“Oh, no, don't go away. I was only moping. I am glad you've come.”
“Thank you, Missy.”
“But now you have come, you've got to talk and cheer me up. See? There's too many things to think about on a Christmas Day—when—when you're so far away from everybody.”
John William agreed and sympathised. “The fact is I had something to show you,” he added; “that's why I came.”
“Then show away,” said Missy, forcing a smile. “Something in a cardboard box, eh?”
“Yes. Will you open it and tell me how you like it?” He handed her the box that he had taken out of his breast-pocket. Missy opened it and produced a very yellow bauble of sufficiently ornate design.
“Well, I'm sure! A bangle!”
“Yes; but what do you think of it?” asked John William anxiously. He had also blushed very brown.
“Oh, of course I think it's beautiful—beautiful!” exclaimed Missy, with unmistakable sincerity. “But who's it for? That's what I want to know,” she added, as she scanned him narrowly.
“Can't you guess?”