“On Bessie?” laughed Winona, as she ran to open the door for Adelaide. “I hope you didn’t hurt her.”
“Did you bring your apron, Adelaide?” called Helen anxiously.
“There! She’s asked every one of us that question in turn,” said Louise, coming out into the living-room for the fourth time in five minutes. “I do hope you did!”
“Oh, yes, I did,” said Adelaide. “I have it here under my arm.”
“And here’s Florence back with mine!” said Winona. “Now may we start?”
“It isn’t quite time yet,” said Mrs. Bryan. “If we plan for supper at six, one hour is a great plenty of time for supper-getting, especially with all of us at it. It’s only four-thirty now, and I want to tell you a plan I have. Come here, Florence. It’s about you and your friends.”
“Oh, a plan about me!” said Florence. “That is nice!”
“You see, girls,” went on Mrs. Bryan, “there are always little sisters or cousins of Camp Fire Girls, like Florence and Bessie and the rest, who want to play, too. They aren’t old enough to belong to Camp Fires of their own, so the way we do is to make them an annex to ours, under the name of Blue Birds—the Blue Bird stands for happiness, you know. And we help them, and show them how to have good times, too, and—they don’t have to tag any more.”
“I didn’t mean to tag,” said Florence, looking a little ashamed. “I just wanted to—to come, too!”
“Well, if you will go and find Bessie Lane, and—Adelaide, you have a little sister about their ages, haven’t you?”