"It is all in there," she said—"all I have. I just emptied my bank right into that work-bag, for I thought it would be easier for you to carry the money that way. I don't know how much there is there, but I think it is about fifteen dollars, for I've been saving it for some time. It seems heavy, for so much of it is in pennies and five and ten cent pieces, but I don't believe you will mind carrying it."
Andy Morse was speechless. He took the bag, shook it, weighed it, looked at it in the light. Twice he tried to speak, but no words came.
"Do yer—do yer really mean ter give me all this?" he stammered at last.
"Certainly I do," replied Teddy. "I only hope it will be enough for you to get what you want."
"Look ahere," said Andy; "jest yer listen ter me! I solemnly promise I'll act straight after this. I won't steal, and I won't hurt no animals, and I won't do nothin' yer wouldn't like. And if I ever make enough, I'll pay yer back this money, sure 's I'm alive. I'll count it, and I'll pay yer back every cent. Do yer believe me?"
"Yes, indeed I do; but you needn't bother about paying it back, for you really need it a great deal more than I do." As she spoke her glance fell upon the Middleton bowl, gleaming in the moonlight. "Before you go, I want to show you this," she said, moving over to the Chinese table in the window.
"This was broken the day—the day the kitten died, and we can't find out who did it. It is very, very valuable, and all of our family think more of it than anything else we own, because my great-grandfather brought it home and gave it to his son, and when my aunts die it is to go to my father, and then to me. It is never to go out of the family, and now it is broken, and had to be mended. We can't find out who did it, and it has given us lots of trouble. My aunts thought at first that I did it, and sometimes they think so now, I am sure; but I didn't. It makes me so unhappy to think they don't believe me." She paused for a moment and gazed at the bowl. Then she continued. "It isn't nice not to be believed, and that is the reason I am telling you about it. I just happened to think of it. I want to tell you again that I really and truly believe you. I don't want you to feel unhappy about that, the way I do about the Middleton bowl."
Andy looked at it in silence. Then he turned away.
"I'm agoin' now," he said. "Good-by. Yer've saved me, and I'll never forgit it. Would yer please tell me what yer name is?" he asked, shyly. "Yer first name, I mean. Of course I know yer other name's Middleton."
"Theodora," said she, "but everybody calls me Teddy, and I like that best. Good-by! I hope you will be able to get some work. I'm very glad I came down here to-night. If Aunt Joanna hadn't been so ill I shouldn't have come. If I can ever do anything else for you, I wish you would tell me. Please go out the back door, the way you came in, if you don't mind, for I am afraid my aunts might hear the front door shut, and it would frighten them."