Then her momentary confusion passed. The faces which for a long moment had seemed blended in one gigantic face, jeering and unfriendly, regained their individuality. She saw them looking up at her with interest. The uproar was quieting. She took a fresh grip on her self-control, and as she regained the mastery of herself, she knew that she was mistress of the situation.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!”
The clear, girlish voice, in combination with Peggy’s aged appearance, was incongruous enough to create further laughter, had the audience not been too interested to hear what she was about to say, again to interrupt.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all, I want to thank you for coming. All of you know, I’m pretty sure, that the proceeds of this entertainment go to help one of your own girls who wants an education. And the way you’ve turned out shows how glad you all are to help.”
She paused an instant, to be sure that the time had come to broach her proposition. The aspect of her listeners was reassuring. Nearly every face raised to hers was smiling. Even the Cherry Creekers wore an air of conscious virtue.
“But, Ladies and Gentlemen, there is one little embarrassment we hadn’t counted on, an embarrassment of riches, you might call it. There are too many people here for the schoolhouse. A number are standing, and it would be impossible for them to enjoy an entertainment as long as this without having seats.”
The smiles vanished as Peggy approached the delicate point. The Cherry Creekers no longer looked virtuous, but rather defiant.
“Now, I’m going to make a suggestion, Ladies and Gentlemen. Part of our audience has come quite a long way. We don’t want them to go home without seeing what they came for. But you who live near could come out to-morrow night. Now I’m going to ask those of you who live in the neighborhood to give your seats up to the friends who have come so far for the sake of helping us.” (Sensation in the audience.) “Your money will be returned as you pass out, and we shall hope to see every one of you here to-morrow evening. Positively no postponement, Ladies and Gentlemen, on account of the weather.”
The silence that followed was of the briefest possible duration. In nine cases out of ten, a frank, tactful appeal to the generosity of an American crowd proves successful. Somebody started to clap, and all at once the schoolhouse shook with applause, even the disappointed succumbing to the contagion and clapping as enthusiastically as any one. And then when Mr. Silas Robbins rose to his feet and ushered his wife and daughter from the building, the crisis was safely past.
What with returning the money of half the audience, and receiving the quarters of the other half, for the Cherry Creek crowd was making haste to pay up, Farmer Cole’s Joe had his hands full. He reached for his money box as the Robbins family filed past, but the head of the house checked him with a genial gesture.