Fred rattled the bank and its contents in delight.
“Gee,” he said, in heart-felt delight, “that’s great!”
To be sure, the prizes the various children had won before this had always gone into the Riddle Club bank, but this was the first time the prize had been offered directly for the bank.
“I don’t see what good that money is going to do us,” said Ward now. “Fred will never let us spend a cent.”
“If we’d spent it every time you wanted to, there wouldn’t be a cent left in there to-day,” declared Fred, with truth on his side.
“Don’t bicker,” Mrs. Marley warned them. “Better take down the riddle, Polly. And whatever you do, don’t argue over the five dollars before it is won; none of you may be able to guess Mr. Williamson’s puzzle.”
Polly took her pencil and paper and Mrs. Williamson pulled a little book from her knitting bag.
“This is the riddle, Polly,” she said. “Stop me, if I read too fast.”
Then slowly and carefully, she read aloud, while Polly wrote it down:
“Why do pianos bear the noblest characters?”