And the way they learned their parts! They almost mastered them over night. Rehearsals went on, and the day was set for the entertainment.
There was a great deal of hammering up in Mrs. Hargrave’s barn. Mrs. Hargrave and Miss Hooker and Uncle Robert spent a good deal of time up there, but they would not let anyone else in. Even Elise was barred out, and although she wrung her little hands and talked a funny mixture of French and English in her pretty coaxing way, not one of the three would relent and let her peek in. “Wait until it comes time for the dress rehearsals,” was all they would say.
A week before the play, a big box came for Uncle Robert. He opened it in Rosanna’s room. It was full of tickets nicely printed on yellow pasteboard. Rosanna read them with rapture: the name of the play, her play, and at the top in large print,
BENEFIT PERFORMANCE
“You have not said anything about what the performance is to be a benefit for.” said Rosanna.
“That’s all right,” said her uncle.
“And you have forgotten to say the price of the tickets,” wailed Helen, who was again spending the night.
“Well,” said Mr. Horton, “when I went to order those tickets for you, I had an idea. And it was this. I thought as long as this was a benefit performance, why not let it benefit everybody present?”
“How can it do that?” asked Rosanna.
“In this way,” said Uncle Robert. “There will be all sorts of people there, because some of the Girl Scouts, Miss Hooker says, are very poor indeed, and some of them belong to families who have plenty of money. So Miss Hooker suggested a very good scheme. Tell the girls when they sell tickets to say that as it is a benefit and so forth and so forth, that the tickets are simply to let the people into the hall. As they go out they are to pay whatever they think it is worth, from five cents up.”