of thing she did, bringing that bit of chain straight to me. She’s a good girl, and probably needs help. I wonder if I should give her money.”
“Did you know that she has a little lame brother, Aunt Pat?” asked Sherrill. “And her father is going blind and her mother needs an operation?”
“Mercy, no!” said Aunt Pat, looking up from the bit of chain she was examining. “Why, how did you find that out? We must do something for them right away.”
“Yes, they are afraid they are going to lose their house, too. They can’t pay the interest on their mortgage. The bank closed where they kept their savings, and she and her brother are the only ones working.”
“Well, for mercy’s sake!” said Aunt Pat, greatly disturbed. “And to think they never said a word! Why wasn’t I told of this sooner? When did you find it out, Sherrill?”
“Just this morning,” said the girl, thinking back through the day. “I heard Lutie singing in the next room to mine where she was cleaning. She was singing about what to do when you had sorrow in your heart, or something like that. I asked her where she got the song and said I guessed she never had a sorrow, and then she told me all about it.”
“Hmm!” said Aunt Pat thoughtfully.
Then she opened the door and called to Gemmie, who was never very far away from her mistress’s call.
“Gemmie, go see if Lutie has gone home yet. If she hasn’t, tell her I want her a minute.”
Then she turned back to her niece.
“Sherrill, this is the setting of one of the tiny emeralds from that chain, see, one of the wee ones up near the clasp. Now, where do you suppose the rest of it is? You know, the clasp used to be weak, but I had it fixed; at least I supposed I had. I sent it to the jeweler’s before I gave it to you. See! This evidently has been stepped on, or else yanked from the chain! How the links are crushed! Now, the question is, where did the necklace drop, and who was there when it happened?”
Sherrill looked up with troubled eyes, the haunting fear coming back to her soul, but Lutie came in just then, and she had no opportunity to answer her aunt.
“I sent for you, Lutie,” said Miss Catherwood pleasantly, “because I want to tell you that there is a reward for finding this chain and for bringing it straight to me.”
Lutie had been a bit troubled at being sent for, but now her face showed great relief and swift protest.
“Oh no, ma’am,” she said breathlessly, “I couldn’t think of taking anything for just doing my duty.”
“Well, you’re not; I’m giving it! That’s different! I’m giving it because I’m grateful, and you’ve done me a big favor, one that no money can pay for. You’ve given me one little clue to something valuable and cherished that I’ve lost. And now, listen. I’ve just found out that you’ve got a lame brother, and your father has trouble with his eyes, and your mother needs an operation. In that case I want to help. Yes, it’s my right! You don’t suppose we were put into this world to be pigs with what God gave us, do you? I want to see your mother on her feet again, and if there’s anything that can be done for your father and brother, I want to help do it. Sometimes operations will do wonders with eyes, you know. Another doctor might put your father where he could go to work again.”
“Oh, Miss Catherwood! You’re too good!” began Lutie, tears of gratitude rolling down her cheeks and her lip trembling into a big smile like a rainbow upside down. “I don’t know as my mother would think it was right to take help from anyone, but it’s wonderful of you to suggest it.”
“She’d think it right to take it from God, wouldn’t she?” snapped the old lady crisply. “Well, this is just God’s money, and He told me to give you what you needed. There’s no further use in discussing it. I’m coming to see your mother in a very few days.”
“Well, maybe”—Lutie hesitated, her eyes shining with the great possibility—“if you’d let us work afterward and pay it off when we can.”
“Pay it back to somebody else, then, not me,” chuckled Aunt Pat in full form now. “I don’t want you to have that on your mind. If you