“Moreover, we shall all utterly decline to be bridesmaids or to permit you to have a Scout wedding,” Joan Peters interrupted.
Teresa drew closer to the Troop Captain.
“Promise you will never give up your Scouts, not for years and years. By that time we shall all be marrying too, so that it will not matter.”
The laughter following Teresa’s little speech was not so spontaneous as usual. Tory Drew, Louise Miller and Dorothy McClain shook their heads emphatically.
“That day will never come, not for us!” they announced in chorus.
Tory arose.
The afternoon was not especially warm and she had slipped on a green coat over her Scout costume. Her red-gold hair was uncovered.
“You have not given us your promise yet, Sheila. Formally and in the name of your Scout Troop of the Eagle’s Wing I ask you to continue to be our Captain until circumstances make it impossible that you give us even a measure of your time. No one has appointed me the official spokesman, but any one who wishes may disagree with me.
“In my humble opinion, you have been the best possible Captain any group of girls have ever had the good luck to possess. You have been always one of us, and yet wiser and more just, the dearest kind of a friend and leader.”
“Bravo, Tory!” half a dozen of the other girls murmured, with a subdued clapping of hands.