"Then you must be willing," said Brenda, "to let us sell the things you have chosen, if some fussy old person comes along and wishes any of these reserved things, and refuses to be contented with anything else."
"But in that case what are we to do?" cried two or three of the boys in chorus.
"Oh, there will be plenty of things that will suit you just as well, if you only make up your minds to it."
"Perhaps you'll want me to buy a blue sofa pillow or some other Yale thing," sighed Will Hardon.
"Perhaps I shall be driven to take this," moaned Philip, holding up a large doll dressed in the long embroidered robes of a baby.
All the girls laughed except Edith, who seldom saw the funny side of things as quickly as the others.
"Well, you can see yourselves, boys," she said, in a determined tone, "that you ought to be glad to buy whatever is left over,—for you probably won't get in until toward evening. You can always find some one to give the things to that you buy."
"This doll?" asked Philip, holding it rather clumsily on his arm.
"Why, of course," said Edith, "we know several children who would be delighted with it at Christmas."
"No, thank you, sister Edith," responded Philip, "I'm not going to spend my hard earned allowance in presents for children; if you make me buy this doll, out it goes to a certain room in one of the college buildings to become a cherished decoration, and," waving the doll dramatically in the air, "I shall defy any proctor or college authority to tear it away from me."