in't a-going to touch the candy with my face," added Ann,
triumphantly.

"Very true; but if people saw you with such a dirty face, they would be
afraid your candy was not very clean."

"Any way you like. I will wash my face and hands both, if that's all."

"But that isn't all. Your dress is very dirty and very ragged."

"I can't afford to dress like a lady," said Ann, who had some of her
brother's disposition, and under any other circumstances would have
resented Katy's plain home thrusts.

"You needn't dress like a lady; but the neater and cleaner you are, the
more candy you will sell."

"I will fix up as much as I can."

"Very well; if you will come to my house to-morrow morning, I will let
you have some candy."

"How much will you give me for selling it?" asked Ann.

"I can't tell now; I will think about it, and let you know when you
come."

Katy went her way, turning over and over in her mind the scheme which
Ann's application had suggested to her. She might employ a dozen girls,
or even more than that, and pay them so much a dozen for selling the
candy. She might then stop going out to sell herself, and thus gratify
her mother. She could even go to school, and still attend to her
business.

When she returned home at noon, she proposed the plan to her mother.
Mrs. Redburn was much pleased with it, though she suggested many
difficulties in the way of its success. The girls might not be honest;
but if they were not, they could be discharged. Many of them were
vicious; they would steal or be saucy, so that people would not permit
them to enter their stores and offices, and the business would thus be
brought into disrepute. Katy determined to employ the best girls she
could find, and to tell them all that they must behave like ladies.

The next morning Ann Grippen appeared with her face and hands tolerably
clean, and wearing a dress which by a liberal construction could be
called decent. She brought a dirty, rusty old tray, which was the best
she could obtain; yet in spite of all these disadvantages, the little
candy merchant looked upon it as a hopeful case.

"Now, Ann, you must be very civil to everybody you meet," said Katy, as
she covered the rusty tray with a sheet of clean white paper.

"I hope I know how to behave myself," replied Ann, rather crustily.

"I dare say you do;" and she might have hinted that there was some
difference between knowing how to do a thing and doing it. "I was only
going