"It does seem considerable,"admitted Wesley,"but will it look right without them?""No,it won't!"said Margaret."It's going to have quills on it.Do you remember those beautiful peacock wing feathers that Phoebe Simms gave me?Three of them go on just where those came off,and nobody will ever know the difference.They match the hat to a moral,and they are just a little longer and richer than the ones that I had taken off.I was wondering whether I better sew them on to-night while I remember how they set,or wait till morning.""Don't risk it!"exclaimed Wesley anxiously."Don't you risk it!Sew them on right now!""Open your bundles,while I get the thread,"said Margaret.
Wesley unwrapped the shoes.Margaret took them up and pinched the leather and stroked them.
"My,but they are fine!"she cried.
Wesley picked up one and slowly turned it in his big hands.
He glanced at his foot and back to the shoe.
"It's a little bit of a thing,Margaret,"he said softly.
"Like as not I'll have to take it back.It seems as if it couldn't fit.""It seems as if it didn't dare do anything else,"said Margaret.
"That's a happy little shoe to get the chance to carry as fine a girl as Elnora to high school.Now what's in the other box?"Wesley looked at Margaret doubtfully.
"Why,"he said,"you know there's going to be rainy days,and those things she has now ain't fit for anything but to drive up the cows----""Wesley,did you get high shoes,too?"
"Well,she ought to have them!The man said he would make them cheaper if I took both pairs at once."Margaret laughed aloud."Those will do her past Christmas,"she exulted."What else did you buy?""Well sir,"said Wesley,"I saw something to-day.
You told me about Kate getting that tin pail for Elnora to carry to high school and you said you told her it was a shame.I guess Elnora was ashamed all right,for to-night she stopped at the old case Duncan gave her,and took out that pail,where it had been all day,and put a napkin inside it.Coming home she confessed she was half starved because she hid her dinner under a culvert,and a tramp took it.She hadn't had a bite to eat the whole day.But she never complained at all,she was pleased that she hadn't lost the napkin.So Ijust inquired around till I found this,and I think it's about the ticket."Wesley opened the package and laid a brown leather lunch box on the table."Might be a couple of books,or drawing tools or most anything that's neat and genteel.
You see,it opens this way."
It did open,and inside was a space for sandwiches,a little porcelain box for cold meat or fried chicken,another for salad,a glass with a lid which screwed on,held by a ring in a corner,for custard or jelly,a flask for tea or milk,a beautiful little knife,fork,and spoon fastened in holders,and a place for a napkin.
Margaret was almost crying over it.
"How I'd love to fill it!"she exclaimed.
"Do it the first time,just to show Kate Comstock what love is!"said Wesley."Get up early in the morning and make one of those dresses to-morrow.Can't you make a plain gingham dress in a day?I'll pick a chicken,and you fry it and fix a little custard for the cup,and do it up brown.Go on,Maggie,you do it!""I never can,"said Margaret."I am slow as the itch about sewing,and these are not going to be plain dresses when it comes to making them.There are going to be edgings of plain green,pink,and brown to the bias strips,and tucks and pleats around the hips,fancy belts and collars,and all of it takes time.""Then Kate Comstock's got to help,"said Wesley."Can the two of you make one,and get that lunch to-morrow?""Easy,but she'll never do it!"
"You see if she doesn't!"said Wesley."You get up and cut it out,and soon as Elnora is gone I'll go after Kate myself.She'll take what I'll say better alone.
But she'll come,and she'll help make the dress.These other things are our Christmas gifts to Elnora.She'll no doubt need them more now than she will then,and we can give them just as well.That's yours,and this is mine,or whichever way you choose."Wesley untied a good brown umbrella and shook out the folds of a long,brown raincoat.Margaret dropped the hat,arose and took the coat.She tried it on,felt it,cooed over it and matched it with the umbrella.
"Did it look anything like rain to-night?"she inquired so anxiously that Wesley laughed.
"And this last bundle?"she said,dropping back in her chair,the coat still over her shoulders.
"I couldn't buy this much stuff for any other woman and nothing for my own,"said Wesley."It's Christmas for you,too,Margaret!"He shook out fold after fold of soft gray satiny goods that would look lovely against Margaret's pink cheeks and whitening hair.
"Oh,you old darling!"she exclaimed,and fled sobbing into his arms.
But she soon dried her eyes,raked together the coals in the cooking stove and boiled one of the dress patterns in salt water for half an hour.Wesley held the lamp while she hung the goods on the line to dry.Then she set the irons on the stove so they would be hot the first thing in the morning.
