“The scouts will agree, I am sure,” continued Marjorie, “especially when they see your ring. They won’t think it’s because you’re tired of them.”
“Do you think that you ought to get another lieutenant?” Lily inquired. “Daisy or Floss?”
“All three of the juniors are busy with that troop in the village,” Marjorie reminded her. “So I’d hate to take them away, for they’re doing good work there. And I’m sure I don’t want an outsider. No, I think I can manage myself, if you’ll drop in whenever you can.”
“Indeed I will!” the other girl promised.
Marjorie closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but she found it impossible. Although up to this time she had been quite successful in dismissing her scout troop from her mind during the vacation, she found her old perplexing problems returning. It was Florence who had stirred up this questioning, Florence who had suggested that she did not have a firm hold on the troop, that they would be interested only as long as the basketball season lasted.
When the girls began to dress for dinner, she sought Lily’s advice.
“I don’t want to bother you, Lil, but I must talk scout affairs over with you once in a while. Floss’ remark that the girls are only interested in basket-ball sort of worries me. Couldn’t you suggest some new interest, like you did this one?”
Her chum, who at that moment was trying to decide whether to wear a heliotrope georgette or a black velvet dinner dress, brought her attention with difficulty to Marjorie’s question.
“Think of something, Lil!” Marjorie pleaded.
Lily looked at her companion in amusement.
“I think, Marj, for your own sake, you ought to forget that troop for a while. You promised you would during the holidays, you know. And everything’s going beautifully—remember the game, and our boxes of chocolates!”
“I know—but who was it who said, ‘In time of peace prepare for war?’ That’s my idea—just keep things going every minute, so that the girls haven’t time to wonder whether they are bored.”
“But my dear, you can’t expect this to keep up all your life! You probably wouldn’t have time for them next year, anyway.”
“All the more reason why I must make a desperate attempt to secure a really firm hold, so I could be as sure of them as I am of our senior patrol.”