"I'd like to know first," asked James, the treasurer, "just how we stand with regard to Elisabeth. I know we can't afford to pay Miss Merriam's salary; I am afraid we've got to call on the grownups for that--but we can do something and we must, and we ought to find out about it exactly." "Mrs. Emerson is paying half Miss Merriam's salary," explained Dorothy. "And Aunt Louise the other half," added Ethel Brown. "I wrote to Father about Elisabeth," said Ethel Blue, "and he said he'd send us a hundred dollars a year for her. We could put it in the bank for her, he said, if we didn't need to use it for doctors' bills or anything else." "Here's my pay from the Misses Clark; they forked over this morning," said Roger elegantly, as he in turn "forked over" a bill to James. "Madam President, may the treasurer report, please?" "The treasurer will kindly tell us what there is at the Club's disposal," directed Helen. "The treasurer is obliged to confess that there isn't very much," admitted James. "The Christmas Ship just about cleaned us out, and the cost of some of the material for costumes for 'Miles Standish' nearly used up what was left. This greenback of Roger's is the best looking thing I've seen for some days." "I haven't paid my dues for December," confessed Ethel Blue. "Here they are." It proved that one or two of the others were also delinquent, but even after all had paid there was a very small sum in hand compared with what they needed. "There isn't any use getting gloomy over the situation," urged Helen. "If we haven't got the money, we haven't, that's all, and we must do the best we can without it. Mother and Aunt Louise will wait to be paid. It isn't as if we had been extravagant and run into debt. The baby came unexpectedly and had to be made comfortable right off. We can assume that responsibility and pay up when we are able. I don't think that we ought to let that interrupt any plans we have to make Christmas pleasant for anybody." "I believe you're right," agreed Tom, "but I think we must limit ourselves somewhat." "You'll be limited by the low state of the treasury, young man," growled James. "Wait and hear me. I imagine that what the president has in mind for our Christmas work is doing something for the children in the Glen Point orphanage." Helen and Margaret nodded. "What do you say, then, if we decide to limit our Christmas work as a club to doing something for the orphanage and for Elisabeth? And I should like to suggest that no one of us gives a personal present that costs more than ten cents to any relative or friend. Then we can place in the club treasury whatever we had intended to spend more than that, and do the best we can with whatever amount that puts into James's hands for the Glen Point orphans and Elisabeth. Am I clear?" and he sank back in his chair in seeming exhaustion.