Captain Clark stood far off on a mound of green, waving her “questions,” and each girl answered the code as the messages were relayed and transmitted.  The younger girls were promptly qualifying, and it was very evident the coming tests for higher degrees would find our especial little friends ready to advance.

Coming down from the terraces where they had been stationed, Grace and Cleo observed a handsome limousine drawn up to the curb where the occupants could have viewed the wig-wagging to advantage.

“Oh, there’s that lovely girl that was in the wheel-chair!” exclaimed Madaline.

“I believe she would speak to us if she were near enough,” commented Cleo.

“What a stunning car!” added Madaline.  “What a pity the little girl cannot walk.”

“That’s about the way generally,” finished Cleo vaguely.  “But run!  There go Margaret and Winnie McKay,” and the bright-eyed, pink-cheeked child, so eagerly watching the girl scouts through the open window of the big gray car, was soon forgotten in the more urgent demands of the wig-wag report.

The lesson had been noted “Satisfactory” and Captain Clark had good reason to be proud of her True Treds.

CHAPTER XVII

JACQUELINE

The words of Frank Apgar still rang in the frightened ears of Tessie, when she stole away from the Osborne place, so very early the following morning.  Now her continued failures were assuming discouraging proportions indeed, and she knew the result of “borrowing” that ticket money.  She could never hope for a good word of recommendation from Mrs. Osborne, and without it she could not obtain employment.  To seek work in the mills now would be equivalent to throwing herself on the mercy of the public, for she knew perfectly well every mill had been notified to watch for her.

To her obsessed mind her faults were now serious beyond belief—­ she had actually stolen money!  What at first seemed a mere matter of “borrowing” until she could work one more little week to pay it back, had suddenly become a crime impossible to atone.

Desperately she tramped through the long country roads, tugging her bag, using it often as a stool to rest on.  No one noticed the girl—­maids often left employment in Elmhurst and journeyed out to the trolley line just as she was doing.

Childish laughter and the capering of a very white toy poodle dog attracted Tessie’s attention, as she stopped in front of the entrance to a very handsome estate.  Through the iron rails of a very high fence could be seen the girl responsible for the silvery laughter.  She was seated in a small wheel-chair, and at her feet lay a young man lounging on the velvet grass, that was cropped so close the blades looked like a woven tapestry of magic green.

“Now, Jack,” Tessie heard the young man say, “I will do all the things thou badest me, but please don’t ask a fellow to climb trees.  I’m too big for the limbs, and I should hate to break the pretty branches.  Necks don’t count, of course.”  His voice was so jolly Tessie listened behind the iron post of the open gateway.