estion which may come up before this meeting.

"Signed--"

"That sounds very important," said Edna, clasping her hands. "Show me
where she is to sign her name, mother. I know she will be perfectly
delighted that I can speak for her."

Reliance truly was pleased, the more that the sending of such an
important legal document gave her a certain position with the others.
She signed her name with a flourish, and Edna, armed with the
indisputable right to take her place, started off for Hewlett's old
blacksmith shop. This sat back some distance from the store, and was
used as a storage place for empty boxes and such things.

Edna found most of the company gathered when she arrived. They were all
chattering away with little idea of what must be done first. "Here comes
Edna Conway," cried Esther Ann; "she can tell us just what to do. Come
along, Edna. What was the first thing you did when you got up a club?"

"We had a president and a secretary the first thing; the president was
called _pro tem._; she wasn't the real president till we elected her."

"Then you be _pro tem._, for you know just what to do."

"Oh, no, I couldn't," Edna shrank from such a public office, and her
little round face took on a look of real distress at such a prospect.

"Somebody's got to be then," said Esther Ann. "I will."

"I will, I will," came from one and another of the girls, too eager for
prominence to care about what was expected of them.

"We can't all be," remarked Milly Somers. "We're wasting time and we
ought to have had this all settled at first. I wish there were some
older person to get us started."

"Everyone isn't here yet," spoke up Alcinda. "Isn't Reliance coming,
Edna?"

"No, she can't. She has too much to do this afternoon, but I am her
proxy. I've got a paper that says so."

The girls giggled. "Isn't she cute?" whispered Esther Ann. "Let's see
the paper, Edna."

Edna solemnly drew it from the small bag she carried, and handed it to
Esther Ann.

"Read it, Esther Ann, read it," clamored the girls. And Esther Ann read
it aloud.

"How in the world did you know about such a thing," said Milly Somers.

"Oh, I didn't think of it," she answered; "it was my mother."

"She must be awfully smart," said Esther Ann admiringly. "I wish she
were here to tell us just what to do, if you won't do it."

"Maybe she would come for just a little while," said Edna, feeling
assured that if her mother were there to tell of her own ide