t. If she had expressed her feelings, she
would have said, "Must she have all those pretty dresses and hats and
the sweet-grass basket, too?"

The girls went home silently; they were never great talkers. Flora sat
down in the sitting-room with her aunt; Nancy went up-stairs to the
chamber where she slept with Flora, and got her little purse out of the
corner of her bureau drawer. She counted the eight cents, and puzzled
over the problem how to increase it to fifty. She puzzled over it all
the rest of that day until she went to sleep at nine o'clock. The next
day was Sunday; she puzzled over it as she sat in the pew in church, but
she could not arrive at any solution.

However, the next morning she had an inspiration. Her mother sent her
over to Aunt Lucretia's on an errand. Flora was not allowed to go; it
was a very hot morning, and she was rather delicate. Nancy on her way to
Aunt Lucretia's thought of a way to swell eight cents to fifty. She
trudged down the sunny road in a cloud of dust, her face was scarlet
with the heat, but she ignored all little discomforts.

Aunt Lucretia lived in a nice square white house with a green
lattice-work porch over the front door. She was an elderly lady and
quite rich. She had a Brussels carpet in the parlor and kept a
servant-maid.

[Illustration: "SHE WAS A REAL INDIAN PRINCESS"]

Nancy went in the side door, and through the sitting-room into the front
entry. The parlor door stood open. Aunt Lucretia and her servant,
Henrietta, were in there. Nancy stood looking in.

"Aunt Lucretia," said she.

Aunt Lucretia came forward, with Henrietta following.

"Well, Nancy, what do you want?" said Aunt Lucretia. She was quite a
majestic old lady, very tall and large and short-waisted. She wore her
gray hair in two puffs each side of her face.

"Mother sent your Stanford paper back," replied Nancy.

"Well, you can lay it on the sitting-room table," said Aunt Lucretia.
"Is your mother well this morning?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Nancy laid the Stanford paper on the sitting-room table; then she
followed on into the kitchen after Aunt Lucretia and Henrietta.

"Is there anything else you want, Nancy?" asked Aunt Lucretia.

"I wanted to know if--I didn't know but--you'd like to have me pick
some blackberries for you, Aunt Lucretia."

"Blackberries?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Aunt Lucretia stared reflectively at Nancy. "Do you suppose your mother
would be willing? The sun's pretty hot."

"Yes, m