“Plain raw, I think. Why can’t we have a coloring party? You might bring the eggs to my house and we’ll dye them there. Can you do that?”
“Yes, indeed,” came in a chorus.
“Saturday morning, then.”
This was agreed upon and then the girls fell to discussing the subjects most interesting to them and finally played games till it was time to separate and go home.
“If we could only get eggs direct from the country maybe we could get them cheaper and could bring more than two apiece,” said Claudia. “Counting the two patrols we’d have less than forty eggs and we should have about fifty, four dozen, we’ll say.”
“But who would know where to go for them?” said Virgie. “I don’t believe any of the country people we could reach would sell them any cheaper than we could get them in town, and there would be all the bother of going after them.”
“Oh,” spoke up Joanne, “I wonder if we couldn’t get them from Mrs. Clover. She has lots and lots of hens and she is so far out of town that I don’t believe she sends her eggs all the way in, and I doubt if they give her city prices at the country store. Besides she is the kindest thing and if she knew they were for the orphans she wouldn’t stick on the highest price, and you all know what the highest price is these days.”
“Good scheme, Jo,” cried Winnie. “Can you find out all about it, how much they’d be and how we can get them?”
“I think so. Perhaps they could be sent down on a canal boat. I’ll talk to Cousin Ned about it. I’ll write him a note and leave it at his apartment on my way home, then he’s sure to get it when he comes in. I never know just when to catch him, so I’ll tell him to call me up.”
With this plan in view she went into the big schoolroom, where at her desk she wrote her note which ran this way: