"Then let"s ask Gail. She _might_ have a little spare money."
"No, I don"t think she would. We"ll have to earn the money ourselves, but I"m afraid she won"t want us to go. That"s what is bothering me. I tell you what let"s do. We"ll earn the money first and buy our tickets, and then I"m sure she will let us go. Shall we?"
"Maybe that would be the best way. But how"ll we earn the money? It"s only a week from now, you said yourself, and that won"t leave us much time to do anything, "specially as school keeps "most all day long.
There ain"t any strawberries to pick or blackberries to sell or snow to sweep or--"
"Let"s give a nentertaimnent in our barn like Hec and the boys did last week in their carriage-shed. They charged a cent apiece, and earned more"n a quarter, Hec told me. And I know we could give a better entertainment than they did. You could sing and Cherry could speak.
Perhaps we could coax Hope to read to us. She does it splendidly, though usu"ly she thinks she"s too big to play with us any longer. I am pretty sure Hec would turn summersets for us. He has been quite respectable since that last licking the Judge gave him. Jimmy Jones would likely play the bones for us, too, if Hec asked him to. They don"t make a pretty noise, but it"s a sight to see his hands fly. Tessie is learning the fiddle and I know she"d be glad to show off, and so would Effie, if we could get our organ out into the barn."
"And you can whistle," put in Allee, all excitement as Peace unfolded her brilliant plan. "You sound just like the birds, and Gail said only the other night that you did better than lots of people who have taken lessons. But do you s"pose she will let us have the organ? Do you s"pose she"ll even let us have the barn? It is in an awful clutter, and I don"t see where we could put the people who come."
"I was wondering about that myself, but it won"t do any harm to ask.
There is Hec. We can find out from him right away if he will be one of our show."
"Shall you tell him about the cirkis?"
"No, not a word. We"ll have that as just a secret among our two selves until we see how much money we can earn. See?"
"Yes."
"Don"t you tell a soul!"
"Of course I won"t!"
"Hector, wait a minute! We want to see you. Say, will you be in a nentertainment me and Allee are getting up in our barn?"
The boy looked somewhat surprised at this request, for Peace had been very slow in accepting his friendly advances, though he had showered her with every possible attention ever since the day of the double tragedy in their breakfast room, owing to certain forceful remarks made by his irate parent. Here was an opportunity not to be disregarded, but with a great show of indifference, he leisurely faced the two conspirators, and lazily drawled out, "What kind of an entertainment?"
"One to make a little money," Peace answered briefly.
"What for?"
""Cause I need it," was the very satisfactory reply.
"How much do you expect to make?"
"You said you got more"n a quarter, didn"t you?"
"Yep. Twenty-eight cents."
"Then I think we ought to get more"n fifty cents, "cause we mean to have a _good_ program."
Hector felt as if a dash of cold water had suddenly struck his face, but he was quite accustomed to Peace"s characteristics by this time, so did not resent her implied doubtful compliment, but asked, with somewhat more of interest in his manner, "Who"s going to be in it?"
"Tessie and Effie and Cherry and Allee--"
"And Peace is to whistle," put in the small cherub with sisterly loyalty.
"Aw, a girls" crowd! There ain"t any boys in it."
"You"ll make one if you will turn summersets. And we thought you might get Jimmie to play the bones for us, and p"r"aps Lute Dunbar might bring over his accordian. I b"lieve Mike O"Hara would speak that Irish piece of his that makes folks laugh so much, and maybe we could get the minister to stand on his head. He does that elegant. Whenever I visit there, that"s the first thing I ask him for, and he nearly always does it, too."
"Whoop-ee!" shouted Hector, turning a handspring. "I know a _boy_ that stands on his head, and he will do it any time I ask him to. Mr. Strong prob"ly wouldn"t in front of a big crowd like you"d have in your barn.
The Sherrars are coming down from Martindale Monday to stay a whole week with us, and Victor plays the cornet to beat the band. He"s a little bigger"n us, but he will do anything for Cecile, and I"ll get her to ask him. What"ll you do for chairs at your place?"
"I don"t know," Peace confessed. "Maybe Gail won"t even let us have the barn, but I think she will. We must give it this week, before next Sat.u.r.day, I mean, "cause that"s the time we have to have the money--" She stopped abruptly, fearing that he would guess her secret, but he showed no trace of suspicion, so with freer breath she continued, "I"m going home now and see Gail. I think Wednesday or Thursday after school would be the best time, don"t you? Then if it should rain, we would still have another day left before Sat.u.r.day. It won"t take us long to get ready, seeing we each do our part all alone."
"Yes," agreed Hector, with unusual readiness, "I think Wednesday will be all right, and I"ll get up the tickets for you."
