readily under a
sprig of ivy, and we can fire our nuts without the help of man or lad,
provided only we keep one in our minds. Of whom shall I think, Annis?"
she queried, wrinkling up her pretty forehead in anxious perplexity over
so disturbing a doubt.

"You are far too young to think of men at all," answered Annis,
reprovingly, and with all the conscious superiority of age. "Nor do you
know enough as yet to make such pastime profitable."

Cicely's brows drew together with a frown which plainly indicated the
nature of the retort upon her lips, but a glance from her mother checked
her. "The word uttered in vexation is better left unspoken," said
Mistress Vane, with gentle authority. "And I am waiting here, not to
listen to disputes, which in these stormy times have grown wearisome,
but to hear the Christmas carol promised me to-night."

Annis, with flushed cheeks, took down from the wall a little mandolin of
Spanish workmanship, and, striking a few chords, began the carol, in
which Cicely, after sacrificing some moments to ill-temper, concluded
presently to join, her clear flute-notes rising high above her sister's
weaker tones,--

"When Christ was born of Mary free,
In Bethlehem, in that fair citie,
Angels sungen with mirth and glee,
In Excelsis Gloria!

"Herdsmen beheld these angels bright
To them appeared with great light,
And said, God's Son is born this night,
In Excelsis Gloria!

"The King is comen to save kind,
Even in Scripture as we find;
Therefore this song have we in mind,
In Excelsis Gloria!

"Then, dear Lord, for thy great grace,
Grant us in bliss to see thy face,
Where we may sing to thee solace,
In Excelsis Gloria!"

As the sounds died into silence there stood one in the icy streets and
listened. No self-elected saint was he, scenting out treason to the
Commonwealth, but a cavalier from France, with his love-locks shorn for
sweet prudence's sake, and a mighty mantle enveloping him from head to
foot. If Annis Vane had waited, and hoped, and built up her faith in the
cheer of Christmas-night, the joy she coveted was very near at last.
After lingering a few moments, as though on the chance of hearing more,
the stranger advanced and knocked sharply at the heavily-barred door. It
was opened in due season and with great caution by old Catherine, who
evidently thought the hour ill-chosen for a new-comer, and mistrusted
sorely