after three false guesses on Paul and Sally's
part, Kitty divulged her tremendous secret, which turned out to be that
daddy had promised that when she was ten years old she should give a
Christmas-tree party to every child in Rudham from ten years and under,
and the whole responsibility of choosing the presents and assorting
them should devolve upon her. For months past Kitty had been making
out her list of the children she would have to invite, rather
bewildering the villagers by her feverish anxiety to discover the ages
of their offspring; but the choosing of suitable presents for her
guests was a far more difficult task. A large box of toys had arrived,
by her father's order, from a neighbouring town, from which Kitty could
make a selection; she had spent one whole day poring over them. Girls
were easy enough to please, but boys' tastes were quite a different
matter. So Nurse had finally suggested that Mr. Lessing should be
taken into confidence. Happily, by the afternoon he had grasped the
gravity of the situation, and he discussed the varying merits of tops,
marbles, horses, and carts as earnestly as even Kitty could desire. He
still felt a lurking desire to laugh when he saw the Noah's Ark, which
cost half a crown, set apart in a place by itself on Kitty's couch.
From time to time she laid a caressing hand upon it. It was still
unallotted, and Kitty gave a quivering sigh of excitement as she
glanced down her crumpled list.

"I had meant this for Tommy Baird," she said, looking down at it
fondly. "It's quite the best thing I have--and he's the oldest
boy,--and it's very pretty, daddy thinks; but you say it won't do."

"I!" cried Paul, aghast. "I never said anything of the kind."

"You laughed at it! and you said something about a flood."

"Was not the ark connected with a flood? You know better than I."

Kitty looked from Paul to Sally with distress on her face.

"Of course," she said, a little petulantly. "But you said there might
be another--and there can't be, daddy says."

"Of course there can't," said Paul, a little hurriedly, feeling it
scarcely fair to make a joke to such a sensitive little girl.

"Look here! I'm writing a ticket for Tommy Baird, and I shall tuck it
under the elephant's trunk. Do you think he will hold it fast?"

"Then it will do, after all," said Kitty, greatly relieved.

But when Paul and Sally were gone, and all the excitement and joy of
the tea-party, and the allot