"Yes, I mean Sadie. Olga, do you care enough for Elizabeth to do this
very hard thing for her? You did so much for her at the Camp! It was you
who put hope and courage and will-power into her and helped her to find
health. But she still needs you, and she needs what the Camp Fire can
give her. She cannot have either, it seems, unless we take Sadie too,
and Sadie needs what the Camp Fire can give quite as much--in a
different way--as Elizabeth did or does. Olga, are you willing for
Elizabeth's sake to do your utmost for Sadie--so that the other girls
will take her in? They wouldn't do it as she is now, you know."
Olga pondered over that and Laura left her to her own thoughts. This
thing meant much to the lives of three girls--this one of the three must
not be hurried. But she studied the dark face, reading there some of the
conflicting thoughts passing through the girl's mind. After a long time
Olga threw back her head and spoke.
"I shall _hate_ it, but I'll do it."
Laura shook her head doubtfully. "Sadie is keen--sharp. If you hate her
she will know it, and you'll make no headway with her."
"I know." Olga gave a rueful little laugh. "She's sharp as
needles--that's the one good thing about her. I shall have to start
with that and not pretend--anything. It wouldn't be any use. I shall
tell her plainly that I'll help her get into our Camp Fire on condition
that she treats Elizabeth as she ought and gets her out to our meetings.
I'll make a square bargain with her. Maybe she won't agree, but I think
she will, and if she agrees, I think she'll do her part."
Laura drew a long breath of relief. "I am so glad, Olga--glad for
Elizabeth and for Sadie both," and in her heart she added, "and for you
too, Olga--O, for you too!"
So the very next evening Olga stood again at the door which Sadie had
slammed in her face, and as before it was Sadie who answered her ring.
"You can't see Elizabeth," she began with a flirt, but Olga said
quietly,
"I came to see you this time."
"I don't believe it," Sadie flung back at her.
"I want to talk with you," Olga persisted. "Can you walk a little way
with me?"
Sadie's small black eyes seemed to bore like gimlets into the eyes of
the other girl, but curiosity got the better of suspicion after a minute
and saying, "Well, wait till I get my things, then," she left Olga on
the steps till she returned with her coat and hat on.
"Now, what is it?" she demanded as the two walked down the street.
"Do you want to be a Camp Fire Girl?" Olga began.
"What if I do?" Sadie returned suspiciously.
"You can be if you like."
"In your Camp Fire--the Busy Corner one?"
"Yes."
"How can I? You said I couldn't before."
"There wasn't any vacancy then, but one of our girls has gone to
Baltimore, so there is a chance for some one in her place."
Sadie's breath came quickly, and the suspicion and sharpness had dropped
out of her voice as she asked eagerly, "Will Miss Laura let me
join--truly?"
"Yes----"
"Yes--what?" Sadie demanded, the sharpness again in evidence.
Olga faced her steadily. "Sadie, I'm going to put it to you straight,
for if you join, you've got to understand exactly how it is."
"I know," Sadie broke out angrily, "you're just letting me in so's to
get 'Lizabeth. You can't fool me, Olga Priest."
"I know it, and I'm not trying to," Olga answered quietly. "Now listen
to me, Sadie. _I_ wouldn't have let you join only, as you say, to get
Elizabeth. But Miss Laura wants you for yourself too."
"'D she say so?" Sadie demanded eagerly.
"Yes, she said so." Again Olga looked straight into the sharp little
suspicious face of the younger girl. "Sadie, you're no fool. I wonder if
you've grit enough to listen to some very plain facts--things that you
won't like to hear. Because you've got to understand and do your part,
or else you'll get no pleasure of our Camp Fire if you do join. Are you
game, Sadie Page?"
The eyes of the two met in a long look and neither wavered. Finally
Sadie said sulkily, "Yes, I'm game. Of course, it's something hateful,
but--go ahead. I'm listening."
