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Betty Bonnet is an ongoing serial story, released on the Sheep Among Wolves blog once a month. It follows the adventures of the Bonnet family, first created by Sheila Young as a paper doll series released in the Ladies\u2019 Home Journal beginning 1915. To go to the first episode, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut Miss Proctor would never do anything so wicked!\u201d said Betty.<\/p>\n Betty and Bob were sitting under the row of lilac bushes which we call \u201cthe shrubbery,\u201d waiting for an unseasonable July rain to let up. Bob, who was finding the burden of high scandal rather difficult to support alone, had taken Betty into his confidence.<\/p>\n That is to say, he had told her when, and how, he discovered the whereabouts of his missing compass.<\/p>\n And Betty, who never like to think the worst of anybody, had raised this objection to the evidence of her brother\u2019s senses: Miss Proctor was too nice to be a thief.<\/p>\n \u201cTemptation befalls the rich and poor alike,\u201d replied Bob gloomily.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t believe Miss Proctor is rich. She\u2019s only got one umbrella.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen she\u2019s poor. And it all comes to the same thing. Anybody<\/em> may do anything<\/em>, if they\u2019re tempted bad enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite a vast respect for her elder brother\u2019s opinion, Betty did not quite share his conviction regarding a middle-aged spinster\u2019s temptation to acquire a slightly-dented brass compass out of a visitor\u2019s pocket. However, it was impossible to gainsay the evidence against her.<\/p>\n The compass was in Miss Proctor\u2019s drawer.<\/p>\n If that fact was not incriminating, Bob did not know what was.<\/p>\n Betty, very regretfully, was obliged to own that she did not know what was, either.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are we going to do?\u201d asked Betty in an awed whisper. \u201cFetch the police?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe police!\u201d exclaimed Bob, with magnificent grandeur. \u201cWhat good would the police do, in a case like this? I know<\/em> where the compass is. I could get it back in a flash, if that<\/em> was all we cared about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo be sure,\u201d said Betty, thoughtfully, \u201cit would make Miss Proctor feel very bad, to be found out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt ought<\/em> to make her feel bad,\u201d retorted Bob. \u201cShe\u2019s been a thief\u2014and thieves oughtn\u2019t to feel very nice. It wouldn\u2019t be what they call \u2018poetic justice.\u2019 But that\u2019s just the point. If we get back the compass, without bringing Miss Proctor to a sense of her crime, why, we haven\u2019t done anything at all!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps,\u201d said Betty, brightening up, \u201cMiss Proctor never heard it was wrong to steal.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob looked doubtful. This depth of ignorance seemed unlikely in a mission secretary.<\/p>\n \u201cIf she didn\u2019t,\u201d pursued Betty eagerly. \u201cWe ought to tell her.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob looked uncomfortable. Except on spontaneous occasions, he was not fond of preaching. He had a feeling that it would be a difficult topic to begin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing about telling <\/em>her\u2014\u201d he began vaguely.<\/p>\n \u201cOr we could write,\u201d suggested helpful Betty.<\/p>\n Bob considered a moment. His blotter and his best nib had both gone missing, at the beginning of the summer holidays.<\/p>\n \u201cOr we might\u2014oh, Bob! We might buy Miss Proctor a tract!!!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Bob gave a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n Yes. If they bought Miss Proctor a tract, it would get them nicely out of the difficulty.<\/p>\n The next afternoon, accordingly, Bob and Betty set off, bright and early, for the shops.<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose you can buy them\u2014anywhere?\u201d said Betty, doubtfully, as they trotted down the street.<\/p>\n Bob had not considered this side of the problem. \u201cI suppose you can. At least\u2014they\u2019re sure to have them at the Post Office, anyhow.\u201d<\/p>\n Accordingly they went to the Post Office<\/p>\n The only publication of a reform nature that the postal clerk could produce proved to be a temperance postcard, gently suggesting the merits of water over liquor as a beverage for human consumption.<\/p>\n \u201cHaven\u2019t you got any about thieves?