There was really no thought in the mind of the littlest Corner House girl to take that which did not belong to her. Most children believe implicitly in findings-keepings, and it seemed to Dot Kenway that as they had bought the green and yellow basket in good faith of the two Gypsy women, everything it contained should belong to them.
This, too, was Sammy Pinkneys idea of the matter. Sammy considered himself very worldly wise.
Say! whats the matter with you, Tess Kenway? Of course that bracelet is yours if you want it. Whos going to stop you from keeping it, I want to know?
But but it must belong to one of those Gypsy ladies, gasped Tess. The old lady asked us if we were honest. Of course we are!
Pshaw! If they miss it, theyll be back after that silver thing fast enough.
But, Sammy, suppose they dont know the bracelet fell into this basket?
Then you and Dot are that much in, was the prompt rejoinder of their boy friend. You bought the basket and all that was in it. They couldnt claim the air in that basket, could they? Well, then! how could they lay claim to anything else in the basket?
Such logic seemed unanswerable to Dots mind. But Tess shook a doubtful head. She had a feeling that they ought to run after the Gypsies to return to them at once the bracelet. Only, neither she nor Dot was dressed properly to run through Miltons best residential streets after the Romany people. As for Sammy
Happily, so Tess thought, she did not have to decide the matter. Musically an automobile horn sounded its warning and the children ran out to welcome the two older Corner House girls and Neale ONeil, who acted as their chauffeur on this particular trip.
They had been far out into the country for eggs and fresh vegetables, to the farm, in fact, of Mr. Bob Buckham, the strawberry king and the Corner House girls very good friend. In these times of very high prices for food, Ruth Kenway considered it her duty to save money if she could by purchasing at first cost for the households needs.
Otherwise, this very capable young housewife asked, how shall we excuse the keeping of an automobile when the up-keep and everything is so high?
Oh, do, begged Agnes, the flyaway sister, do let us have something impractical, Ruth. I just hate the man who wrote the first treatise on political economy.
I fancy it is household economy you mean, Aggie, returned her sister, smiling. And I warrant the author of the first treatise on that theme was a woman.
Mrs. Eva Adam, I bet! chuckled Neale ONeil, hearing this controversy from the drivers seat. It has always been in my mind that the First Lady of the Garden of Eden was tempted to swipe those apples more because the price of other fruit was so high than for any other reason.
Then Adam was stingy with the household money, declared Agnes.
I really wish you would not use such words as swipe before the children, Neale, sighed Ruth who, although she was no purist, did not wish the little folk to pick up (as they so easily did) slang phrases.
She stepped out of the car when Neale had halted it within the garage and Agnes handed her the egg basket. Tess and Dot immediately began dancing about their elder sister, both shouting at once, the smallest girl with the green and yellow basket and Tess with the silver bracelet in her hand.
Oh, Ruthie, what do you think?
See how pretty it is! And they never missed it.
Cant we keep it, Ruthie? This from Dot. We paid those Gypsy ladies for the basket and all that was in it. Sammy says so.
Then it must be true of course, scoffed Agnes. What is it?
Well, I guess I know some things, observed Sammy, bridling. If you buy a walnut you buy the kernel as well as the shell, dont you? And that bracelet was inside that covered basket, like the kernel in a nut.
Listen! exclaimed Neale likewise getting out of the car. Sammys a very Solomon for judgment.
Now dont you call me that, Neale ONeil! ejaculated Sammy angrily. I aint a pig.
Wha what! Who called you a pig, Sammy?
Well, thats what Mr. Con Murphy calls his pig Solomon. You neednt call me by any pig-name, so there!
I stand reproved, rejoined Neale with mock seriousness. But, see here: Whats all this about the basket and the bracelet a two-fold mystery?
It sounds like a thriller in six reels, cried Agnes, jumping out of the car herself to get a closer view of the bracelet and the basket. My! Where did you get that gorgeous bracelet, children?
The beauty of the family, who loved gew-gaws of all kinds, seized the silver circlet and tried it upon her own plump arm. Ruth urged Tess to explain and had to place a gentle palm upon Dots lips to keep them quiet so that she might get the straight of the story from the more sedate Tess.
