“We will surely have at least one meeting there,” said Miss Ruth, while Elsa’s eyes danced with pleasant anticipations.
Betty hurried ahead, ran up the steps of her home and threw open the door, her heart swelling with hospitality. “O mother!” she exclaimed, for Mrs. White was just passing through the hall; “Miss Ruth is going to belong to our Club!”
“This is good of you, Ruth,” said Mrs. White, greeting her neighbour cordially. “But you must not let the children trespass upon your time.”
Betty looked up in dismay: had they been asking too much of Miss Ruth?
“It will be such a new and refreshing kind of Club that I shall enjoy it,” said Ruth Warren reassuringly.
“It is good for us to dare to be children with children,” said Mrs. White, stroking Elsa’s soft hair and looking into the appealing violet-gray eyes that always brought a thrill of sympathy into her heart for the motherless child.
Elsa, meeting the kind glance, said very earnestly: “We are going to call the Club—”
“O, Elsa, you mustn’t tell! You will spoil it all,” cried Betty impatiently.
“Forgive my little Betty for her interruption, Elsa,” said Mrs. White, seeing the colour rush into Elsa’s face. “Fault-finding is an easy trade, Betty. But I suppose you children will all enjoy your Club more if you keep the name and what you do as a secret.”
Elsa looked up into Mrs. White’s kindly face and wondered if Betty realized how fortunate she was in having such a mother, who understood so well what little girls wanted.