rm their feet a little?
And the next minute there was the sound of Kiah's wooden leg in the
passage, and there he was with his fiddle, and the Rogers, all in their
Sunday clothes, just behind him. And Patty ran to put down a line of
mats, because wooden legs were not good for polished floors. And the
captain made Angel such a bow, as if she had been Queen Charlotte
herself, and hoped she would put up with an awkward old sailor for a
partner, and he was sure Pete would show them the way with Miss Betty.
And Godfrey did his very best to copy the captain as he gave his hand
to Nancy. And then happened the most wonderful thing that ever had
happened in Oakfield, for as Kiah struck up 'Off she goes!' Mr.
Crayshaw suddenly went up to fair-haired Patty, who hardly knew where
to look, and told her he had not danced for twenty years, but Christmas
seemed the time for a frolic, and he would ask her to help him.

Then, when even Nancy and Godfrey were breathless, there came in one of
Martha's best cakes and a big plate full of oranges. And the captain
called upon Kiah for a song, which Kiah sang readily enough, and played
for himself, too, on the fiddle, with the music a good way behind the
words. And then they all joined in the chorus of 'Hearts of Oak,' and
after that Angel's sweet voice started 'God rest you, merry gentlemen.'
And then out with the lights and in with the blazing dish of
snap-dragon! How valiant Godfrey was in pulling out plums for every
one; how very, very nearly Betty set her lace ruffles on fire; what
queer shadows the flickering light threw on the wall, and how strange
the eager faces looked when the captain threw a handful of salt on the
fire and the flame burnt blue, while Nancy got half frightened and hid
behind Patty's skirts! But at last all the raisins had been pulled out
and the fire was dying, and positively there was the clock striking
ten! What a time of night for Godfrey and Nancy to be out of bed!
But, as the captain said, who looks at the clock at Christmas time? So
Martha and her daughters curtsied themselves out of the room, and Mr.
Crayshaw stood at the door talking quite cheerily with old Kiah, while
Betty kept Pete back a minute to ask about her linnet, which was
ill--Pete knew so much about birds.

Godfrey had climbed into the window seat, and was peeping between the
curtains to see if it looked like another frost.

'Look at the stars, Aunt Angel dear, aren't they bright? Is t