The Corner House Girls Part 17

"Of course not," Ruth said, briskly. "Now, girls, look here. Mr.

Howbridge says we may keep Uncle Rufus, and he will pay him."

"Oh, goody!" cried Agnes, clapping her hands.

At once Spotty tumbled off her lap and scurried under the sofa. He was not used to such actions.

"Now you've scared Spotty, I'm afraid," said Tess.

"He can get over his scare. What's that in your hand, Ruth?" demanded Agnes.

"This is some money Mr. Howbridge gave me for us to spend. He calls it our monthly allowance. He says we are to use it just as we please-each of us."

"Is some of it mine?" asked Dot.

"Yes, dearie. We'll see how much he gives you to spend for your very owniest own, first of all."

Ruth tore open the big envelope and shook out four sealed envelopes of smaller size. She sorted them and found the one addressed in Mr.

Howbridge's clerkly hand to "Miss Dorothy Kenway."

"Now open it, Dot," urged Tess.

The little girl did so, with sparkling eyes and the color flus.h.i.+ng into her cheeks. From the envelope, when it was opened, she drew a crisp, folded dollar bill.

"My!" she murmured. "A whole-new-dollar bill! My! And can I spend it all, Ruthie?"

"Surely," said the elder sister, smiling.

"Then I know just what I'm going to do," said Dot, nodding her head.

"What's that?" asked Agnes.

"I'm going to buy some candy on Sat.u.r.day that's not pep'mints. I just _am_. I'm tired of Aunt Sarah's old pep'mint drops."

The other girls laughed loudly at this decision of Dot's. "You funny little thing!" said Ruth. "Of course you shall buy candy-if you want to. But I wouldn't spend the whole dollar for it. Remember, you'll get no more spending money until this time next month."

"I should hope she'd have sense enough to kind of spread it out through the month," said Agnes. "Hurry up, Ruth. Let's see what he's given the rest of us."

Tess opened her envelope and found a dollar and a half. "Oh, I'm _rich_!" she declared. "I'm awfully obliged to Mr. Howbridge. I'll tell him so when he comes again." Then she turned swiftly to Dot and hugged her. "You don't mind if I have half a dollar more than _you_ do, Dot?" she asked. "I'll divide it with you."

That was Tess' way. She could not bear to think that anybody's feelings were hurt because of her. Ruth intervened:

"Dot knows you are two whole years older than she, Tess. Both of you have more money to spend than you ever had before, and I am sure neither will be selfish with it."

Agnes grabbed her envelope. "I'm just as anxious to see as I can be,"

she confessed.

When she ripped open the envelope she drew forth two crisp dollar bills. But in Ruth's there were five dollars.

"My! it's a lot of money," Agnes said. "And I guess you _ought_ to have more than us-a great deal more, Ruthie. I'm glad of my two dollars. I can treat Eva Larry and Myra Stetson. And I'll get some new ribbons, and a book I saw in a window that I want to read. Then, there's the prettiest pair of buckles for fifty cents in the shoeshop window right down Main Street. Did you see them, Ruth? I want them for my best slippers. They'll look scrumptious! And I'd _love_ to have one of those embroidered handkerchiefs that they sell at the Lady's Shop.

Besides, it's nice to have a little change to rattle in one's purse--"

"Mercy!" exclaimed Ruth. "You've spent your allowance twice over, already. And you still hope to rattle it in your purse! You want to have your cake, and eat it, too-which is something that n.o.body ever managed to accomplish yet, my dear."

It was really wonderful for them all to have money of their own that need not be accounted for. They came to the luncheon table with very bright faces, despite the stormy day. They did not say anything, before Aunt Sarah, about the allowance Mr. Howbridge had given them.

Ruth was afraid that Aunt Sarah might feel hurt about it.

"She _is_ so touchy," she said to the others, "about Uncle Peter's money. And she ought to know that she is just as welcome to her share as she can be!"

"I expect," the thoughtful Tess said, "that Aunt Sarah would have enjoyed giving to us just as much as we enjoy giving to her. Maybe _that's_ what's the matter with her."

Perhaps that was partly Aunt Sarah's trouble. However, there were other topics of conversation to keep their tongues busy, if the money was tabooed. Tess could not keep from talking about Tommy Rooney.

"I _know_ it was Tommy I saw," she declared.

"But how could Tommy get here, clear from Bloomingsburg?" Ruth said.

"You know how long it took us to get here by train."

"I know, Sister," Tess said. "But it _was_ Tommy. And he must have had an awfully hard time."

"Do-do you s'pose he is looking for us?" queried Dot.

"Don't you fret, Dot," a.s.sured Agnes. "He sha'n't jump out and say 'Boo!' at you any more."

"It isn't that. I guess the dark scared me more than Tommy did,"

confessed Dot. "But say, Tess! Did he have his Indian suit on when he went by in the rain?"

"No. Just rags," declared Tess.

After luncheon Ruth rummaged for brooms, brushes and dustcloths. Mrs.

McCall asked:

"What under the canopy are you girls going to do now?"

"Garret. Going to clean it," said Agnes.

"You're never going up in that garret in a storm?" demanded the widow, with a strange look on her face.

"Why not?" asked Agnes, eagerly.

"What do you want to bother with it for?" the good lady asked Ruth without making Agnes any reply.

"So we can play there on just such days as this," said Ruth, firmly.

"It will make a splendid playroom."

"Well! I wouldn't do it for a farm," declared Mrs. McCall, and at once went out of the room, so that the girls could not ask further questions. Agnes whispered to Ruth:

"She knows about the ghost, all right!"