Gently but firmly taking the bleeding finger in her little hand, Rosanna
bound it up in the strips of linen, folding them back and forth in quite
a professional manner. Helen helped her to tie the bandages. Not until
they had finished did they take time to glance up at the old gentleman.
He was deathly white and leaned heavily against the cushions.
"Now, sir," said Rosanna, "if you will have your man drive you to a
doctor, he will treat it with an antiseptic and it will soon be all
right."
The old gentleman commenced to brace up as he saw that the bleeding at
least was checked. The girls got out of the car, and the old gentleman
with a muttered, "Thank you, thank you," gave an order and the chauffeur
drove rapidly away.
"He said _thank you_ once for each of us anyway," said Helen.
Elise shuddered. "Your dress!" she said, pointing to Rosanna. Sure
enough, Rosanna was spattered with blood.
"Oh, dear, I will have to be late," she said. "Just look at me! I will
have to go back and put on a clean dress." She turned reluctantly and
ran back home, while the others went on to school and the automobile
carried the old gentleman rapidly to the office of his doctor.
While the physician was attending to the hand, the old gentleman, whose
name was Harriman, sat and sputtered:
"First time I ever saw any children with a grain of common sense!" he
declared. "Little girl acted in a fairly intelligent manner. Suppose it
wouldn't happen again. Children never know anything, especially girls.
Bah!"
"Oh, yes, they do, Mr. Harriman," said Doctor Greene soothingly. "Oh,
yes, they do! Now I have two little girls of my own, and I can tell
you--"
"Don't!" said Mr. Harriman. "I make it a point never to listen to fond
parents. I am sure the two girls who fixed me up were unusual--very
unusual."
"Yes, they were," said the doctor. "You will have an easier time with
this hand of yours, thanks to their skill."
"Queer!" said Mr. Harriman. "Seemed to know just what to do."
"Must have been Girl Scouts," said the doctor musingly.
"Girl Scouts? What foolishness is that?" said Mr. Harriman.
The doctor smiled. He thought of his own two daughters.
"Ask them about it," he said, rising, and would say no more.
Mr. Harriman limped out.
"What are Girl Scouts?" Mr. Harriman asked his chauffeur as they drove
to his office.
"I dunno, sah," said the colored man, starting. He always jumped when
Mr. Harriman spoke. Everyone wanted to.
"Idiot!" said Mr. Harriman.
"Yes, sah," said the chauffeur cheerfully.
There seemed nothing else to say.
Mr. Harriman's hand healed very quickly for so old a man, and the doctor
stubbornly gave all the credit to Rosanna's first-aid treatment. Mr.
Harriman could say "Stuff and nonsense!" as many times as he liked, but
it made no difference to the doctor, who smiled and refused to discuss
the matter. Mr. Harriman commenced to have a troublesome conscience. He
felt as though he should call and thank the little girl who had
befriended him to such good purpose, especially as he had known
Rosanna's grandmother all her life, but he could not bring himself to do
it and contented himself with sending two immense wax dolls and a huge
box of candy to Rosanna's house addressed to "The two girls who recently
bound up my hand." Rosanna and Helen were quite embarrassed, but Mrs.
Horton, who was immensely amused, told them that all that was necessary
was a note of thanks, which they wrote and sent off in a great hurry.
They didn't want to keep Mr. Harriman waiting. No one did. But he
couldn't find out anything about the Girl Scouts because the only
persons he asked were the very persons who would never know anything
much about anything that had to do with girls or good times or youth or
happiness. He asked his old friends at the club, when he felt like
talking at all, and so the time went on.
In the meantime, at a Scout meeting Rosanna found herself telling the
girls all about Gwenny and the play and the plans for sending the poor
little cripple to Cincinnati for the operation which might make her
well. It was only _might_. Doctor MacLaren and the other doctors whom he
had taken to see Gwenny would only say that it could be _tried_. And the
great surgeon, Dr. Branshaw, had written Dr. MacLaren that as soon as
the child was in a fit condition she could be brought to him and he
would do what he could. He said nothing about the cost, Rosanna noticed,
when she read his letter, so she could not tell the girls what the
operation would cost. They were all as interested as they could be and
promised to work as hard as they could selling tickets, and the ones who
were chosen to take parts in the play were very happy about it. As a
matter of fact, all of them were to come on the stage, for those who had
no speaking parts came on and marched and so had a share in the glory.
And the way they learned their parts! They almost mastered them over
night. Rehearsals went on, and the day was set for the entertainment.
There was a great deal of hammering up in Mrs. Hargrave's barn. Mrs.
Hargrave and Miss Hooker and Uncle Robert spent a good deal of time up
there, but they would not let anyone else in. Even Elise was barred out,
and although she wrung her little hands and talked a funny mixture of
French and English in her pretty coaxing way, not one of the three would
relent and let her peek in. "Wait until it comes time for the dress
rehearsals," was all they would say.
