“Think, I know she’d love it. I’ll come to your room and get it after you’ve had your talk with Miss Porter. Thank you. I was trying to rig up something out of these,” she shook the flowers and hat, “but a tam will save the day.”
While this conversation was going on, Lois had been explaining their difficulty to Miss Porter.
“‘Women in History.’ That ought to be easy.” Miss Porter thought for a minute. “Mrs. Baird really wants you to go as your favorite characters? Lois, who is your favorite heroine?”
“Jeanne d’Arc, the martyred Maid of Orleans,” Lois replied dramatically. “Do you think I might go as Jeanne d’Arc?” she asked eagerly.
“I like that,” Polly interrupted. “I thought at the Hallow-e’en party I was to be a Jeanne d’Arc. Oh, well, I give up my rights for this once; besides,”
she added seriously, “I don’t really love her the way you do.”
“Won’t armor be hard to imitate?” Miss King asked.
Miss Porter walked over beside the window and took down a framed picture from the wall. She held it behind her back.
“Armor won’t be necessary,” she said. “Lois, have you ever seen the Jeanne d’Arc painting by Jules Bastien-Lepage, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City?”
“Oh, yes, of course, I saw it this vacation. She’s standing in the woods, just in peasant clothes. I love it. She looks as if she were seeing visions. You remember it, Poll?” Lois was all excitement.