She had been following a path led by the ripest and largest fruit, and
rounding a clump of briars, she came upon some one's dinner basket,
tucked away in a cool corner. There was a pink silk sash folded on the
top of the basket, and from underneath peeped the edge of a hand
mirror. The basket undoubtedly belonged to Joanna Falls, who was here
with a party of girls from the village. Joanna was quite the
handsomest girl in Orchard Glen, and Mrs. Johnnie Dunn said she
believed she never went even to church without a looking-glass in her
pocket. Christina glanced about her guiltily, and then, trembling,
took up the little mirror. For the first time in her life she looked
carefully and critically at her own countenance.
She saw a thin, little, brown face, framed by a blue sunbonnet, big
blue eyes that made the sunbonnet look faded, some untidy wisps of
straight fair hair, and a great many freckles scattered over a shapely
nose. Christina carefully replaced the mirror and moved on feeling
like a thief.
Yes, she understood now why she was homely. It was her straight hair
and those dreadful freckles. Mary had beautiful long black curls, and
Ellen had brown wavy hair, and both of them tanned a lovely even brown
with never a spot or blemish. Well, she would cure both maladies, see
if she wouldn't! Mary said Joanna Falls washed her face and hands
every night of her life in tansy and buttermilk. Christina would do
the same, and she would buy some of that pink complexion cure that was
in the corner store window, and which Tilly Holmes, the store-keeper's
daughter, said would wash anything off your face, even a scar. And she
would put her hair up in curl-papers every night, and best of all, she
would take the twenty-five cents that Uncle Neil would give her, and
after she had paid for the complexion cure, she would buy a yard of
pink satin ribbon and tie up her hair and she would look as fine and
handsome as Joanna Falls herself, and even Mrs. Johnnie Dunn would have
to admit that she was as good-looking as any of the Lindsays!
And as if to put emphasis upon her vow, she tossed the last cupful of
berries into her pail, and found it heaping full! She had won the
money! She caught up her pail and hurried joyfully to the spot where
she had last seen Sandy, her spirits rising at every step. She was
already on the way to beauty and success, by way of tansy and
buttermilk and twenty-five; cents worth of complexion cure and pink
ribbon!
Unmindful of many scratches, she tore through a clump of briars, and
almost tumbled over a small figure crouched in the pathway. It was a
boy in a ragged shirt and a pair of trousers many sizes too large for
him. He was kneeling beside an overturned pail, and was striving
desperately to gather up a mashed heap of berries and sand.
"Oh," cried Christina, stopping short in sympathetic dismay, "oh,
Gavin. What did you do?"