So Susan and Letty spread their purchases out upon a bench, and Dr. Steele sat down to look them over.
“The pencil box and the pocketbook were five cents apiece,” began Letty. “But they are all right because Mother sold them to us. Then Susan bought a stocking-darner for her grandmother. Show it to Dr. Steele, Susan. That lady in a blue silk dress made her pay a quarter for it, and I think she asked too much. And she made me pay thirty cents for this present for my mother. I think she ought to give us some of the money back.” And Letty shook her head wrathfully at the broad back of a placid, fair-haired lady who stood behind the fancy table.
Dr. Steele glanced at the lady and smothered a laugh. It was his own wife, Mrs. Steele, whom Letty had not recognized without a hat.
Dr. Steele admired both presents and looked at the price tags still tied to them.
“No,” said he at last. “They are marked twenty-five and thirty cents. I don’t think you were overcharged here. I think you have good value for your money. And you spent ten cents on a doll for the baby, and ten cents to treat a little girl to ice-cream, and four cents on candy for yourselves. No,” repeated Dr. Steele soberly, shaking his head, “I think you have proved yourselves excellent shoppers, and that you have spent your money to very good effect. And I now invite both you young ladies to be my guests at the ice-cream table.”
Dr. Steele rose, and escorted Susan and Letty across the room. He sat down between them, and, though he was able to eat only one plate of ice-cream while they easily devoured two apiece, he seemed to enjoy the treat quite as well as they.
When they had finished, there stood Annie in the doorway, waiting to take them home. Mrs. Spargo would stay until the Fair closed, and that would be too late for the little girls to be out of bed.
“Good-night,” said Dr. Steele, shaking hands. “And remember what I told you. That you are excellent shoppers, and that you have good value for your money, very good value, indeed.”
[CHAPTER XII—THANKSGIVING IN FEATHERBED LANE]
It was the morning of Thanksgiving Day, and Susan woke, sat up in bed, and looked about her. Beside her, on the quilt, lay the black-and-white shawl dolly, and, if you remember that she came out to play only when Susan was ailing, then you will know, without being told, that Susan had been ill.