pealed out its summons, and the toilers
sprang to their feet in dismay.

"So late! And my collar isn't done yet!"

"I have only the belt to put on my apron."

"All but about an inch of hemstitching done on this handkerchief."

"The initials are a little crooked on this glove-case, but I have
finished. Thank goodness!"

Chrystobel said never a word, but gathering up her work with unusual
haste, she flew to her room, switched on the lights, gave her beautiful
curls a brush or two, jerked her collar over a fraction of an inch, and
disappeared down the stairway before Tabitha had reached the door of
Bertha's room. Straight to the principal's office she ran, knocked
lightly, and almost before she heard the gentle summons from within,
she burst into the room with the breathless question, "Oh, Miss Pomeroy,
can I stay here at school for the holidays? _May_ I, I mean?"

"Why, my dear," smiled the white-haired lady, "my girls are always
welcome here."

"But I thought during vacations you let only those who had nowhere else
to go stay here."

"That is just because the girls who have homes to go to prefer to spend
their holidays there, Chrystobel. It is unusual for a pupil to _elect_
to stay here on such occasions, particularly at Christmas time. What is
the trouble, dear? Have your parents--"

"Oh, no, it isn't that. They expect me, but can't I telegraph them that
I want to stay here? They won't object. They always let me have my own
way, Miss Pomeroy."

"But still I cannot understand your sudden decision, Chrystobel."

"It's on account of Kitty--Tabitha. She can't go home, and now that the
Carsons have to leave for the East, she can't spend her vacation with
Carrie, and she does feel so sorry!"

"What makes you think that?" asked the principal with a curious
tightening of her throat.

"Just her mouth, and because I know her. She laughs and pretends she
doesn't mind, but I couldn't help seeing her lips; and she has never had
the good times I have, and I--I thought maybe if I stayed here with her
and Bertha, it would make them both feel happier."

Miss Pomeroy looked down into the eager, flushed face and wondered how
she had ever called Chrystobel selfish; then she asked, "Have you
counted the cost? If you stay here to make Tabitha's Christmas happy,
she must never suspect any regrets you may feel because your own plans
have been laid aside."

"I have thought about all that, Miss Pomeroy. She has been so good a