of brains and
hand: "Cher papa,--I hav dreemed that Sant Klos has hare-ribbans in his
pak. Will you ask him for sum for your little Tita?" This not seeming
sufficiently expressive, she inserted "trez affecsionay" before "Tita,"
and then, folding the epistle, she went softly down the stairs again,
and stealing round in the darkness through several unused rooms, she
entered her father's bedroom, which communicated with the study, and by
sense of feeling pinned the paper carefully round his large pipe, which
lay in its usual place on the table. For William Douglas always began
smoking as soon as he rose, in this way nullifying, as it were, the
fresh, vivifying effect of the morning, which smote painfully upon his
eyes and mind alike; in the afternoon and evening he did not smoke so
steadily, the falling shadows supplying of themselves the atmosphere he
loved. Having accomplished her little manoeuvre, Tita went back up stairs
to her own room like a small white ghost, and fell asleep with the
satisfaction of a successful diplomatist.

In the mean time Anne was brushing her brown hair, and thoughtfully
going over in her own mind the morrow's dinner. Her room was a bare and
comfortless place; there was but a small fire on the hearth, and no
curtains over the windows; it took so much care and wood to keep the
children's rooms warm that she neglected her own, and as for the
furniture, she had removed it piece by piece, exchanging it for
broken-backed worn-out articles from all parts of the house. One leg of
the bedstead was gone, and its place supplied by a box which the
old-fashioned valance only half concealed; the looking-glass was
cracked, and distorted her image; the chairs were in hospital and out of
service, the young mistress respecting their injuries, and using as her
own seat an old wooden stool which stood near the hearth. Upon this she
was now seated, the rippling waves of her thick hair flowing over her
shoulders. Having at last faithfully rehearsed the Christmas dinner in
all its points, she drew a long breath of relief, rose, extinguished her
light, and going over to the window, stood there for a moment looking
out. The moonlight came gleaming in and touched her with silver, her
pure youthful face and girlish form draped in white. "May God bless my
dear father," she prayed, silently, looking up to the thick studded
stars; "and my dear mother too, wherever she is to-night, in one of
those far bright worlds, perhap