She substituted a rather forced laugh for the vow, and again urged her brother to go and leave her. “There is no need for us both to be miserable. Besides, if you should take cold I should never forgive myself. Do go; there’s a dear, and I am ever and ever so grateful to you for what you have already done.”
“No, sir-ee. I guess I’ve got grit if you haven’t. But if you don’t mind I’ll just run around the block ter start my toes up, an’ I’ll be back so’s you can run, too.”
Off bounded the child, and, small as he was, Beatrice felt no fear that he would be lost even in a neighborhood of which he knew so little; but as she watched him out of sight, a voice spoke in her ear.
“What lovely, lovely chrysanthemums! Are they for sale, miss?”
“H’m-m. She doesn’t think I look like a regular flower-girl,” thought Bonny, complacently, and answered promptly: “Yes, madam. They are, as you have noticed, a very peculiar shade.” Then she raised her eyes, and met—those of the richest girl in her class at the Conservatory, the very one who was to sing with her at the next reception.
“Goodness! Miss Beckwith! Beg pardon! I did not notice. I thought it was a flower-girl standing here.”
Beatrice gasped, tried to smile, felt her face flame, and her courage—or temper, she didn’t know which—rise at the same time. “There is no mistake, Miss Agnew. I am, temporarily, a flower-girl. These chrysanthemums are for sale. But I have had rather bad luck. They prove to be a more expensive sort than most passers-by care for.”
Miss Agnew’s own color rose a little. She was a gentle, high-bred girl, and she saw at once that there was something out of the common in her classmate’s action. If the flowers had cost all there was in her purse, she would have taken some of them then. “Indeed? I have never seen any like them, except at the show last week. How much are they?”
“They cost seventy-five cents each, yesterday, and I was told they were prize flowers. They are—anything I can get for them—now!”
“Oh! I don’t call that high! I often have to pay a dollar or more for roses at holiday time. Of the sort I like. I think these would just suit Mamma. I will take a dozen, please. I was sorry you were not at class to-day. The Professor went over our duet with me, and I gathered some new ideas from him. He is very anxious it should be a success; and naturally I am. Will you be there next lesson?”