"Perhaps you didn't behave well."
"I am sure I did. I only asked him to buy some candy: and he
shoved me right out the door, just as though I had been a dog."
"Well, well, don't cry, my dear; you seem to be a very
well-behaved little girl, and I wonder at finding you in such low
business."
"My mother is sick, and I am trying to earn something to support
her," sobbed Katy, who, with her independent notions of trade in
general, and of the candy trade in particular, would not have
revealed this humiliating truth, except under the severe pressure
of a wounded spirit.
"Poor child!" exclaimed the portly gentleman, thrusting his hand
deep down into his pocket, and pulling up a handful of silver.
"Here is half a dollar for you, for I know you tell the truth."
"O, no, sir; I can't take money as a gift."
"Eh?"
The gentleman looked astonished, and attempted to persuade her;
but she steadily protested against receiving his money as a gift.
"You are a proud little girl, my dear."
"I am poor and proud; but I will sell you some candy."
"Well, give me half a dollar's worth."
"I haven't got so much. I have only fourteen cents' worth left."
"Give me that, then."
Katy wrapped up the remainder of her stock in a piece of paper,
and handed it to the gentleman, who in payment threw the
half-dollar on the tray.
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