\u201d suggested Betty, standing on tiptoe to look over the counter.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing that isn\u2019t comic,\u201d said the clerk, with a broad grin.<\/p>\n Betty considered asking to look at the comic ones, in case something useful had gotten in amongst them by mistake, but Bob refused to be thus swayed from the thrust of his quest.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you haven\u2019t got any, do you know who might?\u201d he inquired, fixing the clerk with a reproachful stare.<\/p>\n The clerk shrugged carelessly.<\/p>\n \u201cReligious bookseller\u2019s\u2014or any mission headquarters, I should think.\u201d<\/p>\n Bob and Betty exchanged sadly superior glances. The clerk little knew.<\/p>\n On the way out of the Post Office, Bob and Betty collided (quite literally) with a minister. They knew he was a minister, because of his collar\u2014and the fact that he was carrying a volume of Matthew Henry under his arm.<\/p>\n After they had picked themselves up, and said \u201cI beg your pardon!\u201d and discovered a twinkle, instead of a glare, in the minister\u2019s eyes, Betty was seized with a stroke of inspiration.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you please, Sir,\u201d she exclaimed breathlessly, \u201chaven\u2019t you got a tract? About stealing? We need one, dreadfully, and they haven\u2019t got any in there<\/em>. The clerk thought you got them at missions<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, so you do, sometimes,\u201d said the minister, his mouth twitching a little. \u201cBut you can get them in other places as well, if you know where to look. Shall I go along with you, and help you find one?\u201d<\/p>\n Betty considered for a moment, and then shook her head. \u201cOur mamma doesn\u2019t like us to go places with strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA very sensible rule,\u201d said the minister. He thought a moment. \u201cSuppose you give me your address, and I send it to you, by the post.\u201d<\/p>\n Betty\u2019s eyes lit up, but the next moment her face fell again. \u201cI\u2019m afraid that won\u2019t do, either. Our mamma doesn\u2019t like us to tell strangers where we live.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI see,\u201d said the minister. \u201cOf course, that, too, is a sensible rule. Let me think. Do you want the tract for yourself? Or for somebody else?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, not for ourselves, of course!\u201d exclaimed Betty, very much shocked. \u201cWe<\/em> aren\u2019t thieves, you know! It\u2019s for the Foster Street Mission. Miss Proctor is the secretary there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh!\u201d said the minister, his smile becoming irrepressible. \u201cMiss Proctor wants the tract, does she? There\u2019s no trouble at all, then. Miss Proctor and I have worked on several committees. I know her address. We can send the tract directly to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Betty breathed a sigh of relief. \u201cYou are a very nice minister,\u201d she said gratefully.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you!\u201d laughed the man.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you<\/em>!\u201d said Bob, feeling very grown up and elegant to have thought of such a reply. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll pay you for it, ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about that,\u201d said the minister, good-naturedly. \u201cI like to help a bit, in a worthy cause!\u201d<\/p>\n He turned and opened the Post Office door. Bob and Betty trotted off down the street.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long will it take to go by post?\u201d inquired Betty.<\/p>\n \u201cOh\u2014not so much as a week,\u201d returned Bob, confidently. \u201cSo long as the minister remembers to post it at once, anyhow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019ll remember,\u201d said Betty comfortably. \u201cHe seemed like a remembering sort of person.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlright,\u201d agreed Bob. \u201cWe\u2019ll say a week. Now, we\u2019ve got to keep away from Foster Street until we\u2019re sure<\/em> Miss Proctor has it. And then we\u2019ll go down, and see if she\u2019s really sorry\u2014and ready to give the compass back.\u201d<\/p>\n (To be continued.)<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t miss the previous episode of Betty Bonnet\u2019s story:<\/p>\n You might also enjoy:<\/p>\n If you enjoy Christian fiction with a sound message, conveyed with a unique twist, then \u201cWhat It Said at Home\u201d is a story for you.<\/p><\/div>\nI.<\/h6>\n
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