"Sit down and begin. I will have to attend to supper and will look over the letter afterward."
Miss Miller returned to the fire where the girls were busy concocting some food that Hilda and Zan said they could cook. As the Guide joined them, Hilda laughed and said, "I think I'll resign in favour of some one who can bring something appetizing out of this mess!"
Nita took the pad and pencil from her folio and sat down on a stone just outside of her tent. "Just as I begin having a lovely time with Jack Everton! I wonder if that mean old snoop thinks I will let mother know about my beau! I'll write two letters: one she'll read and approve for me to mail, and the other I'll hide until she gives me back the first. Then I'll slip the real one in an envelope and tear up the other! Mother'll answer and say everything is all right; that she's glad I'm here, and that she don't want me to come home!"
Nita chewed the end of the pen for a few moments, planning a letter that would bring back a desirable reply from her mother. The epistle written, she began the second letter which was to be approved by Miss Miller, but the call for supper came before she had half finished writing it.
Nita went over to the group about to sit down and took her place without a word of apology for not having assisted in the preparation of the supper.
The silent prayer period was filled with grateful hearts communing with the Great Spirit, but Nita sat and looked sneeringly at one and the other of her companions. Not that Nita was irreligious, or that she scorned to pray, but she was in a mood that would have refused to obey in anything, no matter how divine.
Immediately after the meal, Nita returned to her letter and Miss Miller joined her later. When the writing was concluded the Guide read what had been written and was delighted to find that Nita had confessed fully the mistake of the afternoon. Miss Miller folded the letter and turned to address Nita more kindly.
Nita was scowling and, at the Guide's words, flounced into the tent. "Hateful spy! What right has she to send that letter?" muttered the girl.
Miss Miller stood silently pondering the sudden change in Nita. Then, having had wide experience with girls at just this critical age, she nodded her head comprehendingly, and went inside.
"Nita, do you object to my mailing this letter now?"