marjorie and lily did not go back to college after the meeting. instead they boarded the train for new york, and were met at the terminal by mr. andrews and dick roberts.
“my, it’s good to see you, dear!” exclaimed the former, kissing his daughter affectionately, while the poor young man had to be content to let his sentiments go unuttered. marjorie, who shared the secret of their engagement, smiled at the feeling which he could not suppress in his eyes.
“you’re really going to give us a sunday, baby?” continued lily’s father, jokingly. “why couldn’t you have made it a week-end?”
“marj and i have serious duties now,” began the girl, as she stepped into the machine, whose door was held open by a uniformed chauffeur. “we have a regular saturday night engagement——” she paused while they seated themselves, and dick, the last one to get in, pulled up one of the small seats.
“oh, i ought to know by this time how busy college seniors are!” remarked mr. andrews.
“but it isn’t college that keeps us busy saturday104 nights,” marjorie informed him. “it’s girl scouts!”
“a brand new occurrence!” exclaimed dick, mockingly.
“reviving that old patrol?” inquired mr. andrews. “that’s nice! summer plans, and all?” he looked questioningly at dick and lily. as far as he knew the wedding was set for june.
“oh, no!” returned lily, with a blush. “i’m afraid we’re too old for any more wild camping or motor trips——”
her father burst out laughing.
“your mother and i are planning a camping trip for this very summer, while you young people are on your honey-moon.”
dick, who grew slightly embarrassed at the personal turn which the conversation had taken, began to inquire about the prospective trip.
“now tell us what we are doing tomorrow,” entreated lily, after her father had outlined his own plans.
“your mother will tell you all about that,” he answered for already the car was stopping at the fashionable apartment house in which their home was located.
mrs. andrews was just as delighted to see the girls as ever, indeed the addition of marjorie always made her daughter’s home-coming doubly enjoyable. before she had removed her things, marjorie was thanking her for her wonderful interest in the new troop.
“what’s all this about?” asked mr. andrews again. “your mother never told me.”
marjorie would have been glad then and there to repeat the entire story, but a sigh from lily reminded her that it was late, and that as yet they had not heard their plans for the morrow.
“first have something to eat,” invited mrs. andrews. “i know that dick is starved if you girls aren’t.”
“now tell us who are coming!” begged lily, after the refreshments had been served. “did you hear from ethel todd?”
“yes, she expects to be here—and jack is coming too, and john hadley.”
marjorie’s eyes sparkled.
“it will be thrilling to see ethel again,” she said.
“how about john?” teased dick.
“well, he isn’t quite such a stranger, you know,” returned marjorie.
in view of the pleasant day that was before them, the girls excused themselves early, and retired almost immediately. breakfast in bed, however, promised to restore all their usual vivacity.
long before they were up the following day, the young men of the party had all three arrived, and were patiently awaiting their appearance in the drawing-room. it was not until ethel came, and literally dragged them out of bed that they proclaimed themselves wide-awake, and promised to be on hand within ten minutes’ time.
as soon as the young people were assembled, and the usual questions and answers exchanged, the girls both turned to ethel for news of herself.
“tell us all about how it feels to be a schoolmarm,” urged marjorie.
“fine!” responded the young teacher, glowing with pride. “you’d love it, marj—you really must take the exams!”
“not a chance in the world,” muttered jack, chuckling.
ethel immediately took the hint.
“marj, what are you keeping from us?” she demanded. “if you are engaged——” then, turning to john, “is she?”
“not to me!” he replied, sadly.
ethel’s brow clouded; after all these years could someone else have stepped in, and usurped john’s place?
“i’m not engaged to anybody!” replied the girl herself, emphatically. “jack doesn’t mean that. he means that there isn’t a chance of my teaching because i’m headed straight for social-service work. a scout official, if i can get a job!”
“no!” cried ethel, incredulously. “you mean besides being a captain——?”
“i mean being a paid worker, so i can devote all of my time to the girl scouts!”
“as if you didn’t always!” muttered jack.
“that reminds me,” remarked marjorie, “i have a job for you, jack.”
“with pay, i take it?”
“no—gratis. but the girls are charming.”
“out with it, sis!” commanded the young man.
marjorie launched upon her story eagerly, painting it in all its brilliant coloring. the young people all laughed hilariously at her descriptions.
“the flapper troop!” jack christened it.
“call it that if you like,” agreed marjorie. “but the question is, will you help?”
“did you ever know me to fail you?”
“oh, jack, you’re a brick!” she cried, jumping up and throwing her arms about her brother’s neck. “now,” she added, releasing him, “i’ll forgive you for that trick you played on me at the dance.”
john looked guilty, but jack laughed uproariously.
“what’s the joke?” demanded ethel.
“marj and john had a tiff,” jack explained, in spite of the evident embarrassment of both concerned, “and so sis was hard up for a partner for her class dance, and took out her spite by picking on me!”
