"Get in, get in," commanded the General; and, in spite of the Little
Mother's hesitancy and timid protests, she was helped up beside the
General's wife by the footman, while Jimmy hopped in beside the General,
and away they went over the hard white road.

The General was in a gay mood.

"Well, my boy, have you found your golden egg?" he asked Jimmy.

"No, sir," said Jimmy, gravely; "not yet."

"Too bad, too bad," said the old gentleman, while he shifted a white box
that was on the seat between himself and Jimmy to the other side.

"You're quite sure, are you, that you could only get it from a goose?"
he asked later.

"Get what, sir?" said Jimmy, whose eyes were on the gay crowds that
thronged the sidewalks.

"The egg," said the General.

"Oh--yes, sir," replied Jimmy, with a smile.

The General leaned back and laughed and laughed until he was red in the
face; but Jimmy could see nothing to laugh at, so he merely smiled
politely, and wondered what the joke was.

At last they reached Jimmy's home, and the General helped the Little
Mother out. As he did so he handed her a white box. Jimmy was busy
watching the gray horses, and saw nothing else.

"For the boy," whispered the General.

The Little Mother shook her head doubtfully.

"Bless you, madam," cried the General, testily, "I have a boy of my
own--if he _is_ six feet two in his stockings." Then, in a softer tone,
"I beg of you to take it, madam; it will please an old man and give the
boy a start."

So when good-by had been said, and Jimmy stood looking after the
carriage and the prancing grays, the Little Mother put the white box in
his hand.

Jimmy opened it, and there on a nest of white cotton was an egg. But it
was different from any of the eggs that Jimmy had sold on Saturday. It
was large and gilded, and around the middle was a yellow ribbon.

Jimmy lifted it out, and found it very heavy.

"What do you think it is?" he said.

"Untie the ribbon," advised his mother, whose quick eyes saw a faint
line which showed an opening.

Jimmy pulled the yellow ribbon, the upper half of the egg opened on a
hinge, and there were glistening gold coins--five-dollar gold pieces.

"Oh!" said Jimmy, and he sat down on the step, breathless with surprise
and joy.

A slip of white paper lay between two of the coins. Jimmy snatched it
out, and this is what he read:

Please accept the contents of the golden egg, with the best wishes
of