Three generations

A WIFE'S GIFT 99
It was peculiarly distasteful to him, but I believe she
enjoyed it ; for to cope with difficulties was a genuine
stimulus to a woman of her disposition.
In one memorable year she found herself, on the
departure of her paying guests, with no less than
thirty pounds to dispose of, for these were her earn-
ings, which my father did not touch. There was no
deficit in the payment of the customary household
expenses. My mother was to spend the money
brought to her in this casual way just as she liked,
and did she not enjoy the spending of it ?
It was one of her happy innocent secrets and
triumphs. She laid out the whole thirty pounds on
an unexpected gift from her to my father. She was
not content with anything which Edinburgh could
supply. A local tradesman had to send all the way
to London for the watch which was not to have its
superior among the watches of the heads of the older
and more important legal firms of the town — the very
Sheriffs watch was not to be compared to it. That
watch has done its duty for many a long year, having
survived for nearly a century its first donor and
recipient.