Lilian Garis

“ A man’s voice, full, rich, persuasive, was speaking in so low a tone that his words did not convey meaning to the listening Nancy.
She listened! She crept nearer, and finally realizing that both Ruth and Isabel were not being able to dismiss the stranger, she attempted to right her rumpled self, to pat the unruly hair into place, and not knowing that her forehead looked like a beefsteak from the ice freeze, she sauntered out into the store.
“This is Miss Brandon,” announced Ruth as she entered. “She is the proprietor.”
Nancy found herself in the presence of a very important looking young man. ”

“ Nancy was accomplishing more, much more, than she had ever hoped to do, with her little shop that first brought real financial help to her mother, and was now doing as much for Miss Manners. Besides all this, it was giving the girls themselves a very useful, as well as enjoyable, summer diversion. Ruth, although a new friend of Nancy’s, had become a very fond friend indeed, for the frank, original and genuine qualities of Nancy were unmistakable in their sincerity, and it was easy enough for any girl to love her—if she could but get near enough to her to know her. ”

“ Nancy sort of moaned, “If ever I could be as new fashioned as my mother I shouldn’t mind how old nor how young I might be. And you are a love not to scold me. I know you are glad to see Manny so happy setting-up her school, and I know you will be better satisfied to have her there, facing the fierce public, than allowing me to do so. Not that I had any trouble with the dear public,” Nancy mocked. “And not that Brother Ted wasn’t always within a few miles call if I needed him. But, at any rate, Mums, I did make some real money, didn’t I?” she cooed, quite birdlike for Nancy. ”

“ Do you know, little girl, what a lot of money a big sale like that brings to Dad’s firm? And how much he would have to pay out in commission to the man who succeeded in making the sale?”
“I know one thing,” said Nancy, shifting herself out of the bed and planting two bare feet firmly upon the floor, “I’m being made a business woman, a store-keeper, a cooking school director, a plumber and now a real-estate agent. I don’t mind being a few things but that’s quite a—lot!” ”

“ She had remained over to lunch as she often did, and the two chums found pleasure in arranging the white covered tables, the shining pans, the numbered spoons and other utensils. It was all so much pleasanter than doing anything in an ordinary kitchen.
The gas range, that was sent in to Miss Manners as a demonstrator’s sample, was majestically white and really quite attractive, if such an article can be called attractive, and just how Nancy hovered rather lovingly over it, polishing with the very softest, whitest cloth the impeccable, enameled surface. ”

“ You have just got to have your evenings free,” protested Nancy. “You need lots of fresh air out here—”
“I know, dear, but after all we are just ordinary mortals and we must live as such. That means—civilization, around here,” laughed Mrs. Brandon, who was already “digging in.”
“I’ll put these pans away first.” She paused. “Whatever is this? I do declare, children, here are your lost potatoes, packed away in among the empty pans. Now, who could have done that?”
“Ted did,” replied Nancy. “He was sorting the tins. But Mother,” she said, in a grieved tone, “I know I did waste a lot of time today.” ”

“ Anna was an ideal maid, but maids are not educators and none of us can learn without being given a chance. Ted, please get the ice water. And I would try, Nancy, to have every meal, no matter how simple it is, served either on the side porch or in the dining room,” counselled Mrs. Brandon. “Nothing so demoralizes us as upset kitchen meals.”
“Yes, mother, I know that,” admitted Nancy, who, with her mother nearby for inspection, was daintily arranging the salad. “As a matter of fact, I lose things in the kitchen. Imagine losing the potatoes, pan and all!” ”

“ Her voice was droning like a school boy reciting the Charge of the Light Brigade. “What happened was this!”
“This!” interrupted Ruth, pinching Isabel’s ankles until she literally fell from her perch.
“Whow!” yelled Isabel. “Can’t one elocute without being plucked by cruel hands? I tell you, girls, we have lost a lot of fun in not keeping up with our little brothers.” This was said in a very different and quite serious tone. “If you were to ask Ted, Nancy, very confidentially, what is or was the secret of the hidden treasure place, I’m almost sure he would tell you. He knows!” ”

