“Thank you,” said Florence, settling down to watch her sister.
The first thing Winona did was to pierce each of the beans lengthwise with a steel knitting-needle, which she heated in the alcohol lamp’s flame. This was the longest part of the work. Next she strung them all on a long piece of cord. Then while Florence held one end of the cord and she the other, Winona dashed each bead in turn with touches of color, one after another—rose, blue, green and violet. She finished them with little flecks of gold paint, and fastened one end to the chandelier, where the beads could swing free and dry soon. The girls got luncheon while the beads were drying.
After luncheon was eaten and cleared away the girls went to work on their beads again. Florence held the string while Winona went over them with shellac.
“I think we’d better put them outdoors this time,” she decided. “The smell of the shellac may worry mother.”
So they swung the beads from the hammock rope.
“Do you think you will want to wear them?” she asked Florence, as she came back and began to clear away the paint-spotted newspapers.
“I should just think I would!” said Florence enthusiastically. “Why, they look just like the ones in the Wampoag stores, only lots prettier.”
“Who told you how to make them, Winnie?” asked her mother. “They are certainly lovely.”
“Nobody,” said Winona. “I saw some like them, and thought I could do it—that’s all.”
“I think you ought to get a real honor-bead for that,” said Florence. “I’m going to put down everything you do that I think might get honors for you.”