“Oh, but, my dear, look at the child. She is the picture of health, and when have you seen her fly into one of those tantrums she used to have about every other day?”
“She is not perfect yet,” responded Mrs. Selden.
“Thank goodness she isn’t. Who is? I should be sorry to have her turn into an angel yet a while. I want to keep her on earth while I am here.”
So between a grandfather who encouraged her to be a boy and a grandmother who wished her to be a young lady, Joanne managed to remain a nice, healthy, sensible girl, by no means angelic, yet with fewer faults than might have seemed possible a few years before.
October saw her back in Washington prepared to take her last test for the crowning honor conferred upon a Golden Eaglet. She passed her tests successfully and was in a state of exaltation when the day arrived upon which she should receive her badge. As it was upon the eve of Miss Dodge’s departure from the city that her last meeting with the Sunflower Troop should take place, the girls all flocked to the rally, full of regrets at losing their captain yet curious to know who would take her place. There were two surprises in store for Joanne, of which, as yet, she had not the slightest inkling.
It was a more than usually serious group of girls who saluted their captain. Winnie, who had served her term as patrol leader, stood next to Joanne in the horseshoe line. The ceremony of saluting the flag, of pledging allegiance, of inspection being over, the girls broke ranks and the business meeting was held. After this Miss Dodge gave the order to “Fall in.” There was silence while she looked over the company of sixteen girls who faced her with grave faces.
Miss Dodge broke the silence by saying, “Girls, I wanted to have you all to myself before your new captain arrives, which will be in a few minutes. Most of you have met her and I am sure you will congratulate yourselves when you see who she is. For myself I want to say that I shall never forget the happy days we have had together. I shall follow the career of each one of you with the greatest interest, and I hope that your new captain will be as proud of you as I am, that she will love you as much as I do, and that you will be loving and faithful to her and to your troop.”
By this time most of the girls were in tears, Joanne among them. But presently she saw, as through a blurred mist, two or three persons entering the room. Suddenly she dashed away her tears and breathed an ecstatic exclamation of: “Oh!” She clutched Winnie’s arm and whispered: “Do you suppose——? Could it be——?”
She stopped short, for Miss Dodge was speaking. “Dear girls,” she said, “you will be happy and proud when I tell you that your new captain is to be Mrs. Marriott, whom some of you know by her stage name of Madame Risteau. I am rejoiced that she has consented to take my place, for while I am leaving the city she is coming here to live. Sunflower Troop, salute your captain.”
Every hand went up in salute, and Joanne’s tears melted away into smiles. Of course she was sorry to lose Miss Dodge, but to have her place taken by this dear friend more than outweighed her regrets. She longed to throw herself into her new captain’s arms, but had to be satisfied with an eloquent smile in her direction.