Part 18 (1/2)
”Only-”
”Only-”
”Only what!” asked Ned, as the girls viewed each other doubtfully.
”I'm not sure Mother would let me,” sighed Polly. ”Do you think she would, Mae?”
”I don't believe so. And I don't believe Mama would let me. She-she's awfully particular that way.”
”Gee!” said Ned, in disappointed tones, ”I don't see why not! It isn't as if-”
”Of course it isn't,” agreed Laurie. ”Besides, your mothers would be there too!”
”Would they?” asked Mae, uncertainly.
”Of course! Every one's coming! What harm would there be in it? You can do things for-for charity that you can't do any other time! All you'd have to do would be to just stand behind the booth and sell things. It won't be hard. Everything will have the price marked on it and-”
”You won't need to go by the prices always, though,” interpolated Ned.
”I mean, if you can get more than the thing is marked, you'd better do it! And then there's the-the costumes, Laurie.”
”Oh, yes, I forgot. We'd like each girl to sort of wear something that would sort of match the college she represented-sort of,” he explained apologetically. ”If you had the Yale booth, you could wear a dark-blue waist, and so on. Do you think that would be possible?”
Polly giggled. ”We might ask Stella Hatch to take the Harvard booth, Mae. With her hair, she wouldn't have to dress much!”
”And you and Polly could take your first pick,” observed Laurie, craftily. ”You'd look swell as-as Dartmouth, Mae!”
”In _green_! My gracious, Ned! No, thank you! But Polly ought to be Yale. She looks lovely in blue. I think I'd like to be Cornell. My brother Harry's in Cornell.”
”All right,” agreed Ned. ”I wish you'd ask your mothers soon, will you?
Do try, because we've just got to get girls for the booths. You'd have lots of fun, too. The Banjo and Mandolin Club is going to play for dancing for an hour at five and nine, and there'll be an entertainment, too.”
”What sort?” asked Polly.
”We don't know yet. Some of the gymnastic team will do stunts, I think, for one thing, and there'll be singing and maybe Laurie will do some rope-swinging-”
”I told you a dozen times I wouldn't! Besides, I haven't any rope.”
”We can find one, probably,” replied his brother, untroubled. ”We haven't settled about the entertainment yet. And there are two or three other things we haven't got to. Starling's going to have his garden all fixed up, and he's going to cover the old arbor with branches and hang Chinese lanterns in it and have little tables and chairs there for folks to sit down and eat ice-cream and cake.
”And that reminds me, Polly. Do you suppose that Miss Comfort would make some cakes for us?”
”Why, yes, Nid, but-but you'd have to _buy_ them. I don't think you ought to expect her to _donate_ them.”
”We meant to buy them, of course, Polly. And we wondered if your mother would make some of those dandy cream-puffs.”
”I'm sure she will. How many would you want?”
”I don't know. You see, there's no way of telling how many will come.
There are three thousand people in Orstead, but that doesn't mean much, does it? The 'Messenger' editor's agreed to put in an advertis.e.m.e.nt for us for nothing, and there'll be notices all around town in the windows: we got the man who prints the school monthly to do them for just the cost of the paper. So folks ought to come, shouldn't you think?”