“ Brandon broke off, as they came in sight of the long white building, with its unmistakable hotel piazza.
In the row of rockers on the porch sat a row of men on one side and almost a row of women, or “ladies” on the other. Country folks, with a few city interlopers, composed the patronage of the Waterfall House, it was quite evident.
Nancy and her mother smiled at the faces and half-greeted them, as they passed into the office, and after asking for Miss Townsend’s rooms, followed the boy along the red carpeted hall, and up a stairs carpeted with what once had been red. ”

“ And he’s going to sleep in the store, isn’t he, Mother?”
“Oh, not in the store, Ted,” objected Nancy. “Do you think that would be just right, Manny?”
“Well, a big dog like that,” demurred Miss Manners, who, now being a real resident of the Brandon home, shared their table with them.
“But he’s had a swim and he’s as clean as—as anything,” floundered the boy, quite unable to summon an appropriate comparison for his great friend. “And Mother, he can watch the whole house for us. How do we know someone wouldn’t try to steal—the secret of the chimney place?” ”

“ Ruth reminded her, “that is what counts most. But Nancy, you really ought to consider,” pressed Ruth. “The money would mean so much to your mother, and you have a perfect right to it. I knew the way you were tearing around that big place, that you would flim-flam Cullen,” joked Ruth. “And Dad says, a hundred dollars isn’t anything on a fifteen thousand dollar deal—”
“Fifteen thousand!”
“Yes, all of that. And here’s the little one hundred check,” Ruth was pressing a slip of paper into Nancy’s unwilling hand. “Dad will be dreadfully disappointed if you refuse—you’re not too proud, are you?” ”

“ Her eyes, Nancy noticed were a faded blue, and her form—Nancy hoped that she, being tall herself, did not sag at all corners, as did Vera Johns.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” chimed in Ruth, “to have a chance really to try out business. Just as you say, Nancy, we learn to wash doll dishes as soon as we can reach a kitchen chair. Then why shouldn’t we learn to make and count pennies as early as we possibly can?” ”

“ Nancy answered emphatically. “And that’s one thing I don’t like about business. Everybody just thinks we are their servants, and they even become rude when I tell them I haven’t got something they happen to want.”
“Oh, yes, I know. But I wouldn’t worry about that. It all adds to the value of the lesson, you know. Just be sure you are right, keep a cool head and a steady hand,” her mother laughed, “then, let the other folks lose their patience if they are foolish enough to do so. But listen,” she paused attentively. “Here comes Miss Manners. And she seems to be in trouble. ”

“ The dog was again snoozing on the rug.
“Let’s sit down,” suggested Miss Townsend.
“Oh, all right,” faltered Nancy, in despair now of ever catching up on the delayed work.
“You see, it’s this way,” began the woman, making room for herself in the big chair that was serving as storage quarters for Teddy’s miscellany. “Some people are very proud—”
Nancy was simply choking with impatience.
“I mean to say, they are so proud they won’t or can’t ever give in to each other.”
“Stubborn,” suggested Nancy. “I’m that way sometimes.”
“And brother and sister,” sighed Miss Townsend. ”

“ Why, if Anna were here she would be forever poking in and out of the store, and really mother,” Nancy’s voice fell to a very serious tone, “when I get things going, I intend to make you take a vacation. I’m going to make that store pay.”
“That’s lovely, girlie,” replied the mother, “and I’m sure you and Ted are going to be wonderful little helpers. Now, come eat dinner. You must be ravenous. Here, Nancy, carry along the beans with the butter. Make each hand do its share to help out each foot, you know,” she teased. ”

“ Sanders, because they refused to call him Uncle Sam, were making tracks for the ice cream store.
Burnt potatoes, burnt meat with ice cream for dessert, thought Nancy. But she was still convinced that business was more important than housekeeping.
“Glad we didn’t burn up,” remarked Ted, as he trotted along beside Mr. Sanders.
“Never want to throw water on burning grease,” they were advised. “And always keep a thing at full arm’s length, if you must pick it up. Of course, if you turned out the gas and pushed the pan well in on the stove it would eventually burn out, but think of the smoke!” ”

