“I do want to confide,” Nora quickly took up the charge. “But this is not my own affair. I have promised not to tell.”
“Then don’t bother to explain,” said Alma, generously. “I’ll do all I can to help you. I am sure it’s for a good cause.”
“The noblest charity——” Nora checked herself. “I’ll tell you. I want to take my picnic lunch to—some place——” It was next to impossible to go on without going all the way.
“Nora, darling! You are truly a brave Scout!” declared the admiring Alma. “There you haven’t touched your lovely lunch. Saved it for a secret charity. Just you wait until you are received into the band of Chickadees! I’ll be your sponsor if I am allowed it, and I’ll find a way——”
“Alma! Alma!” gasped Nora, tragically. “You really must do nothing of the kind. As happy as I am now at the idea of being a Scout, I shouldn’t even join if I thought that in any way this secret would become known.” She was breathless at the very thought, and had jerked Alma to a standstill right in the middle of a mud patch, in her excitement.
“Oh, don’t worry,” soothed Alma. “I had no idea of telling any part of the secret, that, of course, I really don’t know anything about. I was just planning what I might say to your especial credit if the promoter should call upon me,” she finished with a tinge of disappointment.
“Then help me carry my lunch back to—the woods near our house,” said Nora while the glance she exchanged was a unspoken volume.
“I hope you are not going to give it away to some wild animal,” Alma could not refrain from remarking.
“Oh, no indeed,” Nora assured her companion.
“Then why do you not eat it?”