good they do
us, we ought to let somebody else try; only Becky and the Picknells and
Nelly Foster."

But there was no expression of approval.

"Then I'm going to do this: not tell them about this club, but behave as
if it was something new and start another club. I could belong to two
as well as one, you know."

"I wouldn't be such a copy-cat," said Lizzie French quickly. "It's _our_
secret; we shall be provoked that we ever asked you," and with this
verdict Betty was forced to be contented. She felt as if she had taken
most inflexible vows, but there was a pleasing excitement in such dark
mystery. The girls had to employ much stratagem in order to have their
weekly meetings unsuspected, for Betty was determined not to make any
more trouble among her friends. When she was first in Tideshead she
often felt more enlightened than her neighbors, as if she had been
beyond those bounds and experiences of every-day life known to the other
girls, but she soon discovered herself to be single-handed and weak
before their force of habit and prejudice. With all their friendliness
and affection for Betty Leicester they held their own with great
decision, and sometimes she found herself nothing but a despised
minority. This was very good for her, especially when, as it sometimes
happened, she was quite in the wrong, while if she were right she became
more sure of it and was able to make her reasons clear.

There were several solemn evening meetings of the Sin Book Club after
this; the favorite place of assemblage was a shady corner of Lizzie
French's damp garden, where the records were sorrowfully inspected by
the fleeting light of burnt matches, and gratified crowds of mosquitoes
forced the sessions to be extremely brief. Whether it was that new
interests took the place of the club, or whether the members thought
best to keep their trials to themselves, no one can say, but by the
middle of August the regular meetings had ceased. Yet sometimes the
little books came accidentally out of pocket with a member's
handkerchief, and were not without a good and lasting effect upon four
quick young tongues; perhaps this will be seen as the story goes on.

VIII.

A CHAPTER OF LETTERS.

THE summer days flew by. Some letters came from Mr. Leicester on his
rapid journey northward, and Betty said once that it seemed months since
she left England instead of a few weeks, everybody was so friendly and
pleasant. Tideshead was most deli