A week before the play, a big box came for Uncle Robert. He opened it in
Rosanna's room. It was full of tickets nicely printed on yellow
pasteboard. Rosanna read them with rapture: the name of the play, _her_
play, and at the top in large print,
BENEFIT PERFORMANCE
"You have not said anything about what the performance is to be a
benefit _for_." said Rosanna.
"That's all right," said her uncle.
"And you have forgotten to say the price of the tickets," wailed Helen,
who was again spending the night.
"Well," said Mr. Horton, "when I went to order those tickets for you, I
had an idea. And it was this. I thought as long as this was a benefit
performance, why not let it benefit everybody present?"
"How can it do that?" asked Rosanna.
"In this way," said Uncle Robert. "There will be all sorts of people
there, because some of the Girl Scouts, Miss Hooker says, are very poor
indeed, and some of them belong to families who have plenty of money. So
Miss Hooker suggested a very good scheme. Tell the girls when they sell
tickets to say that as it is a benefit and so forth and so forth, that
the tickets are simply to let the people into the hall. As they go out
they are to pay whatever they think it is worth, from five cents up."
"Perfectly splendid!" said Helen, catching the idea at once.
"I don't know," answered Rosanna. "They will have seen the performance
and suppose everybody will feel as though it is worth only a nickel?"
"Oh, they won't feel like that at all, Rosanna," said Helen. "I think
every single person will think it is worth a quarter. Think if they
would all pay twenty-five cents!"
"I know several who expect to pay a dollar," said Uncle Robert.
"If they only will," cried Rosanna, almost sobbing, "Gwenny can go to
Cincinnati this very winter! I think it is a good idea, Uncle Robert.
After all, it is a good thing that you did consult with Miss Hooker,
even if it _has_ taken a lot of your time. I think you have been so
kind."
"Oh, I haven't minded," said Uncle Robert in a generous way.
"Why, you must have minded," went on Rosanna. "I have kept track all I
could, because I was so much obliged to you, and you have been over
there at Miss Hooker's house consulting--well, you had to go over five
nights last week, and Miss Hooker is always saying, 'I had a telephone
today from your uncle.' You must be tired to death. I nearly told Miss
Hooker so, but I thought it might sound rude."
"You are right about that, Rosanna; it would have been very rude indeed,
excessively rude I may say," said Mr. Horton with some haste. "I can
scarcely think of anything worse for you to say. My sainted Maria!"
"I didn't say it," Rosanna assured him, "and the thing is so nearly over
now, only a week more, that it really doesn't matter."
"Not a particle!" said Mr. Horton. "But I wish you would promise me that
you won't say anything of the sort. Not that it matters, but I seem to
feel nervous."
"Of course I will promise," agreed Rosanna. "I love Miss Hooker but of
course I love you more, and I just do hate to have you bothered."
"It is mighty nice of you, sweetness, but you must not worry about me at
all. Now to change the conversation, as the man said when he had nearly
been hanged by mistake, you give these tickets out to your Girl Scouts
and tell them to offer them to the people who would be most likely to
give more than a nickel. It ought to be easy. They are to say that the
benefit will cost them five cents or up as they leave the hall. With
your permission, I will make a few remarks and tell them about Gwenny.
But we will not mention her by name, because if there should be a
newspaper reporter lurking around he would put it in the papers and that
would be very embarrassing."
After Uncle Robert had gone out the girls made the tickets up in little
bundles, one for each girl in the group. Their own they spread out on
the table, planning how they would dispose of them.
"Whom shall you sell to first?" asked Helen.
"Mr. Harriman," said Rosanna quietly.
Helen dropped her tickets. "Dear _me_, Rosanna!" she cried. "I would be
too afraid to offer him a ticket."
"_I_ am not," said Rosanna. "I would do more than that for Gwenny, and I
am not afraid of him at all. Not even if he roars. And he has lots and
lots of money. I shouldn't wonder at all that he will be one of the
dollar ones if he comes. And he has _got_ to come if I go after him."
"Dear _me_!" said Helen again, quite awed. "You are brave. Shall I come
with you?"
"If you like," replied Rosanna. "We will go right after school
tomorrow."
The interview with Mr. Harriman took place as planned the first thing
after school. School let out at two o'clock, and it was half-past when
the girls mounted the steps of the grim old fortress in which Mr.
Harriman lived. Now it happened that half past two was a very dark hour
for Mr. Harriman because at about that time he was always in the clutch
of a bad attack of indigestion brought on daily because he would _not_
mind his doctor and omit pickles and sweets from his bill of fare. At
this time he read the morning paper and reviled the world at large. His
sister always left him with the excuse that she wanted to lie down, and
he was alone with his abused stomach and his pepsin tablets and his
thoughts.
The two girls entered the room and waited for him to speak.
Mr. Harriman looked up from his reading with a dark scowl. Most of the
newspaper was on the floor where he had thrown it to stamp on. He always
felt better when he stamped on the editorials that displeased him most.
It seemed to soothe his feelings. He managed to grunt, "'Dafternoon!
