"In that way I shall be able to introduce you to my friends." Beth wondered at this condescension, but consented to receive.

She was annoyed to think how completely she had surrendered to the will of Miss Von Taer, for whom she had conceived the same aversion she had for a snake.

She estimated Diana, society belle though she was, to be sly, calculating and deceitful.

Worse than all, she was decidedly clever, and therefore dangerous.

Nothing good could come of an acquaintance with her, Beth was sure; yet she had pledged herself to meet her and her friends the nineteenth, lit a formal society function.