Black-Eyed Susan Part 17

CHAPTER XI-HOW THE MONEY WAS SPENT

It was the night of the Fair.

Letty and Susan, on tiptoe with excitement and carefully carrying the green leather bag between them, walked to the church behind Mrs. Spargo and Miss Lamb, whose Blackbird Pie was all ready and waiting for customers.

In the green pocketbook reposed the "five tens, one quarter, two fives, and four pennies."

"See that star, Letty?" asked Susan, holding tight to Letty's arm as she gazed up at the moon, half hidden in the clouds, and at a single star that shone near by. "Let's wish on it."

"Star light, star bright, First star I've seen to-night, I wish I may, I wish I might Have the wish I wish to-night"-

recited the two little girls in chorus.

There was silence for a moment, and then Susan whispered:

"What did you wish, Letty?"

"Will you tell me if I tell you?" was Letty's reply.

Susan nodded, and bent her ear invitingly to her friend's lips.

"I wished that we would have a good time at the Fair," whispered Letty.

"So did I!" cried Susan, opening her eyes wide. "So did I! Isn't it strange that we always think of the same thing? We must be really truly twins."

"We are," answered Letty with conviction. "I do wish you weren't going home to-morrow. I wish you could stay here forever."

Here Mrs. Spargo and Miss Lamb turned in at the church gate, gayly illumined to-night for the Fair by a colored lantern, and the "twins"

followed close on their heels down a narrow stone walk and through a side door into the lecture-room of the church.

"This is the Sunday-School room," whispered Letty. "There is my seat over in the corner. Oh, look, look! There is the Blackbird Pie."

And, sure enough, in the very corner where Letty sat every Sunday morning in company with four other little girls and Miss Lamb, stood a booth draped with scarlet curtains over which winged a gay flight of blackbirds. And best of all, there was the Blackbird Pie in the midst, so enticing with its profusion of strings, so mysterious with its hidden treasure of "toys and small articles for five and ten cents," that Susan and Letty made a bee-line in that direction determined to spend all their wealth on that particular attraction.

"Give me your hats and coats, girls," said Mrs. Spargo. "And if I were you, I would walk around the room first and see what there is for sale before I spent my money here."

"Oh, just one pull, just one pull," clamored the little girls, gazing at the fascinating Pie with eager eyes.

Mrs. Spargo laughed.

"Red strings are five cents, white ones are ten," said she. "Pull away!"

The green pocketbook was opened and the bankers peered inside just as if they didn't already know the contents by heart.

"There are the two fives," said Letty who thought herself quite a business woman. "Let us spend them now and get rid of them."

So, after studying the Pie from all angles, two red strings that seemed especially desirable were chosen; and, grasping them firmly and shutting their eyes, Susan and Letty each pulled on her own string and out came two little parcels, neatly wrapped in scarlet paper.

"Look, look!" called Susan, poking a small plaid box, that held four colored pencils, in Letty's face.

"See mine, see mine!" answered Letty, returning the compliment by thrusting under Susan's nose a tiny doll's pocketbook, just big enough to hold a cent.

"I like mine best," said Susan contentedly.

"I do too," responded Letty.

And, thoroughly satisfied, they set off hand in hand on a tour of the room.

The handkerchief-and-ap.r.o.n table they pa.s.sed by with scarcely a glance.

That booth might be interesting to grown people, but they didn't intend to spend any of their money upon such useful, everyday articles.

The fancy table came next in their wanderings, and Susan and Letty, though admiring the embroidered sofa cushions, the lace table-covers, and the satin workbags, knew that they could never afford such splendors.

"They must cost a hundred dollars," said Letty, who, since it was her church and therefore her Fair, so to speak, felt that she must supply Susan with information.

"Maybe we can find a little present here for your mother and for Grandmother," said the country mouse to the city mouse in a low voice.

The city mouse nodded in reply and stood on tiptoe for a better view. It had been decided before leaving home that a present should be bought for Mrs. Spargo and one for Mrs. Whiting.

"There seem to be little things down at this end," announced Letty.

"Come on. I'm going to ask."

And, catching the eye of one of the ladies in charge, she piped up:

"Please, have you any presents here for about ten cents? We want one for my mother and one for Susan's grandmother."

"Ten cents?" said the lady, shaking her head. "I'm afraid not. But let me look about and see."

Presently she returned with a handful of articles which she placed before her small customers.

"I've nothing for ten cents," said she kindly. "But here are several articles for twenty-five and thirty and fifty cents."

"Oh, Letty, I want that for Grandmother," said Susan, forgetting both her shyness and her manners as she pointed a forefinger at an object which she felt sure would delight Grandmother beyond words.

It was a pale-blue stocking-darner with a little girl painted on one side and a little boy on the other, and Susan knew in her heart that she would never be happy again unless she could carry it home to-morrow and place it in Grandmother's hands.

"That is twenty-five cents," said the lady, and she waited patiently while Susan and Letty put their heads together and consulted whether they ought to spend so large a sum.

At length Letty decided it.

"We will," said she recklessly.

So the stocking-darner was wrapped and tied and handed over to Susan, who, without a single qualm, watched Letty take the precious quarter from its resting-place in the green pocketbook and hand it across the counter. It was money well spent, she thought.

"Now we must buy something for my mother," said Letty. "How do you like this, Susan?"

It was a long purple box covered with bunches of violets and scrolls of gilt. In it were three cakes of strongly scented violet soap.