Before they entered the house, however, Betty's automobile, driven by
herself, dashed into sight, containing five other passengers: Margaret
Everett and her small brother; Miss McMurtry, the science teacher at the
high school; a tall girl with a clever face and a far-away expression in
her near-sighted blue eyes; and a fifth girl, an entire stranger both to
Mrs. Ashton and Dick and until a short while before an equal stranger to
Betty.

Almost before the car stopped Betty was out of her seat and ushering her
visitors into their big, sweet-smelling drawing-room. There Esther
stood close against the wall, trying her best to shrink out of sight
even while she reproached herself for her unnecessary awkwardness and
fear. Suppose she had had no home and no social training like the
greater number of these other girls, yet did she not mean to follow
forever the law of the Camp Fire and would it not teach her in time to
gain the knowledge necessary to happiness?




CHAPTER VI

THE LAW OF THE CAMP FIRE


"Esther, won't you repeat the Law of the Camp Fire for the girls?" Miss
McMurtry asked, fifteen minutes later, when Betty's guests were seated
in a close circle about the drawing-room, their faces eager with
curiosity.