“Shall we take a vote on it?” repeated Marjorie.
“Yea—all right,” assented Queenie. “Only first tell me: if we have just an ordinary club, would you be our leader?”
“No—I’m very sorry. But I want to devote my spare time in the interests of scouting.”
“Could we dance?” inquired Aggie, with a giggle.
“Certainly,” responded Marjorie—“that is, subject to supervision—Now, if you’re ready, let’s vote. All in favor of forming a scout troop, say ‘Aye.’”
“Aye!” answered Queenie loudly with a faint echo from the others.
“Opposed, ‘No.’”
There was silence.
“But you must be sure of yourselves, girls,” Marjorie insisted. “There have to be at least eight girls to form a troop—and there are only eight here tonight—so if one dropped out, it would be impossible to organize. Please don’t be afraid to speak out frankly: if there are any who do not care to join, now is the time to say so!”
“Sure they all want to, Miss Wilkinson!” asserted Queenie, with conviction. “Besides, if they didn’t they could drop out of our crowd, and I’d soon bring somebody else in to fill their place. You can count on me to have eight skirts here every Saturday night regular, if that’s goin’ to be our time for the meeting.”