"Ah, Laura dear, you forgot the thought behind the gift. 'The love of the giver is greater than the gift of the lover,'" said Mrs. Lee.
CHAPTER XXI
TO CHINA IN A GLASS-BOAT
At the upper end of the wharf a small boat was anchored, gay in red paint with black trimmings. It consisted of a single deck only, on which was a raised cabin that extended the whole length of the boat, having doors at each end and several small windows on the sides.
The girls hastened along the broad plank, over the shallow space of water between the boat and the shore, and entered the wide front opening.
The interior resembled a country store.
A counter, running three quarters of the length of the boat and stacked with all sorts of glassware, divided the room in two parts.
Sandwiched between the counter and the shelves, which were also heavily laden with glass, was a clerk, intent upon the customers who crowded the narrow aisle.
And what queer customers they were! Boys and girls, for the most part poorly dressed, who kept an eye on the different articles displayed, or hovered round the large scales at one end of the counter, guarding strange looking bundles and baskets.