"My dear children, if we ever learn to live up to that law of the Camp
Fire, then shall we be angels and not girls!" she exclaimed.

And she might have added more had not an imploring frown from Betty
silenced her. Of course some of the girls would understand that Polly
rarely meant what she said, but there we're other members of the little
company with whom Betty wished to take no risks. Besides, Polly's laugh
could sometimes dampen even her own enthusiasm! And had she not placed
her friend next her mother in order that she might interest Mrs. Ashton
in their plan, for Polly was a great favorite with the older woman and
never afraid of using her pretty blarney stone with her.

However, except for a laugh no one seemed in the least influenced by
Polly's skepticism.

"We can at least try to live up to the law," Mollie replied quietly,
answering from her chair a few feet away.

In a few moments, however, Betty no longer feared the effect of her
friend's attitude. Perhaps to some of the girls the idea of a summer
camp seemed too beautiful to be possible, yet plainly the ideals of the
Camp Fire organization, as Miss McMurtry explained them more fully, had
fired their imaginations, filling them with new hopes and enthusiasm.

Meg had been listening to what had been said with glowing cheeks,
meaning to become a Camp Fire girl even though it was entirely
impossible for her to join the summer camp. She was holding her small
brother tight in her arms, trying to distract his attention with objects
to be seen out the front window, and so entirely oblivious of the fact
that the hastily adjusted hairpins had been slipping out of her hair,