"Then we'll take them both for papa and mamma. I think you are a very cheap gentleman, sir. We thought they would be too 'spensive for us to buy," said the little girl. "Mamma will be very pleased with this lovely picture."
"I hope so," said the gentleman. "Such a good mamma as you have deserves to have a present that will please her."
"Do you know my mamma, sir?" asked Bessie, as she handed him the price of her picture.
"No, but I am sure your mamma is a lady and a good woman, although I do not know her, and I am sure, also, that she has taught you well, and that you have paid heed to her lessons."
Bessie was herself quite certain of all this, but she wondered how the gentleman could know it when he was a stranger to her mother. Perhaps you and I may be able to guess.
"And papa deserves a nice present, too," she said; "he is an excellent gentleman."
"I have not a doubt of it," said her new friend. "And now I suppose you would like to have your purchases wrapped up, so that your papa and mamma may not see them before the proper time."
"We would like to show them to our aunt first," said Bessie; and she and Maggie scampered off with their treasures.
But when Aunt Helen saw them, she said there must be some mistake. "Those things are worth much more than you have paid for them, my darlings, you have misunderstood; or some one has been joking with you."
"Indeed, indeed, Aunt Helen, we did not make a mistake, and the gentleman was quite sober," said Maggie.