“I will give you a list of half-a-dozen names,” Mr. Vale replied. “I happen to have a little blank book in my pocket that is just what you need;” and, opening it, he wrote upon the first page, “Collection in Aid of the Crew of the Christina, wrecked off the Moorlow coast, November 12th, 18——.”
Then underneath he wrote the words, “A Friend, $20.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Regie.
“I mean that I will give you twenty dollars to start the fund. Then, after you have been to all the other places, you must not forget to call upon my sister up at Mr. Avery's. She will be glad to give you something, I know, and Mr. Avery will, too, for that matter.”
“I wish we could do it to-morrow,” said Nan, whose enthusiasm always found it hard to brook delays of any sort.
“Oh, no, indeed!” Mr. Vale exclaimed, “you will get twice the money by waiting. Thanksgiving and Christmas have a magical way of letting down the bars to people's hearts, and making them more generous.”
Of course Sister Julia entered into this fine plan as heartily as the children, and after they had talked a long while about it she bade them good-bye, and went back to her duties in the hospital a much cheerier woman than she had left it. The week that followed proved a long but happy one to the children. Long, because they were continually counting the days and the hours till the time should come when they could set out on that wonderful collecting tour; happy, in the unexpected holidays, which came to them through Sister Julia's inability to keep up their lessons. Surely every little scholar knows the peculiar charm of unlooked-for holidays.
By the common consent of the body-guard, the collecting-book had been placed in the keeping of his little Royal Highness, who had placed it for safety in the top drawer of his bureau. On the evening before they were to start on this momentous expedition, Regie had taken it out, handled it for several moments thoughtfully, and then put it back in its place, with an abstracted air, as though he was thinking very hard about something. Late that night, when the house was quiet, and every one asleep, he had crept noiselessly from bed, leaned out of the window to strike a match, for fear of waking Sister Julia in the next room, and lit his candle. Then, trying to keep a look out on all sides at once, as guiltily as any little thief, he went to the drawer, took out the little book, crossed to the table where the candle was standing, put a new pen in the holder, and then, with all the customary twists and twirls of his funny little mouth, wrote on a line, directly underneath Mr. Vale's,
“A Friend.....................................$20.”
Then he sat, gazing proudly at it for fully five minutes before he put out the light and crept back to bed.