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diff --git a/17888.txt b/17888.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec641e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/17888.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1774 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Comfort Pease and her Gold Ring, by +Mary E. Wilkins Freeman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Comfort Pease and her Gold Ring + +Author: Mary E. Wilkins Freeman + +Release Date: March 1, 2006 [EBook #17888] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COMFORT PEASE AND HER GOLD RING *** + + + + +Produced by Jeff Kaylin and Andrew Sly + + + + + + +Comfort Pease + +And her Gold Ring + + +By + +Mary E. Wilkins + +Author of Prembroke, Jane Field, A Humble Romance, etc., etc. + + +Fleming H. Revell Company +New-York Chicago Toronto +MDCCCXCV + + + + +One of the first things which Comfort remembered being told was that +she had been named for her Aunt Comfort, who had given her a gold +ring and a gold dollar for her name. Comfort could not understand +why. It always seemed to her that her aunt, and not she, had given +the name, and that she should have given the ring and the dollar; but +that was what her mother had told her. "Your Aunt Comfort gave you +this beautiful gold ring and this gold dollar for your name," said +she. + +The ring and the dollar were kept in Mrs. Pease's little rosewood +work-box, which she never used for needlework, but as a repository +for her treasures. Her best cameo brooch was in there, too, and a +lock of hair of Comfort's baby brother who died. + +One of Comfort's chiefest delights was looking at her gold ring and +gold dollar. When she was very good her mother would unlock the +rosewood box and let her see them. She had never worn the ring--it +was much too large for her. Aunt Comfort and her mother had each +thought that it was foolish to buy a gold ring that she could +outgrow. "If it was a chameleon ring I wouldn't care," said Aunt +Comfort; "but it does seem a pity when it's a real gold ring." So +the ring was bought a little too large for Comfort's mother. She was +a very small woman, and Comfort was a large baby, and, moreover, +favored her father's family, who were all well grown, and Aunt +Comfort feared she might have larger fingers. + +"Why, I've seen girls eight years old with fingers a good deal bigger +than yours, Emily," she said. "Suppose Comfort shouldn't be able to +get that ring on her finger after she's eight years old, what a pity +'twould be, when it's real gold, too!" + +But when Comfort was eight years old she was very small for her age, +and she could actually crowd two of her fingers--the little one and +the third--into the ring. She begged her mother to let her wear it +so, but she would not. "No," said she, "I sha'n't let you make +yourself a laughing-stock by wearing a ring any such way as that. +Besides, you couldn't use your fingers. You've got to wait till your +hand grows to it." + +So poor little Comfort waited, but she had a discouraged feeling +sometimes that her hand never would grow to it. "Suppose I shouldn't +be any bigger than you, mother," she said, "couldn't I ever wear the +ring?" + +"Hush! you will be bigger than I am. All your father's folks are, and +you look just like them," said her mother, conclusively, and Comfort +tried to have faith. The gold dollar also could only impart the +simple delight of possession, for it was not to be spent. "I am going +to give her a gold dollar to keep beside the ring," Aunt Comfort had +said. + +"What is it for?" Comfort asked sometimes when she gazed at it +shining in its pink cotton bed in the top of the work-box. + +"It's to keep," answered her mother. + +Comfort grew to have a feeling, which she never expressed to anybody, +that her gold dollar was somehow like Esau's birthright, and +something dreadful would happen to her if she parted with it. She +felt safer, because a "mess of pottage" didn't sound attractive to +her, and she did not think she would ever be tempted to spend her +gold dollar for that. + +Comfort went to school when she was ten years old. She had not begun +as early as most of the other girls, because she lived three quarters +of a mile from the school-house and had many sore throats. The +doctors had advised her mother to teach her at home; and she could do +that, because she had been a teacher herself when she was a girl. + +Comfort had not been to school one day before everybody in it knew +about her gold ring and her dollar, and it happened in this way: She +sat on the bench between Rosy and Matilda Stebbins, and Rosy had a +ring on the middle finger of her left hand. Rosy was a fair, pretty +little girl, with long light curls, which all the other girls admired +and begged for the privilege of twisting. Rosy at recess usually had +one or two of her friends standing at her back twisting her soft +curls over their fingers. + +Rosy wore pretty gowns and aprons, too, and she was always glancing +down to see if her skirt was spread out nicely when she sat on the +bench. Her sister Matilda had just as pretty gowns, but she was not +pretty herself. However, she was a better scholar, although she was a +year younger. That day she kept glancing across Comfort at her +sister, and her black eyes twinkled angrily. Rosy sometimes sat with +her left hand pressed affectedly against her pink cheek, with the +ring-finger bent slightly outward; and then she held up her +spelling-book before her with her left hand, and the same +ostentatious finger. + +Finally Matilda lost her patience, and she whispered across Comfort +Pease. "You act like a ninny," said she to Rosy, with a fierce pucker +of her red lips and a twinkle of her black eyes. + +Rosy looked at her, and the pink spread softly all over her face and +neck; but she still held her spelling-book high, and the middle +finger with the ring wiggled at the back of it. + +"It ain't anything but brass, neither," whispered Matilda. + +"It ain't," Rosy whispered back. + +"Smell of it." + +Rosy crooked her arm around her face and began to cry. However, she +cried quite easily, and everybody was accustomed to seeing her fair +head bent over the hollow of her arm several times a day, so she +created no excitement at all. Even the school-teacher simply glanced +at her and said nothing. The school-teacher was an elderly woman who +had taught school ever since she was sixteen. She was called very +strict, and the little girls were all afraid of her. She could ferule +a boy just as well as a man could. Her name was Miss Tabitha Hanks. +She did not like Rosy Stebbins very well, although she tried to be +impartial. Once at recess she pushed Charlotte Hutchins and Sarah +Allen, who were twisting Rosy's curls, away, and gathered them all up +herself in one hard hand. "I'd cut them all off if I were your +mother," said she, with a sharp little tug; but when Rosy rolled her +scared blue eyes up at her, she only laughed grimly and let go. + +Now Miss Hanks just looked absently at Rosy weeping in the hollow of +her blue gingham arm, then went over to the blackboard and began +writing, in fair, large characters, "A rolling stone gathers no +moss," for the scholars to copy in their copy-books. The temptation +and the opportunity were too much for Comfort Pease. She nudged +Matilda Stebbins and whispered in her ear, although she knew that +whispering in school was wrong. "I've got a real gold ring," +whispered Comfort. + +Matilda turned astonished eyes upon her. "You ain't." + +"Yes, I have." + +"Who gave it to you?" + +"My Aunt Comfort, for my name." + +"Were you named for her?" + +"Yes, and she gave me a real gold ring for it." + +"Matilda Stebbins and Comfort Pease, stand out on the floor," said +Miss Tabitha Hanks, sharply. Comfort gave a