I don't want any," replied the gentleman, kindly, as he glanced at the tray on which the candy had been so invitingly spread.
"It is very nice," stammered Katy; "and perhaps your children at home would like some, if you do not." Bravo, Katy! That was very well done, though the gentleman was an old bachelor, and could not appreciate the full force of your argument.
"Are you sure it is very nice ?" asked the gentleman, with a benevolent smile, when he had laughed heartily at Katy's jumping conclusion.
"I know it is," replied the little candy merchant, very positively.
"Then you may give me six sticks;" and he threw a fourpence on her tray.
Six sticks! Katy was astonished at the magnitude of her first commercial transaction.

Visions of wealth, a fine house, and silk dresses for her mother and herself, danced through her excited brain, and she thought that her grandfather, the great Liverpool merchant, would not have been ashamed of her if he had been present to witness that magnificent operation.
"Have you any paper to wrap it up in ?" asked the gentleman.
Here was an emergency for which Katy had not provided.

Her grandest expectations had not extended beyond the sale of one stick at a time, and she was not prepared for such a rush of trade.

However, she tore off a piece from one of the white sheets at the bottom of the tray, wrapped up the six sticks as nicely as she could, and handed them to the gentleman, who then left her to find another customer.
Katy, elated by her first success, ran home as fast as she could to procure some more white paper, of which she had a dozen sheets that had been given her by a friend.

It was in the back room, so that she did not disturb her mother, choosing to astonish her with the whole story of her success at noon..