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Page 7
"Oh, I shall never be able to survive it! It is too much joy for one
day!" cried the irrepressible Madge, dancing around in a circle and
dragging Lillian Seldon, whose arm was linked in hers, with her.
Lillian and Phyllis had received their parents' consent, by letter, the
day before and had already agreed that their respective monthly
allowances should be placed in the general fund.
"Be still, Madge," begged Eleanor. "You are so noisy that you drive
all thought from our heads. The first thing for us to consider is
where we shall find a chaperon."
"No; the first thing to do is to find the house-boat. O Ship of our
Dreams! tell us, dear Ship, where we can find you?" cried Phyllis Alden
longingly. She was looking past her friends with half-closed eyes.
Already she was, in the land of her imagination, in a beautiful white
boat, floating beside an evergreen shore. The little craft was
furnished all in white, with dainty muslin curtains hung at the tiny
cabin windows. Flowers encircled the decks and trailed over the sides
into the clear water. And on the deck of the little boat, lying or
sitting at their ease, she could see herself and her friends.
"Wake up, Phil! Come back to earth, please," teased Madge, giving her
usually sensible friend a sudden pinch. "I am going downstairs now to
ask Miss Tolliver if we can go into Baltimore day after to-morrow. We
must find our houseboat at once. School is so nearly over Miss
Tolliver will be sure to let us go."
"But the chaperon, Madge," reminded Eleanor. "We haven't decided on
one, you know."
"I have thought of a chaperon, if you girls are willing to have her,"
said Madge almost hesitatingly.
"Well," cried the other three voices in chorus, "who is it? Tell us
sometime to-day!"
"Miss Jones!" declared Madge, a note of defiance in her voice. "I'm
going to invite her now before I have time to change my mind. I'll
explain later." Springing from her chair, she ran from the room,
leaving her three friends to stare at each other in silent amazement.
CHAPTER III
THE SEARCH FOR A HOUSEBOAT
"Eleanor Butler, do hurry!" urged Madge two days later. "If we miss
the train, I feel I shall never forgive you." The two girls were
preparing for their trip to Baltimore.
"Let me alone, Madge," Eleanor returned. "If you will stay out of the
room for ten minutes, I promise to be ready. You've talked so much in
the last half hour that I haven't known what I was doing and I don't
know now. You had better make another call upon Miss Jones. She is
even more enthusiastic about your old houseboat scheme than you are."
Eleanor laughed as Madge disappeared in the direction of Miss Jones's
room.
"You must wish with all your heart that we shall find the houseboat
to-day, Miss Jones," declared Madge in her impulsive fashion. "You
see, everything depends on our not having to waste any time. The
sooner we find our boat, the sooner we can begin our delightful
vacation."
Miss Jones smiled. She was beginning to understand the impetuous Madge
better than she had ever dreamed of knowing her, and she was very
grateful for her invitation. Miss Jones was fairly well aware of how
much it had cost her pupil to ask her. "Yes, I shall be thinking of
you girls every minute," she declared. "Let me see. This is the
twenty-fifth of May. School will close in another week. You girls
wish to spend a week at home with your parents and relatives; but just
as early in June as possible we are to go aboard our houseboat. That
is our plan, isn't it, Madge?"
Madge nodded. Then, as she heard Phil and Lillian calling her, she
waved a hasty farewell and darted from the room.
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