And so, thats how it was, concluded Tess. We bought the basket after borrowing Sammys twenty-five cent piece, and of course the basket belongs to us, doesnt it, Ruthie?
Most certainly, my dear, agreed the elder sister.
And inside was that beautiful fretted silver bracelet. And that
Just as certainly belongs to the Gypsies, finished Ruth. At least, it does not belong to you and Dot.
Aw shu-u-cks! drawled Sammy in dissent.
Even Agnes cast a wistful glance at the older girl. Ruth was always so uncompromising in her decisions. There was never any middle ground in her view. Either a thing was right, or it was wrong, and that was all there was to it!
Well, sighed Tess, that Gypsy lady said she knew we were honest.
I think, Ruth observed thoughtfully, that Neale had better run the car out again and look about town for those Gypsy women. They cant have got far away.
Say, Ruth! its most supper time, objected Neale. Have a heart!
Anyway, I wouldnt trouble myself about a crowd of Gypsies, said Agnes. They may have stolen the bracelet.
Oh! gasped Tess and Dot in unison.
You know what June Wildwood told us about them. And she lived with Gypsies for months.
Gypsies are not all alike, the elder sister said confidently in answer to this last remark by Agnes. Remember Mira and King David Stanley, and how nice they were to Tess and Dottie? she asked, speaking of an incident related in The Corner House Girls on a Tour.
I dont care! exclaimed Agnes, pouting, and still viewing the bracelet on her arm with admiration. I wouldnt run my legs off chasing a band of Gypsies.
They were all, however, bound to be influenced by Ruths decision.
Well, Ill hunt around after supper, Neale said. Ill take Sammy with me. Youll know those women if you see them again, wont you, kid?
Sure, agreed Sammy, forgiving Neale for calling him kid with the prospect of an automobile ride in the offing.
But but, breathed Tess in Ruths ear, if those Gypsy ladies dont take back the bracelet, it belongs to Dot and me, doesnt it, Sister?
Of course. Agnes! do give it back, now. I expect it will cause trouble enough if those women are not found. A bone of contention! Both these children will want to wear the bracelet at the same time. Dont you add to the difficulty, Agnes.
Why, drawled Agnes, slowly removing the curiously engraved silver ornament from her arm, of course they will return for it. Or Neale will find them.
This statement, however, was not borne out by the facts. Neale and Sammy drove all about town that evening without seeing the Gypsy women. The next day the smaller Corner House girls were taken into the suburbs all around Milton; but nowhere did they find trace of the Gypsies or of any encampment of those strange, nomadic people in the vicinity.
The finding of the bracelet in the basket remained a mystery that the Corner House girls could not soon forget.
It does seem, said Tess, as though those Gypsy ladies couldnt have meant to give us the bracelet, Dot. The old one said so much about our being honest. She didnt expect us to steal it.
Oh, no! agreed Dot. But Neale ONeil says maybe the Gypsy ladies stole it, and were afraid to keep it. So they gave it to us.
M-mm, considered Tess. But that doesnt explain it at all. Even if they wanted to get rid of the bracelet, they need not have given it to us in such a lovely basket. Ruth says the basket is worth a whole lot more than the forty-five cents we paid for it.
It is awful pretty, sighed Dot in agreement.
Some day they will surely come back for the bracelet.
Oh, I hope not! murmured the littlest Corner House girl. It makes such a be-you-tiful belt for my Alice-doll, when its my turn to wear it.
CHAPTER III SAMMY PINKNEY IN TROUBLE
Uncle Rufus, who was general factotum about the old Corner House and even acted as butler on date and state occasions, was a very brown man with a shiny bald crown around three-quarters of the circumference of which was a hedge of white wool. Aided by Neale ONeil (who still insisted on earning a part of his own support in spite of the fact that Mr. Jim ONeil, his father, expected in time to be an Alaskan millionaire gold-miner), Uncle Rufus did all of the chores about the place. And those chores were multitudinous.
Besides the lawns and the flower gardens to care for, there was a good-sized vegetable garden to weed and to hoe. Uncle Rufus suffered from what he called a misery in his back that made it difficult for him to stoop to weed the small plants in the garden.
I dont know, Missy Ruth, complained the old darkey to the eldest Corner House girl, how Is goin to get that bed of winter beets weeded I dunno, noways. My misery suah wont let me stoop down to them rows, and theres a big patch of em.
