“You see,” she concluded, “I’ve proved my point, that a second self is sure to be interesting. But I’ve also proved Betty’s, that it’s a great deal of trouble to keep one up. I really haven’t time between now and midyears to develop Georgia’s full possibilities, and so I thought ‘The Merry Hearts’ might like to use her.”
“Madame President,” said Rachel, “I move—I mean, will you please instruct the secretary to cast a unanimous ballot for Georgia Ames as a member in good and regular standing of ‘The Merry Hearts.’”
“Madame President,” added Katherine, “will you please instruct the secretary to indite a formal note of thanks to Miss Madeline Ayres for giving us such a fine mushroom party——”
“Better wait till to-morrow, so you can be sure they were all fine,” murmured Babe.
“And also for hunting up such a valuable new member,” went on Katherine.
When the president had carried out these instructions, Betty Wales, being a strictly unimaginative person, ventured a question. “I don’t exactly understand what we’re to do with Georgia Ames,” she said. “Are we just to have the honor of belonging to the same club with her, or are we to use her as Roberta did, or what?”
“Oh, use her by all means,” said Madeline generously. “She is spoiling to be used.”
“But we must be careful not to tell any one else about her,” cautioned Rachel. “If too many people know who she is, she will be spoiled.”
“What kind of girl is she supposed to be?” asked Helen.
“Literary,” explained Roberta, “and clever and—what else, Madeline?”