n,
quivered all over. "I fear I shall be tempted to break into the room
before Christmas night and unearth the whole business. But tell me this
much. Who is in the surprise?"

"All of us," declared Nora. "But now we'll have to get somebody to take
the place of----"

She paused and blushed scarlet.

"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door, with a peculiar
expression on his countenance.

There was a dead silence. Mrs. Gray sat as if turned to stone, while
David half rose from his seat and Hippy seized a bread and butter knife
to plunge into the heart of his enemy, if necessary.

"Aunt Rose," cried a voice outside, "aren't you glad to see me?"

A broad-shouldered, well-built young man walked into the room and kissed
the old lady right in the mouth, before she could say a word. He had a
sunburned, wholesome face, kindly gray eyes, light-brown hair, and wore
a heavy suit of rough, blue cloth. He carried no cane; neither were his
shoes pointed at the toes, and there wasn't a tinge of English in his
accent except that his enunciation was unusually good.

Mrs. Gray rose from her chair and examined the young man long and
carefully.

"The very image of your uncle," she cried at last, and gave him a good
hug. "The very image, my dear Tom. Your old aunty has been a most
egregious fool. Why didn't you come last night?"

"Didn't you get my telegram? I sent it in good time. I was delayed and
had to take the night train up. I am awfully sorry if it inconvenienced
you."

"You haven't inconvenienced me, my boy, except for a slight loss of
sleep, and a fright and a narrow of escape from losing the family
silver, which David and Grace, here, prevented."

Then Mrs. Gray sat down and burst out laughing. The others joined in and
for a few minutes the breakfast table was in an uproar.

The real Tom Gray, who was the image of his uncle's portrait over the
sideboard, looked from one to another of the strange faces and then
began to laugh too, since it seemed to be the proper thing to do. He had
one of those delightful, hearty laughs that ring out in a whole roomful
of voices. When Mrs. Gray heard it she stopped short, patting her nephew
on the cheek; for he was sitting beside her now in a place hastily
arranged by the butler.

"Exactly your uncle's laugh. It's good to hear it again. You're a Gray,
every inch of you; and, thank God, you're a fine fellow! If you had come
down here with an English accent and no 'h's