The inscription might have stated further that the plucky mistress of the little shop was as dainty and pretty as any of the articles for sale on the counter.
As the soda water fountain was the Saturday afternoon meeting place of the boys and girls of West Haven, so the Sign of the Blue Tea Pot attracted the older crowd. It had seemed a bold undertaking for the widow to mortgage her home and put all the money in the chintz hangings and wicker furniture of those two charming tea rooms. Her old friends, Mr. Butler and Captain Brown, had strongly advised against it, but her venture had been a success from the first, although a mortgage still hung over the place like a black cloud and small debts would accumulate every time she got a little ahead.
When the red motor with its load of young people drew up at the door of Mary’s home, the buzz of conversation from inside reached them out in the street.
Mary’s mother appeared for a moment in the doorway, and smiled at them.
“She’s as beautiful as an angel,” thought Billie, who never told how often she had yearned for a real mother of her very own as other girls had.
Could any one else have looked so charming in a perfectly plain homemade gray chambray dress, with a white muslin fichu, and little white apron to set it off?
“Won’t you come in and have some tea and cake, children?” Mrs. Price called to the young people, while she put an arm around Mary and shook hands with Billie, who had followed her friend to the front door with the troublesome box.
“No, thank you, Mrs. Price,” replied Billie, as spokesman of the party. “I only came to ask a favor,” she added, in a lower voice. “Would you let me keep this box in your safe for a while? I have no place, I mean——” Billie hesitated and blushed. Of all things, she detested subterfuge, and yet here she was making all sorts of lame excuses instead of saying frankly that she was keeping the box for a friend.
“You mean the old safe upstairs?” asked Mrs. Price, somewhat astonished.
“Yes, mother,” put in Mary. “I told Billie I knew you wouldn’t mind locking this box up for her for a while.”