"Such flattery," laughed Ben. "Well, if I am going to call on ladies I must go up and make myself look respectable."
"He"ll do it," said Celia, as soon as her cousin had left the room. "He has as good as promised."
Whatever was said that evening was not reported, but it is enough to say that Ben had promised to see what he could do, and would let them know later when he had gone over the subject more thoroughly, so with this the girls had to be satisfied.
There was no more to be heard of either puzzle or play during the week while school was occupying them all, but on Friday Mrs. MacDonald"s offer was presented to the club and unanimously accepted with thanks.
There was no delay in Edna"s demand for the evening paper on that Friday, but to her great disappointment her father found that he had left it in the car, and there was no way to get another copy till the next day. Edna was almost in tears, for she had so counted on letting Nettie know the very first thing in the morning.
"I am so sorry," said her father. "I forgot entirely that the Friday issue was the one in which you are always so interested. I will bring you out a copy to-morrow, daughter. I will try not to forget it, but I give you leave to call me up on the long distance, or rather the out-of-town line and get you to remind me. If you will call, say, at about ten o"clock, I will send one of the boys out for it from the office."
This was certainly more than Edna had any right to expect, and she thanked him as heartily as she could, though deep down in her heart the disappointment still lingered and she felt that it would be harder still for Nettie to wait another day.
However, she went early to the little house as she had promised, and saw Nettie at the window on the watch for her. She looked so pleased when she saw her friend that Edna was all the more grieved at having to tell her she must wait till evening. "Oh, I am so glad you have come," cried Nettie as she met her at the door. "I have been watching for you for ages." And she drew her inside.
CHAPTER X
A DOWNFALL OF PRIDE
"Oh, Edna, Edna!" Nettie jumped up and down and fairly hugged her friend in her joy.
"Why, why," Edna began, but Nettie interrupted her with "I have it! I have it!"
"Have what?" Edna was still mystified.
"The prize! The prize! I won it. The money came in the mail this morning."
Edna had not counted on this possibility and it was as much of a surprise to her as it had been to Nettie. "Oh! Oh! Oh!" she cried, and she, too, began to dance up and down hugging Nettie as fervently as Nettie had hugged her. "Have you told your mother?"
"Oh, yes, I couldn"t possibly keep it."
"Do show me what they said." So Nettie took her in and showed her the precious letter with the enclosed order for a dollar, which made it seem a very real thing.
"Ben will be so pleased," said Edna with satisfaction. "It is really owing to him that it got there soon enough."
"And to you for helping me and for telling me in the first place. I think I ought to divide with you."
"Why, Nettie Black, you won"t do any such thing. Don"t you know that it was all on your account that we did it in the first place?"
"Ye-es, but after your doing so much it doesn"t seem fair for you to have none of it."
"I"ll have some of the refreshments, won"t I?"
Nettie laughed. "I hope so."
"Have you decided what you will have?"
"Not exactly. I thought I would wait till you came to talk it over with mother. You said something about gingerbread and my mother can make the nicest you ever saw."
"Would she make some for you? I wonder if it would cost very much. None of the girls have had gingerbread, and I am sure it would be liked."
"Then let"s go see what mother says."
Mrs. Black was in the kitchen making bread for her Sat.u.r.day baking. She smiled on the two children"s eager faces which showed that something of unusual interest was going on. "Mother," began Nettie, "you know I am to have the club meeting after a while, and it is to be at the general club-room at Miss Agnes Evans"s house, and you know we always have refreshments," Nettie spoke as if she had already attended every meeting, when that of the afternoon before had been her very first.
"Yes, I remember you told me, dear," said her mother.
"And I told you that was why we tried for the puzzle prize, so that I could pay for my refreshments. Does gingerbread cost very much?"
"No, my dear, it costs less than any other kind of cake."
"But how much? I mean how much would it cost to make enough for--for fourteen girls?"
"Why, not a great deal. I could bake them in the little scalloped pans so they would be more crusty. I don"t believe it would cost more than twenty-five cents, for you know we have our own eggs."
"Good! Then what else could I have? We can"t have more than three things."
"Let me think for a minute and I will perhaps be able to suggest something." She went on kneading her bread while the children watched her. Presently she said: "I have a bottle of raspberry shrub that your Aunt Henrietta gave me and which we have never used. Would you like to have that? I can recommend it as a very nice drink, and I should be very glad to donate it."
"Would it be nice?" Nettie looked at Edna for endors.e.m.e.nt.
"I think it would be perfectly delicious," she decided, "and n.o.body has had anything like that. We have had ginger ale and lemonade, and chocolate and such things."
"Then, mother, that will be very nice, thank you," said Nettie, as if Edna were at the other end of a telephone wire. "Now for number three.
I shall have ever so much to spend on that, so I could have most anything."
"What have the other girls had?" Mrs. Black asked Edna.
"Oh, different things. Some have had sandwiches and chocolate and some kind of candy, and some have had ice cream and cake and candy; some have had--let me see--cake and lemonade and fruit, but the third thing is generally some kind of candy."
"Do you remember what Uncle David sent us last week?" Mrs. Black asked Nettie.
"The maple sugar? Oh, yes, but would it be nice to have just little chunks of maple sugar?"
"No, but don"t you know what delicious creamy candies we made by boiling and stirring it? Why not do some of it that way? It would be a little out of the usual run, and quite unlike what is bought at the shops."
"What do you think, Edna?" Nettie again appealed to her friend.
"I think it would be fine. Oh, Nettie you will have things that aren"t a bit like anyone else has had and they will all be so good. I am sure the girls will say so."
Nettie beamed. This was such a pleasant thing to hear. "But I haven"t spent but twenty-five cents of my prize money," she said.
"Are you so very sorry for that?" her mother asked.
"No, but--Is it all mine, mother, to do what I choose with, even if I don"t spend it for the club?"