great jump--the teacher +had been standing at the blackboard with her back toward them, and +how had she seen? Never after that did Comfort feel quite safe from +Miss Tabitha's eyes; even if they were on the other side of the wall +she could not quite trust it. + +"Step right out on the floor, Matilda and Comfort," repeated Miss +Tabitha, and out the two little girls stepped. Comfort's knees shook, +and she was quite pale. Matilda looked very sober, but her black eyes +gave a defiant flash when she was out on the floor and saw that her +sister Rosy had lowered her arm and was looking at her with gentle +triumph. "You see what you've got because you called my ring brass," +Rosy seemed to say; and Matilda gave a stern little nod at her, as if +she replied, "It is brass." + +Poor little Comfort did not feel much sustained by the possession of +her real gold ring. It was dreadful to stand out there facing the +school, which seemed to be a perfect dazzle of blue and black eyes +all fastened upon her in her little red gown and gingham tier, in her +little stout shoes, which turned in for very meekness, with her +little dangling hands, which could not wear the gold ring, and her +little strained face and whispering lips, and little vain heart, +which was being punished for its little vanity. + +They stood on the floor until recess. Comfort felt so weak and stiff +that she could scarcely move when Miss Hanks said harshly, "Now you +can go." She cast a piteous glance at Matilda, who immediately put +her arms around her waist and pulled her along to the entry, where +their hoods and cloaks hung. "Don't you cry," she whispered. "She's +awful strict, but she won't hurt you a mite. She brought me a whole +tumbler of currant jelly when I had the measles." + +"I sha'n't whisper again as long as I live," half sobbed Comfort, +putting on her hood. + +"I sha'n't, either," said Matilda. "I never had to stand out on the +floor before. I don't know what my mother will say when I tell her." + +The two little girls went out in the snowy yard, and there was Rosy, +with Charlotte Hutchins and Sarah Allen, and she was showing them her +ring. It was again too much for sensible little Matilda, weary from +her long stand on the floor. "Rosy Stebbins, you are a great ninny, +acting so stuck up over that old brass ring," said she. "Comfort +Pease has a real solid gold one, and she don't even wear it." + +Rosy and Charlotte Hutchins and Sarah Allen all stared at Comfort. +"Have you?" asked Charlotte Hutchins, in an awed tone. She was a +doctor's daughter, and had many things that the other little girls +had not; but even she had no gold ring--nothing but a chameleon. + +"Yes, I have," replied Comfort, blushing modestly. + +"Real gold?" asked Rosy, in a subdued voice. + +"Yes." + +Some other girls came up--some of the older ones, with their hair +done up; and even some of the boys, towering lankily on the +outskirts. Not one of these scholars in this country district school +fifty years ago had ever owned a gold ring. All they had ever seen +were their mothers' well-worn wedding-circlets. + +"Comfort Pease has got a real gold ring," went from one to the other. + +"Why don't she wear it, then?" demanded one of the big girls. She had +very red cheeks, and her black hair was in two glossy braids, crossed +and pinned at the back of her head, and surmounted by her mother's +shell comb she had let her wear to school that day. She had come out +to recess without her hood to show it. + +"She's waiting for her hand to grow to it," explained Matilda, to +whom Comfort had shyly whispered the whole story. + +"Hold up your hand," ordered the big girl; and Comfort held up her +little hand pink with the cold. + +"H'm! looks big enough," said the big girl, and she adjusted her +shell comb. + +"I call it a likely story," said another big girl, in an audible +whisper. + +"The Peases don't have any more than other folks," said still another +big girl. The little crowd dispersed with scornful giggles. Comfort +turned redder and redder. Rosy and Charlotte and Sarah were looking +at her curiously; only Matilda stood firm. "You are all just as mean +as you can be!" she cried. "She has got a gold ring!" + +Matilda Stebbins put her arm around Comfort, who was fairly crying. +"Come," said she, "don't you mind anything about 'em, Comfort. Le'ss +go in the school-house. I've got a splendid Baldwin apple in my +dinner-pail, and I'll give you half of it. They're mad 'cause they +haven't got any gold ring." + +"I have got a gold ring," sobbed Comfort: + + "Honest and true, + Black and blue, + Lay me down and cut me in two." + +That was the awful truth-testing formula of the village children. + +"Course you have," said Matilda, with indignant backward glances at +the others. "Le'ss go and get that Baldwin apple." + +Comfort went with Matilda; but it took more than a Baldwin apple to +solace her; and her first day at school was a most unhappy one. It +was very probable that the other scholars, and especially the elder +ones, who had many important matters of their own in mind, thought +little more about her and her gold ring after school had begun; but +Comfort could not understand that. She had a feeling that the minds +of the whole school were fixed upon her, and she was standing upon a +sort of spiritual platform of shame, which was much worse than the +school-room floor. If she saw one girl whisper to another, she +directly thought it was about her. If a girl looked at her, her color +rose, and her heart began to beat loudly, for she thought she was +saying to herself, "Likely story!" + +Comfort was thankful when it was time to go home, and she could +trudge off alone down the snowy road. None of the others lived her +way. She left them all at the turn of the road just below the +school-house. + +"Good-night, Comfort," Matilda Stebbins sang out loyally; but the big +girl with red cheeks followed her with, "Wear that gold ring to +school to-morrow, an' let us see it." Then everybody giggled, and +poor Comfort fled out of sight. It seemed to her that she must wear +that ring to school the next day. She made up her mind that she would +ask her mother; but when she got home she found that her Grandmother +Atkins had come, and also her Uncle Ebenezer and Aunt Susan. They had +driven over from Barre, where they lived, and her grandmother was +going to stay and make a little visit; but her uncle and aunt were +going home soon, and her mother was hurrying to make some hot +biscuits for supper. + +So when Comfort came in she stopped short at the sight of the +company, and had to kiss them all and answer their questions with shy +politeness. Comfort was very fond of her grandmother, but this time +she did not feel quite so delighted to see her as usual. As soon as +she had got a chance she slipped into the pantry after her mother. +"Mother," she whispered, pulling her apron softly, "can't I wear my +gold ring to school to-morrow?" + +"No, you can't. How many times have I got to tell you?" said her +mother, mixing her biscuit dough energetically. + +"Please let me, mother. They didn't believe I've got one." + +"Let them believe it or not, just as they have a mind to," said her +mother. + +"They think I'm telling stories." + +"What have you been telling about your ring in school for, when you +ought to have been studying? Now, Comfort, I can't have you standing +there teasing me any longer. I've got to get these biscuits into the +oven; they must have some supper before they go home. You go right +out and set the table. Get the clean table-cloth out of the drawer, +and you may put on the best knives and forks. Not another word. You +can't wear that gold ring until your hand grows to it, and that +settles it." + +Comfort went out and set the table, but she looked so dejected that +the company all