“No such interpretation can be placed on rule five!” replied Jane calmly. “The secretary will please read rule five, by-laws.” Theodora Guthrie, known as Ted, fat and flustered, stood up with the little typewritten pamphlet of rules and by-rules. She thumbed the pages to find the desired section, and after a preliminary cough and some squirming of her touseled black head, waited for a signal from Jane (Ted was a very careful secretary), then she proceeded: “Section two, by-law five: candidates: No candidate shall be forcibly or strategetically detained from her caucus, at any time calculated to debar her from office. This shall apply to abductions, kidnapping, stunts, and tricks, hitherto allowed, but from this date and by this section now prohibited.” “That seems to cover the case,” said the president. “It does not,” shouted the spokesman for the opposition, Rose Bowers, without regard for voice, or its effect on her listeners. “If that were true with Jane Allen, it was equally true with Marian Seaton. She was kidnapped by the other side.” “Nothing of the kind,” interrupted Dozia Dalton. “I was——” “Silence! Order!” called the crier, Judith. “We shall be obliged to clear the room at the first sign of disorder. We have given our word to the guards.” “Yes, and that order must be obeyed,” insisted the chair, namely, Jane Allen. “We shall be pleased to hear each in turn. Secretary, who has the floor?” “The report of the secretary on the rules was just finished,” replied Ted Guthrie. “And I ask the secretary to make a record that the rule covered the case of illegal abduction,” went on Jane. “I may add further that the trick of bringing my relations into the fight was, in my opinion, small and cowardly. At a call from home I would have gotten into an airship without question—any girl would.” Applause and hisses mingled at this, until the latter caught up with the former, merging all the sounds into a conglomeration of noises such as only school girls know how to issue. Order at length restored, the meeting proceeded. “Madam President! May I speak?” called Dozia Dalton. “Miss Dalton has the floor,” replied Jane, before anyone else could cut in. “I would like to tell what happened to me on election night,” Dozia began, and again the apprehensive silence, preluding something of deep interest, was so loud it could almost be heard. “Proceed,” ordered Jane. “When I took the password and grip from our contingent I found a stranger in our lines. I called her out and she ran!” “That was——” “No interruptions, please! Miss Dalton, go on.” “When I followed I found the runaway was Miss Seaton!” “Oh, shame!” came from more than one voice. “Spying! Sneaking!” “I was not,” declared Miss Seaton hotly, now on her feet. “I had a perfect right to be in the Allen lines. Why shouldn’t I?”