THE PRICE OF TOADY'S LEG.
Reuben and Mary had come; and glad enough Violet was to see them; but
this, like all her days, had been so long that she forgot to say a word
about her flowers and the gilded cup; she could not remember back to the
morning, until her mother asked if she knew whose birthday this was; and
then it all came back, and she gave more thanks and kisses than there
had been flowers in the cup.
"But why is it empty?" asked Reuben.
And Violet told about the carriage, and Narcissa, and Toady's
misfortune, and the kind doctor, who had waited to mend the mischief his
daughter had done, and how he took her violets, leaving money in their
stead.
You should have seen the old people hold up their hands when Violet
showed them the coin she had only looked upon as so many bright stones.
Their marketing had not sold as well as usual, and the winter was to be
a hard one for poor people, every one said; and they had been telling
each other, as they came home, that if Providence had not taken care of
them so well thus far, they should certainly expect to starve now.
And here stood Violet with six silver dollars! They could hardly believe
their eyes. Some fairy must have given it to the child.
True enough, old Reuben--the fairy LOVE!
The rich doctor might have given six times as much, and never have felt
the loss enough to remember it. But I cannot tell you how many comforts
his money procured for the poor old people.
Mary had a new warm gown, and Reuben a pair of rubbers and some flannel,
and Violet a blanket shawl, and what was left they spent in tea, rice,
flour, and molasses.
Every afternoon, when the old lady sat down to sew that winter, feeling
warmer than she had for many a cold month, and seeing so beautifully,
too, from the light that came in at a new window they had bought for the
hut where they lived, Mary would bless the rich man, and the good child
God had given her.
And every time Reuben waded through the snow towards town, and did not
wet his feet, nor come home with rheumatism, as he used to the winter
before, he, too, would think of the rich man, and thank God for his
little daughter, and wonder if ever _any_ one had so many blessings as
he.
Violet too, with her thick, warm shawl, could go to the district school;
and very soon she learned more out of books than Reuben and Mary had
known in all their lives.