ad ever seen. But
she would not touch it; she even put her hands behind her back in her
confusion and dismay. "I could not; I ought not. It is far too costly a
thing, I can see that at a glance. You must keep it; you will find some
far fitter girl to give it to."

He shook his head, hesitated, and then took an old-fashioned little
vinaigrette case, shaped like a tiny gold box, from the watch-chain at
which he wore it. "Will you accept this from me, then? It was my
mother's, and I should like you to have it."

"It's so good of you," the girl faltered. "I don't like to deprive you
of what was your mother's, but if you care that I should have it----"

"I do care," he said.

That last little episode was entirely between themselves. When she
quitted the room, not crying, but paler than before, she had the
vinaigrette case clasped tightly in her hand, while nobody except
Tom Robinson knew of the gift.

He let her go, and then he left the house. When he did so there was that
in his face which caused Rose Millar to cry under her breath, "Come
away. It is not fair to spy upon him. I'll never want to see anybody
refused again." As for "little May," she burst into tears, though the
principals had shed no tears.

"Hold your tongue, you little goose," remonstrated the disturbed Annie.
"He may hear you. School-girls like you and Rose should not meddle in
grown-up people's affairs."

"I thought I had left school after the Christmas holidays," said Rose,
interrogating the world in an abstract fashion. She was herself again on
the instant, carrying her funny little crumpled nose well in the air.

"It is dreadful," said May, with a half-suppressed sob, "and he was
so good-natured. He promised only last week to get Rose and me a
fox-terrier puppy."

"Oh, you selfish little creature! It is over the failure of the
prospective puppy and not over the sorrows of the rejected man you are
lamenting. Never mind, Maisie, I doubt if mother would have allowed us
to keep the puppy. As for Mr. Tom Robinson, he is cut up just now, of
course; but he will soon get over it. How long does it take a man to
forget, Annie? Anyhow, presently he will be busily directing his
attentions in another quarter, until the day may come, after he is
successful and triumphant, well pleased with himself and his choice,
when he will heartily thank Dora there for having administered to him
the cold bath of a rejection, so nipping his first raw aspirations in
the