"Bert has my idea. How many of you will help to carry it out?" and Bess looked around at the eager young faces, beaming with good-will to their absent friend.
"I! I!" shouted the chorus of five; and then Rob asked,—
"What kind of a club are you going to have?"
"How do you like this plan? Suppose you come up every Saturday evening early, say by seven, and stay two hours. At nine I shall send you off home, and to bed, for I don't approve of late hours for children."
"Children! Oh, cracky!" groaned Ted, in parenthesis.
"Yes, children," repeated Bess, with a malicious pleasure in the word. "What else are you, I should like to know? But so much for times and seasons. And now for the way we are to spend our time. Beginning with myself, and working down by ages, I am going to let you each select some good subject for an evening, and then we will all bring in what information we can about it, and talk it over together. You can give out your subjects the week before, so we can prepare them, you know. I only make one condition, that you submit your subjects to me, first of all. Then we shall end with some games. How does the idea strike you?"
"First-rate" and "dandy," exclaimed Phil and Ted in unison; and Sam added,—
"Have you told Fred?"
"Not yet, for I wanted first to talk it over with you, and see if I could depend on you to make it a success. It rests with you to decide, and if you go into it in the right way, each trying to help on the general good time, we shall have some very pleasant evenings, I am sure.
"But I don't see why we need study for it," sighed Phil.