"Isn't this splendid!" enthused Grace, almost dancing across the well polished floor. "We will be sure to want a lot of ice cream this summer."
Over in a corner a queer looking girl was counting and recounting a lot of small change. First she would finger it from one hand to the other, almost counting aloud; then she would drop each coin on the table and its ring counted aloud for her. This attracted the attention of the Girl Scouts, who without speaking of it, were all watching the process with interest.
"Wealth," whispered Louise, "and newly acquired, I guess."
"Going to treat the world," said Cleo under her breath. "Too bad they are all out of balloons."
The girl had finally decided to spend one pile of the coins she had heaped before her, and the other she brushed into a little muslin bag, tied it with a black string and then stuck it carefully into the neck of her blouse. As if conscious she was being watched she shuffled awkwardly, then made her way to the end of the counter, where the one-time penny candies were sold.
"There!" exclaimed Cleo, when the girl was well out of hearing. "She is surely a queer character and worth watching. How do you suppose she ever came by that famous collection of modern coins."
"Why, she earned them, I should say," guessed Louise. "That's the sort of girl always available for a mind-the-baby job."
As the girl waited to make her purchase she kept turning, very boldly, to stare at the scouts, who were vainly trying to hide their interest in the queer character. Evidently she had no misgivings concerning her interest in them.
First she would shrug her shoulders, then tilt up her broken straw hat, kick the heel of one "sneak" against the other, until finally the clerk spoke sharply to bring her attention to the point of buying candy.
It took her some time longer to make her selection and again in counting out her money she made quite an unnecessary display. A spill of the coins brought an ill-concealed titter from Cleo and Grace, and this the girl so sharply resented that Louise edged her chums to the other side of the room for safety.