"No," answered Cherry stoutly; "I'm your child now—you know you said so, yourself—and so all I get is yours. Don't give it back, mother-Meg—don't—but let it go into the savings-bag."
"Shall I, Jem?" asked Meg, doubtfully.
"Yes," said Jem, "the child's quite right; we're all one family now, for good or ill. May God bless us all."
So Meg unlocked her savings-bag, and Cherry dropped her money into it with great satisfaction.
"Would you not like a little for yourself, dear?" she asked.
"Not a farthing," answered Cherry, "not till you have to get me some boots. But I wore these old things all the time, 'cause I told grannie as I wanted to have every bit of it ready for you. That half-crown's what I got from her, for helping her with the washing."
"I've got some savings too," said Jem, smiling. "I've kept it a great secret, even from Meg, because I wanted to surprise her. I was goin' to give it to her on our weddin' day, but as Cherry's so clever, I won't be left behind. There, Meg! this is what a pint a day would ha' cost me ever since last June; see, it's nigh on three pounds!"
Meg was too astonished to speak for a moment.
"It's to go into the Savings-Bank," pursued Jem, "and it's to buy a cottage with by-and-by; if it's God's will as we should."
"Oh, Jem!" exclaimed Meg, "I knew before we were married that you never took any of the drink, but I never guessed this."