`` New stuff too , looks first-rate . '' `` I told you it was n't a joke . '' `` Wonder how Peck likes it ? '' `` Dickson sha 'n' t come in . '' `` You go first , Charley . '' `` Here 's a cent for you , Briggs ; come on and trade like the rest of us . '' `` I 'm so flurried I could n't make change to save my life , '' gasped Miss Jerusha from behind the sofa , whither she had fled . `` It is my turn now . Be calm , and we shall soon get used to it . '' Bracing herself to meet the merry chaff of the boys , as new and trying to the old lady as real danger would have been , Miss Hetty stepped forth into the hall to be greeted by a cheer , and then a chorus of demands for everything so temptingly set forth upon her table . Intrenched behind a barricade of buns , she dealt out her wares with rapidly increasing speed and skill , for as fast as one relay of lads were satisfied another came up , till the table was bare , the milk-can ran dry , and nothing was left to tell the tale but an empty water-pail and a pile of five-cent pieces . `` I hope I did n't cheat any one , but I was flurried , sister , they were so very noisy and so hungry . Bless their dear hearts ; they are full now , I trust . '' And Miss Hetty looked over her glasses at the crumby countenances opposite , meeting many nods and smiles in return , as her late customers enthusiastically recommended her establishment to the patronage of those who had preferred Peck 's questionable dainties . `` The Brighton Rock was a success ; we must have a good store for to-morrow , and more milk . Briggs drank it like a baby , and your nice boy proposed my health like a little gentleman , as he is , '' replied Miss Jerusha , who had ventured out before it was too late , and done the honors of the can with great dignity , in spite of some inward trepidation at the astonishing feats performed with the mug . `` Peck 's nose is out of joint , if I may use so vulgar an expression , and our lunch a triumphant success . Boys know what is good , and we need not fear to lose their custom as long as we can supply them . I shall order a barrel of flour at once , and heat up the big oven . We have put our hand to the work and must not turn back , for our honor is pledged now . ''
With which lofty remark Miss XXXXX closed the door , trying to look utterly unconscious of the anxious Peck , who was flattening his nose against his dingy window-pane to survey his rivals over piles of unsold pastry .
Briggs Charley Hetty Jerusha Peck chaff countenances first trepidation water-pail