hate to say it, Sulie. Eve was
determined."

The two old-fashioned women, making mental estimates of this modern
feminine product, found themselves indignant. "To think that any girl
could----"

It was lunch time, and Anne came in. She had Diogenes under her arm. "He
will come across the road to meet me. And I am afraid of the automobiles.
When he brings the white duck and all of the little Diogenes with him he
obstructs traffic. He stopped a touring car the other day, and the men
swore at him, and Diogenes swore back."

She laughed and set the old drake on his feet. "May I have a slice of
bread for him, Mother Nancy?"

"Of course, my dear. Two, if you wish."

Diogenes, having been towed by his beloved mistress out-of-doors, was
appeased with the slice of bread. He was a patriarch now, with a lovely
mate and a line of waddling offspring to claim his devotion. But not an
inch did he swerve from his loyalty to Anne. She had brought him with her
from Bower's, and he lived in the barn with his family. Twice a day,
however, he made a pilgrimage to the Crossroads school. It was these
excursions which Anne deprecated.

"He comes in when I ring for recess and distracts the children. He
waddles straight up to my desk--and he is such an old dear."

She laughed, and the two women laughed with her. She was their
heart-warming comrade. She brought into their lonely lives something
vivid and sparkling, at which they drank for their soul's refreshment.

Nancy spoke of Rodman Warfield. "We want him here for Christmas and the
holidays. Do you think he can come?"

Anne flashed her radiance at them. "I don't think. I know. Mother Nancy,
you're an angel."

"Richard is coming, of course. It will be just a family party. Not many
young people for you, my dear. Just--Richard."

There was holly and crow's-foot up in the hills, and David and Anne
hitched big Ben to a cart and went after it. It was a winter of snow, and
in the depths of the woods there was a great stillness. David chopped a
tall cedar and his blows echoed and reechoed in the white spaces. The
holly berries that dropped from the cut branches were like drops of blood
on the shining crust.

Nancy and Sulie made up the wreaths and the ropes of green, and fashioned
ornaments for the tree. There was to be a bigger tree at the school for
the children, but this was to be a family affair and was to be free from
tawdry tinsel and colored glass. Nancy liked straight little ca