Cassy nodded her head emphatically, implying that words could not do justice to the subject.
"Cassy, dear, you asked me, a little while ago, what I was thinking about; and now I'll tell you. I've been wondering if we mightn't get up a secret society our own selves!"
Cassy stopped short, laughed, and said, "Capital!" forgetting that not five minutes before she had expressed contempt for such "goings on." "How many girls will we have, Gracie?"
"Why, our graduating class, that's seven. We don't go much with the other girls, you know. I'm so glad you like the idea, Cassy! and, now you do, I'm going to have it. I've just made up my mind!"
"But suppose the others don't approve?"
"O, pshaw, Cassy! that's of no sort of consequence! What you and I think they'll think—all but Isa Harrington, and we'll soon manage her."
"Well," replied Cassy, drawing a long breath, "don't let's walk quite so fast, Gracie, we'll be at the schoolhouse before we know it, and you and I must have everything arranged between us. What name, Gracie?"
"What think of calling ourselves Princesses of the— the— some kind of a seal? The seal must be golden, or diamond, or something else that's precious."
"The Ruby Seal," suggested Cassy.
"O, that's it, dear! Our lips are the ruby seal, Cassy, and never, never will they open to utter the secrets of our order. We'll promise to love, honor and protect one another as long as we all shall live. Our motto will be, "Vera ad finem." I suppose you don't know what that means, Cissy; but it's "true to the end," Robin says."