It is lots too small for you."
Margaret laughed. "Yes," she said; "father said if I could raise the
calf I might have it. Didn't I have a time with it, though, it was so
near dead! Of course I will fix my old dress up for you--that is, if
I get the money. Sometimes I think father's queer; he did not give
Elizabeth the money when he sold that colt he had given her." And both
girls were silent.
Out in the barnyard, as the girls worked, Mr. Stillman and Tom were
putting the pretty calf in the wagon preparatory to taking it to the
butcher in the town a few miles distant. When the girls went in to
dinner the men had finished theirs, and were lounging in the shady
yard enjoying their nooning.
As they were about to sit down at the table, Mr. Stillman handed
Margaret a package, saying, "There's your share of that spotted calf,
Margaret."
"My share!" she exclaimed. "Why, you gave me the calf; you had no
right to it."
As she spoke she opened the package and unrolled a piece of cheap
lawn--yellow ground dotted with blue. She flung it angrily on the
floor, and ran out of the room.
Mr. Stillman turned to Rachel after a moment of dumb amazement, and
said: "You can have the dress, Rachel. I'll teach Margaret a lesson."
"I don't want it," she said. "You had no right to take Margaret's
money.
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