“We will miss you awfully, Anne,” said Julie, teasingly, “because we won’t know what to do with the left-overs from the camp meals.” Anne was a healthy, hearty eater, and during the summer in the Rockies had made the most of every opportunity to eat.
“Perhaps you will command your younger sister as Eleanor now commands you, Anne, when you are Eleanor’s age and have a beau,” remarked Mrs. Vernon, smilingly.
“Verny! I want you to wake me up sharply if you find me, at the age of twenty, hypnotized with any young man that happens to cast an eye upon my fair face,” laughed Anne. “A girl, now-days, ought to remain single till she is twenty-five or -six. Then she knows her own mind, and won’t hanker for a divorce the moment she learns she will have to cook and sew for a man she thought was to be her permanent supply for candy, flowers, and theater-parties.”
The scouts laughed merrily; Anne’s views were well known to them, because she took every opportunity to speak her mind on the subject of sweethearts. “Without any prospects other than love!” was her usual conclusion.
“Well, scouts, as I was saying long before all these digressions, the applicants for this trip are Julie and Betty Lee, Joan Allison, and Hester Wynant. If you can bring about a change of heart in your parents before we actually leave here, there will be no difficulty in tucking you in at the last moment of the last day,” suggested Mrs. Vernon. “Even should a mother relent later, you can wire us and come on to the nearest railroad stop, where we can pick you up for the tag end of the tour.”
“Verny, that might answer in my case!” exclaimed Anne Bailey. “If Eleanor is safely married, I can rush away the last of July and join you for the month of August. I may not get the whole loaf, but a slice of bread will be better than none, you know.”
“Besides, mother may relent when she sees the postal cards of all the beautiful places you visit,” added Amy Ward, eagerly. “Once you are away from the Grand Canyon that Mrs. Blake is forever harping about, my parents may consent to let me go with Anne, in August.”
“That would be great, Amy!” exclaimed Joan, gladly.
“Well, then, girls, say we leave the matter open,” said Mrs. Vernon. “Any scout who can secure the consent of her parents to allow her to join us out west during this summer that we plan to spend there, will be told exactly how to reach us. For this purpose I propose Joan, the scribe, to keep those back home fully informed of our plans and proposed stopping places each coming week. In this way you can keep tabs on our movements, and can reach us by telegraph any time we might be in a town where there is telegraph communication.” As the speaker concluded this encouraging amendment to the stern parents’ verdict, the maid knocked at the door of the large living-room.
“Come in, Mary,” called Mrs. Vernon, glancing at the half-opened door.