“We want Veve to belong to the troop for its own sake and not because we are planning an outing. Besides, even if she should join now, I’m afraid we couldn’t take her along without making special arrangements.”

“Why is that, Miss Gordon?” Connie inquired.

52 “Grandmother Gordon has accommodations for only six Brownies.”

52

“Then Veve can’t go?”

“I don’t see how she can,” Miss Gordon replied regretfully.

No one said any more about the matter until the Brownies were putting on their wraps in the hallway.

Then Jane, tucking yellow braids under the hood of her snowsuit, remarked:

“It serves Veve right! She should have joined the Brownies long ago.”

“That’s true,” declared Belinda, and the others agreed.

All, that is, except Connie, who knew Veve would be very lonesome if her friends went away during the Christmas holidays.

The next few days at Rosedale passed quickly. Connie and the other Brownies dashed to and from school with open coats flapping in the December breeze, for the weather had turned quite warm.

“How cold will it be in Minnesota?” Belinda asked Miss Gordon.

“So cold you may turn into a big icicle,” laughed the teacher. “But if you do, Grandmother Gordon53 will know how to thaw you out at the kitchen woodstove.”

53

Belinda never before had made a train trip longer than twenty miles. She was excited and a little worried. Another matter troubled her too.

“Are you sure we’ll get our presents and see our parents on Christmas Day?” she asked the Brownie leader.

“According to the plan, your parents expect to arrive at Grandfather Gordon’s farm no later than the twenty-fourth,” replied the teacher. “Of course, something could go wrong.”

All the Brownies were so thrilled at the thought of going to Snow Valley, they 

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