Now it is yours." "But, Sergeant Troy, I cannot take this--I cannot!" she exclaimed, with round-eyed wonder.

"A gold watch! What are you doing?
Don't be such a dissembler!" The sergeant retreated to avoid receiving back his gift, which she held out persistently towards him.

Bathsheba followed as he retired.
"Keep it--do, Miss Everdene--keep it!" said the erratic child of impulse.

"The fact of your possessing it makes it worth ten times as much to me.

A more plebeian one will answer my purpose just as well, and the pleasure of knowing whose heart my old one beats against--well, I won't speak of that.