THE SILVER WATCH.
The regiment had at length passed by, and the sound of the drums and
trumpets had become almost inaudible, when Aunt Lizzie rose to lay her
sobbing burden on the bed.
"So, my little loved one, we must rest now," she said softly; "and Aunt
Lizzie will lie down beside Violet while she tries to sleep."
But at this moment a bell over her head rang with a somewhat sharp
clang.
"What is that?" she said, pausing astonished with the child in her arms.
"Oh, it is nothing; only the basket-bell, Aunt Lizzie."
"The basket-bell? what is that, and where is it?"
"The bell is over Violet's chair, and the basket is in the street,"
replied the child wearily. "Lay me down, Aunt Lizzie, for Violet's head
aches so."
Lizzie laid the child on the bed, and shook up the pillows. The bell
rang again.
Aunt Lizzie crept over to the window quietly and looked about her
curiously, till presently, catching sight of a red cord attached to
Violet's chair, she imagined she had lit on the right object. She drew
it up inch by inch, and by-and-by the little straw basket made its
appearance at the window, and she lifted it in.
She hesitated a moment, then seeing Violet's eyes open she asked her
softly,--
"Am I to open it, darling? or shall I give it to thee?"
"Do thou open it, Aunt Lizzie; Violet is too tired."
Her aunt drew out with some surprise a small package, most carefully
fastened up and sealed. On the outside was printed in a clear strong
hand,--"For little Violet, from a friend."
"This must be a present for thee, my child; something very precious it
seems too."
"Oh, not now; put it away, Aunt Lizzie; Violet's head aches so."
"What! thou wilt not even look at it?" cried her aunt, whose own
curiosity was now somewhat raised, and she carried the package over to
the side of the bed; but Violet only pressed her head down into the
pillows and waved the gift away with her hand.
"Aunt Lizzie, Aunt Lizzie, my head it aches so. Come and sit beside
Violet; for her father, her good, dear father, is gone away, so far
away; and what can she do--what can she do--what can she do?" There
were sobs, but as yet no tears.
"Thou canst pray to the good God to keep him safe and well," said her
aunt softly, as she laid the packet on the table; "that will do thee
good."
But while she stooped down and comforted the child with kisses and
loving words, there was a knock at the door, and she cried softly,--
"Oh, who comes now? the child is tired and must sleep."
But it was the doctor who opened the door and walked in. He had
promised John, the night before, to look after little Violet in the
first access of her trouble; and as he walked towards the bed, she gave
him a little smile of welcome.
He sat down beside her, drawing his chair quite close up, and took the
little girl's hand in his, looking earnestly at her for a few minutes
without speaking.
Violet blushed one of those painful blushes so common to her now, which
flooded all the poor pale face with vivid carmine.
"What is this?" said the doctor, turning his eyes slowly away from her
and looking at the sealed package on the table close to him; "what
have we here? A present for Violet, 'from a friend.'" He took it up
in his hand and examined it carefully. "Thou hast not opened it yet, I
perceive."
"No; some other day," she said softly.
"Why some other day? why not now?" and the doctor held out the packet
to her.
She stretched out her hand nervously; but it trembled so, and the
parcel was so weighty for its size, that it fell from her grasp on the
counterpane.
"There, there, that is enough; I will open it for thee." The doctor
took it up and broke the seal, looking at it curiously as he did so.
It had on it a little bird flying out of a cage, with the simple motto
over it, "Free at last."
Inside the first paper was a layer of soft pink cotton wool.
"It must be something very precious," said the doctor, adjusting his
glasses.
Violet rose a little on her elbow and looked also.
"Ho! I have a guess; but I can scarcely believe it possible."
"What?" she asked in a low voice, scarcely conscious even that she
spoke, and with her eyes riveted on the parcel, from which the doctor
was now slowly removing the pink wool.
"Oh, wonderful! I have guessed rightly. It is what I thought; and this
is a gift for thee, Violet."
"But what is it? I cannot see it." She rose now entirely from her
pillows. "O Aunt Lizzie, see--it is a watch!"
"A watch!" cried her aunt excitedly, who had been standing all this
time by the bedside with her eyes full of tears; "is it possible?"
"A watch for me!--how beautiful!" Violet held it in her hand, gazing at
it with those deep purple-coloured eyes which spoke so often to those
she loved, even when the mouth was silent.