“ Once more left to themselves, the burnt dinner was not referred to, as Ted helped at last to clear up the disordered kitchen. Not even the lost potatoes came in for mention as brother and sister “made things fly,” as most belated workers find themselves obliged to do.
“Here, Ted, get the broom.”
Ted grabbed the broom.
“No, let me sweep. You empty those baskets of excelsior.”
“Where?”
“Where?”
“Yes. Can we burn it?”
“No, never. No more fire for us,” groaned Nancy. “Just dump the stuff some where.”
“But we can’t, Sis,” objected Ted. “Mother 'specially said nothing could be dumped around.” ”

“ Nancy remarked indulgently. “And I’m glad you let him keep him, Mother, for Ted likes to wander off alone and a dog is good company for him.”
“The dear little fellow!” murmured his mother. “I can hardly believe he is growing up and becoming able to look after himself. So often during the day, I stop and wonder—”
“Oh, you needn’t, Mums,” interrupted Nancy, “for Manny barely lets him out of her sight without all kinds of cautions. It’s lovely since Manny came,” Nancy concluded, a little shyly. ”

“ But for a girl so young—Come back here, Tiny,” she ordered the sniffing, snuffing, frisky little dog.
“If I’m going to be a business woman I’ve got to start in,” interrupted Nancy. “They say it’s never too early to start at housework.”
“But that’s different. Every girl has to know how to keep house,” insisted Miss Townsend. She was busy straightening a box of spools that lay upon the little counter, but from her automatic actions it was perfectly evident that Miss Townsend didn’t know she was doing anything. ”

“ I don’t want mother to think we’ve been stunting your growth. You know how particular she is about exercise.”
“Exercise!” repeated Isabel. “As if the poor child hasn’t been stretching every muscle to its utmost all afternoon. Take my advice, Ted, and lie down. I’ll make an ice bag out of an old bathing cap—”
But Ted was not waiting to hear Isabel’s kind, if foolish, offer. His merry shout as he rounded the corner, however, spoke decidedly against ice bags as well as couches.
“Let’s quit,” suggested Nancy. “Honestly girls, I thought housework was tedious, but I can’t see much difference. ”

“ Sanders has around our place at all.”
“You can depend, dear,” said Mrs. Brandon gently, “that whatever he has put in the chimney, if anything, it is something that could in no way bother us. Mr. Sanders is a professor, and the old-fashioned stone oven may have some special interest for him.”
“But couldn’t he ask us about it, if he wanted to—to plant a bomb there?” Nancy remarked, superciliously.
“He’s no gabber,” said Ted, with more wisdom than elegance. “And anyway, maybe he didn’t. But Mother, may I have the old steamer rug to make a bed for Nero? He’s so big he needs a big bed.” ”

“ Nancy almost shouted. “You can start a little private school, a class in domestic science right in my—in our store,” she exclaimed. “I know at least a half dozen girls who will be glad to take a month’s course, and we’ll all pay you in advance. They always do in private schools!”
The women both appeared speechless as Nancy rattled on. The idea was plainly fascinating. A domestic science class for the girls who hated housework, as Nancy did! How much better than idling an entire vacation! ”

“ I’m going to try a cooked custard, I mean a top of the stove custard. If I can cool it by putting the dishes flat on the ice,” Nancy reasoned aloud.
“But they’ll melt right through, if they’re hot,” Ted reminded her. “I know my taffy pan did—”
“Well, perhaps I’d better not try it then, as it’s so late,” Nancy decided, relieved to find a genuine excuse. “Suppose we have toasted crackers with cheese on top? Mother always likes that and that can’t go wrong.” ”

“ The motor people come along here from Gretna Lake. There’s good fishing on that lake, and fishing supplies have a way of giving out suddenly when the inexperienced handle them. If you will let me—” he was tackling the suitcase.
“But you see,” protested Nancy, much embarrassed, “I really have no authority to—buy. Mother is not here—”
“You assume no obligation,” insisted the man. “As this is your store we are glad, in fact anxious, to leave you a sample line. If you sell them you make a very fair commission, if you do not I pick them up and try something else on my next trip.” ”