"Do you keep ban-ban-banners?" asked Nannie, growing confused again.

"Which? I hope you don't mean any disrespect to the flag of your
country, ma'am?"

"No sir; I mean handkerchiefs," said Nannie, innocently.

"Ah! yes, I understand. I think we have the article in question."

A number of the red and yellow silks were produced, and while the brown
eyes scanned them in some perplexity, the mischievous young clerk
surveyed the comical little figure before him, and gravely asked:

"Is that quantity sufficient for the exercise of your predilections? or
would you like an additional supply?"

"I would like 'leven cents worth," stammered Nannie.

"Eleven cents worth of silk handkerchiefs? That's a novelty now!"
laughed the boy. "Why, you see that wouldn't be a seventh part of one
of these bits of magnificence,--not a scrap large enough for a
respectable doll. We really couldn't do it, ma'am. The owner of this
establishment has a nonsensical way of always selling his handkerchiefs
whole."

[Illustration: "'SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS APIECE,' SAID THE OLD GENTLEMAN."]

Then, at sight of the disappointed little face, his fun yielded to an
impulse of kindness, and from a far-away corner he produced an old box
with the dust of disuse lying thickly upon it. It contained some small
cotton handkerchiefs, gayly printed, with border, pictures and verses,
in bright colors. Nannie's eyes brightened. They were much prettier
than the others, she thought, and they were only ten cents! She wavered
uncertainly between a pink and a blue one, and finally appealed to the
clerk for advice.

"Which is the nicest? Couldn't really say, ma'am. If you want it for
winter use, the blue would probably match best with your nose; but if
you keep it specially for fits of weeping, the red might be nearest the
proper tint."

Nannie looked at him solemnly, but not understanding him in the least:
she decided upon the blue one, and turned away with the precious
package in her hand. It was certainly growing late. The rosy glow had
all vanished from the west, and one star was peeping out dimly.

"A good deal after supper-time," murmured Nannie, anxiously. Then,
glancing down a side street, she caught sight of a baker's sign. It was
but a few steps, and she was very hungry, so she determined to invest
her remaining cent in a piece of gingerbread. Eager to be on her
homeward way she walked rapidly, and this did not suit the fancy of a
large dog in a neighbo