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.
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