the sigh.

"Say, Cash, why don't you buy it?" she urged. "Your mother'll let you
keep part of your wages for yourself Christmas week, won't she? And
you wouldn't get such another bargain in a doll if you hunted a year
and a day. You'd better speak for it quick, though; for when the rush
of trade comes, there's no knowing how long the lot will last."

Katy shook her head. "I wouldn't want to buy a Christmas present for
myself," she answered. "But I was wishing--only there is really no use
in wishing; still, just supposing there was--I was thinking if I could
only get that doll for Ellie, how happy she would be. You know she has
to be alone so much, and she gets awful blue sometimes; though she
won't let on, 'cause it would fret mother. But the doll would be great
company for her. We've neither of us ever had one."

She continued to gaze longingly at the rosy beauty, while the salesgirl
meditatively dusted the show-case.

"Stop! I'll tell you how you can manage to get it," Julia said,
suddenly. "It's the rule of this store that on Christmas Eve, after
all the customers are gone, each employee may choose as a present from
the firm some article worth a quarter of his or her wages for the week.
Let's see: you're paid three dollars, aren't you?"

Katy nodded.

"That would count for seventy-five cents on the doll; then all you
would have to put to it would be twenty-two cents. Couldn't you do
that somehow?"