"
She had lost her nervousness. She stood squarely before the old man,
lifting her tender blue eyes to his.
"Wal--an' what are you a-goin' to do about it?"
"I can't do overly much, Mr. Spooner, but fer a little girl I'm rich.
The dry year ain't hurt me any--yet. I've three dollars and sixty
cents of my own."
One hand had remained tightly clenched. Sissy opened it. In the moist
pink palm lay three dollars, a fifty-cent piece, and a dime. Never had
Pap's voice sounded so harsh in my ears as when he said: "Do I
understan' that ye offer this to--me?"
His tone frightened her.
"Yas, sir. Won't you p-p-please t-take it?"
"Did yer folks tell ye to give me this money?"
"Why, no. I'd oughter hev asked 'em, I s'pose, but I never thought o'
that. Honest Injun, Mr. Spooner, I didn't--and--and it's my own
money," she concluded, half defiantly, "an' Popsy said as how I could
do what I liked with it. Please take it."
"No," said Pap.
He stared at us, clicking his teeth and frowning. Then he said,
curtly, "Wal, I'll take the dime, Sissy--I kin make a dime go farther
than a dollar, can't I, boys?"
"You bet," said Ajax.
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