-she didn't say just that,--but she is, all the same!" And Hester
scowled crossly at Midget.

"Why, Hester Corey, I am not!" declared Marjorie. "What do I do that's
stuck-up?"

"Oh, you think yourself so smart,--and you always want to boss
everything."

"Maybe I am too bossy," said Marjorie, ruefully, for she knew that she
loved to choose and direct their games.

"Yes, you are! and I'm not going to stand it!"

"All right, Hester Corey, you can get out of this club, then," said Tom,
glaring at her angrily; "Marjorie Maynard is Queen, anyway, and if she
hasn't got a right to boss, who has?"

"Well, she's been Queen long enough. Somebody else ought to have a
chance."

"Huh!" spoke up Dick; "a nice queen you'd make, wouldn't you? I s'pose
that's what you want! You're a bad girl, Hester Corey!"

"I am not, neither!"

"You are, too!"

"Jiminy Crickets!" exclaimed King; "can't this Club get along without
scrapping? If not, the Club'd better break up. I'm ashamed of you, Dick,
to hear you talk like that!"

"Hester began it," said Dick, sullenly.

"Oh, yes; blame it all on Hester!" cried that angry maiden, herself;
"blame everything on Hester, and nothing on Marjorie. Dear, sweet, angel
Marjorie!"

"Now, Hester Corey, you stop talking about my sister like that, or I'll
get mad," stormed King. "She's Queen of this Club, and she's got a right
to boss. And you needn't get mad about it, either."

"You can be Queen, if you want to, Hester," said Midget, slowly. "I
guess I am a pig to be Queen all the time."

"No, you're not!" shouted Tom. "If Hester's Queen, I resign myself from
this Club! So there, now!"

"Go on, and resign!" said Hester; "nobody cares. I'm going to be Queen,
Marjorie said I could. Give me your crown, Marjorie."

Midget didn't want to give up her crown a bit, but she had a strong
sense of justice, and it did seem that Hester ought to have her turn at
being Queen. So she began to lift the crown from her head, when King
interposed:

"Don't you do it, Midget! We can't change Queens in a minute, like that!
If we _do_ change, it's got to be by election and nomination and things
like that."

"It isn't!" screamed Hester; "I won't have it so! I'm going to be
Queen!"

She fairly snatched the crown from Marjorie's head, and whisked it onto
her own head.

As it had been made to fit Midget's thick mop of curls, it was too big
for Hester, and came down over her ears, and well over her eyes.

"Ho!