"Then you have won something."
"I think I have won a great deal, when I look the matter over. I have learned a great many things."
Noddy had only a partial appreciation of what he had "won," though he was satisfied that his labor had not been wasted. He had been happy in the occupation which the necessities of his situation demanded of him. Many a boy, wrecked as he had been, with no one but a weak and timid girl to support him, would have done nothing but repine at his hard lot; would have lived "from hand to mouth" during those two months, and made every day a day of misery. Noddy had worked hard; but what had he won? Was his labor, now that he was to abandon the house, the cisterns, the stores, and the garden,—was it wasted?
Noddy had won two months of happiness.
He had won a knowledge of his own powers, mental and physical.
He had won a valuable experience in adapting means to ends, which others might be years in obtaining.
He had won a vast amount of useful information from the stubborn toil he had performed.
He had won the victory over idleness and indifference, which had beset him for years.
He had won a cheerful spirit, from the trials and difficulties he had encountered.
He had won a lively faith in things higher than earth, from the gentle and loving heart that shared his exile, for whom, rather than for himself, he had worked.