CHAPTER V
Gently but firmly taking the bleeding finger in her little hand, Rosannabound it up in the strips of linen, folding them back and forth in quitea professional manner. Helen helped her to tie the bandages. Not untilthey had finished did they take time to glance up at the old gentleman.He was deathly white and leaned heavily against the cushions.
"Now, sir," said Rosanna, "if you will have your man drive you to adoctor, he will treat it with an antiseptic and it will soon be allright."
The old gentleman commenced to brace up as he saw that the bleeding atleast was checked. The girls got out of the car, and the old gentlemanwith a muttered, "Thank you, thank you," gave an order and the chauffeurdrove rapidly away.
"He said _thank you_ once for each of us anyway," said Helen.
Elise shuddered. "Your dress!" she said, pointing to Rosanna. Sureenough, Rosanna was spattered with blood.
"Oh, dear, I will have to be late," she said. "Just look at me! I willhave to go back and put on a clean dress." She turned reluctantly andran back home, while the others went on to school and the automobilecarried the old gentleman rapidly to the office of his doctor.
While the physician was attending to the hand, the old gentleman, whosename was Harriman, sat and sputtered:
"First time I ever saw any children with a grain of common sense!" hedeclared. "Little girl acted in a fairly intelligent manner. Suppose itwouldn't happen again. Children never know anything, especially girls.Bah!"
"Oh, yes, they do, Mr. Harriman," said Doctor Greene soothingly. "Oh,yes, they do! Now I have two little girls of my own, and I can tellyou--"
"Don't!" said Mr. Harriman. "I make it a point never to listen to fondparents. I am sure the two girls who fixed me up were unusual--veryunusual."
"Yes, they were," said the doctor. "You will have an easier time withthis hand of yours, thanks to their skill."
"Queer!" said Mr. Harriman. "Seemed to know just what to do."
"Must have been Girl Scouts," said the doctor musingly.
"Girl Scouts? What foolishness is that?" said Mr. Harriman.
The doctor smiled. He thought of his own two daughters.
"Ask them about it," he said, rising, and would say no more.
Mr. Harriman limped out.
"What are Girl Scouts?" Mr. Harriman asked his chauffeur as they droveto his office.
"I dunno, sah," said the colored man, starting. He always jumped whenMr. Harriman spoke. Everyone wanted to.
"Idiot!" said Mr. Harriman.
"Yes, sah," said the chauffeur cheerfully.
There seemed nothing else to say.
Mr. Harriman's hand healed very quickly for so old a man, and the doctorstubbornly gave all the credit to Rosanna's first-aid treatment. Mr.Harriman could say "Stuff and nonsense!" as many times as he liked, butit made no difference to the doctor, who smiled and refused to discussthe matter. Mr. Harriman commenced to have a troublesome conscience. Hefelt as though he should call and thank the little girl who hadbefriended him to such good purpose, especially as he had knownRosanna's grandmother all her life, but he could not bring himself to doit and contented himself with sending two immense wax dolls and a hugebox of candy to Rosanna's house addressed to "The two girls who recentlybound up my hand." Rosanna and Helen were quite embarrassed, but Mrs.Horton, who was immensely amused, told them that all that was necessarywas a note of thanks, which they wrote and sent off in a great hurry.They didn't want to keep Mr. Harriman waiting. No one did. But hecouldn't find out anything about the Girl Scouts because the onlypersons he asked were the very persons who would never know anythingmuch about anything that had to do with girls or good times or youth orhappiness. He asked his old friends at the club, when he felt liketalking at all, and so the time went on.
In the meantime, at a Scout meeting Rosanna found herself telling thegirls all about Gwenny and the play and the plans for sending the poorlittle cripple to Cincinnati for the operation which might make herwell. It was only _might_. Doctor MacLaren and the other doctors whom hehad taken to see Gwenny would only say that it could be _tried_. And thegreat surgeon, Dr. Branshaw, had written Dr. MacLaren that as soon asthe child was in a fit condition she could be brought to him and hewould do what he could. He said nothing about the cost, Rosanna noticed,when she read his letter, so she could not tell the girls what theoperation would cost. They were all as interested as they could be andpromised to work as hard as they could selling tickets, and the ones whowere chosen to take parts in the play were very happy about it. As amatter of fact, all of them were to come on the stage, for those who hadno speaking parts came on and marched and so had a share in the glory.
And the way they learned their parts! They almost mastered them overnight. Rehearsals went on, and the day was set for the entertainment.
There was a great deal of hammering up in Mrs. Hargrave's barn. Mrs.Hargrave and Miss Hooker and Uncle Robert spent a good deal of time upthere, but they would not let anyone else in. Even Elise was barred out,and although she wrung her little hands and talked a funny mixture ofFrench and English in her pretty coaxing way, not one of the three wouldrelent and let her peek in. "Wait until it comes time for the dressrehearsals," was all they would say.
