doubt I'm a precious spectacle!" she said to the Angel. "I saw
your pa a little before I started, and he sent you a note. It's in my
satchel. He said he was coming up next week. What a lot of people there
are in this world! And what on earth are all of them laughing about? Did
none of them ever hear of sickness, or sorrow, or death? Billy, don't
you go to playing Indian or chasing woodchucks until you get out of
those clothes. I promised Margaret I'd bring back that suit good as
new."

Then the O'More children came crowding to meet Elnora's mother.

"Merry Christmas!" cried Mrs. Comstock, gathering them in. "Got
everything right here but the tree, and there seems to be plenty of them
a little higher up. If this wind would stiffen just enough more to blow
away the people, so one could see this place, I believe it would be
right decent looking."

"See here," whispered Elnora to Philip. "You must fix this with Billy. I
can't have his trip spoiled."

"Now, here is where I dust the rest of 'em!" complacently remarked
Mrs. Comstock, as she climbed into the motor car for her first ride, in
company with Philip and Little Brother. "I have been the one to trudge
the roads and hop out of the way of these things for quite a spell."

She sat very erect as the car rolled into the broad main avenue, where
only stray couples were walking. Her eyes began to twinkle and gleam.
Suddenly she leaned forward and touched the driver on the shoulder.

"Young man," she said, "just you toot that horn suddenly and shave close
enough a few of those people, so that I can see how I look when I leap
for ragweed and snake fences."

The amazed chauffeur glanced questioningly at Philip who slightly
nodded. A second later there was a quick "honk!" and a swerve at a
corner. A man engrossed in conversation grabbed the woman to whom he was
talking and dashed for the safety of a lawn. The woman tripped in her
skirts, and as she fell the man caught and dragged her. Both of them
turned red faces to the car and berated the driver. Mrs. Comstock
laughed in unrestrained enjoyment. Then she touched the chauffeur again.

"That's enough," she said. "It seems a mite risky." A minute later she
added to Philip, "If only they had been carrying six pounds of butter
and ten dozen eggs apiece, wouldn't that have been just perfect?"

Billy had wavered between Elnora and the motor, but his loyal little
soul had been true to her, so the walk to the cottage began with