But for all his scolding, the old man secretly felt a thrill of pride at the loyalty—whether mistaken or not, it is not the place here to discuss—which made this possible.
“Now, as for your little girls,” Mr. Chester said to Doctor Ward, “I would like to do something for them—something they will remember this by. I thought this might do, if you have no objections.”
“This” was a small morocco case which he slowly drew from a side pocket. Then he produced a similar one from the other pocket, and laid them both on the desk in front of Doctor Ward. Then he touched the springs, in his deliberate way, first of one case and then of the other. The covers flew back, and on the satin linings there lay two exquisite little watches. Two little hunting-cases they were, with graceful monograms on the respective covers.
“For my little piccaninnies?” exclaimed Doctor Ward, in astonishment. “Indeed, Chester, that’s too munificent altogether. Why, I haven’t quite settled in my own mind yet but that the little witches ought to be sent supperless to bed for such a daring performance, without consulting anybody. The accident of its having turned out well does not by any means make up for their having taken matters into their own hands. Under some circumstances, they might have done unbounded mischief. It’s too serious a matter for such small hands to meddle with the affairs of state, so to speak.”
The doctor laughed as he spoke, but he had been seriously in doubt, as he said, whether to reprove or commend. He had finally compromised by a long, serious talk with his little daughters, and they had promised that, after this, they would duly consult the powers that be.
“All that is your affair,” answered Mr. Chester, grimly smiling. “I can’t undertake to say what discipline other people’s children should have. But on my own account, and because I like pluck wherever I see it, I would like the children to have these watches. It was a plucky performance, doctor, you must admit that.”
“They certainly bearded the lion in his den,” answered Doctor Ward, smiling also. “Yes, I think they are plucky little women. But, my dear Chester, some very much more trifling things will show your appreciation just as well, and make me more comfortable.”
“Tut! tut! This is all in the trade, you know. I know my May was crazy for a watch like these, so I thought they would suit your girls also. And you must remember that, since I deal in these things, they are no more to me than a bottle of physic would be to you.”
Doctor Ward admitted the truth of this argument, as Mr. Chester was at the head of one of the largest jeweller’s stores in town, and he finally agreed to accept the watches for the children, subject to his wife’s approval.
Everything being satisfactorily settled, and Mr. Chester utterly refusing to deliver the watches himself, the next morning, when Eunice and Cricket came down to the breakfast-table, each viewed with astonishment the little morocco case at her plate.