“Why not?” asked John in surprise. “I thought she would be just the sort of girl to go in for a thing like this!”
“She is—she’s very athletic. She made the school hockey team, which is a big honor for a freshman. But Miss Allen made other qualifications.”
By this time, the party had reached the gymnasium, and their conversation was interrupted while Miss Phillips invited everybody to dance. Before John had a chance to ask Ethel for the dance, David Conner had claimed her, and he was forced to find another partner.
But they did not dance long, for Miss Phillips had some questions she wished to ask the Boy Scouts. During the brief intermission that followed, John again sought Ethel.
While he was turning over in his mind an easy way to bring the conversation back to Marjorie, Lily approached with ice-cream and cake.
“Miss Andrews is Marjorie’s room-mate,” said Ethel, while Lily was serving them. “She can tell you all about her.” Then turning to Lily, she explained, “Mr. Hadley was wondering why Marjorie isn’t a candidate for the troop, and I started to explain. But won’t you sit down here, so that I can see if Miss Phillips needs me?”
Lily took Ethel’s place, and explained about her room-mate’s Latin.
After the young people had finished their ice-cream, Miss Phillips asked everybody to move their chairs into a circle, so that the conversation might become general. She asked John all sorts of questions about the conducting of meetings, and troop affairs, and the girls listened with interest to his replies.
“We would like a spirit of friendly rivalry between the troops,” he said. “We might have contests in such things as signalling and knot-tying.”
“Not very soon!” laughed Miss Phillips. “I am afraid it will be a good while before we can compete with you!”