“No--nobody like her. You couldn’t imagine two people more different; in fact this woman is different from anybody else we ever had in the troop. She is really an awful old maid--about seventy, I guess--and wears spectacles, and thinks girls of seventeen or eighteen are mere infants. She--” Lily rejoiced to see the girls all growing furiously angry. How did such a thing ever happen? Was this Mrs. Remington’s doing? Ethel interrupted Lily by demanding, sharply, “What’s this dreadful person’s name?” Lily had not thought of a name for her. So, under the necessity of inventing one on the spur of the moment, it sounded perhaps a trifle too prim. “Miss Prudence Proctor!” she announced, avoiding Marjorie’s eyes. Florence let out a soft whistle. The others looked equally dismayed. It was Alice who demanded a full explanation. “Mrs. Remington wrote for us to keep a watch for her, that she might join us anywhere from New York to the ranch.” “How are we to know her?” asked Ethel. “I’ll know her,” answered Lily. “I met her once.” “And is she really so awful?” asked Alice, a little more hopefully. “She’s dreadful!” “Marj,” said Ethel, suddenly suspicious, “why aren’t you saying anything? What do you know about her?” Marjorie could hardly keep from laughing; in her struggle with the corners of her mouth, the tears came into her eyes. “She’s--she’s impossible!” she stammered, hiding behind her handkerchief. “She’s really the most disagreeable person I know.” “Worse than Ruth Henry?” asked Alice. “Yes,” murmured Marjorie, again almost losing control of herself. “Girls,” said Doris, who was always sensitive to another’s discomfort, “let’s change the subject. I don’t understand it, but Mrs. Remington must have had a reason for putting this woman over us. Anyway, we can’t make it any better by talking about it.” “It looks like one of Ruth Henry’s tricks to me,” said Alice, bitterly. All this finally became too much for Lily; she was choking now, and she feared that if she stayed another minute she would give way entirely. Rising hastily, she made some excuse about getting a glass of water, and disappeared into her own compartment. By making their reservations early all the Girl Scouts had managed to travel in the same car. Lily and Marjorie had one compartment together, and Ethel and Doris another; the rest of the party had been satisfied to travel in berths. Although Doris, Alice and Lily had all been to the coast before, they had taken the trip during their childhood, with their parents, and had forgotten most of the details. Everything, therefore, seemed new and fascinating to them all; they were in no hurry for the days to pass which would be spent so enjoyably before they even reached the ranch. They would read and play cards to their hearts’ content; and then, when they were tired of everything else, they could always talk with each other.