e. And, as
it neared Sam and Andrew, their enthusiasm could be seen to droop, and
George and Herbert stopped their cheers as it came up to them; and
before it was near the house, on its grieved way up the hill, the bad
news had come up before it, as bad news will,--"She has not come, after
all."

It was Huldah Root, Grace's older sister, who had not come. John Root,
their father, had himself driven down to the station to meet her; and
Abner, her oldest brother, had gone with him. It was two years since she
had been at home, and the whole family was on tiptoe to welcome her.
Hence the unusual tea preparation; hence the sentinel on the doorstep;
hence the general assembly in the yard; and, after all, she had not
come! It was a wretched disappointment. Her mother had that heavy,
silent look, which children take as the heaviest affliction of all, when
they see it in their mother's faces. John Root himself led the horse
into the barn, as if he did not care now for anything which might happen
in heaven above or in earth beneath. The boys were voluble in their
rage: "It is too bad!" and, "Grandmamma, don't you think it is too bad?"
and, "It is the meanest thing I ever heard of in all my life!" and,
"Grace, why don't you say anything? did you ever know anything so mean?"
As for poor Grace herself, she was quite beyond saying anything. All the
treasured words she had laid up to say to Huldah; all the doubts and
hopes and guesses, which were secret to all but God, but which were to
be poured out in Huldah's ear as soon as they were alone, were coming
up one by one, as if to choke her. She had waited so long for this
blessed fortnight of sympathy, and now she had lost it. Grace could say
nothing. And poor grandmamma, on whom fell the stilling of the boys, was
at heart as wretched as any of them.

Somehow, something got itself put on the supper-table; and, when John
Root and Abner came in from the barn, they all sat down to pretend to
eat something. What a miserable contrast to the Christmas eve party
which had been expected!

The observance of Christmas is quite a novelty in the heart of New
England among the lords of the manor. Winslow and Brewster, above
Plymouth Rock, celebrated their first Christmas by making all hands work
all day in the raising of their first house. It was in that way that a
Christian empire was begun. They builded better than they knew. They and
theirs, in that hard day's work, struck the key-note for Ne