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<h3>UNCLE BILLY'S STORY</h3> "Here they are," cried Beth as Jerry and Uncle Billy came into view. "We thought you'd never come," she reproved as they drew near. "Where in the world have you two been?" "We haven't been anywhere in the world," laughed Jerry, "we've been far above it." "What are you talking about?" demanded Mary. "Tell us this minute." "Well, we've been ballooning," confessed Uncle Billy. "The very idea," gasped Beth. "Do you mean you dared to go up in one of those awful things?" "Well, I'm glad you didn't invite us to go, for we'd never have done it," declared Mary, as the others laughed. "Take a chance on a beautiful doll, only ten cents. Won't you young ladies take a chance?" said a boy, stepping up to them and waving a handful of tickets. "How do we know she's beautiful?" asked Uncle Billy. "We'd like to see her first." "Only a few tickets left," urged the boy, "you'd better take them now. The doll's right over there in the glass case for you to look at." The three girls darted off for a peep at the doll and Uncle Billy, after buying four tickets from the boy, followed them, and all stood gazing at the beautiful large French doll. "Oh, if one of us could only win her!" exclaimed Mary, "she would be so stylish at our parties with that lovely French look, and we would call her Mlle. Marie, like your French teacher, Beth." "We'd have to have very fancy parties when we invited her," responded Beth, "or she might turn up her nose." "We will call out the winning number from this spot in just a half hour from now," called the ticket seller, "and everyone be on hand who has a ticket." "Let's have some ice cream," suggested Uncle Billy, "it'll help pass the time while we're waiting to find out who's the lucky one." "Oh, goody, I love ice cream!" exclaimed Mary. "Uncle Billy, you always think of the nicest things." When they had found a small table in one corner of the raised platform where refreshments were served, the little party seated themselves quickly and looked about at the crowds of people passing below them. "Isn't it pretty here?" observed Mary, looking at the garlands of leaves and flowers that covered the beams above their heads. "I think it's the best day I ever had," announced Jerry. The band, almost hidden by palms and huge ferns, now struck up a lively tune, and Beth tapped her fingers on the table as she kept time with the music. Uncle Billy ordered for each the cream she most liked and a generous plate of little cakes. "I'll take plain vanilla with chocolate sauce," he said to the waiter, and when Mary asked why he didn't take strawberry, as it was so good, he threw back his head and gave a hearty laugh. "I'll tell you," he said, "but you must promise never to repeat it." "We promise," they agreed, so leaning forward, until their heads were close together, he began: "It happened a long time ago. I was just eight years old, and had been told by my mother to take a strawberry shortcake she had made, to our church where a supper was being held." Here Uncle Billy paused and looked at each of the smiling faces before him. "I'm afraid you're going to think I was a pretty bad little chap," he said. "Oh, no, really we won't," they assured him, "do go on and tell us." "Well," he continued, "it was a long walk to the church, and after I had gone a way I sat down by the roadside to rest. Also I was very fond of strawberries, so I took just a peep to see what it looked like. Then I took, oh, just a little sample, to see how it tasted, and didn't I smack my lips over it. "And then, I'm ashamed to say what followed. Although I knew it was wrong I ate more and more until a fourth of it was gone, then what was I to do? I couldn't take it to the supper that way, so I decided to eat it all and hoped my mother wouldn't ask any questions when I got back home." "Oh," giggled Jerry, "did you do it?" "I almost did—there wasn't very much left when I started for home. My mother didn't say a word when she saw me, because as she told me years later, she didn't have to ask any questions, for my face was covered with strawberry stains and little flecks of cream. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/col04.jpg" class="border" width-obs="400" height-obs="583" alt="" title="" /> "I think," answered Mary, "I shall call her Elizabeth Geraldine for her two aunts." </div> "Well, I went to bed early that night. I didn't feel any too well, and before long a real pain came and danced up and down inside me. Oh, wasn't I sorry I had eaten that cake. "Mother came in then, and I felt better—well enough to tell her about it. I said then I'd never eat strawberries as long as I lived. And I never have." Jerry laughed until the tears rolled down her cheeks, and Mary said it always happened to her that way, too, when she did bad things. Beth thought how sweet it must have been to have a mother to comfort you, for her mother had died when she was just a tiny girl. "We must hurry now," said Uncle Billy, "if we want to hear the lucky number called," so off they started. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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