Do they need weeding right now, Uncle Rufus?
Suah do, Missy. Dey is sufferin fo hit. Id send wod for some o mah daughter Pechunias young uns to come over yere, but I knows dat all o them thats big enough to work is reglarly employed by de farmers out dat a-way. Picking crops for de canneries is now at de top-notch, Missy; and even Burnejones Whistler and Louise-Annette is big enough to pick beans.
Goodness me! exclaimed Agnes, who overheard the old mans complaint. There ought to be kids enough around these corners to hire, without sending to foreign lands for any. They are always under foot if you dont want them.
Aint it de truf? chuckled the old man. Usual I cant look over de hedge without spyin dat Sammy Pinkney and a dozen of his crew. Theys jest as plenty as bugs under a chip. But now
Well, why not get Sammy? interrupted Ruth.
He ought to be of some use, that is sure, added Agnes.
Can yo put yo hand on dat boy? demanded Uncle Rufus. Nless hes in mischief I dont know where to look for him.
I can find him all right, Agnes declared. But I cannot guarantee that he will take the job.
Offer him fifty cents to weed those beet rows, Ruth said briskly. The bed I see is just a mat of weeds. They had walked down to the garden while the discussion was going on. If Sammy will do it Ill be glad to pay the half dollar.
She bustled away about some other domestic matter; for despite the fact that Mrs. McCall bore the greater burden of housekeeping affairs, Ruth Kenway did not shirk certain responsibilities that fell to her lot both outside and inside the Corner House.
After all was said and done, Sammy Pinkney looked upon Agnes as his friend. She was more lenient with him than even Dot was. Ruth and Tess looked upon most boys as merely necessary evils. But Agnes had always liked to play with boys and was willing to overlook their shortcomings.
I got a lot to do, ventured Sammy, shying as usual at the idea of work. But if you really want me to, Aggie
And if you want to make a whole half dollar, suggested Agnes, not much impressed by the idea that Sammy would weed beets as a favor.
All right, agreed the boy, and shooing Buster, his bulldog, out of the Corner House premises, for Buster and Billy Bumps, the goat, were sworn enemies, Sammy proceeded to the vegetable garden.
Now, both Uncle Rufus and Agnes particularly showed Sammy which were the infant beets and which the weeds. It is a fact, however, that there are few garden plants grown for human consumption that do not have their counterpart among the noxious weeds.
The young beets, growing in scattered clumps in the row (for each seed-burr contains a number of seeds), looked much like a certain weed of the lambs-quarters variety; and this reddish-green weed pretty well covered the beet bed.
Tess and Dot had gone to a girls party at Mrs. Adams, just along on Willow Street, that afternoon, so they did not appear to disturb Sammy at his task. In fact, the boy had it all his own way. Neither Uncle Rufus nor any other older person came near him, and he certainly made a thorough job of that beet bed.
Mrs. McCall set great store, as she said, by beets both pickled and fresh for winter consumption. When Neale ONeil chanced to go into the garden toward supper time to see what Sammy was doing there, it was too late to save much of the crop.
Well, of all the dunces! ejaculated Neale, almost immediately seeing what Sammy had been about. Say! you didnt do that on purpose, did you? Or dont you know any better?
Know any bettern what? demanded the bone-weary Sammy, in no mood to endure scolding in any case. Aint I done it all right? I bet you cant find a weed in that whole bed, so now.
Great grief, kid! gasped the older boy, seeing that Sammy was quite in earnest, I dont believe youve left anything but weeds in those rows. It its a knock-out!
Aw I never, gulped Sammy. I guess I know beets.
Huh! It looks as though you dont even know beans, chortled Neale, unable to keep his gravity. What a mess! Mrs. McCall will be as sore as she can be.
I dont care! cried the tired boy wildly. I saved just what Aggie told me to, and threw away everything else. And see how the rows are.
Why, Sammy, those arent where the rows of beets were at all. See! These are beets. Those are weeds. Oh, great grief! and the older boy went off into another gale of laughter.
I I do-o-ont care, wailed Sammy. I did just what Aggie told me to. And I want my half dollar.
You want to be paid for wasting all Mrs. McCalls beets?
I dont care, I earned it.