“You say she is a scout lieutenant?”

“Yes, they only take girls eighteen or over for that office and my Molly was eighteen two days before she was elected,” and at the thought Mrs. Cosgrove indulged in a satisfactory chuckle.

It was all very bewildering to Dagmar, but just how it happened that she did not return to Flosston immediately was due to a very interesting plan made by Molly and co-operated in by her official father, and finally worked out by the near-official mother.

CHAPTER VI

A NOVEL JAIL

Thus it was that the girl scouts of Flosston and Lieutenant Molly Cosgrove of Franklin stumbled over the same case of a sister in need.

Returning from the big rally at the County Headquarters on that eventful evening, Molly Cosgrove found more than her usual hot cup of tea awaiting her.  There was the strange young girl with the wonderful blue eyes, around which a telltale pink rim outlined the long silky lashes.

Molly thought she had never seen a prettier girl, while in turn Dagmar decided Molly Cosgrove was the very biggest, dearest, noblest girl she had ever seen.  Formalities over, talk of the rally quickly put the stranger at ease.

“We had a wonderful rally,” Molly enthused, “and at a business meeting held before the open session, it was decided to start obtaining recruits from the mills.”

“Oh, that will be splendid!” exclaimed Dagmar, who now felt quite at home with the Cosgroves.  “We have always wanted to know about those girl scouts.”

“Well, you will soon have an opportunity,” continued the girl, whose cheeks still glowed with rally excitement, “and I am a member of the committee appointed to visit the mills.”

“That is just the thing,” declared Mrs. Cosgrove, “for your boss always lets you follow the Troop orders, and by going into Flosston you may fix it for this scared little girl to stay here for a while.”

“There, Mother, I always said you should be on the pay-roll.  Isn’t she the loveliest cop?” Molly asked Dagmar.  “No wonder the Town Council thanked Mrs. Jim Cosgrove for her work among the women and girls!  Why, Mom, you are a born welfare worker, and could easily have my position in the Mill.  You see, I am what they call a welfare worker,” again Molly addressed Dagmar directly.

“Oh, yes, I know.  We have one in the Fluffdown Mill.  Her name is Miss Mathews but she hardly ever comes in our room,” offered Dagmar.

“Well, now Molly,” said Mrs. Cosgrove very decidedly, “I just mentioned we might see that the girl got work in new surroundings, with you and me to keep an eye on her, so she could cut away from that crowd.  What I have been able to find out is not much to its credit and there’s reasons (with a look that pointed at Dagmar’s beauty) why a girl like this should not run wild.  It seems to me,” smoothing out her big apron, by way of punctuation, “that it has all happened for the best.  We can fix it so Pop won’t make it an arrest after all, then you can get leave to go to Flosston first thing in the morning, can’t you?”