THE GIFTS G215

 THE GIFTS

(Continued)

Jim was never late. Della held the gold chain tightly in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door by which he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stairs, and she turned pale for just a moment.

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two—and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and his shoes were old and worn.

As soon as Jim stepped inside the door, he stood still. His eyes were fixed upon Della. There was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the emotions that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della jumped off the table and went to him. "Jim!" she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow again—you don't mind, do you? I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast, you know. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, slowly, as if he had not yet understood that obvious fact even after the hardest mental labour.

"I've cut it off and sold it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you—sold and gone. It's Christmas Eve, Jim. Be good to me, for it went for you.

Jim seemed quickly to wake out of his trance. He drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

"Don't make any mistake about me, Della, "he said, "I don't think there's anything about a haircut that could make me love you any less. But if you unwrap that package you will see why I was upset at first."

Della's fingers tore at the string and paper. Then came an excited scream of joy, and then, alas! a quick change to tears.

For there lay The Combs — the set of combs that Della had worshipped for many months in a shopwindow. Beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jewels set in — just the colour to wear in her beautiful hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had longed for them without the least hope of possession. And now they were hers, but with her hair gone there could be no use for them.

But she hugged them to her chest, and at last she was able to look up with tearful eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

Then Della remembered something else and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful gift. She held it out to him eagerly in her open hand.

"Isn't it lovely, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

Instead of obeying, Jim dropped onto the couch, put his hands under the back of his head, and smiled.

"Della," said he, "let's put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs ... And now, let's have our supper."