for it wanted but three weeks to Christmas. At the end of the
stationery counter, where the pyramid of note-paper had been, an
immense stack of dolls was now attractively displayed. The little
cashgirl stood before it, lost in admiration. There were little dolls
and big ones; dolls with blue eyes, and others with brown; some with
light hair, and some with dark; _bebee Jumeau_ and _bebee Brue_; rubber
dolls, and rag dolls with _papier-mache_ faces.

"How lovely they are!" she murmured to herself, including even the
plainest and least among them in her appreciation of the gorgeous
company. "Don't I wish Ellie could see them!" she continued. "I'll
have to count them, so as to tell her how many there are; for I don't
believe that by herself she could imagine such a lot of dolls together."

Katy and Ellie had never had a doll in their lives,--that is, a real
_boughten_ one, as they called those not of home manufacture.

The kind salesgirl who had sent the orange to Ellie, from her post
behind the counter, noticed the child's wonderment.

"Will you look at Cash!" she said to a companion. Katy was oblivious
of them, however. After watching her a few moments, Julia called out:

"Well, Cash, which do you like best?"

The little girl looked the dolls over again with much deliberation; and
finally, pointing to a good-sized one, with golden hair and large eyes,
said:

"This."

"Oh, one of those ninety-seven cent dolls!" responded Julia. "They
_are_ handsome for the price. Sawdust bodies, to be sure; but what
fine heads?--red cheeks, splendid eyes, and hair that will comb out as
well as that of some costlier ones, I'll be bound."

"Ninety-seven cents!" repeated Katy, with a sigh. It was an
unattainable sum, as far as she was concerned. The salesgirl remarked
the sigh.

"Say, Cash, why don't you buy it?" she urged. "Your mother'll let you
keep part of your wages for yourself Christmas week, won't she? And
you wouldn't get such another bargain in a doll if you hunted a year
and a day. You'd better speak for it quick, though; for when the rush
of trade comes, there's no knowing how long the lot will last."

Katy shook her head. "I wouldn't want to buy a Christmas present for
myself," she answered. "But I was wishing--only there is really no use
in wishing; still, just supposing there was--I was thinking if I could
only get that doll for Ellie, how happy she would be. You know she has
to be alone so much, a