“I guess she means the old crow up there,” cried John, pointing at the stuffed bird over the clock.
“Do you suppose she meant that, Father?” asked Mary again, looking rather ruefully at the ominous crow.
“Maybe she meant that,” said her father, sitting down in a library chair to await what would happen. “But I believe this is another of Aunt Nan’s little jokes. It sounds so to me.”
“Pooh! It’s just an old April Fool, I bet!” jeered John.
Mary still stared at what Aunt Nan called “the raven,” and wondered. “Under which wing am I to look?” she thought. Finally she gathered courage to reach up her hand toward the right wing, very cautiously. She half expected that the creature might come alive and nip her. But nothing happened. There was nothing under the right wing but moth-eaten feathers, some of which came off in Mary’s fingers.
“I’ll try the other wing,” said Mary to herself. She poked her fingers under the old bird’s left wing. Yes! There was something there. Something dangled by a hidden string from the wing-bone of Aunt Nan’s raven. Mary pulled, and presently something came away. In her hand she held a little gold watch and chain. On the case was engraved the letter C, which was of course as truly Mary’s initial as it had been Aunt Nan Corliss’s.
“Why, it is Aunt Nan’s watch, sure enough!” said Dr. Corliss, beaming. “Well, Mary! I declare, that is something worth while. You needed a watch, my dear. But I don’t know when I could ever have bought a gold one for you. This is a beauty.”
“It’s a bird of a watch!” piped John, wagging his head at the crow.
“I like it better than wriggly snakes,” said Mrs. Corliss, smiling.
“Oh, how good Aunt Nan was to leave it here for me!” said Mary. “I am beginning to like Aunt Nan, in spite of her queerness.”