The Gift of Magi

ft of

lldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheek burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that

uch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that

ctly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter wou

, the letters of 'Dillingham' looked blurred, as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young

7 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to

t. A very thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudin

ere shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty sec

s Della's hair. Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window someday to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gif

hed below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and qu

whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes

lected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the 'Sofronie.' 'Will you buy my h

wenty dollars,' said Madame, lifti

hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed meta

e and not by meretricious ornamentation - as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value - the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her

out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by

rls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She loo

look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what

d the frying-pan was on the back of the

Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. She had a habit of sayi

very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two - and to be burdene

that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she

ristmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again - you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully

me without my hair, ain't I?' Jim looked about the room curiously. 'You say your hair is gone?' he said with an air almost of idiocy. 'You needn't look for it,' said Della. 'It's sold, I tell you - sold and gone, too. It's

ntial object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year - what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would gi

his overcoat pocket and

the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less.

joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessit

with jewelled rims - just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and ye

th she was able to look up with dim eyes and

p like a little singed

him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seeme

. You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day n

n on the couch and put his hands un

while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to ge

the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their ho