Part 8 (1/2)

That their elders should have shown such immediate and generous interest in the Lookout Club had, indeed, been a matter of unparalleled surprise to its members. Jerry Macy's father and mother had been the first to come forward with a check for fifty dollars. Mr. and Mrs. Dean had contributed twenty-five. Constance Stevens' aunt had presented them with one hundred dollars in gold, while the parents of the other girls had contributed sums of from five to fifteen dollars. Even Lucy Warner had come to Marjorie, amazement mirrored in her green eyes, as she handed the latter an envelope containing a crisp ten-dollar note. It had been mailed to her, she explained, together with a sheet of paper on which was typed: ”Please ask your mother to offer this little contribution to the Lookout Club in her name. A friend.”

This anonymous communication, folded about the ten-dollar note, was as much of a mystery to Lucy as the Observer letters had once been to Marjorie. At first she had rather resentfully suspected that it might have come from Marjorie, Jerry or Constance Stevens, out of pity for her poverty. She said as much to Marjorie, who denied all knowledge of it.

After making tactful inquiry of Jerry and Constance, she had a.s.sured sensitive Lucy that neither girl was responsible for the gift. She advised Lucy to follow the giver's direction implicitly. ”You can't return it, because you don't know who sent it,” she had argued, ”and, of course, you don't wish to keep it. So you can only do as the giver requests.”

It had been a matter of private satisfaction to Lucy when the money had duly been mailed to Mignon with an accompanying line from her mother which merely repeated the giver's direction. ”To the Lookout Club in the name of Mrs. Margaret E. Warner.”

Marjorie had also experienced a degree of quiet happiness in the thought that someone had been so supremely thoughtful of Lucy Warner. Privately she suspected that someone might be Miss Archer. The latter was already very fond of Lucy and also deeply interested in the progress of the club. She had given ample proof of this by sending for Marjorie one afternoon shortly after it had been organized to question her in kindly fas.h.i.+on concerning it. During this heart-to-heart talk with her princ.i.p.al, Marjorie had felt constrained to explain to her concerning why Veronica Browning had refused to become a member of the Lookouts.

Miss Archer had merely smiled and said: ”Veronica has already explained matters to me. I think her decision a wise one. I fully understand your peculiar position in regard to Mignon, Marjorie. I can only commend you and your friends for your earnest endeavor to help her.” The next day she had mailed a check for ten dollars to Mignon as her good will offering to the young enthusiasts.

Miss Archer's encouraging words had gone far toward imbuing Marjorie with renewed will to tackle the problem of reforming Mignon. For several days previous to it she had been daily annoyed, not only by the question, ”Why have you girls taken Mignon La Salle into your club?” but by the vainglorious boasts of Mignon herself. Miss Archer's approval had given her fresh energy to live down these annoyances. She had resolutely dismissed them as mere exhibitions of foolish vanity on the part of the French girl. She believed that, later, Mignon would weary of her bragging and subside. But the end of the second week after the club election of officers marked no change in the French girl's tactics. On the very afternoon that Jerry and Muriel halted in the locker room to continue the exchange of confidences they had begun in the corridor, Marjorie entered it not long afterward, her thoughts on the precise subject they were freely discussing.

”Oh, here's Marjorie at last,” called Muriel, as the former entered the nearly-empty coat-room. ”What kept you and where's Connie? The rest of the girls couldn't wait. They all have dates or errands that sent them hustling along.”

”Connie had to see Professor Fontaine,” returned Marjorie. ”She will be along soon. Lucy Warner asked me to stop at the office.” The answer contained a trace of annoyance that her hearers instantly caught.

”What did she want with you?” demanded Jerry sharply. ”Oh, I beg your pardon, Marjorie. I didn't mean to ask you that.”

”Granted.” Marjorie smiled faintly. ”I intended to tell you, anyway.

Lucy is very much hurt over something Mignon said to her. Yesterday morning Mignon walked part of the way to school with her. Lucy said that she was surprised, as Mignon had never even spoken to her until she joined the Lookouts. Almost the first thing she said to Lucy was that she was so glad she had helped her to get the position of secretary to Miss Archer. She went on to say that without it she guessed Lucy wouldn't have been able to pay her dues in the club, nor could her mother have given the ten dollars to it. You can imagine how Lucy felt.

She didn't say much, only that she was surprised to know that Mignon had helped her to get the secretarys.h.i.+p. Then Mignon said she was surprised to think I had taken all the credit for it, especially as she had gone with me to Miss Archer to see about the position.”

”Well, of all things!” exploded Jerry Macy. ”That's what I call pure, unadulterated nerve! I hope you stood up for yourself, Marjorie Dean. It would be just like you to let Mignon take the credit for something she had nothing to do with. This how to be helpful stunt has gone to her brain, I guess. Next thing we know, she'll be marching around Sanford High saying that she put the u in universe.” Jerry sniffed her contempt of the too-efficient Mignon.

”I think that's simply ridiculous!” exclaimed Muriel hotly. ”What did you say to Lucy, Marjorie?”

”I had to tell her the truth.” Marjorie's lips tightened. ”Even then Lucy didn't quite like it because Mignon happened to be with me that day I called on Miss Archer. She's such a queer girl, and so easily-- I won't say offended. I'll just say hurt. I managed to straighten things with her, though, but she's terribly peeved with Mignon. She said she wouldn't say anything to her about it, unless Mignon starts the subject again. If she does-- Well, they will surely quarrel.”

”It's easy enough to see through Mignon,” was Muriel's displeased comment. ”She has picked Lucy as the only one in the club she can patronize. If I were you, Marjorie, I'd tell Lucy to pay no attention to her whatever beyond being merely civil.”

”I told her that,” nodded Marjorie. ”Perhaps I shouldn't have done so, but I knew she would have to be warned. It came to me in a flash that if Mignon tried to start trouble in the club she'd start it through Lucy.”

”I guess we'll have to put a label on Mignon,” decided Jerry.

”'Dynamite, handle gently,' or something like that.”

The three girls giggled in unison at the mental vision Jerry's proposal conjured. The bare idea of haughty Mignon parading about with such an ominous legend attached to her person was a joy to contemplate.

”We'll all have to pretend it's there and treat her accordingly,”

chuckled Muriel. ”Really and truly, girls, about all we've done since the club started is to worry about Mignon's failings. It's time we let her take care of herself and turn our minds to something important. So far the Lookouts haven't looked out for a single chance to spend their money.”

”We've all been looking-out, but we haven't located anyone or anything yet that seems to need it,” stated Jerry with some energy. ”That man who was hurt is in a hospital now, and my mother and Mrs. Dean and some others are taking care of his family.”

”I saw something the other day that made me wonder-- Oh, here's Connie!”

The arrival of Constance Stevens cut Marjorie's sentence short. ”Now we had better vacate this sacred spot. We aren't supposed to linger in the locker room after dismissal.”

”There's a new confectioner's shop just opened down on Bellevedere Street,” suggested Jerry hopefully. ”'Dexter's,' I think the sign says.”

”Let's try it for variety's sake,” laughed Marjorie. ”When we get there, I'll tell you about my new idea for the Lookouts.”