Vivian's Lesson

by Elizabeth W. Grierson

Now Father Christmas had the pistol in his hand, and was turning it over seeking for the name. Would he never find it? Vivian felt angry at the noise that the other boys, who had already received their presents, were making. But his suspense did not last long. In another moment his name was called out, and the wished-for toy was in his hand.

He turned it over and over in delight, examining every part of it, while some of the other boys stretched over the seats to admire it. Evidently a toy pistol was a coveted possession.

‘It’s not a very big one,’ said one lad, with rather a mean desire to depreciate a present which he had wished for, but which had not fallen to his lot.

‘All the better,’ said Ronald, who had left his seat and come round to see what his brother had got. ‘Father would not have let him use it if it had been bigger.’

‘It will shoot very well, all the same,’ broke in the good-natured Robin, relieved to find that it was not the kodak that his companion had been longing for. ‘My cousin had one like that, and he could shoot sparrows with it. He found it very useful in the spring, when they tried to eat up all the seeds that he had sown in the garden.’

‘Vivian Armitage. No, it is not for him. It is for Vivian Gray, who isn’t here. This book is for Vivi.’

It was Aunt Dora’s voice, and she looked over the boys’ clustering heads as she spoke. ‘No, Vivi dear, that is not for you,’ she said, stretching out her hand. ‘You are rather a little chap for that. I am afraid that mother would not thank me if I sent you home with such a dangerous toy. This book is for you; I think you will like it. It is one of Henty’s. Claude got it for a birthday present a year ago, and he was quite delighted with it.’

Poor Vivian! he handed back the pistol and took the book instead with the best grace he could; but it was a bitter disappointment, and Aunt Dora’s kind heart was troubled as she saw how his face fell, and with what difficulty he winked back the tears which were perilously near filling his eyes.

‘It serves me right,’ she thought, ‘for having such a thing on the tree, only I knew that Mr Gray had no objection to Vivian having it, and it took my fancy when I was buying the presents. I must try to remember to ask Jack if he would mind if I give Vivi one on his next birthday; he will be a year older then, and more careful.’