"Madam President! Madam President!" shouted a girl from the opposition. "I demand to be heard----"
"Miss Tracy has the floor," conceded Jane.
"The rules were not violated. We did not kidnap a candidate. You had not yet accepted," Miss Tracy shouted in verbal chunks.
"No such interpretation can be placed on rule five!" replied Jane calmly. "The secretary will please read rule five, by-laws."
Theodora Guthrie, known as Ted, fat and flustered, stood up with the little typewritten pamphlet of rules and by-rules. She thumbed the pages to find the desired section, and after a preliminary cough and some squirming of her touseled black head, waited for a signal from Jane (Ted was a very careful secretary), then she proceeded:
"Section two, by-law five: candidates: No candidate shall be forcibly or strategetically detained from her caucus, at any time calculated to debar her from office. This shall apply to abductions, kidnapping, stunts, and tricks, hitherto allowed, but from this date and by this section now prohibited."
"That seems to cover the case," said the president.
"It does not," shouted the spokesman for the opposition, Rose Bowers, without regard for voice, or its effect on her listeners. "If that were true with Jane Allen, it was equally true with Marian Seaton. She was kidnapped by the other side."
"Nothing of the kind," interrupted Dozia Dalton. "I was----"
"Silence! Order!" called the crier, Judith. "We shall be obliged to clear the room at the first sign of disorder. We have given our word to the guards."