“No,” said Marielle, “I don’t think that will be the best way. She would rather be alone when she receives it. Let Royal carry it to the door all tied up, and the note fastened to it, and give it to her sister, and ask her to give it to Mary Jay, and then come right away.”
There was some objection made to this plan, but at length it was adopted. Miss Anne thought it would be pleasanter for Mary Jay to receive it in some such way as that. “I think,” said she, “that she would rather receive it alone. And then, besides, it is better that she should have it a little time before she goes away, in order that she may become somewhat accustomed to it.”
Accordingly, that evening Royal carried the crutch. He waited until evening, in order that he might be more sure not to find Mary Jay herself at the door, or in the yard or garden. He knocked at the door, and Mary Jay’s sister came. He handed her the crutch, and the note, and asked her if she would be so good as to give them to Mary Jay; and then he turned around and came directly away.
On the Monday following, which was the day before Mary Jay went away, the girls received a little note from her, thanking them for their present. The note was as follows:—
“My dear Friends,
“I was very much astonished last evening when my sister brought in your beautiful present to me. I like it very much indeed. It is so light that I can walk very easily with it, and it feels very smooth to my hand. I shall not be nearly so much troubled because I am lame, when I am among strangers, now that I have got such a beautiful crutch; and you may depend upon it that I shall not very soon forget who the friends were that performed so great an act of kindness for
Mary Jay.”
Mary Jay found her crutch, in use, as valuable as she had expected. She felt far less awkward and embarrassed; for, as Royal had predicted, she had now the feeling that, though it was evident that she was lame, the beauty of her crutch showed that, at any rate, she was not friendless and poor.