'Very good, Commodore! Try again,' said Mrs Jo, much pleased with her
gift, which caused the Professor to prophesy 'works of Shakespeare'
from its depths, so great would be the inspiration of the beloved
bruin.

'As Aunt Meg will wear caps, in spite of her youth, I got Ludmilla to
get me some bits of lace. Hope you'll like 'em'; and out of a soft
paper came some filmy things, one of which soon lay like a net of
snowflakes on Mrs Meg's pretty hair.

'I couldn't find anything swell enough for Aunt Amy, because she has
everything she wants, so I brought a little picture that always makes
me think of her when Bess was a baby'; and he handed her an oval
ivory locket, on which was painted a goldenhaired Madonna, with a
rosy child folded in her blue mantle.

'How lovely!' cried everyone; and Aunt Amy at once hung it about her
neck on the blue ribbon from Bess's hair, charmed with her gift; for
it recalled the happiest year of her life.

'Now, I flatter myself I've got just the thing for Nan, neat but not
gaudy, a sort of sign you see, and very appropriate for a doctor,'
said Emil, proudly displaying a pair of lava earrings shaped like
little skulls.

'Horrid!' And Bess, who hated ugly things, turned her eyes to her own
pretty shells.

'She won't wear earrings,' said Josie.