Mr. Davenport called:

"Mary, come here a minute, please."

Mrs. Davenport hastened to answer the call. She was hardly out of the
room before Beth rushed to an open trunk. Impatiently, she began
pulling things out. She burrowed almost to the very bottom. Lastly,
she took out a skirt of her mother's, and wrapped something very
carefully in it.

The door into the adjoining room creaked. Beth blushed scarlet, and
dropped the bundle into the trunk. Then as no one came, she threw the
other articles pell-mell on top of the bundle, and scampered guiltily
to the other end of the room. Not an instant too soon to escape
immediate detection, for Mrs. Davenport reëntered the room, followed by
a girl of thirteen. This was Marian, Beth's sister. The two girls
were totally unlike both in looks and in disposition. Marian was a
tall blonde, and slight for her age. She had quiet, gentle ways.

"Mother, here's my red dress on the floor," she said, picking it up
near the trunk.

"Beth, what have you been doing?"

Beth kept her blushing, telltale face turned from her mother, and did
not answer. Without another word, Mrs. Davenport went to the trunk,
and began smoothing things out.

"I declare, there's something alive in here," and she drew out a poor,
half smothered kitten.