Esmeralda stretched out two well-shaped, if somewhat large, hands, and
gazed at them with pensive admiration; but Bridgie was firm, and,
scratches or no scratches, insisted that she should take her own share
of the work. As soon as tea was over, then, the family descended to the
servants' hall, a whitewashed apartment about as cheerful as a vault,
and but little warmer despite the big peat fire, where they set to work
to reduce a stack of evergreens into wreaths and borderings for cotton
wool "Merrie Christmases" and "Happy Newe Yeares" reserved from former
occasions.

Pat and Miles cut the branches into smaller and more workable
proportions. Pixie unravelled string and wire, and the three elders
worked steadily at their separate wreaths. At the end of an hour they
had progressed so well that it was suggested that the three fragments
should be tied together, and the wreath hung in the hall, to clear the
room for further operations.

The suggestion being universally approved, a stormy half-hour followed,
when each of the five O'Shaughnessys harangued the others concerning the
superiority of his or her own plan of decoration, and precious lives
were imperilled on the oldest and shakiest of step-ladders. The boys
could naturally mount to the highest step without a fear, but, when
mounted, were so clumsy and inartistic in their arrangements that they
were called down with derisive cries, and retired to sulk in a corner.
Then Bridgie lifted her skirt and gallantly ascended five steps, felt
the boards sway beneath her, and scuttled down to make way for her
sister. The daring rider across country possessed stronger nerves, but
also a heavier body, and the ladder creaked so ominously beneath her
that she insisted upon the whole company acting as props, in one breath
sending them running for hammer and rope, and in the next shrieking to
them to return to their posts.

By the time that the wreath was really hung, the friction had reached
such a pitch that Mademoiselle expected a state of civil war for the
rest of the evening, and even wondered if the atmosphere would have time
to clear before Christmas itself. She could hardly believe the evidence
of her senses when the boys affably volunteered to clear away the
rubbish, and Bridgie and Esmeralda went upstairs with wreathed arms,
calling one another "Darling" and "Love," with the echo of sharp taunt
and sharper reply still ringing in the air! Certainly, if the Irish
t