'Dafternoon!" when he saw the two girls advance across his library, and
then he waited, looking over the tops of a very grubby pair of glasses
for them to state their errands. It was Rosanna who spoke first,
although generally Helen was the spokesman. But Helen was frankly afraid
of the grouchy old gentleman, while Rosanna was too anxious to help
Gwenny to be afraid of anyone. So she said, "Please excuse us, Mr.
Harriman, if we have interrupted your reading."
"Well, you have!" said Mr. Harriman gruffly. "Whadder you want? Sell me
chances on a doll's carriage or sofy pillow? Who's getting up your fair?
Meth'dist, 'Piscopal? Here's a dime."
He held out the money, which Rosanna took gently and laid on the table
beside him.
"Thank you," she said. "We don't want any money today. We have come to
tell you about an entertainment we are going to give. First if you don't
mind I think I will just shine up your glasses. You can't see to think
through them the way they are," and as Helen looked on, expecting to see
Rosanna snapped in two any second, she held out her hand for the
glasses, shaking out a clean pocket handkerchief as she did so. No one
was more surprised than Mr. Harriman himself when he took off the smeary
spectacles and handed them to Rosanna, who silently polished them and
handed them back. They _were_ better; Mr. Harriman acknowledged it with
a grunt.
"Girls are real handy," said Rosanna with her sweet smile.
"Grrrrrr!" from Mr. Harriman. "Whadded you want to tell me?" but his
voice certainly seemed a shade less gruff.
Rosanna, speaking distinctly and as carefully as though she was
explaining to a small child, told the old man about Gwenny and the
benefit and after that, as he sat perfectly still looking at her through
unnaturally shiny glasses, she went on to tell him about the Girl
Scouts. You couldn't tell whether he cared a snap about it, but at all
events he listened, and Helen and Rosanna both thought it was a good
sign. They did not dare to glance at each other, but Rosanna went on
talking until she felt that she had told him all that he would want to
know if he had been a regular sort of a human being instead of a
grouchy, cross old man who seemed to delight in scaring everyone away
from him.
"That's all," said Rosanna finally, smiling up into the scowling old
face.
There was a long silence,
"Grrrrrr!" said Mr. Harriman again. "So you want me to come to your
show, do you? Haven't been to a show for forty years! No good! Silly!"
"Ours isn't," declared Helen, suddenly finding her voice. "Our
entertainment is perfectly splendid!"
"Perfectly splendid!" mimicked Mr. Harriman. "Sounds just like a woman!
All alike, regardless of age. Grrrrrr!"
"You will come, won't you?" asked Rosanna. "Please do! You see it is
only a nickel if you do not think it is worth more."
"A great many persons are going to pay a quarter," hinted Helen.
"All right, all right!" said Mr. Harriman. "You are less objectionable
than most children. I will come if I can remember it."
"Suppose I come after you?" suggested Rosanna, remembering what she had
said to Helen about getting Mr. Harriman if she had to come after him.
"All right, all right! Let it go at that! I know your sex! You will
forget all about your agreement by the time you reach the next corner.
If you come after me, I will go to your show. In the Hargrave barn, eh?
Anything to sit on, or shall I bring a chair?"
"No, sir; Uncle Robert has fixed seats and everything. And I will come
for you quite early because I have to be there doing my part."
"That's nuff!" grunted Mr. Harriman, nodding curtly. "'Dafternoon!" He
resumed his paper, and as he caught the opening sentences of the article
before him, there came a sound like the grating of teeth and the noise
of a large boiler that is about to explode.
The girls said, "Good afternoon!" in two small voices and went out as
quickly as they could.
Helen breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the outer air.
"Rosanna, you are certainly a very brave girl," she said. "I am glad to
get out alive. Every minute I expected to hear him say, 'Fee-fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an English-mun!'"
Rosanna laughed.
"He is pretty awful," she granted. "But I mean to make him come. I think
it will do him good to see that play, and I shall certainly go after
him. If he thinks I am going to forget about him, he is greatly
mistaken."
"Let's try to get rid of all our tickets this afternoon. You know we are
to meet Uncle Robert at the barn at five o'clock to see the theatre he
has fixed up. Oh, Helen, I am _so_ excited!"
For a couple of hours the girls repeated the story of Gwenny and the
benefit until they could say it by heart. The tickets went so fast that
they were sorry that they did not have twice as many. At a quarter of
five they hurried back to Mrs. Hargrave's, where Elise was waiting for
them and Uncle Robert soon joined them. There was a short wait then,
because he refused to unlock the door before Miss Hooker arrived
although the girls begged and begged, assuring him that she wouldn't
mind.
Finally they heard the tap, tap, tap of her tiny shoes on the old brick
walk, and round the corner she came, looking more dimply and dainty and
altogether beautiful than ever. Uncle Robert looked as though he could
eat her, but somehow it was not the sort of look he had given Rosanna
that other time. Not at all! Rosanna noticed it.