H'm! Her company's a doubtful privilege, in my opinion."

"Yet Poppie had the cheek to suggest that we ought to make her a Guild
officer."

"No! Did she?" exclaimed the girls. "It's not Poppie's business to
interfere in our affairs. We'll manage them for ourselves, thank you!
We've got rid of the Seniors, and we're not going to let her dictate
what we must do."

Under Gipsy's fostering care the various branches of the United Guild
had prospered exceedingly. She was a most zealous and enterprising
secretary, sparing no trouble to make things a success, and capable of
organizing all kinds of new departures. She had got up a photographic
exhibition, and collected quite a nice little show of snapshots, neatly
mounted on brown paper, and pinned round the play-room. She persuaded
Miss White to allow the Form to start a museum in an empty desk that
stood in a corner, and spurred on the day girls to bring specimens for
it of birds' eggs, stones, pressed flowers, and any curiosities with
which they would consent to part. She made a neat catalogue of the
exhibits, with the names of the donors, and then broached a scheme for a
series of museum lectures; but at that even her stanchest adherents
turned tail.

"Got too many irons in the fire already to find time to write learned
papers on Natural History, Yankee Doodle," objected Lennie. "One would
have to cram it all up out of the encyclopaedia, and that's too hard work
for this child!"

"Wait till we have a museum anniversary, then we'll appoint you curator,
and you shall spout for the occasion," suggested Hetty.

A sketching club among the artistically disposed members of the Lower
School met with some response, especially as it developed into a
monthly competition. Gipsy boldly begged some attractive prints from
the drawing mistress to serve as prizes, and, having chosen a subject to
be illustrated, pinned up the various attempts, signed with pseudonyms,
and took the voting of the whole of the Juniors to decide the awards--an
exciting occasion which everybody considered worthy of repetition.
Gipsy's restless, energetic temperament was her salvation at this
particular crisis of her career. If she had allowed herself to brood
over her troubles, she would have been wretched indeed; but by throwing
herself heartily into schemes for the general good of the community she
succeeded in being, if not exactly happy, at any rate a useful and
cheerful addition to the school.

The Sa