The two girls entered the room and waited for him to speak.
Mr. Harriman looked up from his reading with a dark scowl. Most of the newspaper was on the floor where he had thrown it to stamp on. He always felt better when he stamped on the editorials that displeased him most. It seemed to soothe his feelings. He managed to grunt, “’Dafternoon! ’Dafternoon!” when he saw the two girls advance across his library, and then he waited, looking over the tops of a very grubby pair of glasses for them to state their errands. It was Rosanna who spoke first, although generally Helen was the spokesman. But Helen was frankly afraid of the grouchy old gentleman, while Rosanna was too anxious to help Gwenny to be afraid of anyone. So she said, “Please excuse us, Mr. Harriman, if we have interrupted your reading.”
“Well, you have!” said Mr. Harriman gruffly. “Whadder you want? Sell me chances on a doll’s carriage or sofy pillow? Who’s getting up your fair? Meth’dist, ’Piscopal? Here’s a dime.”
He held out the money, which Rosanna took gently and laid on the table beside him.
“Thank you,” she said. “We don’t want any money today. We have come to tell you about an entertainment we are going to give. First if you don’t mind I think I will just shine up your glasses. You can’t see to think through them the way they are,” and as Helen looked on, expecting to see Rosanna snapped in two any second, she held out her hand for the glasses, shaking out a clean pocket handkerchief as she did so. No one was more surprised than Mr. Harriman himself when he took off the smeary spectacles and handed them to Rosanna, who silently polished them and handed them back. They were better; Mr. Harriman acknowledged it with a grunt.
“Girls are real handy,” said Rosanna with her sweet smile.
“Grrrrrr!” from Mr. Harriman. “Whadded you want to tell me?” but his voice certainly seemed a shade less gruff.
Rosanna, speaking distinctly and as carefully as though she was explaining to a small child, told the old man about Gwenny and the benefit and after that, as he sat perfectly still looking at her through unnaturally shiny glasses, she went on to tell him about the Girl Scouts. You couldn’t tell whether he cared a snap about it, but at all events he listened, and Helen and Rosanna both thought it was a good sign. They did not dare to glance at each other, but Rosanna went on talking until she felt that she had told him all that he would want to know if he had been a regular sort of a human being instead of a grouchy, cross old man who seemed to delight in scaring everyone away from him.
“That’s all,” said Rosanna finally, smiling up into the scowling old face.
There was a long silence,