“You are right, Adele,” Gertrude replied. “Mrs. Burd told me that she would far rather have Betty remain in this grade another year, but her Uncle George is eager for her to advance.”
“Here comes Betty on a skip and a run!” Rosamond exclaimed as she looked out of the cabin-door, and in another moment the little girl about whom they had been talking, danced in, and, sinking down on the couch, fanned her flushed face with her broad-brimmed hat.
“Girls!” she exclaimed as soon as she could get her breath. “I had decided to give up taking the examinations,—mother wanted me to,—when something very remarkable happened, and I am so excited about it, I just don’t know what to do.”
“Betty! Betty!” laughed Adele. “We can’t make head or tail out of what you are saying. Won’t you begin at the beginning of your story?”
“All right,” Betty replied, as she settled down among the sofa-pillows. “You know my Uncle George is a very smart young man.”
“He isn’t very young, is he?” Rosamond inquired.
“Why, mother says that he is,” Betty replied vaguely. “Of course he isn’t a boy, but every one says that he is very young to be an editor and hold such a responsible position on a big city newspaper.”
“I’ve heard my Giant Daddy say that your Uncle George writes very cleverly,” Adele said kindly.
Betty gave her a grateful glance as she continued, “Well, I guess he must write pretty well, for he’s just sold his first story for one hundred dollars. The check came on this morning’s mail, and Uncle George opened the letter while we were at breakfast. When he saw the check, he gave a whoop just like a boy, and he exclaimed, ‘Betsy Bobbets,’—that’s his pet name for me,—‘if there’s anything in this shining universe that you want, if a hundred dollars will buy it, you shall have it.’ Of course I said that I wanted a jet-black pony, just like Firefly, and Uncle George jokingly replied: ‘Betsy, we’ll make a bargain. If you will pass perfect in spelling and grammar, the pony shall be yours!’ Mother said, ‘Oh, George, I do not wish Betty even to try the examinations.’ But he exclaimed, ‘Puppy-dogs and fiddle-sticks! My dear madam, this daughter of yours is possessed of as fine a quality of gray matter as one could wish, but she is sadly lacking in concentration and perseverance.’”
“How could you remember all that?” Rosamond exclaimed.