"Poor papa!" said Kyzie. "He doesn't say much; but how sober he looks! Grandma Dunlee gave him that watch, Jimmy, when he was a young man; and he did love it so!"
"I know it. Oh, dear, how can he stand it?" responded jimmy, who had been deeply touched from the first by his father's forbearance. "Mr, Pollard punished Nate dreadfully, you know; but here's Papa Dunlee, why, he hasn't even scolded!"
Papa Dunlee was a wise man. He saw that his little son was suffering enough already; he was learning a hard lesson, and perhaps would learn it all the better for being left alone with his own conscience.
On Sunday afternoon the boy was very disconsolate, and Mr. Dunlee patted him on the head, saying:—
"Maybe we'll find the watch yet, my son. And anyway, I know Jimmum didn't mean to lose it."
Then he sat down to read, and Jimmy gazed at him reverently. The sunshine about his head seemed almost like a halo, and the boy thought of the angels, and wondered if they could possibly be any better than papa!
"Papa is the best man! Never was cross in his life. I should be cross as fury! I should shake my boy all to pieces if he should carry off my gold watch and drop it in the sand!"
Monday morning came and the missing article did not appear. Everybody looked troubled. Edith walked about, carrying her lame kitten in a basket, and saying:—
"Zee is getting better all the while, but how can I be happy when papa's watch is lost!"
"Who knows but I shall be the one to find it?" returned Katharine with a mysterious smile, as she was leaving the house.