The lockets were purchased, and Mr. Waite took Sylvia to a studio to sit
for the pictures for the lockets. There was enough money left to
purchase a fine doll for Estralla, and Mr. Waite gave her a box filled
with candy of many kinds, shapes and flavors. All these things occupied
her thoughts so pleasantly that for a time she quite forgot the
disturbance in the streets, and all the trouble that seemed so near to
her and to her Charleston friends.
"I will call to-morrow," said Mr. Waite, as he left the little girl at
her own door. "And tell your father that he had best not go on the
streets unless he goes with my brother or myself."
This last message made Sylvia very sober. She came into the sitting-room
holding her packages, and found her mother and Mrs. Carleton busy with
their sewing, while her father was at his desk writing. She repeated Mr.
Waite's message, and her father nodded silently.
Then Sylvia told them that the lockets and pictures would be ready the
following day. "And I have a doll for Estralla," she concluded.
"Why not make the doll a fine dress and mantle?" suggested Mrs.
Carleton. "Come up to my room and I will help you," and Sylvia agreed
smilingly.
Mrs. Carleton had a roll of crimson silk in her work-bag and before
supper time the new doll was dressed and ready for Estralla.
"This is for you, Estralla," Sylvia said, when Estralla came up to her
room, as she often did in the late afternoon.
"Fer me, Missy! He, he, I knows w'en you's jokin'; but 'tis a fine lady
doll," responded the little girl, wishing with all her heart that the
beautiful doll in the gorgeous silken dress which Sylvia was holding
toward her might really be hers.
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