"
"We haven't got but ten," said Molly.
Betsy looked at her silently for a moment and then burst out, "I'll earn
the rest! I'll earn it somehow! I'll have to! There isn't any other
way!"
"All right," said Molly quaintly, not seeing anything unusual in this.
"You can, if you want to. I'll wait for you here."
"No, you won't!" cried Betsy, who had quite enough of trying to meet
people in a crowd. "No, you won't! You just follow me every minute! I
don't want you out of my sight!"
They began to move forward now, Betsy's eyes wildly roving from one
place to another. How COULD a little girl earn money at a county fair!
She was horribly afraid to go up and speak to a stranger, and yet how
else could she begin?
"Here, Molly, you wait here," she said. "Don't you budge till I come
back."
But alas! Molly had only a moment to wait that time, for the man who was
selling lemonade answered Betsy's shy question with a stare and a curt,
"Lord, no! What could a young one like you do for me?"
The little girls wandered on, Molly calm and expectant, confident in
Betsy; Betsy with a very dry mouth and a very gone feeling. They were
passing by a big shed-like building now, where a large sign proclaimed
that the Woodford Ladies' Aid Society would serve a hot chicken dinner
for thirty-five cents. Of course the sign was not accurate, for at half-
past three, almost four, the chicken dinner had long ago been all eaten
and in place of the diners was a group of weary women moving languidly
about or standing saggingly by a great table piled with dirty dishes.
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