“you mean thing!” denounced his sister. “that’s all you think of a perfectly good invitation——”
“so i just fixed it up, and sent john anyway. i don’t think either of them minded much.”
“the tiff’s all fixed up, then?” inquired ethel.
“dinner is served,” announced the butler, before the question could be answered.
all through the meal, however, ethel kept wondering whether there were anything wrong between108 john and marjorie. the latter failed to show her usual interest in him, and as the conversation dwelt often upon the new troop, she almost seemed to exclude john in her descriptions of the girls and their doings.
ethel was still wondering over this idea when the young people started for a walk after dinner. again it seemed to her that marjorie was avoiding him, on the pretence of wishing to talk over her plans with her brother. so almost casually ethel fell into step with john, and tactfully steered the conversation to himself and marjorie. before long he confessed that although the tiff, as jack had called it, was entirely patched up, still something seemed to be amiss between them.
“want my advice?” asked ethel.
“i’d be only too grateful.”
“then interest yourself in what marjorie is doing—and even offer to help her. she’s still heart and soul in the girl scouts.”
“and always will be,” he muttered, darkly.
“no; i think you’re wrong there. sometime she will grow up, and then scouts will have to take a second place. but you must not try to hurry her; you must let her follow her dream.”
john pondered this idea for a long time.
“i guess you’re right, ethel,” he admitted, at last. “and—thanks awfully.... yes ... i’m going to act on your advice, as quickly as possible.”
“then that’s settled,” concluded the girl. “let’s join the others again.”
the young people walked almost all afternoon; it was only when lily began to notice pangs of hunger that she realized that it must be late.
“shall we have tea somewhere, and go back in a taxi?” she suggested.
“all right about the taxi—but we mustn’t wait for tea,” marjorie reminded her. “remember, we still have to get back to college tonight.”
“as you say! just as you say, captain!” agreed her room-mate, docibly.
when the girls were finally on the train, and had waved their last good-byes to the others, lily turned expectantly to marjorie.
“let’s have a good gossip, marj,” she began.
“what about?” inquired the other languidly.
“why, the week-end—the boys—and ethel—”
“oh, i can say all that in one sentence: we had a perfectly marvellous time, and i love them all.”
“is that all?” asked lily, in a disappointed tone.
her companion stared out of the window, but it was too dark for her to see anything except her own reflection.
“lil,” she said, after a moment, “my chief worry is shoes. i hate to ask all those girls to buy sneakers, when they don’t even know whether they’re going to like basket-ball or not.”
lily burst out laughing.
“you’re hopeless, marj, positively hopeless! here110 i am talking about our party, while your single-track mind leads you straight back to the girl scouts! some day they’ll have to build a girl scout insane asylum for people like you!”
marjorie smiled, and promised to reform. with a great effort she managed to keep away from the subject during the remainder of the ride.
yet the less she talked about her problem, the more she thought about it. she was still engrossed in it on wednesday night when john hadley made his usual visit.
“i guess i’d better take lil’s advice, and not mention scouts to john,” she thought, regretfully, as she went down stairs. “i mustn’t lose all my friends by boring them to death!”
there was almost an added warmth to her greeting, which the young man was quick to notice.
“you really are glad to see me?” he inquired, searchingly.
“of course i am!”
they seated themselves in their accustomed corner of the reception room.
“you—you—really wouldn’t rather see somebody else—a scoutmaster—or somebody like that?” he stammered.
“no, no, john,” laughed marjorie. “and i’m not going to bore you with scouts tonight, either!”
“but i want to talk about scouts,” he insisted. “you mustn’t think i’m not interested, though i admit111 i do get jealous once in a while. and i’ll be jealous of jack if you let him help, and don’t find something i can do!”
marjorie was immensely pleased; as ethel had surmised no other method of reconciliation could have been half so effective.
“our immediate problem is basket-ball,” she stated. “i want to get our team started.”
“what do you need? you have a floor and a coach—how about a ball?”
“the settlement house is lending us theirs.”
“bad guess! you suggest something else.”
“you really mean that you want to give us something?” her tone grew eager.
“yes, i do! please tell me what you want most!”
“shoes!” she cried, laughingly. “gym shoes—above everything else in the world.”
“great!” exclaimed john. “i’ll outfit the troop!”
marjorie’s eyes shone; ever since queenie’s visit that sunday, she had progressed far beyond her wildest dreams. it seemed almost as if she were getting everything that she desired most: girl scouts, athletics,—and finally the help of lily and jack and john. surely with all this assistance she could make her new girls her own!
“i’ll tell you what i’ll do,” john was saying, “i’ll have one of the spaulding salesmen take over a bunch of the usual sizes next saturday night, and your scouts can take their pick.”
“marvellous!” she exclaimed. “and john, will you drop into the gymnasium, and see our first practice?”
“i’ll say i will!” he promised, happily, grateful to have her want him.
