others as one man, except Plowden, who said that
he was tired and would lie down, though he did not suppose he could
sleep. So he dropped out of the game and stretched himself on the sofa,
where Honey neatly tucked him up. The others played on until gray dawn.

A little after midnight, Rutherford, having chanced to glance at his
watch, grimly wished his companions:

"Merry Christmas, gentlemen."

"It isn't," snarled Wildfen.

Plowden uttered a groan, so long and deep that the others laughed; and
after that laugh they seemed to brighten up a little.

The sound of crunching footsteps in the new-fallen snow was heard
outside a little after eight o'clock, and Honey, looking out of the
window, exclaimed joyously:

"'Ere's Sam, with a basket han a coffee-pot!"

Rutherford apologized for the poor fare, but the coffee was excellent,
the bread and cold meat were appetizing, and Honey, who was the Mark
Tapley of the occasion, voiced the general sentiment when, having aided
Sam in spreading the viands on a billiard-table, he said: "Cold wit les
is werry heatable when you're 'ungry. Ah!" he added, reflectively, "me
an' mother 'as hoften been werry 'ard pushed to get has good has this
'ere."

"You haven't got a mother, have you?" asked Wildfen. He couldn't quite
contradict the affirmation of a maternal entity, but came near it, in
his tone at least.

"Yessir, I 'ave. That's one reason I married habove me--for to get ha
comfortable 'ome for mother. My wife said Hi might bring 'er from
Hengland, an' we've brought 'er 'ere to Winchester, to keep 'ouse for
us, while me and 'Arriet keeps school."

To cover the general smile at this remark, Rutherford asked Sam how the
ladies were getting on.

"Dunno how dey is dis mawnin', mars'r."

"Did Mrs. 'Oney stay?" inquired her husband.

"Yes, sah. I heard missus say her husband done leave her dah; she got
stay dah till he done come back an' git her."

"And my Gertrude," asked Mr. Plowden, anxiously, "how was she enjoying
herself?"

"Dey wa'n't nobody 'joyin' desselves, so fur as I seed, sah. Dey was
a-doin' a powah of talkin'. I hyah missus say, sarcastic-like, it were
de 'mizziblest merry Christmas' she ebber see; an' de udders groan like
de elders does in a 'sperience meetin' when dey means 'Yes, Lawd.'"

Sam's understanding of the prevailing sentiment among the ladies was
quite correct. When each of them sought her solitary bed, that night
before Christmas, it was with an