"I hope he won't again," replied Katy, as Tommy moved towards home. This was Katy's first day in mercantile life; it had been full of incidents, and she feared her path might be a thorny one. But her light heart soon triumphed over doubts and fears, and when she reached Washington Street, she was as enthusiastic as ever, and as ready for a trade. CHAPTER XI. KATY MEETS WITH EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS. "Buy some candy?" said Katy to the first gentleman she met. He did not even deign to glance at her; and five or six attempts to sell a stick of candy were failures; but when she remembered the success that had followed her disappointment in the morning, she did not lose her courage. Finding that people in the street would not buy, she entered a shop where the clerks seemed to be at leisure, though she did not do so without thinking of the rude manner in which she had been ejected from a store in the forenoon. "Buy some candy?" said she to a good-natured young gentleman, who was leaning over his counter waiting for a customer. "How do you sell it?" "Cent a stick; it is very nice. I sold fourteen sticks of it to the mayor this forenoon. He said it was good." "You don't say so? Did he give you a testimonial?" "No; he gave me half a dollar." The clerk laughed heartily at Katy's misapprehension of his word, and his eye twinkled with mischief. It was plain that he was not a great admirer of molasses candy, and that he only wanted to amuse himself at Katy's expense. "You know what they do with quack medicines--don't you?" "Yes, I do; some folks are fools enough to take them," replied Katy, smartly. "That's a fact; but you don't understand me. Dr. Swindlehanger, round the corner, would give the mayor a hundred dollars to say his patent elixir is good. Now, if you could only get the mayor's name on a paper setting forth the virtues of your candy, I dare say you could sell a thousand sticks in a day. Why don't you ask him for such a paper?" "I don't want any paper, except to wrap up my candy in. But you don't want to buy any candy, I see;" and Katy moved towards some more clerks at the other end of the store. "Yes, I do; stop a minute. I want to buy six sticks for my children!" "For what?" "For my grandchildren." "You are making fun of me," said Katy, who could see this, though the young man was so pleasant and so funny, she could not be offended with him. "I don't believe your mother would like it, if she should hear you tell such a monstrous story." The young man bit his lip. Perhaps he had a kind mother who had taught him never to tell a lie, even in jest. He quickly recovered his humor, however, though it was evident that Katy's rebuke had not been without its effect. "For how much will you sell me six sticks?" continued the clerk. "For six cents." "But that is the retail price; when you sell goods at wholesale you ought not to ask so much for them."