"I assure you, I have been amply paid, madam," said the gentleman, "and
I beg you will consider the matter settled. It is all right, little
one," laying his hand on Bessie's head as she looked up at him; "you
have made no mistake;" and then taking the paper-weight and picture, he
wrapped them in paper and returned them to the children.
From this store they went to another, where they were a long time
choosing the ribbon for their book-marks, while Aunt Helen and Annie
waited with wonderful patience till they had decided this important
question. Here, also, a pincushion was bought for nurse, and an
emery-bag for Jane. Then Maggie, coming back from a show-case, about
which she had been spying, begged Aunt Annie to go to the other end of
the store, and on no account to turn her head. Aunt Helen was taken to
the case, and a box was pointed out which Maggie thought would be the
very thing for a ribbon-box.
"But you cannot buy that, dear," said Mrs. Duncan; "it is too
expensive."
"Oh, no, Aunt Helen! it is marked five cents,--just see," said Maggie.
"My poor pet, that is five dollars, not five cents."
This was a great disappointment, for Maggie had quite set her heart on
the box; but, of course, she and Bessie could not give five dollars,
since they had not the half of that to spend.
"It's real mean," she said, angrily, "to go and cheat children so, and
make them think it's five cents when it's five dollars."
"Do not speak so, dear," said her aunt; "'cheat' is not a pretty word
for you to use, and those numbers mean five dollars very plainly to any
one who can read them. Ask papa to teach you about that to-night."
"Let's go back and buy all our presents of that gentleman," said
Maggie. "He knows how to keep store a great deal better than these
people."
"Better for your purses than for his own, I think," said Mrs. Duncan,
laughing. "No, dear, we have bought enough there for this time. We will
find something else for Aunt Annie."
"Maggie, Maggie," called Bessie, "come and look at the cunningest glass
animals you ever saw in your life."
Maggie's displeasure was quite forgotten as she saw the pretty toys,
and as she and Bessie were looking at them, Aunt Annie joined them.
"What a beautiful glass cat!" she said. "I wish Santa Claus would
have one like it on the Christmas-tree for me. I should put it on my
what-not, and I do not believe that a mouse would dare to show so much
as the tip of his tail in my room, if I had this pussy to guard me."
"Oh, Aunt Annie," said Maggie; "just as if a mouse would be afraid of
such a mite of a glass kitty! He would know it could not hurt him."
"Well," said Annie, "if you see Santa Claus, just tell him I would like
to have it."
Maggie turned and looked at Bessie with a shake of her head, and eyes
which very plainly asked the question. "Shall we buy it for her?" and
Bessie answered with a nod which said quite as plainly, "By all means."
So they begged Aunt Annie to walk away once more, a request which she
had quite expected, and she went off laughing. Bessie asked the price
of the cat, and was told, "six cents," so there was no difficulty about
that, and pussy was bought. Then, after some whispering, Mrs. Duncan
was sent after Annie, and a glass deer was bought for her _étagere_.
The woman who served the children brought a small box, and putting some
cotton in it, laid the deer and the cat upon it, and gave the box into
Maggie's hand, saying that she could carry them safely in this way.
Maggie told Bessie that the woman knew how to keep store pretty well,
after all.
One or two more small purchases were made, and then they went home.
They went shopping several times with mamma or their aunts before all
their presents were bought; but two days before Christmas everything
was ready,--the book-marks with, "To my dear Father," and "To my dear
Mother," as well as those for Colonel and Mrs. Rush, a watchman's
rattle for noisy Fred, and for Harry, since he was fond of birds, a
yellow wooden canary in a pewter cage. It would take too long to name
each article, and the person for whom it was intended; but not one
of the family, or of their intimate friends, was forgotten. Papa and
mamma, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncle, and cousins, grandmamma and
the two grandpapas, Colonel and Mrs. Rush, Jemmy and Mary Bent, and
even each servant in the house were remembered and provided for; and
the older people were quite astonished to see how much the children had
done with the two dollars and sixty cents with which they had started.
And now began the grand preparations for the important day. The
Christmas-tree in its square green box came home, and was carried
into the library, where the children were now forbidden to go. The
"grown-upers," as Fred called them, were passing in and out all the
time, going in laden with parcels of all shapes and sizes, and coming
out empty-handed. But if the older people had their secrets, the
children, also, had theirs, not the least of which was one in which the
four eldest were engaged, and which was carried on for a while in the
boys' room.
The tree was not to be displayed until the evening of Christmas-day,
when there was to be a large family dinner at Mrs. Bradford's, to which
Colonel and Mrs. Rush were invited.
[Illustration: decorative]
[Illustration: decorative]