" Eleanor said nothing more, but even at a distance
of a good many yards it was plain that she had flounced back inside the
tent. When she came out again with some pots and pans her air was one
of conscious and offended virtue.
A moment later Betty sighed. "I wonder if you would mind taking my
place this afternoon, Esther?" she inquired. "I am very tired and you
haven't been doing anything. Would you mind, Miss Martha?"
Betty made her request very prettily and really without the least idea
that it could be refused, for she was not in the habit of being made to
do what she did not wish. With her own family to have said she was
tired would have been regarded as a sufficient excuse for any change of
plan.
Perhaps Miss McMurtry would have been wiser had she agreed to Betty's
request, and had she been another girl she possibly might have been more
lenient. Now she decided that Betty was simply trying to shirk her
responsibilities and so slowly shook her head.
"Of course if you are not well, Betty, I will be glad to take your place
myself," she answered, trying to speak kindly. "However, if I were you,
I would hardly say that Esther has been doing nothing since she has been
sewing all afternoon on the ceremonial dress you promised to make your
self, so that you may wear it to our Council Fire to-night.
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