"I am reconciled to the disappointment, sir," answered Luke. "I can get along for the present without a watch."

 

Nevertheless, Luke did feel disappointed. He had fully¹ expected to have the watch to carry home and display to his mother. As it was, he was in no hurry to go home, but remained for two hours skating with the other boys. He used his friend Linton's skates, Linton having an engagement which prevented his remaining.

 

It was five o'clock when Luke entered the little cottage which he called home. His mother, a pleasant woman of middle age, was spreading the cloth for supper. She looked up as he entered.

 

"Well, Luke?" she said inquiringly.

 

"I haven't brought home the watch, mother," he said. "Randolph Duncan won it by accident. I will tell you about it."

 

After he had done so, Mrs. Larkin asked thoughtfully. "Isn't it a little singular that Tom should have got in your way?"

 

"Yes; I thought so at the time."

 

"Do you think there was any arrangement between him and Randolph?"

 

"As you ask me, mother, I am obliged to say that I do."

 

"It was a very mean trick!" said Mrs. Larkin, resentfully.

 

"Yes, it was; but poor Tom was well punished for it. Why, he's got a bunch on the back of his head almost as large as a hen's egg."

 

"I don't pity him," said Mrs. Larkin.

 

"I pity him, mother, for I don't believe Randolph will repay him for the service done him. If Randolph had met with the same accident I am not prepared to say that I should have pitied him much."

 

"You might have been seriously injured yourself, Luke."

 

"I might, but I wasn't, so I won't take that into consideration. However, mother, watch or no watch, I've got a good appetite. I shall be ready when supper is."

 

Luke sat down to the table ten minutes afterward² and proved his words good, much to his mother's satisfaction.

 

While he is eating we will say a word about the cottage. It was small, containing only four rooms, furnished in the plainest fashion. The rooms, however, were exceedingly neat, and presented an appearance of comfort. Yet the united income of Mrs. Larkin and Luke was very small. Luke received a dollar a week for taking care of the schoolhouse, but this income only lasted forty weeks in the year. Then he did odd jobs for the neighbors, and picked up perhaps as much more. Mrs. Larkin had some skill as a dressmaker, but Groveton was a small village, and there was another in the same line, so that her income from this source probably did not average more than three dollars a week. This was absolutely all that they had to live on, though there was no rent to pay; and the reader will not be surprised to learn that Luke had no money to spend for watches.

分享到：