{{betlep217.png}} said. "It doesn't seem quite so tragic this morning, that is, for me. I've been thinking. Wouldn't it be better for me not to tell about this and just to say what a good dinner it was and how much trouble they went to to give Jack a big party, if the girls ask about it?" "Decidedly so, Betty, for the sake of every- body concerned. You were caught in a group about whose doings we've heard. We'll find out more again before you accept an invitation. But there was no intention on the part of any one to annoy or injure you, though there was not the proper chaperonage; and of course the whole setting was as different as possible from what we approve. But you don't mean that you would continue a special friendship with Jack, do you?" "Oh, no!" Betty looked rather distressed at the thought of Jack. "If I hadn't been so stub- born, I might have known. There were little things -- and then his ideas -- and a few things said. But Jack is really a dear boy, Mother." "Yes. So your father said. We talked a good part of the night." "I suppose so. I'm sorry, Mother. Well, I'll handle it the best I can, and I decided that I'd not act offended about it to Jack, but just tell him frankly all about how I felt. I wish I could [[217]]