. I am, of course, sorry I spoke to her on the matter."
"You really did very wrong, Fan," said Margaret in an annoyed voice. "You know perfectly well that we never allude to the possibility of a girl being proposed for membership to that girl herself until we have first made up our minds whether she is worthy or not. Now, you have placed us at a great disadvantage; but, of course, you forgot yourself, Fan. You must tell Sibyl that the thing is not to be thought of. You can put it down to her age or any other cause you like."
"Of course I must speak the truth," said Fanny, raising her voice to a somewhat insolent tone. "The club does not permit the slightest vestige of prevarication. Is that not so?"
"Yes, it is certainly so."
The next minute Fanny had left the room. It was one of the rules of the club that gossip, in the ordinary sense of the world, with regard to any member was strictly forbidden; so no one made any comment when Fanny had taken her departure. There was a sense of relief, however, felt by the girls who remained behind. The meeting was a sorrowful one, and broke up rather earlier than usual.
At prayers that night in the chapel Margaret Grant and the other girls of the Specialities were startled when Mr. Fairfax made special mention of Betty Vivian, praying God to comfort her in sore distress and to heal her sickness. The prayer was extempore, and roused the girls to amazed attention.
Fanny was not present that night at chapel. She was so angry that she felt she must give vent to her feelings to some one; therefore, why not speak to Sibyl at once?
Sibyl was not considered very strong, and though she did belong to the upper school, usually went to bed before prayers. She was in her small room to-night. It was a pretty, neatly furnished room in the west wing--one of those usually given to a lower-school girl on first entering the upper school. Sibyl had no intention, however, of going to bed. She sat by her fire, her heart beating high, her thoughts full of the privileges which would so soon be hers. She was composing, in her own mind, a wonderful letter to send to her people at home; she pictured to herself their looks of delight when they heard that this great honor had been bestowed upon her. For, of course, Sibyl, as a member of the lower school at Haddo Court, had heard much of the Specialities, and what she had heard she had repeated; so that when she wanted to amuse her select friends in her father's parish, she frequently gave them some information on this most interesting subject. Now she was on the point of being a member herself! How she would enjoy her Christmas holidays! How she would be feted and fussed over and petted! How carefully she would guard the secrets of the club, and how very high she would hold her own small head! She a member of the great Haddo Court School, and also a Speciality!
While Sibyl was thus engaged, seeing pictures in the fire and smiling quietly to herself, she suddenly heard a light tap at her room door. She started to her feet, and the next minute she had flown across the room and opened the door. Fanny stood without.
"Oh, you dear, darling Fan!" exclaimed Sibyl. "You are good! Come in--do come in! Is the meeting over? And--and--oh, Fanny! what have they said? Has my name been put to the vote? Of course you and Martha would be on my side, and you and Martha are so strong that you would carry the rest of the members with you. Fan, am I to have a copy of the rules? And--and--oh, Fan! is it settled? Do--do tell me!"
"I wish you weren't quite so excited, Sibyl! Let me sit down; I have a bad headache."
Fanny sank languidly into the chair which Sibyl herself had been occupying. There was only one easy-chair in this tiny room. Sibyl had, therefore, to draw forward a hard and high one for herself. But she was far too excited to mind this at the present moment.
"And what a fearful blaze of light you have!" continued Fanny, looking round fretfully. "Don't you know, Sibyl, that, unless we are occupied over our studies, we are not allowed to turn on such a lot of light? Here, let me put the room in shadow."
"Let's have firelight only," laughed Sibyl, who was not quick at guessing things, and felt absolute confidence in Fanny's powers. The next instant she had switched off the light and was kneeling by Fanny's side. "Now, Fanny--now, do put me out of suspense!"
"I will," said Fanny. "I have come here for the purpose. I did what I could for you, Sib. You must bear your disappointment as best you can. I am truly sorry for you, but things can't be helped."
"You are truly sorry for me--and--and--things can't be helped!" exclaimed Sibyl, amazement in her voice. "What do you mean?"
"Well, they won't have you at any price as a member of the Specialities; and the person who spoke most strongly against you was your dear and special friend, Martha West. I am not at liberty to quote a single word of what she did say; but you are not to be a Speciality--at least, not for a year. If at the end of a year you have done something wonderful--the sort of thing which you, poor Sibyl, could never possibly do--the matter may be brought up again for reconsideration. As things stand, you are not to be elected; so the sooner you put the matter out of your head the better."
Sibyl turned very white. Then her face became suffused with small patches of vivid color.
Fanny was not looking at her; had she looked she might have perceived that Sibyl's expression was anything but amiable at that moment. The girl's extraordinary silence, however--the absence of all remark--the absence, even, of any expression of sorrow--presently caused Fanny to glance round at her. "Well," she said, "I thought I'd tell you at once. You must put it out of your head. I think I will go to bed now. Good-night, Sibyl. Sorry I couldn't do more for you."
"Don't go!" said Sibyl. "What do you mean?"
There was a quality in Sibyl's voice which made Fanny feel uncomfortable.
"I am much too tired," Fanny said, "to stay up any longer chatting with an insignificant little girl like you. I could not even stay to the conclusion of our meeting, and I certainly don't want to be seen in your room. I did my best for you. I have failed. I am sorry, and there's an end of it."
"Oh no, there isn't an end of it!" said Sibyl.