"Goody! You might get them ready while I go see Gail. I"ll be right back."
She and Allee disappeared up the road in a cloud of dust and Hector repaired to his home to manufacture the bits of cardboard necessary for admission to the wonderful entertainment. It was an hour later that Peace appeared at the Judge"s door and asked to see the young gentleman of the house, but it required no words from her to tell him that her errand had been fruitless.
"She won"t let you give the entertainment!" he said, the instant he saw her woe-begone face.
"She doesn"t care about the entertainment at all, but she won"t let us have the barn, and here I"ve been and asked Effie and Tessie and Mike, and they all promised to take part. Oh, dear! I did want that money so bad!"
"Are you sure Gail won"t care if you give the entertainment?" Hector stood in considerable awe of the big girls at the little brown house, and he wanted to run no risks in the daring plan his own brain had suddenly evolved.
"No, she doesn"t care a single speck. She said we could give it in the orchard, but then anyone could come and look on without having to pay a cent, and I can"t get my money at all."
"Yes, you can. We will give the entertainment in our carriage-shed if you"ll divide the money with me, Peace. Course if I furnish the building I"ve a right to _part_ of the money."
"But half is quite a lot," demanded the girl with some hesitation. "See, I"ve _got_ to make at least thirty cents for Allee and me, and I wanted fifteen cents more for Cherry."
"We could have Cecile"s old organ in the shed," said Hector, ignoring her objections for the moment; "and there is a big lantern hanging from the roof, so we could light it if it got dark before we were through. We had better light it anyway, I guess, and draw the curtains so no one outside can see. Then everyone who wants to hear the program will _have_ to buy a ticket. If we get up such a swell entertainment, Peace, it is worth more"n a cent. Let"s charge two for a nickel; then if we can get fifty people to come it will give us each quite a neat little pile out of it. What do you say?"
"I--don"t--think--many folks would buy at such a high price," said Peace, doubtfully, though the picture he drew was very alluring.
"Why, of course they will for such a bang-up program as we"ll give them.
Mamma and Cecile and Mrs. Sherrar and Frances will go; and Nancy and Marie, the girls. That makes six right there. Of course we can"t charge Victor anything if he takes part. I bet Miss Truesdale would buy a ticket, too. You ask her, or get Allee to. Allee is in her room now. The minister and his family are coming over some night for dinner while the Sherrars are here, and I"ll get mamma to invite them Wednesday, and you tell them to come early enough for the program. They"ll be glad to. Mr.
Strong was here the day we boys had our time in the carriage shed, and he clapped and stamped the loudest of anyone."
"Have you written the tickets yet?"
"No, just cut them."
"Well, that"s good. We"ll charge a nickel for two tickets, and give it in your shed next Wednesday. Get to work now. I"ve just thought of Montie Fry and his trick dog, and d.i.c.k Sullivan and his mouth-organ. I am going right over and see if they will take part."
She was as good as her word, and when the following Wednesday afternoon arrived it would have been hard to tell which was the largest, the audience in the carriage shed, or the company of partic.i.p.ants arranged on the platform which Leonard had built for just such gatherings; but every one of the fifty tickets had been sold, and late arrivals had to present cash, at the door, where Hector presided.
The program, was certainly original and varied, if somewhat lengthy, and the audience was kept in a thrill of expectation from one number to the next, for Peace was a master hand at arranging her numbers, and instinctively had saved the best for the last. Just as she herself had taken her place in front of the motley gathering to give an exhibition of her whistling, the big door swung noiselessly, and the company from the great house arrived in a body,--the Judge"s wife and daughter, their guests, the Sherrars, and the minister and his small family. They looked very much surprised to find the place crowded to its utmost capacity, but were even more astonished when, after a preliminary bar or so on the mouth-organ, d.i.c.k Sullivan began softly to play _The Blue-bells of Scotland_, and Peace"s red lips took up the melody, whistling with beautiful accuracy and clearness, trilling through measure after measure with bird-like notes, following all of d.i.c.k"s variations, and adding a few of her own under the inspiration lent by the presence of her beloved friends.
"Cecile," exclaimed her friend Frances, "why didn"t you tell me you had such a genius in your midst? I"d have been out here the first one to hear the whole program. Why, she looks like an angel, and her whistling is divine. Who is she?"
"Peace Greenfield," answered Cecile, almost too amazed for speech, for this was the first time she herself had ever heard the young whistler.
"Father calls her the dearest little nuisance in town. She is one of the most original pieces I ever saw in my life--always into mischief, and always trying to help someone. But truly, I had no idea she could whistle like that. Mr. Strong, what do you think of it?"
"She is doing splendidly!" he whispered enthusiastically. "She is a regular genius at it. Why, a year ago she came to me and begged _me_ to teach her."