Fanny, a bright-looking, but rather reckless girl, replied: "They shall
not go, neither Miss Martha nor Miss Emma; not that I care a
fiddlestring for their primness or their precision; nobody shall
prevent me from thinking, and acting, and doing as I please to-day;
from being, in short, what I was made to be--Fanny Brighton, and nobody
else."

Fanny spoke with her usual authority, and expected obedience; but to
her surprise Henry Boyd, the young driver of the first wagon, still
hesitated, and stooping down, he whispered to a mild, lovely-looking
girl, who, seated upon a box, was holding her parasol so as to shield
from the sun's rays a sickly little boy. "Take a vote of the company,"
whispered the pretty girl, whom he called Mary.

"If it be your minds," said Henry, rising to his feet, "that we call at
Appledale, and invite Miss Martha and Miss Emma Lindsay to be of our
company, please manifest it by raising the right hand. It is a vote,"
he quietly continued, taking his seat.

"Mary Palmer!" called out Fanny; "you are a simpleton, and so fond of
serving people as to court insult."

Mary's cheek flushed a little. It was not the first time that she had
been called a simpleton, or some kindred name, by the out-spoken Miss
Fanny; for this young lady prided herself on not being afraid to speak
plainly, and tell people just what she thought of them.

As we before said, Mary's cheek flushed a little; but she instantly
thought to herself, "It is Fanny, and I won't mind it." So she smiled,
and said very gently, "I am sure, Fanny, that no sensible person will