"bldtn10" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hope Laura Lee)

Calico Clown.

"Oh, but I know what we can do!" the girl clerk suddenly exclaimed.
"What?" asked Sallie.

And "what?" wondered the Clown.

"We can make him a new pair of trousers," was the answer. "Up in my
locker I have some pieces of silk I had left over when I dressed my
little sister's doll for Christmas. I'll get my needle and thread
and the pieces of silk, and this noon, at lunch hour, we'll make a
new suit for the Clown. Then he won't be damaged, and you can sell
him."

"Oh, that will be fine!" cried the other girl, and the Clown,
hearing this, felt much better.

By this time customers were coming into the store to buy toys and
other things, and the toy counters and shelves were busy places. The
Bold Tin Soldier had gone back to his box with his men, and there he
and they stood, straight and stiff as ramrods, waiting for what
might happen to them.

All the toys wished to talk about the brave rescue of the Calico
Clown by the Captain, but of course they had to keep still.

"But we can talk about it to-night," thought the Candy Rabbit to
himself. "We'll have a grand time when the store is once more
closed. But I hope the Clown does no more of his tricks. The next
time his jacket might burn, as well as his trousers."

The girl who had promised to make a new pair of gay silk trousers
for the Clown was kept very busy that morning waiting on customers.
She had just sold a little Celluloid Doll to a small girl when a boy
and a man came walking past the counter behind which she stood.

"There's what I want, right over there!" said the boy, pointing.

"What is it?" asked the man, who seemed to be his father.

"That set of soldiers," went on the boy. "I want that Bold Tin
Soldier Captain, who carries a sword, and I would like a set of his
tin men. Then Dick and I can play war and battle and have lots of
fun."

"I'm afraid that set of toy soldiers will cost too much," replied
the man. "You know I said you could have a toy, but not one that is
too expensive."

"Well, let's ask how much the tin soldiers cost," suggested the boy.