“Echo answers, ‘When’?” laughed Jean.
And as informally this conference went on, among girls who were going to try something without a real leader. As yet their plans were unsettled, but they were evolving from chaos quite rapidly. The world was theirs in one sense, and girls in a small town have some advantages over others. It is easy for them to get together and it is only a step, figuratively speaking, into the country, where wonderful things happen all the time for those who have eyes to see them.
At present, fixing the “club room” stood first. Second, there was a decision to give the Attic Party as soon as possible, by way of opening the club room, or dedicating it. Then, meantime, how much should they tell of what they were doing, and how could they keep it a secret club if they had the party?
The president had things to say about this.
“Considering the way this club was formed, I imagine that the less we say right now to the boys, about our plans, the better. I’d dearly love to know what they are doing, but suppose we let them be curious about us, instead of showing too much curiosity about them. We can get up enough funny things to do ourselves, even if their doings are funnier; don’t you think so?” All this was in Jean’s own emphatic manner.
“And,” she added, “the Attic Party is going to do wonders to everybody’s disposition. Remembering how Billy’s crowing about the Black Wizards made me feel like getting even—in a way, let’s remember how they’ll feel if we act superior or anything like that. Dad is right, and this ought to be fun, pure and simple.”
The other girls agreed, though Nan remarked that she agreed “with reservations.” “If Jimmy starts anything at home in the crowing line, I may—,” but Nan stopped and laughed, then asked what the girls wanted Jean and herself to say to Miss Haynes.
“Maybe you’d better not suggest anything about camping at first, girls,” Phoebe suggested. “Just ask her if she knows what other girls do about outdoor work and where we could find out and what she sees on her trips, and if we’re going to have any field trips with her, and—” Phoebe stopped, for they all were laughing at the long list she was making.
“I think that we’d better add Phoebe to the committee,” giggled the president. “All those in favor of adding Phoebe Wood to the committee, say ‘ay’!”