noticed it. She could not eat any of the hot biscuits +when they sat down to supper, and she did not eat much of the company +cake. "You don't feel sick, do you, child?" asked her grandmother, +anxiously. + +"No, ma'am," replied Comfort, and she swallowed a big lump in her +throat. + +"She ain't sick," said her mother, severely. "She's fretting because +she can't wear her gold ring to school." + +"O Comfort, you must wait till your hand grows to it," said her Aunt +Susan. + +"Yes, of course she must," said her Uncle Ebenezer. + +"Eat your supper, and your hand will grow to it before long," said +her father, who, left to himself, would have let Comfort wear the +ring. + +"It wouldn't do for you to wear that ring and lose it. It's real +gold," said her grandmother. "Have another piece of the sweet-cake." + +But Comfort wanted no more sweet-cake. She put both hands to her face +and wept, and her mother sent her promptly out of the room and to +bed. Comfort lay there and sobbed, and heard her Uncle Ebenezer's +covered wagon roll out of the yard, and sobbed again. Then she fell +asleep, and did not know it when her mother and grandmother came in +and looked at her and kissed her. + +"I'm sorry she feels so bad," said Comfort's mother, "but I can't let +her wear that ring." + +"No, you can't," said her grandmother. And they went out shading the +candle. + +Comfort said no more about the ring the next morning. She knew her +mother too well. She did not eat much breakfast, and crept off +miserably to school at a quarter past eight, and she had another +unhappy day. Nobody had forgotten about the gold ring. She was teased +about it at every opportunity. "Why didn't you wear that handsome +gold ring?" asked the big girl with red cheeks, until poor Comfort +got nearly distracted. It seemed to her that the time to go home +would never come, and as if she could never endure to go to school +again. That night she begged her mother to let her stay at home the +next day. "No," said her mother; "you've begun to go to school, and +you're going to school unless you're sick. Now this evening you had +better sit down and write a letter to your Aunt Comfort. It's a long +time since you wrote to her." + +So Comfort sat down and wrote laboriously a letter to her Aunt +Comfort, and thanked her anew, as she always did, for her gold ring +and the gold dollar. "I wish to express my thanks again for the +beautiful and valuable gifts which you presented me for my name," +wrote Comfort, in the little stilted style of the day. + +After the letter was written it was eight o'clock, and Comfort's +mother said she had better go to bed. + +"You look tired out," said she; "I guess you'll have to go to bed +early if you're going to school." + +"Can't I stay home to-morrow, mother?" pleaded Comfort, with sudden +hope. + +"No," said her mother; "you've got to go if you're able." + +"Mother, can't I wear it just once?" + +"Don't you bring that ring up again," said her mother. "Take your +candle and go right upstairs." + +Comfort gave a pitiful little sob. + +"Now don't you go to crying over it," ordered her mother; and Comfort +tried to choke back another sob as she went out of the room. + +Comfort's father looked up from the _Old Farmer's Almanac_. He was +going to Bolton the next day with a load of wood, and wanted to see +what the weather would be, and so was consulting the almanac. + +"What was it Comfort wanted?" he inquired. + +"She wanted to wear that gold ring her Aunt Comfort gave her to +school," replied Mrs. Pease. "And I've told her over and over again I +shouldn't let her do it." + +"It's a mile too big for her, and she'd be sure to lose it off," said +Grandmother Atkins; "and it would be a pity to have anything happen +to it, when it's real gold, too." + +"She couldn't wind a rag round her finger under it, could she?" asked +Comfort's father, hesitatingly. + +"Wear a rag round her finger under it!" repeated Mrs. Pease. "I +rather guess she can wait till her finger grows to it. You'd let that +child do anything." + +Mr. Pease did not say anything more, but studied the _Old Farmer's +Almanac_ again, and found out it was likely to be fair weather for +the season. + +It was past midnight, and the hearth fire was raked down, and +Comfort's father and mother and grandmother were all in bed and +asleep, when a little figure in a white nightgown, holding a lighted +candle, padding softly on little cold bare feet, came down the +stairs. Comfort paused in the entry and listened. She could hear the +clock tick and her father snore. The best parlor door was on the +right. She lifted the brass catch cautiously, and pushed the door +open. Then she stole into the best parlor. The close, icy air smote +her like a breath from the north pole. There was no fire in the best +parlor except on Thanksgiving day, and perhaps twice besides, when +there was company to tea, from fall to spring. The cold therein +seemed condensed and concentrated; the haircloth sofa and chairs and +the mahogany table seemed to give out cold as stoves did heat. + +There were two coffin-plates and funeral wreaths, which had belonged +to the uncles of Comfort who had died before she was born, in frames +on the wall, and these always scared Comfort. + +She kept her eyes away from them as she went swiftly on her little +bare feet, which had no feeling in them as they pressed the icy +floor, across to the mahogany card-table, whereon was set the +rosewood work-box. + +Comfort set her candle on the table, and turned the key of the box +with her stiff fingers. Then she raised the lid noiselessly, and +there lay the ring in a little square compartment of the tray. Next +to it, in the corner square, lay the gold dollar. + +Comfort took the ring out, shut the box-lid down, turned the key, and +fled. She thought some one called her name as she went upstairs, and +she stopped and listened; but all she heard was the clock ticking and +her father snoring and her heart beating. Then she kept on to her own +chamber, and put out her candle, and crept into her feather-bed under +the patchwork quilts. There she lay all night, wide awake, with the +gold ring clasped tightly in her little cold fist. + +When Comfort came downstairs the next morning there was a bright red +spot on each cheek, and she was trembling as if she had a chill. + +Her mother noticed it, and asked if she was cold, and Comfort said, +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Well, draw your stool up close to the fire and get warm," said her +mother. "Breakfast is 'tmost ready. You can have some of the pancakes +to carry to school for your dinner." + +Comfort sat soberly in the chimney-corner until breakfast was ready, +as her mother bade her. She was very silent, and did not say anything +during breakfast unless some one asked her a question. + +When she started for school her mother and grandmother stood in the +window and watched her. + +It was a very cold morning, and Mrs. Pease had put her green shawl on +Comfort over her coat; and the little girl looked very short and +stout as she trudged along between the snow-ridges which bordered the +path, and yet there was a forlorn air about her. + +"I don't know as the child was fit to go to school to-day," Mrs. +Pease said, doubtfully. + +"She didn't look very well, and she didn't eat much breakfast, +either," said Grandmother Atkins. + +"She was always crazy after hot pancakes, too," said her mother. + +"Hadn't you better call her back, Em'ly?" + +"No, I won't," said Mrs. Pease, turning away from the window. "She's +begun to go to school, and I'm not going to take her out unless I'm +sure she ain't able to go." + +So Comfort Pease went on to school; and she had the gold ring in her +pocket, which was tied around her waist with a string under her dress +skirt, as was the fashion then. Comfort