Posted on: Nov 13 2018 12:39:57 pm

ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS.
That was all. She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then
another, in her careful buying of meat and other food. Della counted
it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day
would be Christmas.
There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry. So Della did it.
While the lady of the home is slowly growing quieter, we can
look at the home. Furnished rooms at a cost of $8 a week. There is little
more to say about it.
In the hall below was a letter-box too small to hold a letter. There
was an electric bell, but it could not make a sound. Also there was a
name beside the door: “Mr. James Dillingham Young.”

When the name was placed there, Mr. James Dillingham Young
was being paid $30 a week. Now, when he was being paid only $20 a
week, the name seemed too long and important. It should perhaps have
been “Mr. James D. Young.” But when Mr. James Dillingham Young
entered the furnished rooms, his name became very short indeed. Mrs.
James Dillingham Young put her arms warmly about him and called
him “Jim.” You have already met her. She is Della.
Della finished her crying and cleaned the marks of it from her face.
She stood by the window and looked out with no interest. Tomorrow
would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy
Jim a gift. She had put aside as much as she could for months, with this
result. Twenty dollars a week is not much. Everything had cost more
than she had expected. It always happened like that.
Only $ 1.87 to buy a gift for Jim. Her Jim. She had had many happy
hours planning something nice for him. Something nearly good enough.
Something almost worth the honor of belonging to Jim.
There was a looking-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps
you have seen the kind of looking-glass that is placed in $8 furnished
rooms.

To be continued...


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Written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter)