"Look in your box if you want to!"
Elnora slipped the strap and turned back the lid.
This disclosed the knife, fork, napkin, and spoon, the milk flask, and
the interior packed with dainty sandwiches wrapped in tissue paper, and
the little compartments for meat, salad, and the custard cup.
"Oh mother!" cried Elnora. "Oh mother, isn't it fine? What made you
think of it, Uncle Wesley? How will I ever thank you? No one will have a
finer lunch box than I. Oh I do thank you! That's the nicest gift I ever
had. How I love Christmas in September!"
"It's a mighty handy thing," assented Mrs. Comstock, taking in every
detail with sharp eyes. "I guess you are glad now you went and helped
Mag and Wesley when you could, Elnora?"
"Deedy, yes," laughed Elnora, "and I'm going again first time they have
a big day if I stay from school to do it."
"You'll do no such thing!" said the delighted Sinton. "Come now, if
you're going!"
"If I ride, can you spare me time to run into the swamp to my box a
minute?" asked Elnora.
The light she had seen the previous night troubled her.
"Sure," said Wesley largely. So they drove away and left a white-faced
woman watching them from the door, her heart a little sorer than usual.
"I'd give a pretty to hear what he'll say to her!" she commented
bitterly. "Always sticking in, always doing things I can't ever afford.
Where on earth did he get that thing and what did it cost?"
Then she entered the cabin and began the day's work, but mingled with
the brooding bitterness of her soul was the vision of a sweet young
face, glad with a gladness never before seen on it, and over and over
she repeated: "I wonder what he'll say to her!"
What he said was that she looked as fresh and sweet as a posy, and to be
careful not to step in the mud or scratch her shoes when she went to the
case.
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