Katy blushed when she met the keeper of the grocery at the corner of the court, for in spite of all her fine talk about false pride, she had not entirely banished it from her heart. Some queer ideas came into her head as she thought what she was doing.
What would her grandfather, the rich Liverpool merchant, say, should he meet her then? Of course he would not know her; he would be ashamed of her. But she did not permit such reflections as these to influence her; and as soon as she was conscious of the nature of her thoughts she banished them.
"I'm going to support my mother, and I have no right to be proud.
If I meet my grandfather, I should like to sell him twenty sticks of candy."
"Hallo, Katy! What are you going to do?" said a voice behind, which she recognized as that of her friend Tommy Howard.
"I'm going to sell this candy," replied Katy.
"You're a spunky one; mother told me all about it. I should like two sticks," said Tommy, as he offered her the money.
"Take two, Tommy, and as many more as you like."
"Two is all I want;" and he placed the two cents on the tray.
"No, Tommy, I won't take your money," replied Katy, with a blush, for she felt ashamed to take his money.
"That's no way to trade," laughed Tommy. "You won't make much, it you do so. Keep the money and I will keep the candy."
"I can't keep it, Tommy."
"You must; if you don't take the money, I won't take the candy."
"I owe you two cents, Tommy. I will pay you now."
"No, you don't!"
"Please to take them; I shall feel very bad, if you don't."
Tommy Howard looked her in the eye a moment; he saw a tear there.
Her pride was wounded, and he took the two cents from the tray, for he did not wish to give her pain.
"Now, we are square, Tommy," said Katy, as her face brightened up again.
"Yes, we are, but I don't like it pretty well. One of these days, when you get out of this scrape, I will let you give me as much candy as you have a mind to."
This was very obliging of Tommy; and when Katy understood his motive, she was sorry she had not permitted him to pay for the candy, for she saw that he did not feel just right about the transaction. It was not exactly mercantile, but then the heart comes before commerce. As she walked along, she could not help thinking that her natural generosity might seriously interfere with the profits of her enterprise. She had a great many friends; and it became a knotty question for her to decide whether, if she met any of her school companions, she should give each of them a stick of candy. She would like to do so very much indeed; but it was certain she could not afford to pursue such a liberal policy.
It was a hard question, and, hoping she should not meet any of her schoolmates, she determined to refer it to her mother for settlement.
When she got into Washington Street, she felt that the time for action had come. Now was the time to sell candy; and yet she did not feel like asking folks to buy her wares. The night before, as she lay thinking about her business, it had all seemed very easy to her; but now it was quite a different thing. No one seemed to take any notice of her, or to feel the least interest in the great mission she had undertaken. But Katy was aware that it requires some effort in these days to sell goods, and she must work; she must ask people to buy her candy.
There was a nice-looking gentleman, with a good-natured face, coming down the street, and she resolved to make a beginning with him. He couldn't say much more than no to her, and she placed herself in a position to accost him. But when he came near enough, her courage all oozed out, and she let him pass without speaking to him.
"What a fool I am!" exclaimed she to herself when he had passed.
"I shall never do anything in this way. There comes another gentleman who looks as though he had a sweet tooth; at any rate, he seems as good-natured as a pound of sugar. I will certainly try him."
Her heart pounded against her ribs as though it had been worked by a forty-horse engine--poor girl. It was a great undertaking to her; quite as great as taking a six-story granite warehouse, piling it full of merchandise from cellar to attic, and announcing himself as ready for business, to a child of a larger growth. Everything seemed to hang on the issues of that tremendous moment.
"Buy some candy?" said she, in tremulous tones, her great, swelling heart almost choking her utterance.
"No, child. I don't want any," replied the gentleman, kindly, as he glanced at the tray on which the candy had been so invitingly spread.
"It is very nice," stammered Katy; "and perhaps your children at home would like some, if you do not."
Bravo, Katy! That was very well done, though the gentleman was an old bachelor, and could not appreciate the full force of your argument.
"Are you sure it is very nice?" asked the gentleman, with a benevolent smile, when he had laughed heartily at Katy's jumping conclusion.
"I know it is," replied the little candy merchant, very positively.
"Then you may give me six sticks;" and he threw a fourpence on her tray.
Six sticks! Katy was astonished at the magnitude of her first commercial transaction. Visions of wealth, a fine house, and silk dresses for her mother and herself, danced through her excited brain, and she thought that her grandfather, the great Liverpool merchant, would not have been ashamed of her if he had been present to witness that magnificent operation.
"Have you any paper to wrap it up in?" asked the gentleman.
Here was an emergency for which Katy had not provided. Her grandest expectations had not extended beyond the sale of one stick at a time, and she was not prepared for such a rush of trade. However, she tore off a piece from one of the white sheets at the bottom of the tray, wrapped up the six sticks as nicely as she could, and handed them to the gentleman, who then left her to find another customer.
Katy, elated by her first success, ran home as fast as she could to procure some more white paper, of which she had a dozen sheets that had been given her by a friend. It was in the back room, so that she did not disturb her mother, choosing to astonish her with the whole story of her success at noon.
