“Seems to me,” she said, with a touch of regret, “this ain't no time or age for such foolishness. It ain't as if I was a girl like Susan there. Boxes of candy an' Susan would match up like pale blue an' white. I guess the safe thing is to make choice of one that ain't a stranger. I've done business with Skinner years an' years, sellin' him calves an' buyin' meat off of him; an' as for the Colonel, I guess I know all his bad points as well as his good ones. The Colonel has been a friend of pa's a long time.”
So it happened that when Eliph' Hewlitt called at Miss Sally's that afternoon he did not find her at home. Mrs. Smith received him and tried to make up by her kindness for the disappointment Eliph' evidently felt. She thanked him in Miss Sally's name for the beautiful box of candy—although Miss Sally had left no such word—and drew him on to talk of Jarby & Goss, the publishers of the Encyclopedia, and of his own adventures. The longer she talked with the little man the better her opinion of him became, and she saw that he was gentle, shrewd, capable and sincere—sincere even in his wildest enthusiasm for Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art. When he arose to go he stood a moment hesitatingly with his hat in his hand. He coughed apologetically.
“I hope Miss Sally like the little token of esteem; the box of candy;” he said, looking up into Mrs. Smith's face anxiously, “it isn't as if I was used to such matters. My preference would have been a book; a good book; a book that I could recommend to man, woman or child, containing in a condensed form all the world's knowledge, from the time of Adam to the present day, with an index for ready reference, and useful information for every day of the year. It was my intention to have given her such a book, which would have been a proper vehicle to convey to her my—my regard, but I learned only last night that she already had a copy of that work, without which no home is complete, and which is published by Jarby & Goss, New York, five dollars, bound in cloth; seven fifty, morocco. I learned that she already had one.”
“She told you I had given her my copy?” asked Mrs. Smith.
“Yes,” said Eliph' simply. “So I could not present her with a copy of that work. My preference was to give a work of literature; I am a worker in the field of literature, and it would have been more appropriate. But I could give her nothing but the best of its kinds, and where find another such book as Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art? Nowhere! There is no other. This book combining in one volume selections from the world's best literature, recipes for the home, advice for every period of existence, together with one thousand and one other subjects, forms in itself a volume unequaled in the history of literature. No person should be without it.”
“I know, Mr. Hewlitt,” pleaded Mrs. Smith, smiling, “but I have already bought two copies. Don't you thing you ought to let me off with that?”
“I was not trying to sell you one,” said Eliph' with embarrassment. “I hoped——” He paused and coughed behind his hand again. “You know my intention in sending a present to Miss Briggs,” he said bravely. “I admire her greatly. I—to me she is, in fact, a Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art among women.”
“Dear Mr. Hewlitt,” said Mrs. Smith, taking his hand, “I understand. And I wish you all the good fortune in the world. I shall do all I can to help you.”
“Thank you,” said Eliph', shaking her hand as if she was an old acquaintance he had met after long years of separation. “So you understand that I can feel the same to no other woman. Not even to—to anyone.” He wiped his forehead with his disengaged hand. “So I feel that you will not misunderstand me if I ask you to accept a copy of Jarby's Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Compendium of Literature, Science and Art, bound in morocoo, seven fifty. I mean gratis. No home should be without one.”
“Why, it is very kind of you to suggest such a thing,” said Mrs. Smith, “and I'm sure I'll be glad to own a copy.”