A week before the play, a big box came for Uncle Robert. He opened it inRosanna's room. It was full of tickets nicely printed on yellowpasteboard. Rosanna read them with rapture: the name of the play, _her_play, and at the top in large print,
BENEFIT PERFORMANCE
"You have not said anything about what the performance is to be abenefit _for_." said Rosanna.
"That's all right," said her uncle.
"And you have forgotten to say the price of the tickets," wailed Helen,who was again spending the night.
"Well," said Mr. Horton, "when I went to order those tickets for you, Ihad an idea. And it was this. I thought as long as this was a benefitperformance, why not let it benefit everybody present?"
"How can it do that?" asked Rosanna.
"In this way," said Uncle Robert. "There will be all sorts of peoplethere, because some of the Girl Scouts, Miss Hooker says, are very poorindeed, and some of them belong to families who have plenty of money. SoMiss Hooker suggested a very good scheme. Tell the girls when they selltickets to say that as it is a benefit and so forth and so forth, thatthe tickets are simply to let the people into the hall. As they go outthey are to pay whatever they think it is worth, from five cents up."
"Perfectly splendid!" said Helen, catching the idea at once.
"I don't know," answered Rosanna. "They will have seen the performanceand suppose everybody will feel as though it is worth only a nickel?"
"Oh, they won't feel like that at all, Rosanna," said Helen. "I thinkevery single person will think it is worth a quarter. Think if theywould all pay twenty-five cents!"
"I know several who expect to pay a dollar," said Uncle Robert.
"If they only will," cried Rosanna, almost sobbing, "Gwenny can go toCincinnati this very winter! I think it is a good idea, Uncle Robert.After all, it is a good thing that you did consult with Miss Hooker,even if it _has_ taken a lot of your time. I think you have been sokind."
"Oh, I haven't minded," said Uncle Robert in a generous way.
"Why, you must have minded," went on Rosanna. "I have kept track all Icould, because I was so much obliged to you, and you have been overthere at Miss Hooker's house consulting--well, you had to go over fivenights last week, and Miss Hooker is always saying, 'I had a telephonetoday from your uncle.' You must be tired to death. I nearly told MissHooker so, but I thought it might sound rude."
"You are right about that, Rosanna; it would have been very rude indeed,excessively rude I may say," said Mr. Horton with some haste. "I canscarcely think of anything worse for you to say. My sainted Maria!"
"I didn't say it," Rosanna assured him, "and the thing is so nearly overnow, only a week more, that it really doesn't matter."
"Not a particle!" said Mr
. Horton. "But I wish you would promise me thatyou won't say anything of the sort. Not that it matters, but I seem tofeel nervous."
"Of course I will promise," agreed Rosanna. "I love Miss Hooker but ofcourse I love you more, and I just do hate to have you bothered."
"It is mighty nice of you, sweetness, but you must not worry about me atall. Now to change the conversation, as the man said when he had nearlybeen hanged by mistake, you give these tickets out to your Girl Scoutsand tell them to offer them to the people who would be most likely togive more than a nickel. It ought to be easy. They are to say that thebenefit will cost them five cents or up as they leave the hall. Withyour permission, I will make a few remarks and tell them about Gwenny.But we will not mention her by name, because if there should be anewspaper reporter lurking around he would put it in the papers and thatwould be very embarrassing."
After Uncle Robert had gone out the girls made the tickets up in littlebundles, one for each girl in the group. Their own they spread out onthe table, planning how they would dispose of them.
"Whom shall you sell to first?" asked Helen.
"Mr. Harriman," said Rosanna quietly.
Helen dropped her tickets. "Dear _me_, Rosanna!" she cried. "I would betoo afraid to offer him a ticket."
"_I_ am not," said Rosanna. "I would do more than that for Gwenny, and Iam not afraid of him at all. Not even if he roars. And he has lots andlots of money. I shouldn't wonder at all that he will be one of thedollar ones if he comes. And he has _got_ to come if I go after him."
"Dear _me_!" said Helen again, quite awed. "You are brave. Shall I comewith you?"
"If you like," replied Rosanna. "We will go right after schooltomorrow."
The interview with Mr. Harriman took place as planned the first thingafter school. School let out at two o'clock, and it was half-past whenthe girls mounted the steps of the grim old fortress in which Mr.Harriman lived. Now it happened that half past two was a very dark hourfor Mr. Harriman because at about that time he was always in the clutchof a bad attack of indigestion brought on daily because he would _not_mind his doctor and omit pickles and sweets from his bill of fare. Atthis time he read the morning paper and reviled the world at large. Hissister always left him with the excuse that she wanted to lie down, andhe was alone with his abused stomach and his pepsin tablets and histhoughts.
The two girls entered the room and waited for him to speak.
