They came into the town by a different route, which led past the Ramseys' buff cottage.

"There's Vera and her mother and some ladies sitting on the porch,"

remarked Alene.

"And see, there's Hermione at an upstairs window," said Ivy.

The girls waved their hands to that smiling friend and the boys gallantly doffed their hats as they raced Old Hurricane past the house.

Mrs. Ramsey gazed after the vehicle with a look of amazement. She had obtained a glimpse of the girls, in their print dresses and sunbonnets, but had failed to recognize them.

"Who can they be?"

"They evidently know you," said one of the ladies, smilingly. "Didn't you see that little curly-headed girl swinging her bonnet?"

"Not at us, surely!"

Vera smiled at her mother's shocked tone.

"That was Ivy Bonner; they were waving at Hermione upstairs."

"I thought it looked like Dawson's rig, but surely Alene wasn't--"

"Yes, she was there, with her face all stained with berry juice! I guess they were out picking blackberries!"

Mrs. Ramsey raised her eyes in despair. "What does Fred Dawson mean by allowing it? If that poor child's mother only knew!"

CHAPTER XIX

THE BLUE BOX

It was eight o'clock when Jed Granger, a youth of eighteen, who acted as a sort of under gardener at the Towers, left a hamper at the Lee home.

"Here's a note from Alene," explained Laura, running her eyes over the sheet of tinted paper. "Of all the foolish things to do!"

Ivy sat beside the kitchen table, writing a neat label for Mrs. k.u.mp's jar of jam. She glanced up at Laura.

"Well?"

"Just listen! Mother, listen to this!"

"Laura Dear:--

Good luck! Uncle Fred gave me two dollars to buy something for Mrs.

k.u.mp. Didn't have time to consult you or Ivy but I know you will be pleased! It's on top of the hamper. Be sure and look at it.

Good-bye!

"Alene D."

"Candy! Let's look at it!"

Laura, still wearing a look of disgust, opened the package, displaying a box of pale blue and silver tied with narrow ribbons, which after a careful untying and lifting of the lid disclosed a splendor of lace-work and tinsel-paper, over layer upon layer of bon bons and candied fruit, with a cute little silver tongs.

"Delicious! And what a beautiful box!"

"It's certainly very fine!"

"But for old Mrs. k.u.mp!" cried Laura. "The money or something substantial would do so much better!"

"There's plenty of substantials in Alene's hamper," said Mrs. Lee.

"b.u.t.ter, coffee, tea."

"But this fine candy and the ribbons and fixings! It's like throwing the money away!" said Laura sharply, as she wrapped up the box and replaced it on the hamper.

Though Ivy had doubts of the usefulness of Alene's gift, she felt a certain satisfaction in having it to send along with the more practical things; she wished she had a volume of her own poetry, bound in blue with the name just as she had often pictured it in silver letters, "Early Blossoms," to send; it would go so well with Alene's box.

Laura's condemnation, however, made this seem a foolish desire, which she would not dare to mention.

They returned to the work of getting everything ready for the boys to carry to Mrs. k.u.mp. Ivy completed her label and pasted it on the jar, where the fancy initials looked effective. Laura and her mother proceeded with the packing. The former still wore a disapproving countenance and her vexation hung round them like a cloud.

"This reminds me of something that happened to me once upon a time,"

said Mrs. Lee, who had occasion to move the hamper. Ivy smiled encouragingly.

"Ob, a story, a story! Come and sit here, Lol, and listen!"

"Once upon a time," Mrs. Lee began, "I and my cousin Clementina, just about my own age, ten years, were the best of chums, even thicker than you Happy-Go-Lucky girls, for we had just ourselves to play with, all the other members of both families being much older; the next in age was my sister Roxana, going on sixteen. Clemmie and I used to watch the store windows and I remember one day we stood transfixed at a new display in Smithley's drug store. In addition to drugs, they sold many other things, so there we stood, Clemmie admiring a pair of pink garters with silver buckles, while I looked longingly at a volume of _Jane Eyre_.

"'Only thirty cents! If I only had a pair!' sighed Clementina.

"'A dollar and a half,' I lamented, for in those days there were no cheap editions of books.

"Day after day on our way to and from school we stopped before our idols. Clem told me she often dreamed of that pair of garters with its shining buckles!

"'Sat.u.r.day's my birthday; if some kind, rich old gentleman would happen along and adopt me before then, the first thing I'd ask for would be a pair of pink garters like these!'

"That day when I reached home I found a small package which my G.o.dmother, Mrs. Keyes, had left for me. It was a pretty handkerchief with my initial in the corner, and knotted inside was a silver half dollar. To me that was quite a fortune and Roxana gave me much advice as to its disposal, but I scarcely heard what she said; I was thinking of something else; you can guess what it was."

"Yes, we know, we know," cried Ivy.

"Friday evening, I sneaked away from Clem and went to Smithley's.

"I could hardly control my voice to speak when the proprietor came forward. I had come to a halt near the show window.

"'What's your lowest price for _Jane Eyre_?' I found myself saying.