“Then Jean suddenly remembered that Cecilia had said that when she grew to be a lady that there would be a lot of money, so perhaps we would have to wait just as long, and let our bags lie there till then. This thought was a greater disappointment, for we had expected to surprise the family with our crop of gold dollars when your grandfather came home from his next voyage.
“By-and-by, of course, other things came up, and the bank was rather forgotten, till one day grandma said that the County Fair was to be held in a few days, and we would go, as usual. Then we looked at each other in dismay, for we had buried all our money. We had expected at first, you know, to reap our crop long before this important day, and here we were with a very small number of pennies, and no sign of any money sprouting yet.
“Grandma noticed our dismayed faces and at once asked us what was the matter; so we told her the whole story. How she laughed! but she explained to us very carefully what a bank really is, and how money does ‘grow’ or increase in a savings bank. Then she told us to run down and dig up our bags before they were entirely spoiled.”
“Did you get them?” asked Cricket, eagerly.
“That is the sad part of my story, dear. Two very downcast children, we went down to the sand-bank, and what do you think?”
“Had it all been taken away?” asked the children, breathlessly.
“No, but it might as well have been, for do you know, we couldn’t find it. Heavy rains had come, and had washed away our sticks. We ran up and down the sand-bank, which extends a long distance, you know, but we could not find the spot anywhere. We dug here and there, for we could not believe that we would not find our money, but all in vain. At last we came, crying, back to grandma, and she comforted us, as usual. She told us that little girls usually got into trouble when they did things without asking their mammas, but that next time we would both be wiser, and ask her advice first. Then she asked us how much money we had buried, and two days after, on the very morning when we were to start for the Fair, we found by our pillows, when we woke up, two pretty, new chamois-skin bags, with the same amount of money, all in bright new nickels, which grandma had taken the trouble to get for us.
“For months afterwards, we used to go down at intervals, and dig for those bags, till I think we must have pretty nearly spaded up the entire bank. But, at any rate, we did not strike just the right spot, and we never saw those bags again.”
“Are they there now,” demanded Cricket, sitting up suddenly.
“For all I know. Much of the sand-bank on the other side has been carted away for building purposes, but this side, I believe, has never been disturbed.”