Annis’s eyes sparkled. “That’s twenty dollars, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I’d like to have it, but if it’s to be a gift you can’t ask pay for it.”
“True enough,” he said, tossing it up and catching it again. “Well, how am I to contrive to get what I want?”
“If you really want it so much, Brother Charlie, you shall have it for nothing, because I am ’most as fond of you as if you were my very own brother,” she said, permitting him to catch her in his arms and putting hers about his neck.
“That’s right,” he said, kissing her on both cheeks; “and now, as I’m not to be outdone in generosity, you shall have the gold piece as a free gift.”
He put it into her hand, and with a half breathless, “Oh, thank you. I never was so rich before!” and a gay good-night to him and Mildred too, she hurried away, eager to tell Elsie of her good fortune.
“It was worth twenty dollars just to see her delight,” he remarked, to his wife; “don’t you think so, Milly?”
“Yes; how kind and generous you are, my dear husband.”
As the cousins left the parlor Elsie drew out her watch, glanced at it, then gave her father a wistful, pleading look.