Helen broke off this chatter with an amused laugh.
"Then mebbe I'd go to school a while," Tess kept on, "an' learn myself a lot out o' books, an' after that I'd take singin' lessons an' I'd sing to everybody what asked me—Then mebbe—" She dropped back for lack of words. "I wonder if that'd take the hull of the five thousand."
Waldstricker stood up.
"You've got the right idea of spending money," he laughed. "And now, young lady, we'll leave you, and if you hear that this dwarf is in any of your friends' huts, you let me know, and I'll come right down."
"Sure," said Tess, heartily. "Ye bet I will."
Scrambling to her feet, she lifted the ruddy curls and flung them back on her shoulders. To Ebenezer, watching her, came like a haunting memory the witch's cry, "Hair, stranglin' ye—God, what hair!"
But he dismissed the suggestion easily and turned to Helen, smiling.
"Why not bring Miss Skinner to the next musicale and have her sing?... Wouldn't you like that, Tess?"
"I'd get scared stiff," gasped Tessibel, terrified.
"But, Tess, dear," Helen thrust in, "I'd teach you the songs, and—"