“Me, too,” cried Iola, holding up both hands.
“Mother, what do you say?”
“Aye, laddie. There's much need for good cheer in the world.”
“And you?” turning to Margaret, who stood with Mrs. Boyle's arm thrown about her, “how do you vote?”
“This member needs it too much”—with a somewhat uncertain smile—“to say anything but 'Aye'.”
“Then,” said Dick solemnly, “the 'good cheer' department is hereby and henceforth organised as a permanent institution in the community here represented, and we earnestly hope that its members will continue in their faithful adherence thereto, believing, as we do, that loyalty to this institution will be its highest reward.”
But none of them knew what potencies of joy and of pain lay wrapped up for them all in that same department of “good cheer.”