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PART II. One dollar and eighty-seven cents






PART I

 

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies which Delia had saved one at a time. Three times Delia counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

While Delia is crying in this way, let us take a look at the home in which she lives. It is a small furnished apartment at eight dollars a week, and it is a very poor one. Everywhere there are signs of poverty.

Delia finished crying, got up, and began to powder her face. She stood by the window and looked out with little interest at a gray cat Walking along a gray fency in a. gray back yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim, her husband, a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months with this result. Twenty, dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses, had been greater than ihe expected. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. She had spent many happy hours planning for something nice for him, something fine and rare, something worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

There was a narrow mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Delia turned from the window and stood before the mirror. Her eyes suddenly began to shine brilliantly, although her face turned a little pale. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions in which Jim and Delia took great pride. One was Jim`s gold watch, that had previously been his father's and, before that, his grandfather's. The other was Delia's beautiful hair, which now fell about her shoulders like a beautiful cascade of water. It reached below her knees. Quickly, now, she combed it again and arranged it properly. She hesitated for a moment and tears appeared in her eyes.

She put on пег old brown coat. She put on her old brown hat. With her eyes shining, she flew out of the room and down the stairs to the street.

She walked some distance and finally stopped at a shop with a sign which read: “Madame Sofronio, Hair Goods of All Kinds” Della ran up the stairs to the second floor where the shop was located. She was breathing heavily.

" Will you buy my hair? " asked Delia.

" I buy hair, " said Madame. " Take your hat off and let me have a look at it"

Delia removed her hat and let fall her beautiful hair.

" Twenty dollars, " said Madame, feeling the hair with her experienced hand.

" Give it to me quickly, " said Delia.

 

PART II

The next two hours flew by quickly. She was busy looking everywhere in the stores for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and for no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores and she had been everywhere. It was a platinum watch chain, a beautiful one, worthy of the Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be for Jim. It was like him, good taste and quality. The description applied to both. It cost twenty-one dollars. Della hurried home with the eighty-seven cents which remained.

When Della arrived home she was less excited, and gradually she became more reasonable. She began to comb and arrange her hair, now cut very short, in the best way she could. She took her curling iron and began to curl her hair carefully. Then she looked at herself in the mirror critically. " If Jim doesn't kill me, " she said to herself, " before he looks at me a second time, he`ll say that I look like a child. But what could I do with only a dollar and eighty-seven cents?

At seven o'clock the coffee was made and the dinner almost ready.

Jim was never late. Delia held the chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door. Then she heard his step of the stairs and for a moment she turned white.

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two, and he had all the problems of having a family. He needed a new overcoat, and he was without gloves.

Jim's eyes were fixed upon Delia, and there was suddenly an expression in them that she-could not read, and it frightened her. He simply looked at her with a strange expression. Della jumped off the table and went toward him. " Jim, darling, " she said, " don't look at me in that way. I had my hair cut off and I sold it because I wanted to give you a Christmas present. My hair will grow again — you don't mind, do you? I simply had to do it. My hair grows very fast. Say 'Merry Christmas' to me, Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice - what a beautiful gift I bought for you."

 


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