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It is here that Leary's displays its stock of ragamuffin ten-centers queer dingy volumes that call to the hearts of gentle questers. Aubrey rushed out of the shop and looked down the alley. Half a dozen Ludlow Street Business Men were groping among the shelves. Then, down at the far end, his small face poked into an open volume, he saw Roger. He approached with a rapid stride.
People drove in from as far as twenty miles away, as soon as the news reached them, to buy notepaper and stamps people who didn't write or receive a letter a month. Will Bigelow, even, dropped round and bought samples of the tobacco stock, from two-fors up to ten-centers and smoked them with expressive snorts.
Indignation was the feeling that predominated, and had Deacon Littlefield not rapped loudly on his desk, as a signal that it was time for school to open, it is probable that Master Si would have heard from more than one of the "ten-centers" the exact opinion they all had regarding him.
Several of those who were in favor of the sleigh-ride had sisters among the "ten-centers," and they used every effort to learn what had been the result of the meeting; but, in each individual case, before the boy had asked very many questions, he found that his sister was more successful in getting information from him than he from her.
" I nominate Tom Hardy president of this meetin', to see how we can get ahead of the girls," squeaked Winny; and, to say the least, he was very officious in so doing, since he was a member of the "ten-centers," and really had nothing to do with the discomfiture of the sleigh-riders.
"If you want to go in with the' ten-centers' an' wear a calico necktie, why don't you say so?" cried Si, now thoroughly angry. " If I wanted to, I would," retorted Tom. "I stood by an' saw you write that letter, an' I'll stick to it; but all the same I'm sorry we've done what we have, 'cause whenever we've started anything the girls have always gone in with us, an' it looks mean."
All this looked mysterious, and the mystification was complete when the sleigh-riders saw every individual member of the "ten-centers," with the single exception of Winny, seated at their desks much as if they had remained there all night.
And what fun the Corner House girls had doing that shopping! Tess and Dot did their part, and that the entire five and ten cent store was not bought out was not their fault. "You can get such a lot for your money in that store," Dot gravely announced, "that a dollar seems twice as big as it does anywhere else." "But I don't want the other girls to think we are just 'ten-centers," Agnes said.
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