know I am to
have the club meeting after a while, and it is to be at the general
club-room at Miss Agnes Evans's house, and you know we always have
refreshments," Nettie spoke as if she had already attended every
meeting, when that of the afternoon before had been her very first.

"Yes, I remember you told me, dear," said her mother.

"And I told you that was why we tried for the puzzle prize, so that I
could pay for my refreshments. Does gingerbread cost very much?"

"No, my dear, it costs less than any other kind of cake."

"But how much? I mean how much would it cost to make enough for--for
fourteen girls?"

"Why, not a great deal. I could bake them in the little scalloped pans
so they would be more crusty. I don't believe it would cost more than
twenty-five cents, for you know we have our own eggs."

"Good! Then what else could I have? We can't have more than three
things."

"Let me think for a minute and I will perhaps be able to suggest
something." She went on kneading her bread while the children watched
her. Presently she said: "I have a bottle of raspberry shrub that your
Aunt Henrietta gave me and which we have never used. Would you like to
have that? I can recommend it as a very nice drink, and I should be very
glad to donate it."

"Would it be nice?" Nettie looked at Edna for endorsement.

"I think it would be perfectly delicious," she decided, "and nobody has
had anything like that. We have had ginger ale and lemonade, and
chocolate and such things."

"Then, mother, that will be very nice, thank you," said Nettie, as if
Edna were at the other end of a telephone wire. "Now for number three.
I shall have ever so much to spend on that, so I could have most
anything."

"What have the other girls had?" Mrs. Black asked Edna.

"Oh, different things. Some have had sandwiches and chocolate and some
kind of candy, and some have had ice cream and cake and candy; some have
had--let me see--cake and lemonade and fruit, but the third thing is
generally some kind of candy."

"Do you remember what Uncle David sent us last week?" Mrs. Black asked
Nettie.

"The maple sugar? Oh, yes, but would it be nice to have just little
chunks of maple sugar?"

"No, but don't you know what delicious creamy candies we made by boiling
and stirring it? Why not do some of it that way? It would be a little
out of the usual run, and quite unlike what is bought at the shops."

"What do you think, Edna?" Nettie again appeal