“Well,” broke in Babe impatiently, “can’t you hurry up and tell us whom you want.”
“You told me it wasn’t——” began Bob, and stopped short, blushing violently and hoping no one had understood. But fortunately several people had, and the atmosphere grew suddenly less tense.
“Don’t you think, Babe,” asked Madeline, “that it’s rather hard on my friend,—for of course she is a friend of mine,—to make me tell her name before we’ve decided whether or not we want any one else in ‘The Merry Hearts’? If she’s sure to be turned down, why, there’s no use in dragging her name in at all.”
“Very good point,” said Katherine, wondering if she could possibly have been mistaken and in a great hurry to find out the truth; “but I’m sure we can settle it quickly enough. If we could find any one that we liked as much as we do Madeline Ayres,—the same jolly good sort——”
“My second self, for instance, if she ever enters Harding,” interpolated Madeline smilingly.
“You peacock!” laughed Rachel, glad to see that Madeline felt no embarrassment over the strained situation. “Well, then, it’s decided, without being moved and seconded, that we may sometime make additions to our society. Isn’t that right, girls?”
“The Merry Hearts” agreed rather half-heartedly.
“All right, Madeline,” said Babe. “Now fire away. What’s her name?”
“I presume you won’t want her,” said Madeline calmly, “but if there’s any hope—it’s Georgia Ames, a freshman friend of mine.”