or Christmas. She was not too busy, though, to make a cup
of tea, and Joan must stay and have one with her, and away she bustled to
the talfat,[1] where she had a special case of tea put away. This was
Joan's opportunity, and she seized it. As soon as Betty's back was
turned, she whipped the pot of ointment out from under the ferns, stuck
her finger in it, and popped the pot back again, in no time. But no
sooner had she touched her eye with the ointment than, oh! such a pain
shot through it, she very nearly shrieked aloud. It was as though a
red-hot knitting needle had been run right through her eyeball!
And, oh, the smarting and the burning that followed! To prevent a sound
escaping her she had to hug and squeeze herself with all her might, she
dared not open her lips to speak, and the tears poured down her cheeks
like rain.

It was lucky for her that Betty had some trouble in dragging the chest of
tea from under the bed, for if she had come back quickly she could not
have helped seeing what Joan had been doing. By the time she returned,
though, the worst of the pain was over, and keeping up her hand to that
side of her face, Joan managed to conceal the injured eye, and Betty was
too busy with her fire and her kettle to be very observant.

"I'm glad you came in to have a cup with me, and drink my health, it being
Christmas Eve and all," said Betty as they drew up to the table.
Then, having drunk each other's health, they had a third cup to drink the
health of the children, for, as Joan said, "there wasn't a healthier,
handsomer family in the whole parish." Then they drank the health of the
mermaids, for it is always wise to be civil to them, and after that Joan
rose to go.

Before she could go, though, she felt she must manage to open her injured
eye, which still watered and smarted a good deal. So she rubbed it and
blinked and winked until at last she managed to part the lids,--when, lo
and behold! to her amazement and alarm she saw that the house, which she
had thought empty save for herself and Betty, was simply thronged with
Little People!

There was not a spot that was free of them! They were climbing up the
dressers, hanging on to the beams, swinging on the fishing nets, hanging
across them, playing pranks on the clock, on the table, and the
mantelpiece, sliding down the saucepan handles, riding races on mice,--
they were everywhere, in fact, and up to every kind of game.

They were all very beauti