"No, it isn't hateful--at least, I don't mean it so," and actually Olga
was astonished to find now that she no longer hated this girl. "I'm just
trying to do the best I can for you. Of course, if you come in,
Elizabeth, too, must come to all the meetings; but I'll help you, Sadie,
just as I helped her, to win honours, and I'll teach you to do the craft
work, and to meet the Fire Maker's tests later. I'll do everything I can
for you, Sadie."
"Will you show me how to make the Camp Fire dress and the bead headbands
and all that?" Sadie demanded breathlessly.
"Yes--all that."
"O, goody!" Sadie gave a little gleeful skip. "I know I can learn--I
_know_ I can--better'n 'Lizabeth."
Then, seeing Olga's frown, Sadie added hastily, "But 'Lizabeth can learn
to do some of them, I guess, too."
"Elizabeth can learn if she has half a chance," Olga said. "She works so
hard at home that she is too tired to learn other things quickly."
Sadie shot an angry glance at the other girl's face, but she managed
with an effort to hold back the sharp words she plainly longed to fling
out. She was silent a moment, then she asked, "You said 'things that I
wouldn't like.' What are they?"
"Sadie--did you know that you can be extremely disagreeable without half
trying?" Olga asked very quietly.
"I d'know what you mean." Sadie's face darkened, and her voice was sulky
and defiant.
"I wonder if you really don't," Olga said, looking at her thoughtfully.
"But it's true, Sadie. You have hateful little ways of speaking and
doing things. They're only habits--you can break yourself of them, and
quick and bright as you are, you'll find that the girls--our Camp Fire
Girls--will like you and take you right in as soon as you do drop those
ugly nagging ways. You know, Sadie, you can't ever be really happy
yourself until you try to make other people happy----"
Suddenly realising what she was saying, Olga stopped short. Sadie's eyes
saw the change in her face, and Sadie's sharp voice demanded instantly,
"What's the matter?"
Olga answered with a frankness that surprised herself, no less than the
younger girl, "Sadie, it just came to me that you and I are in the same
box. I've not been trying to make others happy any more than you
have----"
"No," Sadie broke in, "I was going to tell you that soon as I got a
chance."
Olga's lips twisted in a wry smile as she went on, "--so you see you and
I both have something to do in ourselves. Maybe we can help each other?
What do you say? Shall we watch and help each other? I'll remind you
when you snap and snarl, and you----"
"I'll remind you when you sulk and glower," Sadie retorted in impish
glee. "Maybe we _can_ work it that way."
"All right, it's a bargain then?" Olga held out her hand and Sadie's
thin nervous fingers clasped it promptly. The child's cheeks were
flushed and her small black eyes were shining.
"I can learn fast if I want to," she boasted. "I'm going to make me a
silver bracelet like Miss Laura's and a pin; and I'll have lovely
embroidery on my Camp Fire dress. I _love_ pretty things like
those--don't you?"
Olga shook her head. "No, I don't care for them," she returned; but as
she spoke there flashed into her mind some words Mrs. Royall had spoken
at one of the Council meetings--"Seek beauty in everything--appreciate
it, create it, for yourself and for others." Sadie was seeking beauty,
even though for her it meant as yet merely personal adornment, and
she--Olga--deep down in her heart had been cherishing a scorn for all
such beauty. She put the thought aside for future consideration as she
said, "Then, Sadie, you and Elizabeth will be at Miss Laura's next
Saturday?"
"I rather guess we _will_!" Sadie answered emphatically.
"You don't have to ask your mother about it?"
Sadie gave a scornful little flirt. "Mother! She always does what I
want. We'll be there." And then, with a burst of generosity, she added,
"You can see Elizabeth, for a minute, if you want to--now."
But again Olga shook her head. "Tell her I'll stop for her and you
Saturday," she said. "Good-bye, Sadie."
"Good-bye," Sadie echoed, turning towards her own door; but the next
minute she was clutching eagerly at Olga's sleeve. "Say--tell Miss Laura
to be sure and have my silver ring ready for me as soon's I join," she
cried. "You won't forget, Olga?"
"I won't forget," Olga assured her.