'Yes,' said Dick; 'I'll go now.'
'No, not now,' said Kitty clinging to his sleeve. 'She says have your
dinner an' then go. An' oh, Dickie, she's been crying, an' she's all
white, an'--an'--' At this the little messenger began to cry too.
'Is she?' said Dick, sadly. 'When my mine turns out rich I'm goin' to
give her a fortune.'
'Oh, are you, Dickie?' said Kitty, beaming through her tears.
'Yes,' answered he gravely; 'and then she'll marry Harry Hardy an' be
happy ever after.'
'My, that will be nice,' murmured Kitty, much comforted.
'You ain't a bad little girl.' He felt called upon to reward her. 'You
can walk as far as the fence with me if you like.'
Kitty was properly grateful, and they walked together to the
furze-covered fence.
'Please don't tell anyone you're going to see her, Miss Christina says,'
whispered Kitty, at parting.
'Right y'are,' Dick said, delighted with the mystery. 'I say, Kitty, I
think p'raps I'll give you a fortune too.'
'Oh, Dickie, no; not a whole fortune, I'm too little,' cried Kitty,
overwhelmed.
'Yes, a whole fortune,' he persisted grandly; 'an' maybe I'll marry you.'
'Will you, Dickie, will you? Oh, that is kind!'
'Here.' He had turned over the treasures in his pocket and found a scrap
of gilt filagree off a gorgeous valentine. 'Here's somethin'.'
Kitty thought the gift very beautiful, and accepted it thankfully for its
own sake and the sake of the giver, as an earnest of the fortune to come;
and went her way happy but duly impressed with a sense of the
responsibilities those riches must impose.
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