"What are you doing yourself, then, talking straight to me?"
"Bull's-eye. Margaret was all right, though, Madam President. She addressed the chair. What does the chair think about Margaret's question?"
"I think—the chair thinks—" began Helen, warned by James's amused glance, "that Margaret is right. It won't do us any harm to obey a few parliamentary rules, but if we are too particular it'll be horrid."
"It's a mighty good chance to learn," growled Roger. "I want to make old James useful."
"If you talk that queer way I'll never open my mouth," declared Ethel Blue in a tone of lament.
"Then I move you, Madam President, that we don't do it," said James, "because this club is Ethel Blue's idea and it would be a shame if she couldn't have a say-so in her own club."
"I'm willing to compromise, Helen—Madam President," went on Ethel Blue, giggling; "I say let Roger be parliamentary if he wants to, and the rest of us will be parliamentary or unparliamentary just as we feel like it."
Applause greeted this suggestion, largely from Dicky, who was glad of the opportunity to make some noise.
"There's a motion before the house, Madam President," reminded James.
"Dear me, so there is. What do I do now?"