Then the party broke up, and the ghosts and witches went for their more prosaic hats and wraps. “Thank you, no; Jack will take care of me,” said Betty, as Hal Pennington asked to escort her home. “Then mayn’t I go to see you to-morrow?” he said. “Remember, you chose me to-night in preference to your two devoted swains.” “That was to disguise my real preference,” said Betty, roguishly; “and, besides, I had to choose you, because it was so decreed by Fate!” “There’s many a true word spoken in jest,” declared Hal, theatrically, and taking a couple of stagy strides across the hall with eyes rolled up to the ceiling; and then, after a chorus of general good nights, Betty and Jack went home. Transcriber’s Notes --Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public domain in the country of publication. --Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and dialect unchanged. --Provided an original cover image, for free and unrestricted use with this Distributed Proofreaders eBook. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Betty's Happy Year, by Carolyn Wells