r feel so
unhappy if she must say no, she can't."

"Then we must try very hard to think of a way without telling anyone.
You wouldn't need so very much, you know, Nettie, for we can have real
cheap things like peanuts and gingerbread, or something like that. I
believe fifty cents would be enough to spend, and a dollar would be
plenty."

This seemed like a large amount to Nettie, though she did not say so,
and the thought of earning that much weighed heavily upon her after Edna
had gone home.

Edna's thoughts, too, were busy all the evening, and she was so absorbed
in Nettie's dilemma that she sat with arms on the table and doing
nothing but looking off into space so that at last her father said.
"What's the matter, little girl? You haven't even asked for your
favorite children's page of my evening paper," and he handed it over to
her.

This was something that Edna always asked for and she took it now with
some little interest, and roused herself to look down the columns.
Presently she breathed softly. "Oh!" She had seen something which gave
her an idea for Nettie, and she went to bed that night full of a hope
which she meant her friend should know as soon as possible the next
day.

CHAPTER IX

THE PUZZLE

When Edna awoke on Saturday morning her first thought was of Nettie and
she scrambled out of bed that she might not lose a moment's time in
telling her of the discovery she had made the night before. She hurried
through her breakfast and was off to the little house as soon as she had
been given leave by her mother. She carried the page of her father's
paper safely folded in her hand, and ran nearly all the way, arriving
breathless. She could scarcely wait for Nettie to open to her knock, and
her words tumbled over each other as she replied to Nettie's greeting of
"How nice and early you are," by saying, "Oh, I have something so nice
to tell you."

"You had something nice to tell me when you came last evening," returned
Nettie; "you don't mean to say there is anything more."

"Yes, I've found a way that maybe you can make some money, a dollar."

This was exciting, "Oh, do tell me quick," returned Nettie.

Edna hastily began to open the paper she carried, and then she thrust it
before Nettie, pointing to a line and saying, "There, read that."

Nettie did as she was told, her eyes eagerly running over the words.
"Oh, Edna," she said, "do you believe we could do it?"

"Why, of course, but you see