ke anything she says or does too
seriously."

Lance and Tory got up and began walking back toward the evergreen
cabin.

"You know if this thing goes through I believe it may be a help to
Kara. She isn't strong enough for a lot of excitement, but it will
give her an outside interest. Right now she needs to think of
something beside herself.

"I suppose I ought to have strength of character enough not to mention
it. But there are days when the fact that I am never going to have a
chance to be a great musician gets hold of me, and I know there is
nobody on earth then who is as disagreeable as I can be. I don't see
why Kara cannot play some part in the tableaux. She could be seated in
her chair as if it were a kind of throne," Lance concluded.

The girl looked at him gravely.

"You can be a comfort when you wish to be, Lance, and you are right,
you can be dreadfully disagreeable. Only you are not very often.

"Would your telling me how you know what we are doing at our Girl
Scout camp involve some one else?"

Lance nodded.

"Yes, so I decline to mention names. Now, don't be stupid and think I
mean anything serious. If two people meet they have a right to speak
to each other. Good-by, I must be off. I think I hear the Girl Scouts
returning. Do the best you can for us."

CHAPTER X

CONSULTATIONS AND DECISIONS

At the close of their evening's discussion the Girl Scouts had not
finally decided whether to accept or reject the invitation tendered
them by Tory Drew.

They would be friends again. This opinion was at last unanimous. But
to take part in a Greek pageant which would require a sacrifice of
time and energy from the routine of their camp life? This represented
a deeper problem.

There must be a longer period for consultation. The advice of their
Girl Scout Council must be asked. Upon this, Miss Mason, the Troop
Captain, insisted, before even expressing her own point of view.

By the following afternoon she and Tory and Edith Linder started out
for the little House in the Woods to talk over the idea with Memory
Frean, who represented one of their chief sources of wisdom.

The summer afternoon was a perfect one. Illimitably beautiful pale
dappled gray clouds filled the summer sky, shutting out the fierce
rays of the sun.

As they hoped, from a little distance off the three newcomers
discovered Miss Frean busy in her garden.

Tory saw her first. She made a motion with her hand to suggest that