"I remember now—oh yes, of course. I won't forget again," said the girl; "little" girl one could scarcely call her, for though she was only thirteen she was as tall as her elder sister of eighteen. "Good-night again, Mabel. I must be quick, for I have to write to Charley before dinner. You know I dine late just now during the holidays," she added proudly.
"But the pound—the pound itself—have you got it?" repeated Fred.
Again went Eleanor's hand to her pocket.
"Oh dear, I forgot I was feeling for the pound," she exclaimed. "Yes, here it is! I'll give it to Theresa quite rightly, you'll see."
Eleanor hurried away to write her letter to Charley, for to-morrow would be Indian mail-day, and she had put it off too late the week before.
"Now I must give the pound to Theresa at once," she said, again depositing it in her pocket when she changed her dress for dinner. Something or other put it out of her head in the drawing-room—poor Eleanor's head was not a very secure place to keep anything in for long! It was not till she and her mother and Theresa and her seventeen-years' old brother Mark were at table, and half way through dinner, that the unlucky coin again returned into her memory. No thanks to her memory that it did so! It was only when she pulled out her handkerchief that the little paper packet came out with it and fell onto the floor.
"Oh," said Eleanor, as she stooped to pick it up, "what a good thing I've remembered it! Here, Theresa, here's a pound for you from aunty, for your—for the—oh, what is it? Your subscription for Christmas cards—no, I mean your subscription-card for Christmas dinners—yes, that's what it's for."
"All right," said Theresa, quietly, "I understand. But I wish you had given it me up-stairs, Nelly, I haven't got a pocket in this thin skirt. Never mind," and she unwrapped it as she spoke, and placed it on the table beside her.