school a whole year both in scholarship and deportment!"

"Yes, he gave it to me on my tenth birthday, just a little while
before he died. It was the last thing he ever gave me, and I have kept
it for thirty years as one of my most precious possessions." She was
rubbing the little coin until it shone like new, with the bit of
chamois skin in which it had been folded. "But dear as it is to me, it
is not so dear as the keeping of my word. Here, Johnny, take it down
to the corner, and ask Mr. Dolkins to change it for you."

Mr. Marshall listened with a pained contraction of the brows.
"Couldn't you wait until the latter part of next week, Abby?" he
asked. "I think I could get the money for you by that time, and I hate
to have you part with the little keepsake you have treasured so long."

Mrs. Marshall shook her head. "No, Robert," she answered, "for that
would make Johnny break his word, too. You know he promised the
boys,--and we couldn't afford that, could we, son? We must keep our
word at any cost." She slipped the money into his hand, kissed him,
and bade him hurry home again; and Johnny, rushing back to his
impatient creditors, felt that it was something very solemn indeed
which had just taken place.

[Illustration: "'DEAR AS IT IS TO ME, IT IS NOT SO DEAR AS THE KEEPING
OF MY WORD.'"]

Johnny's little room at the head of the stairs was heated by the hall
stove, so that the door stood open all day long. When the new quilt
was folded across the foot of his bed, it was the first thing that
caught the eye of every one passing up the stairs.