mes and Simeon, who
had left the party a little before the others and, hurrying back with
the gifts that they planned, had met Ebenezer at his gate, getting home
from Jenny's house. In Abel's arms was something globed, like a little
world; in Simeon's, the tall, gray-gowned Saint Nicholas taken from the
Exchange window, the lettered sign absent, but the little flag still in
his hand; and Ebenezer was carrying the hobbyhorse. If at him the other
two had wondered somewhat, they had said nothing, in that fashion of
treating the essential which is as peculiar to certain simple, robust
souls as to other kinds of great souls.

"Has the boy gone to bed?" Abel asked without preface.

"Yes," Mary answered, "he has. I'm sorry."

"Never mind," Simeon whispered, "you can give him these in the morning."

Mary, her shawl half hiding her face, stooped to take what the three
lifted.

"They ain't presents, you know," Abel assured her positively. "They're
just--well, just to let him know."

Mary set the strange assortment on the floor of the dining room--the
things that were to be nothing in themselves, only just "to let him
know."

"Thank you for him," she said gently. "And thank you for me," she added.

Ebenezer fumbled for a moment at his beaver hat, and took it off. Then
the other two did so to their firm-fixed caps. And with an impulse that
came from no one could tell whom, the three spoke--the first time
hesitatingly, the next time together and confidently.

"Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas," they said.

Mary Chavah lifted her hand.

"Merry Christmas!" she cried.

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The following pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books by the
same author, and new fiction.

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THE OTHER BOOKS OF MISS GALE

Mothers to Men

Decorated cloth, 12mo, $1.50 net; by mail, $1.62

The author is singularly successful in detaching herself from all the
wear and tear of modern life and has produced a book filled with
sweetness, beautiful in ideas, charming in characterizations, highly
contemplative, and evidencing a philosophy of life all her own.

"One of the most widely read of our writers of short fiction."--_The
Bookman_.

Friendship Village

Cloth, 12mo, $1.50

"As charming as an April day, all showers and sunshine, and sometimes
both together, so that the deligh