Page:Angela Brazil--the leader of the lower school.djvu/59

Rh "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!"

The excitement was intense. Gipsy's oratory had been quite spontaneous and unaffected, and like most genuine things it carried conviction to its hearers. In the midst of a babel of voices the big bell rang for afternoon school. The girls fled to their various classrooms, discussing the matter on their way upstairs.

"It's the best idea I've ever heard!" declared Meg Gordon. "Gipsy Latimer's a trump! I'll support her in anything she proposes."

"I wonder we never thought of such a thing before," said Cassie Bertram.

"Yes, to think of our having stood the Sixth for years, and never making a move!"

"I think it ought to have come from some of us, though," objected Maude Helm. "Gipsy's quite a new girl, and it's rather cheek of her to try and foist her American notions upon us, as if we didn't know anything."

"Oh, you shut up! Why didn't you suggest it yourself?"

"I'm rather of Maude's opinion," said Alice O'Connor. "I agree with the thing in principle, but I don't like it coming from a new girl."

"New girls oughtn't to run the whole show," added Gladys Merriman.

"Oh, you three! You'd find fault with an angel! For goodness' sake don't get up these petty little jealousies, and spoil the whole affair. What does it matter if Gipsy's new? Everybody has to be new