often felt of the pocket to +be sure the ring was safe as she went along. It was bitterly cold; +the snow creaked under her stout shoes. Besides the green shawl, her +red tippet was wound twice around her neck and face; but her blue +eyes peering over it were full of tears which the frosty wind forced +into them, and her breath came short and quick. When she came in +sight of the school-house she could see the straight column of smoke +rising out of the chimney, it was so thin in the cold air. There were +no scholars out in the yard, only a group coming down the road from +the opposite direction. It was too cold to play out of doors before +school, as usual. + +Comfort pulled off her mittens, thrust her hand in her pocket +dangling against her blue woolen petticoat, and drew out the gold +ring. + +Then she slipped it on over the third and fourth fingers of her left +hand, put her mittens on again, and went on. + +It was quite still in the school-house, although school had not +begun, because Miss Tabitha Hanks had arrived. Her spare form, stiff +and wide, and perpendicular as a board, showed above the desk. She +wore a purple merino dress buttoned down the front with dark black +buttons, and a great breastpin of twisted gold. Her hair was looped +down over her ears in two folds like shiny drab satin. It scarcely +looked like hair, the surface was so smooth and unbroken; and a great +tortoise-shell comb topped it like a coronet. + +Miss Tabitha's nose was red and rasped with the cold; her thin lips +were blue, and her bony hands were numb; but she set copies in +writing-books with stern patience. Not one to yield to a little fall +in temperature was Tabitha Hanks. Moreover, she kept a sharp eye on +the school, and she saw every scholar who entered, while not seeming +to do so. + +She saw Comfort Pease when she came shyly in, and at once noticed +something peculiar about her. Comfort wore the same red tibet dress +and the same gingham apron that she had worn the day before; her +brown hair was combed off her high, serious forehead and braided in +the same smooth tails; her blue eyes looked abroad in the same sober +and timid fashion; and yet there was a change. + +Miss Tabitha gave a quick frown and a sharp glance of her gray eyes +at her, then she continued setting her copy. "That child's up to +something," she thought, while she wrote out in her beautiful shaded +hand, "All is not gold that glitters." + +Comfort went forward to the stove, which was surrounded by a ring of +girls and boys. Matilda Stebbins and Rosy were there with the rest. +Matilda moved aside at once when she saw Comfort, and made room for +her near the stove. + +"Hullo, Comfort Pease!" said she. + +"Hullo!" returned Comfort. + +Comfort held out her numb right hand to the stove, but the other she +kept clenched in a little blue fist hidden in her dress folds. + +"Cold, ain't it?" said Matilda. + +"Dreadful," said Comfort, with a shiver. + +"Why don't you warm your other hand?" asked Matilda. + +"My other hand ain't cold," said Comfort. And she really did not +think it was. She was not aware of any sensation in that hand, except +that of the gold ring binding together the third and fourth fingers. + +Pretty soon the big girl with red cheeks came in. Her cheeks were +redder than ever, and her black eyes seemed to have caught something +of the sparkle of the frost outside. "Hullo!" said she, when she +caught sight of Comfort. "That you, Comfort Pease?" + +"Hullo!" Comfort returned, faintly. She was dreadfully afraid of this +big girl, who was as much as sixteen years old, and studied algebra, +and was also said to have a beau. + +"Got that gold ring" inquired the big girl, with a giggle, as she +held out her hands to the stove. + +Comfort looked at her as if she was going to cry. + +"You're real mean to tease her, so there!" said Matilda Stebbins, +bravely, in the face of the big girl, who persisted nevertheless. + +"Got that gold ring?" she asked again, with her teasing giggle, which +the others echoed. + +Comfort slowly raised her left arm. She unfolded her little blue +fist, and there on the third and fourth fingers of her hand shone the +gold ring. + +Then there was such an outcry that Miss Tabitha Hanks looked up from +her copy, and kept her wary eyes fixed upon the group at the stove. + +"My sakes alive, look at Comfort Pease with a gold ring on two +fingers!" screamed the big girl. And all the rest joined in. The +other scholars in the room came crowding up to the stove. "Le'ss see +it!" they demanded of Comfort. They teased her to let them take it. +"Lemme take it for just a minute. I'll give it right back, honest," +they begged. But Comfort was firm about that; she would not let that +ring go from her own two fingers for one minute. + +"Ain't she stingy with her old ring?" said Sarah Allen to Rosy +Stebbins. + +"Maybe it ain't real gold," whispered Rosy; but Comfort heard her. + +"'Tis, too," said she, stoutly. + +"It's brass; I can tell by the color," teased one of the big boys. +"'Fore I'd wear a brass ring if I was a girl!" + +"It ain't brass," almost sobbed Comfort. + +Miss Tabitha Hanks arose slowly and came over to the stove. She came +so silently and secretly that the scholars did not notice it, and +they all jumped when she spoke. + +"You may all take your seats," said she, "if it is a little before +nine. You can study until school begins. I can't have so much noise +and confusion." + +The scholars flocked discontentedly to their seats. + +"It's all the fault of your old brass ring," whispered the big boy to +Comfort, with a malicious grin, and she trembled. + +"Your mother let you wear it, didn't she?" whispered Matilda to +Comfort, as the two took their seats on the bench. But Comfort did +not seem to hear her, and Miss Tabitha looked that way, and Matilda +dared not whisper again. Miss Tabitha, moreover, looked as though she +had heard what she said, although that did not seem possible. + +However, Miss Tabitha's ears had a reputation among the scholars for +almost as fabulous powers as her eyes. Matilda Stebbins was quite +sure that she heard, and Miss Tabitha's after-course confirmed her +opinion. + +The reading-class was out on the floor fixing its toes on the line, +and Miss Tabitha walked behind it straight to Comfort. + +"Comfort Pease," said she, "I don't believe your mother ever sent you +to school wearing a ring after that fashion. You may take it off." + +Comfort took it off. The eyes of the whole school watched her; even +the reading-class looked over its shoulders. + +"Now," said Miss Tabitha, "put it in your pocket." + +Comfort put the ring in her pocket. Her face was flushing redder and +redder, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +Miss Tabitha drew out a large pin, which was quilted into the bosom +of her dress, and proceeded to pin up Comfort's pocket. "There," said +she, "now you leave that ring in there, and don't you touch it till +you go home; then you give it right to your mother. And don't you +take that pin out; if you do I shall whip you." + +Miss Tabitha turned suddenly on the reading-class, and the faces went +about with a jerk. "Turn to the fifty-sixth page," she commanded; and +the books all rustled open as she went to the front. Matilda gave +Comfort a sympathizing poke and Miss Tabitha an indignant scowl under +cover of the reading-class, but Comfort sat still, with the tears +dropping down on her spelling-book. She had never felt so guilty or +so humble in her life. She made up her mind she would tell her mother +about it, and put the ring back in the box that night, and never take +it out again until her finger grew to it; and if it never did she +would try to be resigned. + +When it was time for recess Miss Tabitha sent them all out of doors. +"I know it's cold," said she, "but a