The exercises proceeded with a smoothness that was a supreme satisfaction to Mr. Keene, Mr. Marsh, Miss Verne and all those who had helped make the occasion one long to be remembered by those present. The graduates were at last called to the stage and presented one by one with the diplomas that marked the end of their course in the day school. To all of them it meant an increase of salary, promotion in the store, and night school during the coming year.
At last it was over and the audience had dispersed in leisurely fashion. Two radiant-faced boys made their way to where two proud mothers awaited them. Teddy’s mother had equal reason to be proud of her son, whose sweet voice had added much to make the entertainment memorable.
“Here, Mother, you must carry my roses,” laughed Harry, handing the huge bouquet of fragrant flowers into his mother’s keeping.
“Oh, Harry, dear, Mother is so proud of her boy,” the little woman whispered as they walked arm in arm to the street corner to wait for their car. Teddy and his mother were just behind them.
“I guess we won’t walk home to-night, Harry,” grinned the irrepressible Teddy. “We deserve to ride home for once. We’re some folks. My, but I’m glad you won the prize. I felt the shivers go up and down my back when you made the address. It was a welcome one, all right.”
“It wasn’t half so welcome as the money. Isn’t it splendid, Ted, to think that we are all going on that vacation together?”
The Burkes and the Hardings had arranged to rent a bungalow in the suburbs for two weeks. By joining forces Harry’s twenty dollars would be sufficient to pay his and his mother’s share of the expenses. The boys’ vacation was to begin the following week. As the store was to be closed on Saturday they would not return to work until after their vacation.
“I can never be thankful enough that we went together to Martin Brothers that day to look for work,” returned Harry; his eyes were bright with the memory of that never-to-be-forgotten morning when he and Teddy Burke had joined forces.
“You can’t be any gladder than I am,” was Teddy’s serious answer. “It looks as though you and I were going to be business men for sure, doesn’t it?”