Andrew borrowed money to buy a gold watch and chain for a graduating gift for his daughter. He would scarcely have essayed anything quite so magnificent, but Fanny innocently tempted him. The two had been sitting in the door in the cool of the evening, one day in June, about two weeks before the graduation, and had just watched Ellen's light muslin skirts flutter out of sight. She had gone down-town to purchase some ribbon for her graduating dress—she and Floretta Vining, who had come over to accompany her. “I feel kind of anxious to have her have something pretty when she graduates,” Fanny said, speaking as if she were feeling her way into a mind of opposition. Neither she nor Andrew had ever owned a watch, and the scheme seemed to her breathless with magnificence.
“Yes, she ought to have something pretty,” agreed Andrew.
“I don't want her to feel ashamed when she sees the other girls' presents,” said Fanny.
“That's so,” assented Andrew.
“Well,” said Fanny, “I've been thinkin'—”
“What?”
“Well, I've been thinkin' that—of course your mother is goin' to give her the dress, and that's all, of course, and it's a real handsome present. I ain't sayin' a word against that; but there ain't anybody else to give her much except us. Poor Eva 'd like to, but she can't; it takes all she earns, since Jim's out of work, and I don't know what she's goin' to do. So that leaves nobody but us, and I've been thinkin'—I dun'no' what you'll say, Andrew, but I've been thinkin'—s'pose you took a little money out of the bank, and—got Ellen—a watch.” Fanny spoke the last word in a faint whisper. She actually turned pale in the darkness.
“A watch?” repeated Andrew.
“Yes, a watch. I've always wanted Ellen to have a gold watch and chain. I've always thought she could, and so she could if you hadn't been out of work so much.”
“Yes, she could,” said Andrew—“a watch and mebbe a piano. I thought I'd be back in Lloyd's before now. Well, mebbe I shall before long. They say there's better times comin' by fall.”