little fresh air won't hurt any +of you. You can run around and keep warm." + +Poor Comfort dreaded to go out. She knew just how the boys and girls +would tease her. But Matilda Stebbins stood by her, and the two +hurried out before the others and ran together down the road. + +"We've got time to run down to the old Loomis place and back before +the bell rings," said Matilda. "If you stay here they'll all tease +you dreadfully to show that ring, and if you do she'll whip you. She +always does what she says she will." + +The two girls got back to the school-house just as the bell rang, +and, beyond sundry elbow-nudges and teasing whispers as they went in, +Comfort had no trouble. She took her seat and meekly opened her +geography. + +Once in a while she wondered, with a qualm of anxiety, if her ring +was safe. She dared not even feel of her pocket under her dress. +Whenever she thought of it Miss Tabitha seemed to be looking straight +at her. Poor Comfort had a feeling that Miss Tabitha could see her +very thoughts. + +The Stebbinses and Sarah Allen usually stayed at noon, but that day +they all went home. Sarah Allen had company and the Stebbinses had a +chicken dinner. So Comfort stayed alone. The other scholars lived +near enough to the school-house to go home every day unless it was +very stormy weather. + +After everybody was gone, Miss Tabitha and all, the first thing +Comfort did was to slide her hand down over the bottom of her pocket, +and carefully feel of it under her dress skirt. + +Her heart gave a great leap and seemed to stand still--she could not +feel any ring there. + +Comfort felt again and again, with trembling fingers. She could not +believe that the ring was gone, but she certainly could not feel it. +She was quite pale, and shook as if she had a chill. She was too +frightened to cry. Had she lost Aunt Comfort's ring--the real gold +ring she had given her for her name? She looked at the pin which Miss +Tabitha had quilted into the top of her pocket, but she dared not +take it out. Suppose Miss Tabitha should ask if she had, and she had +to tell her and be whipped? That would be almost worse than losing +the ring. + +Comfort had never been whipped in her life, and her blood ran cold at +the thought of it. + +She kept feeling wildly of the pocket. There was a little roll of +writing-paper in it--some leaves of an old account-book which her +mother had given her to write on. All the hope she had was that the +ring had slipped inside that, and that was the reason why she could +not feel it. She longed so to take out that pin and make sure, but +she had to wait for that until she got home at night. + +Comfort began to search all over the school-room floor, but all she +found were wads of paper and apple-cores, slate-pencil stumps and +pins. Then she went out in the yard and looked carefully, then she +went down the road to the old Loomis place, where she and Matilda had +walked at recess--Miss Tabitha Hanks went home that way--but no sign +of the ring could she find. The road was as smooth as a white floor, +too, for the snow was old and well trodden. + +Comfort Pease went back to the school-house and opened her +dinner-pail. She looked miserably at the pancakes, the bread and +butter, and the apple-pie and cheese, and tried to eat, but she could +not. She put the cover on the pail, leaned her head on the desk in +front, and sat quite still until the scholars began to return. Then +she lifted her head, got out her spelling-book, and tried to study. +Miss Tabitha came back early, so nobody dared tease her; and the cold +was so bitter and the sky so overcast that they were not obliged to +go out at recess. Comfort studied and recited, and never a smile came +on her pale, sober little face. Matilda whispered to know if she were +sick, but Comfort only shook her head. + +Sometimes Comfort saw Miss Tabitha watching her with an odd +expression, and she wondered forlornly what it meant. She did not +dream of going to Miss Tabitha with her trouble. She felt quite sure +she would get no sympathy in that quarter. + +All the solace Comfort had was that one little forlorn hope that the +ring might be in that roll of paper, and she should find it when she +got home. + +It seemed to her that school never would be done. She thought wildly +of asking Miss Tabitha if she could not go home because she had the +toothache. Indeed, her tooth did begin to ache, and her head too; but +she waited, and sped home like a rabbit when she was let out at last. +She did not wait even to say a word to Matilda. Comfort, when she got +home, went right through the sitting-room and upstairs to her own +chamber. + +"Where are you going, Comfort?" her mother called after her. + +"What ails the child?" said Grandmother Atkins. + +"I'm coming right back," Comfort panted as she fled. + +The minute she was in her own cold little chamber she took the pin +from her pocket, drew forth the roll of paper, and smoothed it out. +The ring was not there. Then she turned the pocket and examined it. +There was a little rip in the seam. + +"Comfort, Comfort!" called her mother from the foot of the stairs. +"You'll get your death of cold up there," chimed in her grandmother +from the room beyond. + +"I'm coming," Comfort gasped in reply. She turned the pocket back and +went downstairs. + +It was odd that, although Comfort looked so disturbed, neither her +mother nor grandmother asked her what was the matter. They looked at +her, then exchanged a meaning look with each other. And all her +mother said was to bid her go and sit down by the fire and toast her +feet. She also mixed a bowl of hot ginger-tea plentifully sweetened +with molasses, and bade her drink that, so she could not catch cold; +and yet there was something strange in her manner all the time. She +made no remark, either, when she opened Comfort's dinner-pail and saw +how little had been eaten. She merely showed it silently to +Grandmother Atkins behind Comfort's back, and they nodded to each +other with solemn meaning. + +However, Mrs. Pease made the cream-toast that Comfort loved for +supper, and obliged her to eat a whole plate of it. + +"I can't have her get sick," she said to Grandmother Atkins after +Comfort had gone to bed that night. + +"She ain't got enough constitution, poor child," assented Grandmother +Atkins. + +Mrs. Pease opened the door and listened. "I believe she's crying +now," said she. "I guess I'll go up there." + +"I would if I was you," said Grandmother Atkins. + +Comfort's sobs sounded louder and louder all the way, as her mother +went upstairs. + +"What's the matter, child?" she asked when she opened the door; and +there was still something strange in her tone. While there was +concern there was certainly no surprise. + +"My tooth aches dreadfully," sobbed Comfort. + +"You had better have some cotton-wool and paregoric on it, then," +said her mother. Then she went downstairs for cotton-wool and +paregoric, and she ministered to Comfort's aching tooth; but no +cotton-wool or paregoric was there for Comfort's aching heart. + +She sobbed so bitterly that her mother looked alarmed. "Comfort, look +here; is there anything else the matter?" she asked, suddenly; and +she put her hand on Comfort's shoulder. + +"My tooth aches dreadfully--oh!" Comfort wailed. + +"If your tooth aches so bad as all that, you'd better go to Dr. +Hutchins in the morning and have it out," said her mother. "Now you'd +better lie still and try to go to sleep, or you'll be sick." + +Comfort's sobs followed her mother all the way downstairs. "Don't you +cry so another minute, or you'll get so nervous you'll be sick," Mrs. +Pease called back; but she sat down and cried awhile herself after +she returned to the sitting-room. + +Poor Comfort stifled her sobs under the patchwork quilt, but she +could not stop crying