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Page 25
"I feel that I do know him," responded Cornie, "That I am quite well
acquainted with him, in fact. And I quite approve of 'my brother Jack.'
It's queer, too, for usually when you hear a person quoted morning, noon
and night you get so that you want to scream when his name is mentioned.
Now there's Babe Meadows. Will you ever forget the way she rang the
changes on 'my Uncle Willie'? I used to quote that line from Tennyson
under my breath--'_A quinsy choke thy curs�d note!_' It was 'Uncle
Willie says this isn't good form' and 'Uncle Willie says they don't do
that in England' till you got worn to a frazzle having that old
Anglomaniac eternally thrown at your head. But the more Mary quotes Jack
the better you like him."
"I wonder how he feels about Mary taking this way to earn his Christmas
present."
"Oh, of course he doesn't know she is doing it, and of course he
wouldn't like it if he did. But he'd have hard work stopping her. She is
as full of energy and determination as a locomotive with a full head of
steam on, and I imagine he's exactly like her. She fondly imagines that
he will be governor of Arizona some day."
"There!" exclaimed Dorene. "That suggests the dandiest thing for us to
put on the mock Christmas tree for her. A Jack-in-the-box! She's always
springing him on an unsuspecting public, and just about as unexpectedly
as those little mannikins bob up. She has used him so often to 'point
her morals and adorn her tales' that every girl in school will see the
joke."
"Well, the future governor of Arizona will get his bloodstone fob all
right as far as my patronage will help," said Cornie, when she had
laughingly applauded Dorene's suggestion. She carefully picked up the
last crumb. "I shall speak for three pounds of this right off. Papa has
such a sweet tooth that he'd a thousand times rather have a box of this
than a dozen silk mufflers and shaving cases and such things that
usually fall to a man's lot at Christmas."
If the girls in this exclusive school thought it strange that one of
their number should start a money-making enterprise, no whisper of it
reached Mary. Her sturdy independence forbade any air of patronage, and
she was such a general favourite that whatever she did was passed over
with a laugh. The few who might have been inclined to criticize found it
an unpopular thing to do. The object for which she was working enlisted
every one's interest. Jack would have ground his teeth with
mortification had he known that every girl in school was interested in
his getting a bloodstone watch-fob in his Christmas stocking, and daily
discussed the means by which it was being procured.
Orders came in rapidly, and Mary spent every spare moment in cracking
pecans, and picking out the kernels so carefully that they fell from the
shells in unbroken halves. It was a tedious undertaking and even her
study hours were encroached upon. Not that she ever neglected a lesson
for the sake of the pecans, for, as she said to Elise, "I've set my
heart on taking the valedictory for Jack's sake, and of course I
couldn't sacrifice that ambition for all the watch-fobs in the
catalogue. He wouldn't want one at that price. But I've found that I can
pick out nuts and learn French verbs at the same time. If you and A.O.
will come up to the Dom. Sci. this afternoon at four thirty, and not let
any of the other girls know, I'll let you scrape the kettle and eat the
scraps that crumble from the corners when I cut the squares. But I can
not let any one in while I'm measuring and boiling. I couldn't afford to
make a mistake."
Promptly at the time set, the girls tapped for admission, for there was
no denying the drawing qualities of Mary's wares. The pun was common
property in the school.
"Elise," said A.O., pausing in her critical tasting, when they had been
at it some time. "I really believe that this is better than Huyler's hot
fudge Sun-balls. And it is lots better than the candy that Lieutenant
Logan sent you last week."
Elise made a face expressing both surprise and reproof. "Considering
that you ate the lion's share of it, Miss Miggs, that speech is neither
pretty nor polite."
"I wonder," continued A.O., paying no attention to her, "if the
Lieutenant knows what a public benefactor he is, when he sends you
bon-bons and books and things." She had enjoyed his many offerings to
Elise as much as the recipient and thought it wise to follow her first
speech with a compliment.
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