“I’d just love to have the club do it,” said Ruth with her usual enthusiasm.  “And wherever I am I shall be a member of the club just the same, and always be ready to help out with little Elsa.  I know father and Uncle Jerry will be interested in her, too.”

“We can all sew for her,” suggested Alice, a proposition which caused Dorothy and Charlotte to look at each other in disgusted silence.

“But where is she going to live?” inquired Katharine, who frequently put a damper on the enthusiasm of her friends by some exceedingly practical question.  “We can’t plant her out in the square at an equal distance from all of us.”

“Oh, dear!” sighed Betty.  “I hate to be brought down so suddenly.  I’d forgotten that she’d have to have a home.  I was just thinking of clothes and education, and I had it all planned that she should be a great singer or a writer, and take care of us in our old age.”

Betty’s flight of fancy was so absurd that the girls shouted with laughter, and seeing them so merry little Elsa laughed too, and showed her white teeth.

“She’s ail right, girls; she can see a joke,” said Charlotte, who in spite of herself began to feel the baby’s charm.

“Poor little kiddie!  I’m sure she’s very brave to laugh at the idea of having to support us all,” giggled Ruth.

“Let’s ask mother about it,” suggested Dorothy, as Mrs. Marshall came into the room, and the busy woman, who was never too much occupied to listen to her daughter’s plans, or to lend a helping hand, sat down as calmly as though she had nothing else to do.  She had already begun to consider the problem of Elsa’s future, and she decided immediately that Betty’s idea was a good one, and as helpful for the girls as for the baby.

“You might board her at Mrs. Hall’s,” she suggested, after listening to a rather disjointed narrative from the entire club.

“Of course.  The very thing,” murmured Betty.  “Why didn’t we think of it ourselves?”

“And you must organize your work in a businesslike way,” continued Mrs. Marshall.  “You might start an Elsa fund with what you can collect among yourselves, no matter how small.  Then you can see who will be willing to promise regular subscriptions.  You will need a treasurer to take charge of the fund, and a secretary to manage your correspondence.”

The girls looked very thoughtful; they had hardly realized that their plan would assume so much importance.

“You must understand, girls, before you go into this, that you are undertaking a serious thing and one you cannot give up lightly,” continued their adviser.  “For my own part I can’t think of any better use to which you can put your energy and your club funds than to the care of this dear, motherless baby.  Of course, you know that we shall do all we can to find out if she has any relatives, but there seems small chance of success, as we haven’t the slightest clue to follow.”