for a long time, and she slept very little that +night. When she did she dreamed that she had found the ring, but had +to wear it around her aching tooth for a punishment, and the tooth +was growing larger and larger, and the ring painfully tighter and +tighter. + +She looked so wan and ill the next morning that her mother told her +she need not go to school. But Comfort begged hard to go, and said +she did not feel sick; her tooth was better. + +"Well, mind you get Miss Hanks to excuse you, and come home, if your +tooth aches again," said her mother. + +"Yes, ma'am," replied Comfort. + +When the door shut behind Comfort her Grandmother Atkins looked at +her mother. "Em'ly," said she, "I don't believe you can carry it out; +she'll be sick." + +"I'm dreadfully afraid she will," returned Comfort's mother. + +"You'll have to tell her." + +Mrs. Pease turned on Grandmother Atkins, and New England motherhood +was strong in her face. "Mother," said she, "I don't want Comfort to +be sick, and she sha'n't be if I can help it; but I've got a duty to +her that's beyond looking out for her health. She's got a lesson to +learn that's more important than any she's got in school, and I'm +afraid she won't learn it at all unless she learns it by the hardest; +and it won't do for me to help her." + +"Well, I suppose you're right, Em'ly," said Grandmother Atkins; "but +I declare I'm dreadfully sorry for the child." + +"You ain't any sorrier than I am," said Comfort's mother. And she +wiped her eyes now and then as she cleared away the breakfast dishes. + +As for Comfort, she went on her way to school, looking as +industriously and anxiously at the ground as if she were a little +robin seeking for her daily food. Under the snowy blackberry-vines +peered Comfort, under frozen twigs, and in the blue hollows of the +snow, seeking, as it were, in the little secret places of nature for +her own little secret of childish vanity and disobedience. It made no +difference to her that it was not reasonable to look on that part of +the road, since she could not have lost the ring there. She had a +desperate hope, which was not affected by reason at all, and she +determined to look everywhere. + +It was very cold still, and when she came in sight of the +school-house not a scholar was to be seen. Either they had not +arrived, or were huddling over the red-hot stove inside. + +Comfort trudged past the school-house and went down the road to the +old Loomis place. She searched again every foot of the road, but +there was no gleam of gold in its white, frozen surface. There was +the cold sparkle of the frost-crystals, and that was all. + +Comfort went back. At the turn of that road she saw Matilda Stebbins +coming down the other. The pink tip of Matilda's nose, and her +winking black eyes, just appeared above her red tippet. + +"Hullo!" she sung out, in a muffled voice. + +"Hullo!" responded Comfort, faintly. + +Matilda looked at her curiously when she came up. + +"What's the matter?" said she. + +"Nothing," replied Comfort. + +"I thought you acted funny. What have you been up that road for?" + +Comfort walked along beside Matilda in silence. + +"What have you been up that road for?" repeated Matilda. + +"Won't you ever tell?" said Comfort. + +"No, I won't: + + "Honest and true, + Black and blue, + Lay me down and cut me in two." + +"Well, I've lost it." + +Matilda knew at once what Comfort meant. "You ain't!" she cried, +stopping short and opening wide eyes of dismay at Comfort over the +red tippet. + +"Yes, I have." + +"Where'd you lose it?" + +"I felt of my pocket after I got back to school yesterday, after we'd +been up to the old Loomis house, and I couldn't find the ring." + +"My!" said Matilda. + +Comfort gave a stifled sob. + +Matilda turned short around with a jerk. "Le'ss go up that road and +hunt again," said she; "there's plenty of time before the bell rings. +Come along, Comfort Pease." + +So the two little girls went up the road and hunted, but they did not +find the ring. "Nobody would have picked it up and kept it; everybody +around here is honest," said Matilda. "It's dreadfully funny." + +Comfort wept painfully under the folds of her mother's green shawl as +they went back. + +"Did your mother scold you?" asked Matilda. There was something very +innocent and sympathizing and honest about Matilda's black eyes as +she asked the question. + +"No," faltered Comfort. She did not dare tell Matilda that her mother +knew nothing at all about it. + +Matilda, as they went along, put an arm around Comfort under her +shawl. "Don't cry; it's too bad," said she. But Comfort wept harder. + +"Look here," said Matilda. "Comfort, your mother wouldn't let you buy +another ring with that gold dollar, would she?" + +"That gold dollar's to keep," sobbed Comfort; "it ain't to spend." +And, indeed, she felt as if spending that gold dollar would be almost +as bad as losing the ring; the bare idea of it horrified her. + +"Well, I didn't s'pose it was," said Matilda, abashedly. "I just +happened to think of it." Suddenly she gave Comfort a little poke +with her red-mittened hand. "Don't you cry another minute, Comfort +Pease," she cried. "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll ask my Uncle +Jared to give me a gold dollar, and then I'll give it to you to buy a +gold ring." + +"I don't believe he will," sobbed Comfort. + +"Yes, he will. He always gives me everything I ask him for. He thinks +more of me than he does of Rosy and Imogen, you know, 'cause he was +going to get married once, when he was young, and she died, and I +look like her." + +"Were you named after her?" inquired Comfort. + +"No; her name was Ann Maria; but I look like her. Uncle Jared will +give me a gold dollar, and I'll ask him to take us to Bolton in his +sleigh Saturday afternoon, and then you can buy another ring. Don't +you cry another mite, Comfort Pease." + +And poor Comfort tried to keep the tears back as the bell began to +ring, and she and Matilda hastened to the school-house. + +Matilda put up her hand and whispered to her in school-time. "You +come over to my house Saturday afternoon, and I'll get Uncle Jared to +take us," she whispered. And Comfort nodded soberly. Comfort tried to +learn her arithmetic lesson, but she could not remember the seven +multiplication table, and said in the class that five times seven +were fifty-seven, and went to the foot. She cried at that, and felt a +curious satisfaction in having something to cry for besides the loss +of the ring. + +Comfort did not look any more for the ring that day nor the next. The +next day was Friday, and Matilda met her at school in the morning +with an air of triumph. She plunged her hand deep in her pocket, and +drew it out closed in a tight pink fist. "Guess what I've got in +here, Comfort Pease," said she. She unclosed her fingers a little at +a time, until a gold dollar was visible in the hollow of her palm. +"There, what did I tell you" she said. "And he says he'll take us to +Bolton if he don't have to go to Ware to see about buying a horse. +You come over to-morrow, right after dinner." + +The next morning after breakfast Comfort asked her mother if she +might go over to Matilda's that afternoon. + +"Do you feel fit to go?" her mother said, with a keen look at her. +Comfort was pale and sober and did not have much appetite. It had +struck her several times that her mother's and also her grandmother's +manner toward her was a little odd, but she did not try to understand +it. + +"Yes, ma'am," said Comfort. + +"What are you going to do over there?" + +Comfort hesitated. A pink flush came on her face and neck. Her +mother's eyes upon her were sharper than ever. "Matilda said maybe +her Uncle Jared would take us a sleigh-ride to Bolton," she faltered. + +"Well," said her mother, "if you're going a sleigh-ride