Mr. Harriman looked up from his reading with a dark scowl. Most of thenewspaper was on the floor where he had thrown it to stamp on. He alwaysfelt better when he stamped on the editorials that displeased him most.It seemed to soothe his feelings. He managed to grunt, "'Dafternoon!'Dafternoon!" when he saw the two girls advance across his library, andthen he waited, looking over the tops of a very grubby pair of glassesfor them to state their errands. It was Rosanna who spoke first,although generally Helen was the spokesman. But Helen was frankly afraidof the grouchy old gentleman, while Rosanna was too anxious to helpGwenny to be afraid of anyone. So she said, "Please excuse us, Mr.Harriman, if we have interrupted your reading."
"Well, you have!" said Mr. Harriman gruffly. "Whadder you want? Sell mechances on a doll's carriage or sofy pillow? Who's getting up your fair?Meth'dist, 'Piscopal? Here's a dime."
He held out the money, which Rosanna took gently and laid on the tablebeside him.
"Thank you," she said. "We don't want any money today. We have come totell you about an entertainment we are going to give. First if you don'tmind I think I will just shine up your glasses. You can't see to thinkthrough them the way they are," and as Helen looked on, expecting to seeRosanna snapped in two any second, she held out her hand for theglasses, shaking out a clean pocket handkerchief as she did so. No onewas more surprised than Mr. Harriman himself when he took off the smearyspectacles and handed them to Rosanna, who silently polished them andhanded them back. They _were_ better; Mr. Harriman acknowledged it witha grunt.
"Girls are real handy," said Rosanna with her sweet smile.
"Grrrrrr!" from Mr. Harriman. "Whadded you want to tell me?" but hisvoice certainly seemed a shade less gruff.
Rosanna, speaking distinctly and as carefully as though she wasexplaining to a small child, told the old man about Gwenny and thebenefit and after that, as he sat perfectly still looking at her throughunnaturally shiny glasses, she went on to tell him about the GirlScouts. You couldn't tell whether he cared a snap about it, but at allevents he listened, and Helen and Rosanna both thought it was a goodsign. They did not dare to glance at each other, but Rosanna went ontalking until she felt that she had told him all that he would want toknow if he had been a regular sort of a human being instead of agrouchy, cross old man who seemed to delight in scaring everyone awayfrom him.
"That's all," said Rosanna finally, smiling up into the scowling oldface.
There was a long silence,
"Grrrrrr!" said Mr. Harriman again. "So you want me to come to yourshow, do you? Haven't been to a show for forty years! No good! Silly!"
"Ours isn't," declared Helen, suddenly finding her voice. "Ourentertainment is perfectly splendid!"
"Perfectly splendid!" mimicked Mr. Harriman. "Sounds just like a woman!All alike, regardless of age. Grrrrrr!"
"You will come, won't you?" asked Rosanna. "Please do! You see it isonly a nickel if you do not think it is worth more."
"A great many persons are going to pay a quarter," hinted Helen.
"All right, all right!" said Mr. Harriman. "You are less objectionablethan most children. I will come if I can remember it."
"Suppose I come after you?" suggested Rosanna, remembering what she hadsaid to Helen about getting Mr. Harriman if she had to come after him.
"All right, all right! Let it go at that! I know your sex! You willforget all about your agreement by the time you reach the next corner.If you come after me, I will go to your show. In the Hargrave barn, eh?Anything to sit on, or shall I bring a chair?"
"No, sir; Uncle Robert has fixed seats and everything. And I will comefor you quite early because I have to be there doing my part."
"That's nuff!" grunted Mr. Harriman, nodding curtly. "'Dafternoon!" Heresumed his paper, and as he caught the opening sentences of the articlebefore him, there came a sound like the grating of teeth and the noiseof a large boiler that is about to explode.
The girls said, "Good afternoon!" in two small voices and went out asquickly as they could.
Helen breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the outer air.
"Rosanna, you are certainly a very brave girl," she said. "I am glad toget out alive. Every minute I expected to hear him say, 'Fee-fi-fo-fum,I smell the breath of an English-mun!'"
Rosanna laughed.
"He is pretty awful," she granted. "But I mean to make him come. I thinkit will do him good to see that play, and I shall certainly go afterhim. If he thinks I am going to forget about him, he is greatlymistaken."
"Let's try to get rid of all our tickets this afternoon. You know we areto meet Uncle Robert at the barn at five o'clock to see the theatre hehas fixed up. Oh, Helen, I am _so_ excited!"
For a couple of hours the girls repeated the story of Gwenny and thebenefit until they could say it by heart. The tickets went so fast thatthey were sorry that they did not have twice as many. At a quarter offive they hurried back to Mrs. Hargrave's, where Elise was waiting forthem and Uncle Robert soon joined them. There was a short wait then,because he refused to unlock the door before Miss Hooker arrivedalthough the girls begged and begged, assuring him that she wouldn'tmind.
Finally they heard the tap, tap, tap of her tiny shoes on the old brickwalk, and round the corner she came, looking more dimply and dainty andaltogether beautiful than ever. Uncle Robert looked as though he couldeat her, but somehow it was not the sort of look he had given Rosannathat other time. Not at all! Rosanna noticed it.