“Dear me,” drawled Amy, laughing. “You’re just as sure as sure, aren’t you?”
Miss Seymour, the girls’ English teacher in school, came to the door of the committee room with a paper in her hand. A semblance of order immediately fell upon the company.
“We have just now decided upon the two suggestions of all those placed in the box, the two prize ideas. And both are very good, I must say. Chippendale Truro! Is Chip here?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Chip, who was a snub-nosed boy whose chums declared “all his brains were in his head.” 91
“Chip, I think your idea is very good. You will be interested to learn what it is, girls. Chip suggests that all the waitresses and saleswomen at the lawn party wear masks—little black masks as one does at a masquerade party. That will make them stand out from the guests. And the committee are pleased with the idea. Chip gets the tennis racket in Mr. Brill’s show-window.”
“Cricky, Chip! how did you come to think of that?” demanded one of the boys in an undertone.
“Well, they are going to be regular road-agents, aren’t they?” asked the snub-nosed boy. “They take everything you have in your pockets at those fairs. They ought to wear masks—and carry guns, too. Only I didn’t dare suggest the guns.”
Amid the muffled explosion of laughter following this statement, Miss Seymour began speaking again:
“The girl’s prize—the sports coat at Letterblair’s—goes to Jessie Norwood, on whose father’s lawn the bazaar is to be held on the afternoon and evening of the Fourth of July.”
At this announcement Belle Ringold actually cried out: “What’s that?”