you'd better +take some yarn stockings to pull over your shoes, and wear my fur +tippet. It's most too cold to go sleigh-riding, anyway." + +Directly after dinner Comfort went over to Matilda Stebbins's, with +her mother's stone-marten tippet around her neck and the blue yarn +stockings to wear in the sleigh under her arm. + +But when she got to the Stebbins's house, Matilda met her at the door +with a crestfallen air. "Only think," said she; "ain't it too bad? +Uncle Jared had to go to Ware to buy the horse, and we can't go to +Bolton." + +Comfort looked at her piteously. + +"Guess I'd better go home," said she. + +But Matilda was gazing at her doubtfully. "Look here," said she. + +"What?" said Comfort. + +"It ain't mor'n three miles to Bolton. Mother's walked there, and so +has Imogen--" + +"Do you s'pose--we could?" + +"I don't b'lieve it would hurt us one mite. Say, I tell you what we +can do: I'll take my sled, and I'll drag you a spell and then you can +drag me, and that will be riding half the way for both of us, +anyhow." + +"So it will," said Comfort. + +But Matilda looked doubtful again. "There's only one thing," she +said. "Mother ain't at home--she and Rosy went over to grandma's to +spend the day this morning--and I can't ask her. I don't see how I +can go without asking her, exactly." + +Comfort thought miserably, "What would Matilda Stebbins say if she +knew I took that ring when my mother told me not to?" + +"Well," said Matilda, brightening, "I don't know but it will do just +as well if I ask Imogen. Mother told me once that if there was +anything very important came up when she was away that I could ask +Imogen." + +Imogen was Matilda's eldest sister. She was almost eighteen, and she +was going to a party that night, and was hurrying to finish a +beautiful crimson tibet dress to wear. + +"Now don't you talk to me and hinder me one moment. I've everything I +can do to finish this dress to wear to the party," she said, when +Matilda and Comfort went into the sitting-room. + +"Can't I go to Bolton with Comfort Pease, Imogen?" asked Matilda. + +"I thought you were going with Uncle Jared--didn't mother say you +might? Now don't talk to me, Matilda." + +"Uncle Jared's got to go to Ware to buy the horse, and he can't take +us." + +"Oh, I forgot. Well, how can you go, then? You and Comfort had better +sit down and play checkers, and be contented." + +"We _could_ walk," ventured Matilda. + +"Walk to Bolton? You couldn't." + +"It's only three miles, and we'd drag each other on my sled." + +Imogen frowned over a wrong pucker in the crimson tibet, and did not +appreciate the absurdity of the last. "I do wish you wouldn't bother +me, Matilda," said she. "If I don't get this dress done I can't go to +the party to-night. I don't know what mother would say to your going +to Bolton any such way." + +"It wouldn't hurt us a mite. Do let us go, Imogen." + +"Well, I'll tell you what you can do," said Imogen. "You can walk +over there--I guess it won't hurt you to walk one way--and then you +can ride home in the stage-coach; it comes over about half-past four. +I'll give you some money." + +"Oh, that's beautiful! Thank you, Imogen," cried Matilda, gratefully. + +"Well, run along and don't say another word to me," said Imogen, +scowling over the crimson tibet. "Wrap up warm." + +When they started, Matilda insisted upon dragging Comfort first in +the sled. "I'll drag you as far as Dr. Hutchins's," said she. "Then +you get off and drag me as far as the meeting-house. I guess that's +about even." + +It was arduous, and it is probable that the little girls were much +longer reaching Bolton than they would have been had they traveled on +their two sets of feet all the way; but they persuaded themselves +otherwise. + +"We can't be--a mite--tired," panted Matilda, as she tugged Comfort +over the last stretch, "for we each of us rode half the way, and a +mile and a half ain't anything. You walk that every day to school and +back." + +"Yes, I do," assented Comfort. She could not believe that she was +tired, either, although every muscle in her body ached. + +Bolton was a large town, and the people from all the neighboring +villages went there to do their trading and shopping. There was a +wide main street, with stores on each side; and that day it was full +of sleighs and pungs and wood-sleds, and there were so many people +that Comfort felt frightened. She had never been to Bolton without +her father or mother. "Just look at all the folks," said she. And she +had an uncomfortable feeling that they all stared at her +suspiciously, although she did not see how they could know about the +ring. But Matilda was bolder. "It's such a pleasant day that they're +all out trading," said she. "Guess it'll storm to-morrow. Now we want +to go to Gerrish's. I went there once with mother and Imogen to buy a +silver spoon for Cousin Hannah Green when she got married." + +Comfort, trailing the sled behind her, started timidly after Matilda. + +Gerrish's was a small store, but there was a large window full of +watches and chains and clocks, and a man with spectacles sat behind +it mending watches. + +The two little girls went in and stood at the counter, and a thin man +with gray whiskers, who was Mr. Gerrish himself, came forward to wait +upon them. Matilda nudged Comfort. + +"You ask him--it's your ring," she whispered. + +But Comfort shook her head. She was almost ready to cry. "You'd ought +to when I'm giving you the dollar," whispered Matilda, with another +nudge. Mr. Gerrish stood waiting, and he frowned a little; he was a +nervous man. "Ask him," whispered Matilda, fiercely. + +Suddenly Comfort Pease turned herself about and ran out of Gerrish's, +with a great wail of inarticulate words about not wanting any ring. +The door banged violently after her. Matilda Stebbins looked after +her in a bewildered way; then she looked up at Mr. Gerrish, who was +frowning harder. "If you girls don't want anything, you'd better stay +out of doors with your sled," said he. And Matilda trembled and +gathered up the sled-rope, and the door banged after her. Then Mr. +Gerrish said something to the man mending watches in the window, and +went back to his desk in the rear of the store. + +Matilda could just see Comfort running down the street toward home, +and she ran after her. She could run faster than Comfort. As she got +nearer she could see people turning and looking curiously after +Comfort, and when she came up to her she saw she was crying. "Why, +you great baby, Comfort Pease," said she, "going along the road +crying!" + +Comfort sobbed harder, and people stared more and more curiously. +Finally one stout woman in a black velvet bonnet stopped. "I hope you +haven't done anything to hurt this other little girl?" she said, +suspiciously, to Matilda. + +"No, ma'am, I ain't," replied Matilda. + +"What's the matter, child?" said the woman in the black velvet bonnet +to Comfort. And Comfort choked out something about losing her ring. + +"Where did you lose it?" asked the woman. + +"I don't k--n--o--w," sobbed Comfort. + +"Well, you'd better go right home and tell your mother about it," +said the stout woman, and went her way with many backward glances. + +Matilda dragged her sled to Comfort's side and eyed her dubiously. + +"Why didn't you get the ring when we were right there with the gold +dollar?" she demanded. "What made you run out of Gerrish's that way?" + +"I'm--go--ing--home," sobbed Comfort. + +"Ain't you going to wait and ride in the stage coach?" + +"I'm--going--right--home." + +"Imogen said to go in the stage-coach. I don't know as mother'll like +it if we walk. Why didn't you get the ring, Comfort Pease?" + +"I don't want--any--ring. I'm going home--to--tell--my mother." + +"Your mother would have been real pleased to have you get the ring," +said