elf before
that Ninny-Hat?"

"Why, he'd love it!" I said.

The Rich Man choked.

"That's quite enough reason!" he said.

There was a noise in the wood-shed. We could see the noise through the
window. It was my Father trying to untie his wings. He couldn't.

The Rich Man seemed to feel better suddenly. He began to mop his face.

"It's a great Game, all right," he said, "if you don't weaken!" He
pulled my ears. "But why in the world, Ruthy----" he worried, "did she
have to go and tuck that forty-three cents on to the end of the bill?"

"Why, that's her profit!" I explained.

"Her--profit?" gasped the Rich Man. "Her _Profit_?"

"Why, she had to have something!" I explained. "She was planning to have
more, of course! She was planning to go to Atlantic City! But everything
costs so big! Even toys! It's----"

"Her _Profit_?" gasped the Rich Man. "Forty-three cents on a two hundred
dollar deal?" He began to laugh! And laugh! "And she calls herself a
Business Woman?" he said. "Why, she ought to be in an Asylum!--All
women, in fact, ought to be in Asylums--or else in homes of their own!"
Quite furiously he began to pull my ears all over again. "_Business
Woman_," he said. "And both her feet would go at once in the hollow of
my hand! _Business Woman!_"

Out in the roadway suddenly somebody sneezed.

It made the Rich Man jump awfully.

"Ruthy, stay where you are!" he ordered.

"I can't!" I called back. "I'm already hopped out!"

From my hop-out I could see the Person Who Sneezed! Anybody would have
known that it was Posie-with-the-Sick-Bones! She was sitting in an
automobile peering through the hedge! There was a black woman with her!

The Rich Man crackled in the bushes. He reached out and grabbed my foot.
He pulled me back. His face looked pretty queer.

"Yes, she's been there all the time," he whispered. "But not a soul
knows it!--I wanted her to see it work!--I wanted to be sure that she
liked it--But I was afraid to bring her in! She catches everything so!
And I knew there were children here! And I was afraid there might be
something contagious!"

He peered out through the Lilac Branches. There was quite a good deal to
peer at.

Down in the meadow Rosalee was still running up and down the soft banks
of the brook trying to catch the Celluloid Fish. She had on a green
dress. It was a slim dress like a willow wand. She had her shoes and
stockings in one hand. And a great bunch of wild blue Forget-me-Nots