“There are hawks and hawks too, Burnie,” the lady said, a little roguishly. Marcia decided they must be married. She was so dizzy from this marvelous adventure that she did not know what she was telling them, and afterward she thought it was certainly not the sort of cosmopolitan talk of which she fancied herself capable, because Beverly laughed too much. Beverly talked too, and afterward fragments floated back to Marcia’s mind, but at the time one phrase boomed away in her head, drowning out every other impression—Five-dollar goldpiece, five-dollar goldpiece, five-dollar goldpiece. She wanted to bolt down the middle of the street shouting this miracle to the whole town, though she could not very well break away from the flattering attention of Mr. and Mrs. Putney. She was glad Lena was not around, for if they ever saw how much prettier Lena was than she they would probably take back the five-dollar goldpiece and give it to her. No one had ever made so much fuss over her, and these were great and famous personages too. They had a home in Cleveland and almost in a dream Marcia heard herself being invited to visit them, because they were very lonely when they weren’t on the road. Mr. Putney inquired after Grandma Reed and declared he would like to call on her if he had the time, but they were leaving the next day. He presented Marcia with his pamphlet, The Art of Living Richly, with his autograph, “To a very bright little button,” which rather spoiled it for Marcia.

She ran all the way home and seeing Lena and Mary Evelyn across the street shouted her news at them.

“You’d better not tell Her you have the money or She’ll take it away from you,” Lena cautioned, and added thoughtfully, “Maybe you’d better let me keep it for you.”

“Why don’t you go visit the people and get one yourself?” suggested Mary Evelyn, and this seemed such a practical idea that Lena at once accepted it. Marcia watched them go off in the direction of the hotel with some uneasiness. Lena was always spoiling everything. She would probably tell Mrs. Putney that Marcia’s birthday wasn’t tomorrow at all, but six months off. Lena was tricky that way, always telling on everybody. It turned out that on the steps of the hotel Lena and Mary Evelyn ran into Vance Hawkins, who took them to an ice-cream parlor, so they didn’t have a chance at the Putneys.