eep-sake,
Mary, only _en attendant_, it having been my intention to offer a watch,
as soon as a suitable one could be found, as a memorial of the sense I
entertain of the spirit you showed during that dark week in which the
anti-renters were so menacing. Here, then, is such a watch as I might
presume to ask you to have the goodness to accept."

Mary Warren seemed astounded! The colour mounted to her temples; then
she became suddenly pale. I had never seen so pretty a picture of gentle
female distress--a distress that arose from conflicting, but creditable
feelings.

"Oh! Mrs. Littlepage!" she exclaimed, after looking in astonishment at
the offering for a moment, and in silence. "You cannot have intended
that beautiful watch for me!"

"For you, my dear; the beautiful watch is not a whit too good for my
beautiful Mary."

"But, dear, _dear_ Mrs. Littlepage, it is altogether too handsome for my
station--for my means."

"A lady can very well wear such a watch; and you are a lady in every
sense of the word, and so you need have no scruples on that account. As
for the means, you will not misunderstand me if I remind you that it
will be bought with my means, and there can be no extravagance in the
purchase."

"But we are so poor, and that watch has so rich an appearance! It
scarcely seems right."

"I respect your feelings and sentiments, my dear girl, and can
appreciate them. I suppose you know I was once as poor, nay, much poorer
than you are, yourself."

"You, Mrs. Littlepage! No, that can hardly be. You are of an affluent
and very respectable family, I know."

"It is quite true, nevertheless, my dear. I shall not affect extreme
humility, and deny that the Malbones did and do belong to the gentry of
the land, but my brother and myself were once so much reduced as to toil
with the surveyors, in the woods, quite near this property. We had then
no claim superior to yours, and in many respects were reduced much
lower. Besides, the daughter of an educated and well-connected clergyman
has claims that, in a worldly point of view alone, entitle her to a
certain consideration. You will do me the favour to accept my offering?"

"Dear Mrs. Littlepage! I do not know how to refuse _you_, or how to
accept so rich a gift! You will let me consult my father, first?"

"That will be no more than proper, my dear," returned my beloved
grandmother, quietly putting the watch into her own pocket; "Mr. Warren,
luckily, dines with us, a