"When will we set it?" asked Helen. "Do they really mean that we are to do so?"

"Tell him we have decided on the fifteenth of February," said Rosanna.

"That is the date she has fixed, but he is such a tease that she has been teasing him in return. That will give her all the time she needs, and she won't be all tired out. Everyone loves her, and wants to do things for her and, besides, it is going to take weeks to get those rooms fixed. I never saw grandmother so fussy over anything before. She is going clear to New York and is going to take Cita to select hangings, and she has an artist friend selecting pictures; that is, a list for Cita to look over. Grandmother wants every last thing to be Cita's own selection. And, girls, it is going to be _too_ lovely. What do you think? You know those ceilings are about twenty feet high, and grandmother has had them all lowered with plaster board and beams, so it looks so much cozier. Grandmother is really splendid. I never loved her so much."

"Are you almost ready to report?" demanded Uncle Robert at the door.

"All ready!" said Helen as the committee went skipping in.

"Well, let's hear the verdict," said Uncle Robert. "If this committee is as sensible as it looks, I expect to hear them say that the date is set for next week Tuesday."

"The fifteenth of February," said Rosanna firmly.

A look of relief spread over Cita's face.

"Wha-a-a-t?" said Uncle Robert. "Impossible! Why, _I_ named this committee and by all the rules of politics you should have brought in the report I want."

"But it wouldn't have been fair," said Rosanna.

"What has that to do with politics?" groaned Uncle Robert. "All right! I have been done up; sold out, and by my own const.i.tuents. The fifteenth of February it is. But don't you dare to make it a day later, young ladies!" He rose.

"Where are you going?" asked Rosanna.

"Where?" said Uncle Robert, with a twinkle in his eye. "_You_ ask me where? Well, I am going to drag myself downtown to get that Christmas present."

"And now," said Cita after he had gone, "now don't let's think of weddings or anything else but our Scout work. Things have been dragging lately, and I think it is my fault. If we do not do better and snappier work right away, I will know it is my fault, and I shall give the troop over to someone else. Engaged girls have no business trying to run a troop."

"Don't say that, Cita," said Rosanna. "We have all been working so hard for Christmas that I think we have no energy left."

"Possibly," said Cita, "but we must put things pretty well in order at the next meeting, and before then I want all these Christmas things marked and in their proper baskets. That meeting, the last before the holidays, will be an important one."

"Then let us go to work merrilee," said Elise, picking up a stocking, and letting a gumdrop slide down into the toe.

CHAPTER XIV

After the usual formalities of a meeting, Captain Hooker desired the girls' full attention. She held a formidable sheaf of notes in her hand, and it looked to the Scouts as though there was going to be a good deal of work parcelled out to them.

"In the first place," said their Captain, "I have asked the approval of the National Headquarters, and you are at liberty to send a Thanks badge to Doctor Branshaw. Now you have not yet sent him any formal thanks for what he did for Gwenny and I wonder if any of you have an idea of some attractive way of expressing your grat.i.tude."

"I thought of something, Captain," said Lucy Breen, "but perhaps it wouldn't do."

"Let us hear it," said the Captain.

"How would it be to write him, each of us, a short letter of thanks, just a few words, and at the top of each letter paste a snapshot of the girl who has written it? Then bind them all in a sort of cover or folder with our motto and a print of our flower on the outside."

"I think that is simply a splendid idea," cried the Captain. "Don't you think so, girls?"

Of course everyone did, and it was settled that Rosanna should go and buy the paper for the letters so they should all be alike. As for the cover, Miss Hooker, who was an artist of more than ordinary talent and skill, offered to illuminate the cover with the cornflower as the motif; and she decided to illuminate it on parchment, with the deep blue of the flowers and dull gold lettering. The girls who had no snapshot of themselves promised to have one taken at once. Before they finished, the "Thanks Book" as they called it, promised to become a beautiful and very attractive affair. Miss Hooker warned them all to write natural and simple letters.

