CHAPTER XIV
SPIES.
The servant who admitted the Girl Scouts that night to the home of Miss Emeline Vaughn did not need to ask who the visitors were. He led them immediately to the drawing-room, where an elderly lady was sitting in a huge, upholstered arm-chair.
The first impression that the girls received of Alice’s aunt was of a tiny shrivelled old lady, with very bright, beady eyes, which shone out from beneath her white eyebrows with all the greater brilliancy. It was evident that she was excited, and she gave them a triumphant smile.
“I knew that you’d make it!” she exclaimed, in a shrill, though not a loud tone. “I’ve been telling the boys all along. Now—which is Alice?”
Her niece stepped forward instantly and gave her a dutiful kiss upon the cheek.
“Let me introduce Mrs. Remington, our chaperone, first of all,” the girl said. “And now the scouts. Not that you’ll keep us all straight, or remember all our names—”
“Don’t you fool yourself!” interrupted the old lady. “I’m not decrepit yet, though I may look it. As it happens, I know all of your names already, and I’ll soon put them to the right people.”
Marjorie and Ethel exchanged meaning glances at this piece of information. No doubt the woman was clever—clever enough even to cause the obstacles which they had encountered to be put in their way.
“Which one is Marjorie?” she continued. “I understand that she is an officer of your band—or whatever you call it.”