Ernest still loved to tell the story; and when Rosy would sometimes say,
“That little thread and needle store seems like a dream to me now,” he would produce the very basket which he had formerly carried, and the silver dollar which he had so long reserved to repay his benefactor, and would smilingly reply,
“My match basket is still a reality to me, Rosy. We will not forget the days gone by.”
I FORGOT.
“I am glad you have come, Clara,” said Mrs. Gray, as her little daughter entered the room, on her return from an errand to a neighboring shop; “I began to fear you would be too late. Where are the buttons?”
“The buttons!” exclaimed Clara. “Oh, mother, I forgot to buy them!”
“Forgot to buy them, Clara; how is that possible, when you went to the shop for the very purpose of getting them? I gave you no other errand.”
“I know that, mother; but you gave me leave to buy the worsted to work the slippers for father, for which I have been saving my money so long. I met Anna Lee, and we were so busy talking together, and selecting the prettiest shades of worsted, that I quite forgot the buttons. I will go back again, mother.”
“No, Clara, it will be too late; your father is now eating his dinner, and he expects the coach in a few minutes. I should have but just time to sew the buttons on his coat, if I had them now. If he had not been so suddenly called from home, his clothes would have been in readiness. I have exerted myself all the morning to put every thing in proper order for his journey, and all is now ready excepting his overcoat, which needs new buttons very much.”
Clara looked sorry and ashamed, and just then her father entered the room, saying,—