"Let me look at it again; it is quite a beauty." The doctor took it
in his hand. It was a silver watch with a double case--a case which
opened with a spring to show the face. The back was all chased with the
ordinary criss-cross lines, only in the centre there was a small round
space with a name carved on it; and on the opposite side there was a
space also, filled in with a wreath of blue forget-me-nots in enamel.
"Oh, how strange! I have certainly seen this watch before. Let me try
if I could read the name." The doctor rose, and going over to the
window adjusted his glasses with great accuracy. "It is just as I
thought--'Margaret.' And who is the friend who has given our little
Violet this beautiful present?"
"I do not know," she said, shaking her head; "it came in the basket."
"In the basket?" said the doctor; "and there was no name?"
"None," replied Aunt Lizzie. "I drew it up myself, and took out the
parcel; that is quite certain."
"Then I must tell no tales," said the good old man smiling; "only
Violet, I know, will take great care of the present;" and turning back
he replaced the watch in her hand.
"Yes," said she softly; but her eyes were full of question.
"It belonged once to a little sick girl whom I knew well, and who is
now an angel in heaven," he said in a low voice.
"A little sick girl," repeated Violet, gazing at him with eyes widening
and darkening.
"Yes; she died early this spring, just when the flowers were beginning
to shoot up and the larks to sing. She just stretched out her wings
like the little bird on this seal, and flew straight up to heaven."
"Her wings!" cried Violet with a gasp; "was she--;" she paused again,
colouring painfully.
"Was she what? what is it, my poor little girlie?" asked the doctor
kindly.
"Was she a little hunchback like me?"
"A what? what does the child say?" cried the doctor in evident
distress.--"Yes, she was like thee; and I will tell thee why: Because
she was one of the sweetest little maidens in the world;" and with a
sudden tenderness he stroked back Violet's hair and kissed her on the
forehead. "She was one of the Lord Jesus' own little lambs; and when
she was very tired and very sad she told him all her trouble, and he
loved her and comforted her."
"Yes," said Violet with a little trembling sigh, and enormous tears
rising up and clouding her eyes.
"And now," he said, sitting down by the bedside and taking the child's
hand, "we must feel Violet's pulse with this new watch and make it
useful."
What a burning little hand it was, and how the poor heart was beating!
There was no need to look at the minute hand, for the thread of life
leaped on at a countless speed, and the doctor closed the cover with a
snap.
"Violet is a good girl; she will take the medicine I shall send her
presently."
She nodded her head, and as she did so the tears fell out of her eyes
upon the linen sheet. She looked up swiftly, deprecatingly at her aunt.
"She has been such a good girl all the morning," said Aunt Lizzie; "she
has been so brave, our Violet. She would not shed a tear to fret her
father or make his heart ache. I think now we may let her cry a little;
is it not so, sir?"
"Certainly; it will do her good to cry." The doctor's voice was husky,
and he dropped his glasses quickly, so that they clicked against the
buttons of his coat. "I shall send her up now at once a little draught,
very small, and without a bad taste; let her take it the moment it
comes; and try and keep the room and the house quiet. We must get her
over this day and night somehow," he added as he reached the door. "Of
all the patients I shall have to see this afternoon there is not one
for whom my heart aches as it does for the little maiden yonder. The
sorrows of this world will not trouble her long. Good-evening;" and
going down the stairs, the doctor blew his nose sonorously and went out
into the street.
The thoroughfare was almost deserted now. The women had gone back into
their houses to weep and pray; and the men, what able-bodied men there
were left, had resumed their daily toil. It seemed as if a great fire
had died out of the heart of the town and left nothing but ashes behind
it. Only the clank of the policeman's sword could be heard resounding
through the empty street, clinking slowly against the stones of the
pavement.
"Good-evening," said the doctor as they met presently face to face;
"how goes it with thee, William? I suppose thy son is off with all the
rest of the lads this morning."
"Yes, doctor."
"It has been a hard day for thee, no doubt."
"Yes, hard enough; though, the good God pardon me, I nearly lost sight
of the poor lad, watching the girl up at the window yonder throwing the
violets to her father. It was enough to make one's heartstrings crack."
"She reminds thee of thy little Margaret, no doubt," said the doctor
kindly. "I have seen the likeness; and I have also seen the joy which
thy kind heart has procured for her this afternoon, at perhaps the most
critical moment of her life."
"God be praised!" said the policeman earnestly. "Can she, will she
live, do you think, until he returns?"
"Heaven only knows," replied the doctor as he nodded his farewell. "It
is well for those good friends who are already at rest."