“Good work!” commented Marjorie. “Now there will be only one extra girl, and I will be that one, and play chaperone.”
“Oh, everybody will dance with everybody else!” said Doris, lightly. “Even Alice needn’t think she’ll be able to keep the men away by wearing trousers!”
“Marj!” said Alice, abruptly, “what does Kirk have to say about the radio. Oh, if it doesn’t come, I’ll never forgive him!”
“But it wouldn’t be his fault!” protested Daisy, who made it a point to defend the young man. “He certainly did his part.”
“I bet he ordered it from some poor, one-horsepower company that delivers once in ten years,” returned Alice.
“No, he didn’t either!” said Marjorie, positively. “He ordered it from one of the best companies in the East!”
When supper was over, the scouts disappeared into their cabins to put on their uniforms. With the exception of Alice, who still insisted upon playing man, they all wore khaki dresses and black ties. In addition to their merit-badges, which covered the sleeves of all the girls in the patrol, Marjorie and Ethel wore the Golden Eaglets they had won at the national training camp the preceding summer.
The party began at half-past seven, when the enclosure shutting off the living room from the dining room was removed, and the victrola began to play. All the guests arrived at once, and immediately the dancing began.
Marjorie took up her place at the victrola and resolutely remained there during three dances, refusing all invitations to dance on the plea of her duty. But at the end of that time, Mrs. Hilton insisted upon relieving her, and she yielded to Kirk’s invitation.
Up to that time she had never danced with him—in fact, she had never seen him dance with any girl at all during her whole visit at the ranch, and she was both surprised and delighted to find him so accomplished. Half closing her eyes, she surrendered herself to the rhythm of the motion, talking little, and dreamily gliding about the big room under her partner’s skillful direction. She had almost lost the sense of where she was, when a sharp knock at the screen door rudely brought her back to the real world. Abruptly the music ceased, and everyone stopped dancing. With an effort, Marjorie recalled the probable reason of the interruption: The Radio! Her heart beat wildly with excitement.