“Of course I will promise,” agreed Rosanna. “I love Miss Hooker but of course I love you more, and I just do hate to have you bothered.”
“It is mighty nice of you, sweetness, but you must not worry about me at all. Now to change the conversation, as the man said when he had nearly been hanged by mistake, you give these tickets out to your Girl Scouts and tell them to offer them to the people who would be most likely to give more than a nickel. It ought to be easy. They are to say that the benefit will cost them five cents or up as they leave the hall. With your permission, I will make a few remarks and tell them about Gwenny. But we will not mention her by name, because if there should be a newspaper reporter lurking around he would put it in the papers and that would be very embarrassing.”
After Uncle Robert had gone out the girls made the tickets up in little bundles, one for each girl in the group. Their own they spread out on the table, planning how they would dispose of them.
“Whom shall you sell to first?” asked Helen.
“Mr. Harriman,” said Rosanna quietly.
Helen dropped her tickets. “Dear me, Rosanna!” she cried. “I would be too afraid to offer him a ticket.”
“I am not,” said Rosanna. “I would do more than that for Gwenny, and I am not afraid of him at all. Not even if he roars. And he has lots and lots of money. I shouldn’t wonder at all that he will be one of the dollar ones if he comes. And he has got to come if I go after him.”
“Dear me!” said Helen again, quite awed. “You are brave. Shall I come with you?”
“If you like,” replied Rosanna. “We will go right after school tomorrow.”
The interview with Mr. Harriman took place as planned the first thing after school. School let out at two o’clock, and it was half-past when the girls mounted the steps of the grim old fortress in which Mr. Harriman lived. Now it happened that half past two was a very dark hour for Mr. Harriman because at about that time he was always in the clutch of a bad attack of indigestion brought on daily because he would not mind his doctor and omit pickles and sweets from his bill of fare. At this time he read the morning paper and reviled the world at large. His sister always left him with the excuse that she wanted to lie down, and he was alone with his abused stomach and his pepsin tablets and his thoughts.