"It'll be by-'m-bye when Aunt Matilda questions me," whispered Arabella, adding cheerfully: "and by-'m-bye isn't _now_."
"Hello!" called Patricia, "you're some late, but not _very_."
"Why, I'm here as soon as you are," said Arabella.
"I know that," Patricia replied, "but I thought you'd be over to my house by this time."
"Aren't we 'most there?" questioned Arabella.
"Almost, and not quite," said Patricia, "and anyway I was going to stop at a store before I go over to my house. Ma gave me some money and I'm going to spend it for candy. Have you got any to spend?"
"Aunt Matilda won't let me spend money; she has her views about folks spending money, she says."
"I wouldn't want her for _my_ aunt," said Patricia.
"Well, she isn't your aunt," snapped Arabella, and now they had reached the little candy store, and Patricia, grasping Arabella's hand, walked boldly in.
Arabella was greatly impressed, and when Patricia asked her which kind she would like to have, she managed to just whisper that _any_ kind would do.
At Arabella's home Aunt Matilda reigned supreme, and it was said that no one, not even Mr. Corryville, dared spend any money, unless Aunt Matilda approved, but that might not be true.
Arabella thought it very grand that Patricia had enough money to buy whatever she wished, and her surprise increased when she chose a half-pound of two different kinds, ordering the clerk to put them in separate papers.
"You can have that bundle, and I'll have this," said Patricia, as they left the store, "and now we'll go over to my house, it's that one next to the school."
Arabella looked toward the house at which Patricia pointed. It did not look at all like the homes of her other friends. Patricia rang the bell, and they heard the lock slip, then they commenced to mount the stairs. The building was four stories high, and Patricia lived on the top floor.
"We like the top floor because it's so airy," she said.
Arabella said nothing, but when they were seated cosily in the corners of an old sofa, each with her package of candy, Arabella was glad that she had come.
A few moments later Patricia's mother entered. She was showily dressed, and her many pieces of jewelry made Arabella stare. She did not know that those glittering rings and bangles were worth very little money.