"How many of you have been over to see Gwenny in her new home?" asked the Captain. "After the holidays, I think it would be a very kind thing for you to each give up an afternoon once in so often (you can decide how often you can spare the time), and go spend the afternoon with Gwenny. Her mother feels that she should do a little work now and that faithful little Mary is taking care of a couple of children over here on Third Street every afternoon, to earn her share of the household expenses. So Gwenny is left very much alone."

"My mother has been in the Norton Infirmary for a month," said one of the girls, "and she said the nurse told her that it would mean a great deal to some of these patients if we girls would only come in once in awhile, and talk to some of the patients who get so lonely. Mother said there was a boy there with a broken hip, and he was always going to be lame, and he grieved so about it all the time that it kept him from getting well. And there was another patient, a girl about my age, with something wrong with her back. She is in a plaster cast, and her only relative is a father who travels, and he is in California."

"Now there is an idea for you all," said Miss Hooker. "I want to talk all these things over today, because if I am away at any time I want to feel that I know just about what you are doing. I should think that it would do a lot of good to visit those poor young people. There is just one thing to remember if you want to be popular with the nurses and helpful to the patients: always stay just a little _shorter_ time than you are expected to. Then the nurses feel that you are wise enough to be trusted without tiring the patients, and the patients are left with the desire to see you soon again."

"That is just what my mother said," said the girl who had spoken. "She says so many people come who just stay and stay and if the nurse does not get around in time to send them home, why, they have the patient in a fever."

"Perfectly true," said Miss Hooker. "Make your visits short--and often.

Next," said the Captain, "I want to tell you that Lucy Breen has pa.s.sed the examinations successfully in two subjects. She is now ent.i.tled to wear the Merit badge for Horsemanship and Clerk."

All the girls clapped.

"_Bon bon_, dear Lucee!" whispered Elise.

Lucy smiled back at the dear girl who had befriended her at a moment when she needed a friend so badly.

"I want to ask how many of you girls are taking regular exercises every morning?" asked Captain Hooker. "It does not seem as though you had as good color as you should have. I want my girls to be the finest looking troop at the great meeting in the spring. It is to be in Washington; did I tell you? And I want every one of you to go. Now, there is an incentive to work. The rally is in June just after school is over, and I want you to earn the money for your railroad tickets. Of course we will all get special rates, and it will not cost us anything after we arrive there, as we will be the guests of the Washington Scouts, or some of the women's organizations. But you should all of you be able to earn ten dollars before that time. It will take that much, but no more. If any of you girls belong to families who could send you, you are at liberty to help some other girl who is less fortunate, but you must each one of you earn the sum I have mentioned."

"What if we earn more?" asked Lucy Breen.

"I am sure you will be glad to have a little spending money when you get to Washington," said Miss Hooker.

"Some of us will earn more and some less," said Helen. "After we earn the ten dollars, why couldn't we put everything else we earn in your hands, and then it could be evenly divided at the end, and we would each have the same amount to spend, and when we come home we can each tell what we spent it for."

"Splendid!" exclaimed Miss Hooker. "What do you girls think of that? I think it would be quite a test of your ability to get a good deal of pleasure or profit out of a stated amount."

Again everybody clapped, and with a little more discussion the subject was left settled.

One of the Webster girls raised a hand.

"What would you suggest that we could do to earn money?" she said. "All we can do is dance, and mamma won't let us dance in public until we are grown up. We don't know how to do anything else."

"Marian, I get awfully cross with you sometimes," laughed Miss Hooker.

"What are those two merit badges on your sleeve?"

"Oh, _those_!" said Marian in a helpless voice. "The gridiron for Cooking and the palm leaf for Invalid Cooking. But I can't go out and cook."

"What can you make best?" asked Miss Hooker.

Another girl spoke up. "She makes the loveliest jellies you ever tasted and they always stand right up, never slump over at all."

"And you, Evelyn Webster, what is that on your sleeve?"

"The palette," said Evelyn.

"There you are!" said Miss Hooker. "What is the good of earning these badges if you are never going to make use of the things they stand for?"