They rode him around the town, through the college grounds, and then back to the inn for dinner. That evening they spent in discussion and business plans for the winter. The next morning they took Mr. Luddington up to the college, where he made final arrangements for the young people to be entered as students, and afterwards drove to the city. Mr. Luddington had one or two friends there to whom he wished to introduce them, that they might have some one near at hand to call upon in a time of need. He also took them all to a bank, and arranged their bank accounts so that they might draw what they needed at any time. After lunch he went with them to several of the largest stores, and opened a charge account for them. Then, with a warm hand-shake for Julia Cloud and an emotional good-by for the young people, he left them to rush for his train.
“We might stay in town to-night, and be ready to shop early in the morning,” proposed Leslie.
“No,” said Allison decidedly. “Cloudy looks worn to a frazzle, and I’m sick to death of the city. Let’s beat it back to where they have good air. We can go right to bed after dinner, and get up good and early, 124 and be here as soon as the stores are open. They don’t open till nine o’clock. I saw the signs on the doors everywhere.”
So back they went for a good night’s rest, and were up and at it early in the morning, scarcely noticing the way they rode, so interested were they in deciding how many chairs and beds and tables they needed to buy.
“Let’s get the curtains first, and then we can have the windows washed, and put them right up,” said Leslie, “and nobody can see in. I’m crazy to be shut into our own house, and feel that it belongs to us. We can select them while Allison’s gone to see what’s the matter with his engine.”
But, when Julia Cloud heard the stupendous price that was asked for ready-made curtains or curtains made to order, with fixtures and installation, she exclaimed in horror:
“Leslie! This is foolish. We can easily make them ourselves, and put them up for less than half the price. If I had only brought my sewing-machine! But it was all out of repair.”
“Could we really make them ourselves, Cloudy? Wouldn’t that be fun? We’ll get a sewing-machine, of course. We’ll need it for other things, too, sometimes, won’t we? Of course we’ll get one. We’ll buy that next. Now, how many yards of each of these do we need?”
In a few minutes the salesman had figured out how much was needed, counted the number of fixtures for doorways and windows, and arranged to send the package down to the car at a certain time later in the morning. Then they went at once and bought a sewing-machine, one that Julia Cloud knew all about and said 125 was the best and lightest on the market. Leslie was as pleased with the idea of learning to run it as if it had been a new toy and she a child.
“We’ll have it sent right to the little new house, and then we can go there evenings after we are through shopping, and sew. You can cut, and I can put in the hems, if you think I can do them well enough. We must get scissors and thread, a lot of it, and silk to match the colored curtains, too.”