“I have not the slightest objection.”
“Won’t the girls be surprised?”
“Do you want them to be?”
“Why, yes, I think so. They were very mean to me, to be sure, and we have scarcely spoken for weeks. Would you go to the lawn party if you were I, mamma? I don’t think you know how hateful they were,” and then she told her story.
“They were very unjust, I admit,” her mother told her, “but I think they will be very much ashamed of themselves when they see you willing to help them so generously. Yes, I think you and Alice and Harold should all go, even if the girls have been unkind. It will not be a social affair, remember, and if the cause is good the rest does not matter.”
“But about the money, mamma; I was going to ask you to send it for me.”
“Wouldn’t you rather spend it at the lawn party? You might give a part of it to the fund, but you’ll be doing just the same if you buy things from the girls, and, besides, it will be pleasant for them to feel that they have such a good customer. What was the reason you thought you would not spend it there?”
“Because—because—I didn’t want to show off,” Mabel answered, shyly.
Mrs. Ford put her arm around the child. “I think you have already sacrificed enough, dear,” she said. “No one doubts that you have the right feeling. Never mind what the girls think, but go and enjoy yourself. I promised Mrs. Lewis that I would send a contribution of biscuits and salad, and several of the neighbors have promised me something. So I shall probably send you and Harold off foraging to-morrow; at least, I’ll let you collect some of the articles for me.”
“Mamma, Mrs. Knight has such beautiful flowers; I wonder if she wouldn’t give us some? She said she would be glad to do anything she could for us, because we helped her to get Bobby.”