searched in a box till he found another spring, which he put in instead
of the broken one, after snipping off a little bit with a pair of
pincers. Then he put all the pieces in, put on the cover of it, gave
something a few taps with a tiny hammer, replaced the screws, and said--

"Shall I come and put it on for you, sir?"

"No, no; I am up to that much," said Mr Macmichael. "I can easily manage
that. Come, Willie. I'm much obliged to you for doing it at once.
Good-night."

Then out they went into the snowstorm again, Willie holding fast by his
father's hand.

"This is good," said his father. "Your mother will have a better day all
to-morrow, and perhaps a longer sleep to-night for it. You see how easy
it is to be both useful and kind sometimes. The smith did more for your
mother in those few minutes than ten doctors could have done. Think of
his great black fingers making a little more sleep and rest and warmth
for her--and all in those few minutes!"

"Suppose he couldn't have done it," said Willie. "Do you think the
watchmaker could?"

"That I can't tell, but I don't think it likely. We should most probably
have had to get a new one."

"Suppose you couldn't get a new one?"

"Then we should have had to set our wits to work, and contrive some