"Oh, papa, you're too funny!" shouted Bertie.
"Quick, Lawrence, the bell will ring for breakfast presently."
He drew cautiously from the stocking a small box, tied and sealed with wax.
"All very grand," he began, with a shrug of the shoulders, when his wife caught it from his hands.
"Open the other, first," she said.
He tore off the paper, and presently came to a note addressed to "Lawrence Curtis, Esq." in a beautifully neat hand. Opening it cautiously, he glanced at the bottom, and saw the names of his entire class, when his countenance changed at once.
"Really," he said, "I had no idea of this," reading aloud, "'Will our dear teacher please accept the enclosed slippers as a trifling token of our gratitude?'
"They are beautiful! very tasteful; exactly what I wanted! I must have them made up at once. Oh! here is the cash for that purpose! Well, my friends, I'm very grateful. Now I'm encouraged to try again," taking up the box, and quizzically glancing into the blushing face before him.
It contained a watch-chain of exquisite workmanship, manufactured of hair and gold, attached to which was an ornament in the shape of a heart, and a key in the form of a hand.
"My heart and my hand are all I have to give," she whispered, kissing his forehead, while a tear glistened in her eye. "The chain was made from the hair you cut from my head when I was so very sick."