ng a fuss about her when she was ill, and was consequently rather
cross when Miss Symes took her upstairs, made her lie down, and put a
wrap over her.

"You must lie down and try to sleep, Betty. I hope you will be quite
well by dinner-time. Don't stir till I come for you, dear."

"Oh, but I will!" said Betty, raising her head and fixing her bright,
almost feverish eyes on Miss Symes's face.

"What do you mean, dear? I have desired you to stay quiet."

"And I cannot obey," replied Betty. "Please, Miss Symes, don't be angry.
If I were a low-down sort of girl, I'd sneak out without telling you;
but as I happen to be Betty Vivian, I can't do that. I want to get into
the fresh air. Nothing will take away my headache like a walk. I want to
get as far as that dreadful piece of common land you have here, and
which you imagine is like a moor. I want to walk about there for a
time."

"Very well, Betty; you are a good girl to have confided in me. You have
exactly two hours. Stay quiet for one hour. If at the end of that time
your head is no better, out for an hour; then return to your usual
duties."

Betty lay very still for the whole of that hour. Her thoughts were busy.
She was haunted by Rule I., and by the passionate temptation to ignore
it and yet pretend that she would keep it--in short, to be a member of
the Specialities under false colors. One minute she was struggling hard
with the trouble which raged within her, the next minute she was making
up her mind to decline to be associated with the Specialities.

When the hour had quite expired she sprang to her feet. Oh yes, her head
still ached! But what did that matter? She could not be bothered with a
trifling thing like a mere headache. She ran upstairs to the Vivian
attic. Dickie was in his cage. Betty remembered what terrible trouble
she had had to catch him on the day when she received a copy of the
rules. She shook her head at him now, and said, "Ah Dickie, you're a bad
boy! I am not going to let you out of your cage again in a hurry." Then
she went out.

The wind had changed during the night, and heavy clouds were coming up
from the north. Betty felt herself much colder than she had ever done in
Scotland. She shivered, and walked very fast. She passed the celebrated
oak-tree where she and her sisters had hidden during their first day at
school. She went on to the place where the three little gardens were
marked for their benefit. But up to the present no Vivi