Matilda, in an injured tone; for she fancied Comfort meant to +complain of her to her mother. + +Then Comfort turned on Matilda in an agony of confession. "My mother +don't know anything about it," said she. "I took the ring unbeknownst +to her when she said I couldn't, and then I lost it, and I was going +to get the new ring to put in the box so she wouldn't ever know. I'm +going right home and tell her." + +Matilda looked at her. "Comfort Pease, didn't you ask your mother?" +said she. + +Comfort shook her head. + +"Then," said Matilda, solemnly, "we'd better go home just as quick as +we can. We won't wait for any stage-coach--I know my mother wouldn't +want me to. S'pose your mother should die, or anything, before you +have a chance to tell her, Comfort Pease! I read a story once about a +little girl that told a lie, and her mother died, and she hadn't +owned up. It was dreadful. Now you get right on the sled, and I'll +drag you as far as the meeting-house, and then you can drag me as far +as the saw-mill." + +Comfort huddled herself up on the sled in a miserable little bunch, +and Matilda dragged her. Her very back looked censorious to Comfort, +but finally she turned around. + +"The big girls were real mean, so there; and they pestered you +dreadfully," said she. "Don't you cry any more, Comfort. Just you +tell your mother all about it, and I don't believe she'll scold much. +You can have this gold dollar to buy you another ring, anyway, if +she'll let you." + +The road home from Bolton seemed much longer than the road there had +done, although the little girls hurried, and dragged each other with +fierce jerks. "Now," said Matilda, when they reached her house at +length, "I'll go home with you while you tell your mother, if you +want me to, Comfort. My mother's got home--I can see her head in the +window. I'll run and ask her." + +"I'd just as lief go alone, I guess," replied Comfort, who was not +crying any more, but was quite pale. "I'm real obliged to you, +Matilda." + +"Well, I'd just as lief go as not, if you wanted me to," said +Matilda. "I hope your mother won't say much. Good-by, Comfort." + +"Good-by," returned Comfort. + +Then Matilda went into her house, and Comfort hurried home alone down +the snowy road in the deepening dusk. She kept thinking of that +dreadful story which Matilda had read. She was panting for breath. +Anxiety and remorse and the journey to Bolton had almost exhausted +poor little Comfort Pease. She hurried as fast as she could, but her +feet felt like lead, and it seemed to her that she should never reach +home. But when at last she came in sight of the lighted kitchen +windows her heart gave a joyful leap, for she saw her mother's figure +moving behind them, and knew that Matilda's story was not true in her +case. + +When she reached the door she leaned against it a minute. She was so +out of breath, and her knees seemed failing under her. Then she +opened the door and went in. + +Her father and mother and grandmother were all in there, and they +turned round and stared at her. + +"Comfort Pease," cried her mother, "what is the matter?" + +"You didn't fall down, or anythin', did you?" asked her grandmother. + +Then Comfort burst out with a great sob of confession. "I--took--it," +she gasped. "I took my gold ring that Aunt Comfort gave me for her +name--and--I wore it to school, and Miss Tabitha pinned it in my +pocket, and I lost it. And Matilda she gave me the gold dollar her +Uncle Jared gave her to buy me another, and we walked a mile and a +half apiece to Bolton, to buy it in Gerrish's, and I couldn't; and I +was afraid something had happened to mother; and I'm sorry." Then +Comfort sobbed until her very sobs seemed failing her. + +Her father wiped his eyes. "Don't let that child cry that way, +Em'ly," said he to Mrs. Pease. Then he turned to Comfort. "Don't you +feel so bad, Comfort," he coaxed. "Father'll get you some peppermints +when he goes down to the store to-night." Comfort's father gave her +a hard pat on her head; then he went out of the room with something +that sounded like an echo of Comfort's own sobs. + +"Comfort," said Mrs. Pease, "look here, child. Stop crying, and +listen to what I've got to say. I want you to come into the parlor +with me a minute." + +Comfort followed her mother weakly into the best parlor. There on the +table stood the rosewood work-box, and her mother went straight +across to it and opened it. + +"Look here, Comfort," said she; and Comfort looked. There in its own +little compartment lay the ring. "Miss Tabitha Hanks found it in the +road, and she thought you had taken it unbeknownst to me, and so she +brought it here," explained her mother. "I didn't let you know +because I wanted to see if you would be a good girl enough to tell me +of your own accord, and I'm glad you have, Comfort." + +Then Comfort's mother carried her almost bodily back to the warm +kitchen and sat her before the fire to toast her feet, while she made +some cream-toast for her supper. + +Her grandmother had a peppermint in her pocket, and she slid it into +Comfort's hand. "Grandma knew she would tell, and she won't never do +such a thing again, will she?" said she. + +"No, ma'am," replied Comfort. And the peppermint in her mouth seemed +to be the very flavor of peace and forgiveness. + +After Comfort was in bed and asleep that night her elders talked the +matter over. "I knew she would tell finally," said Mrs. Pease; "but +it's been a hard lesson for her, poor child, and she's all worn +out--that long tramp to Bolton, too" + +"I 'most wish her Aunt Comfort hadn't been so dreadful careful about +getting her a ring big enough," said Grandmother Atkins. + +Mr. Pease looked at his wife and cleared his throat. "What do you +think of my getting her a ring that would fit her finger, Em'ly?" he +asked, timidly. + +"Now, father, that's all a man knows!" cried Mrs. Pease. "If you went +and bought that child a ring now it would look just as if you were +paying her for not minding. You'd spoil all the lesson she's got, +when she's worked so dreadful hard to learn it. You wait awhile." + +"Well, I suppose you know best, Em'ly," said Mr. Pease; but he made a +private resolution. And so it happened that three months later, when +it was examination day at school, and Comfort had a new blue tibet +dress to wear, and some new ribbon to tie her hair, that her mother +handed her a little box just before she started. + +"Here," said she. "Your father has been over to Gerrish's, and here's +something he bought you. I hope you'll be careful and not lose it." + +And Comfort opened the box, and there was a beautiful gold ring, +which just fitted her third finger; and she wore it to school, and +the girls all seemed to see it at once, and exclaimed, "Comfort Pease +has got a new gold ring that fits her finger!" + +And that was not all, for Matilda and Rosy Stebbins also wore gold +rings. "Mother said I might as well spend Uncle Jared's dollar for +it, 'cause your mother didn't want you to have it," said Matilda, +holding her finger up; "and father bought one for Rosy, too." + +Then the two little girls took their seats, and presently went +forward to be examined in spelling before the committee-men, the +doctor, the minister, and all the visiting friends. + +And Comfort Pease, with all the spelling lessons of the term in her +head, her gold ring on her finger, and peace in her heart, went to +the head of the class, and Miss Tabitha Hanks presented her with a +prize. It was a green silk pincushion with "Good Girl" worked on it +in red silk, and she had it among her treasures long after her finger +had grown large enough to wear her Aunt Comfort's ring. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Comfort Pease and her Gold Ring, by +Mary E. 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