All but Bessie, that is, who lingered behind to give her brother a little moral lecture.
For Bessie's sense of justice had been shocked by Frankie's arrangements, and the hard bargain he had driven with the devoted Daisy, who upon all occasions submitted herself to his whims, and let him rule her with a rod of iron. Moreover, Bessie considered his gallantry very much at fault, and thought it quite necessary to speak her mind on the subject.
"Frankie," she said with gravity, "you are selfish to Daisy, I think. You ought to let her make half the pies."
"I'm letting her do two mixes," said Frankie; "and, besides, she said I needn't let her do any if I'd marry her. That's fair."
"No, it's not. It's not fair, nor polite either," said Bessie, reprovingly. "You oughtn't to make it a compliment for you to marry Daisy. It is a compliment to you."
This was a new view of the subject to Frankie, and, as he stood gazing at Daisy and considering it, Bessie added,--
"Anyhow, you ought to let her do half. You're not good to be so selfish."
Daisy meanwhile had been balancing in her own mind the comparative advantages of the present and the future good, and came to the conclusion that she had made a foolish choice, and that the mixing of sand pies was more to be desired than the promise, whose fulfilment seemed so far distant; and now, with a deprecating look at Frankie, she made known this change in her sentiments.
"I b'lieve I'd rafer mix half the mud than be your wife, Frankie," she said. "I'll just 'scuse myself and do the pies."
"Oh! I'll let you do half," said Frankie, encouragingly, "and marry you too, Daisy. I really will."
But Daisy, before whom Bessie's words had also placed the matter in a new light, now felt the advantage of her position, and was disposed to make the most of it, as she found Frankie inclined to become more yielding.
"I'll see about marrying you," she said coquettishly, "but I _will_ do half the pies."
"Yes, yes, you shall," replied Frankie, now extremely desirous to secure the prize the moment there seemed to be a possibility of its slipping through his fingers; "and you'll really marry me, won't you, Daisy?"
"Maybe so," said Daisy, a little victorious, as was only natural, at finding the tables thus turned.