“Rosanna,” she said, “it is perfectly beautiful; perfectly beautiful! Shall you have the Webster girls sing that?”
“I had not thought of them,” confessed Rosanna. “I thought it would be nice for Elise and you, Helen. You both sing so sweetly and you can both dance too.”
“I shall be frightened to death,” said Helen, trying to imagine herself on a real little stage; at least on a make-believe stage with a curtain stretched across Mrs. Horton’s or Mrs. Hargrave’s parlor. But frightened or not, she was more than pleased that Rosanna had thought of her, and she had no intention of giving up the part.
She and Elise commenced to practice on the song, and between them made up the prettiest little dance. Mrs. Culver and Mrs. Hargrave were delighted to play their accompaniments and suggest steps. Of course they had to be told something of what was going on, but they were very nice and asked no questions.
A week later Rosanna’s little play was finished and ready to show Uncle Robert. Rosanna was as nervous as a real playwright when he has to read his lines to a scowly, faultfinding manager. She invited Helen over to spend the night with her so she could attend the meeting.
Her grandmother was out to a dinner-bridge party, so Rosanna and Helen and Uncle Robert went up to Rosanna’s sitting-room and prepared to read her play. And if the truth must be told, Uncle Robert prepared to be a little bored. But as Rosanna read on and on in her pleasant voice, stopping once in awhile to explain things, Uncle Robert’s expression changed from a look of patient listening to one of amusement and then to admiration. By the time Rosanna had finished he was sitting leaning forward in his chair and listening with all his might. He clapped his hands.
“Well done, Rosanna!” he said heartily. “I am certainly proud of you! Why, if you can do things of this sort at your age, Rosanna, we will have to give you a little help and instruction once in awhile. Well, well, that is a play as is a play! Don’t you think so, Helen?”
“It’s just too beautiful!” said Helen with a sigh of rapture. “Just too beautiful! Which is my part, Rosanna?”
“I thought you could be the little girl who discovers the lost paper so the other little Girl Scout’s brother will not have to go to prison. That is, if you like that part.”