"What do you mean, Sibyl?"
"I mean," said Sibyl, "that you have got to reward me for doing your horrid--_horrid_, dirty work!"
"You odious little creature! what do you mean? My dirty work! Sibyl, I perceive that I was mistaken in you. I also perceive that Martha West and the others were right. You are indeed unworthy to be a Speciality."
"If all were known," said Sibyl, "I don't think I am half as unworthy as you are, Fanny Crawford. Anyhow, if I am not to be made a Speciality, and if every one is going to despise me and look down on me, why, I have nothing to lose, and I may as well make an example of you."
"You odious child! what _do_ you mean?"
"Why, I can tell Mrs. Haddo as well as anybody else. Every one in the school knows that Betty is ill to-night. Something seems to have gone wrong with her head, and she is crying out about a packet--a lost packet. Now, _you_ know how the packet was lost. You and I both know how it was found--and lost again. You have it, Fanny. You are the one who can cure Betty Vivian--Betty, who never was unkind to any one; Betty, who did not mean me to be a figure of fun, as you suggested, on the night of the entertainment; Betty, who has been kind to me, as she has been kind to every one else since she came to the school. _You_ have done nothing for me, Fanny; so I--I can take care of myself in future, and perhaps Betty too."
To say that Fanny was utterly amazed and horrified at Sibyl's speech--to say that Fanny was thunderstruck when she perceived that this poor little worm, as she considered Sibyl Ray, had turned at last--would be but very inadequately to describe the situation. Fanny lost her headache on the spot. Here was danger, grave and imminent; here was the possibility of her immaculate character being dragged through the mud; here was the terrible possibility of Fanny Crawford being seen in her true colors. She had now to collect her scattered senses--in short, to pull herself together.
"Oh Sibyl," she said after a pause, "you frightened me for a minute--you really did! Who would suppose that you were such a spirited girl?"
"I am not spirited, Fanny; but I love Betty, notwithstanding all you have tried to do to put me against her. And if I am not to be a Speciality I would ever so much rather be Betty's friend than yours. There! Now I have spoken. Perhaps you would like to go now, Fan, as your head is aching so badly?"
"It doesn't ache now," said Fanny; "your conduct has frightened all the aches away. Sibyl, you really are the very queerest girl! I came here to-night full of the kindest feelings towards you. You can ask Martha West how I spoke of you at the club."
"But she won't tell me. Anything that you say in the club isn't allowed to be breathed outside it."
"I know that. Anyhow, I have been doing my utmost to get the school to see you in your true light. I have taken great notice of you, and you have been proud to receive my notice. It is certainly true that I have failed to get you what I hoped I could manage; but there are other things----"
"Other things!" said Sibyl. She stood in a defiant attitude quite foreign to her usual manner.
"Oh yes, my dear child, lots and lots of other things! For instance, in the Christmas holidays I can have you to stay with me at Brighton. What do you say to that? Don't you think that would be a feather in your cap? I have an aunt who lives there, Aunt Amelia Crawford; and she generally allows me--that is, when father cannot have me--to bring one of my school-friends with me to stay in her lovely house. I had a letter from her only yesterday, asking me which girl I would like to bring with me this year. I thought of Olive--Olive is such fun; but I'd just as soon have you--that is, if you would like to come."
Alas for poor Sibyl! She was not proof against such a tempting bait.
"As far as you are concerned," continued Fanny, who saw that she was making way with Sibyl, and breaking down, as she expressed it, her silly little defences, "you would gain far more prestige in being Aunt Amelia's guest than if you belonged to twenty Speciality Clubs. Aunt Amelia is good to the girls who come to stay with her as my friends. And I'd help you, Sib; I'd make the best of your dresses. We'd go to the theatre, and the pantomime, and all kinds of jolly things. We'd have a rattling fine time."
"Do you really mean it?" said Sibyl.
"Yes--that is, if you will give me your solemn word that you will refer no more to that silly matter about Betty Vivian. Betty Vivian had no right to that packet. It belonged to my father, and I have got it back for him. Don't think of it any more, Sibyl, and you shall be my guest this Christmas. But if you prefer to make a fuss, and drag me into an unpleasant position, and get yourself, in all probability, expelled from the school, then you must do as you please."
"But if I were expelled, you'd be expelled too," said Sibyl.
Fanny laughed. "I think not," she said. "I think, without any undue pride, that my position in the school is sufficiently strong to prevent such a catastrophe. No; you would be cutting off your nose to spite your face--that is all you would be doing with this nice little scheme of yours. Give it up, Sibyl, and you shall come to Brighton."
"It is dull at home at Christmas," said Sibyl. "We are so dreadfully poor, and father has such a lot to do; and there are always those half-starved, smelly sort of people coming to the house--the sort that want coal-tickets, you know, and grocery-tickets; and--and--we have to help to give great big Christmas dinners. We are all day long getting up entertainments for those dull sort of people. I often think they are not a bit grateful, and after being at a school like this I really feel quite squeamish about them."
Fanny laughed. She saw, or believed she saw, that her cause was won. "You'll have nothing to make you squeamish at Aunt Amelia's," she said. "And now I must say good-night. Sorry about the Specialities; but, after the little exhibition you have just made of yourself, I agree with the other girls that you are not fit to be a member. Now, ta-ta for the present."