“We’d better hold a second meeting and see,” replied Muriel. “Girls,” she raised her voice, “please come to order again. I’ve something to say to you.”
Gathered together at one end of the room, the group of girls promptly obeyed. Resuming her position of authority, Muriel burst forth with, “Something must be done about Mignon. I think she has forfeited her right to membership. After what’s happened to-night we can’t allow her to keep on being in the club. We must ask her to resign.”
Seven voices at once rose in hearty agreement. Only Marjorie, Irma, and Constance remained silent.
“With Mignon out of the club, Jerry will come back,” reminded Harriet Delaney eagerly. “Irma ought to write Mignon to-night and mail the letter on the way home.”
“That’s my opinion,” nodded Rita Talbot.
“Mine, too,” sounded a faithful chorus.
“Perhaps we’d better wait until after the next meeting before taking such action,” argued Marjorie soberly. “Just now I feel sure that we ought to ask for Mignon’s resignation. Later I may not see it in that light. My decision will depend largely on the way Mignon treats Veronica at our next meeting. Her temper got the better of her to-night. Perhaps we had better give her another chance.”
“That would be a good test. We mustn’t be too hasty,” cautioned generous Irma. “I believe with Marjorie that we should postpone our decision until after next Thursday night’s meeting. Then if we are still of the same mind we shall feel that we have acted fairly.”
“We’ve already been altogether too fair,” sputtered Gertrude Aldine. “I don’t see why we should feel any hesitation about sending Mignon that letter to-night. The sooner it’s sent, the sooner we’ll have Jerry with us again.”
“Jerry could be with us now, if she chose.” Very quietly Constance answered Gertrude’s impetuous reminder. “We should not use Jerry as an excuse for expelling Mignon from the club. We should consider only whether Mignon has failed so utterly as a member that we must expel her in self-defense. If we drive her out of the Lookouts, she will take it as a direct admission that we are afraid of her; that eleven members cannot stand together against one. If we prove loyal to our obligations, what chance will she have against us? Once she realizes this, either she will submit to what she can’t change, or else she will resign from the club of her own accord. Only a little more than three months is left us of our senior year. Ought we to pass the name ‘Lookouts’ along to our successors with the stain of an expelled member on it? That is also a point to be considered.”