When they reached the doorway every one stopped while Lupito and his new
wife sang a song saying that the night was cold and dark and the wind
was blowing, and asking for shelter, just as if they were Joseph and
Mary, and the Big House were the inn in Bethlehem.

Then a voice came from the inside of the Big House as if it were the
innkeeper himself answering Joseph and Mary. It was really the mozo's
voice, and it said, No, they could not come in, that there was no more
room in the inn.

Then Lupito and his wife sang again and told the innkeeper that she who
begged admittance and had not where to lay her head, was indeed the
Queen of Heaven.

At this name the door was flung wide open, and the priest, bearing the
images of the Virgin and Child and Joseph, entered with Lupito and all
the others singing behind him.

The priest led the procession through the entrance arch to the patio,
and there he placed the images in a shrine, all banked with palms and
flowering plants, which had been placed in the patio on purpose to
receive them.

Then he lifted his hand and prayed, and blessed the people, and the
whole procession passed in front of the images, each one kneeling before
them long enough to leave his lighted candle stuck in a little framework
before the shrine. Senor Fernandez and his wife Carmen watched the scene
from one end of the patio.

[Illustration]

Dona Teresa and the Twins were among the first ones to leave their
candles, and afterward they stood under the gallery which ran around the
patio, to watch the rest of the procession.

Everything was quiet until this was done, because this part of Christmas
was just like a church service. One by one the people knelt before the
images, crossed themselves, and joined the group under the gallery. Last
of all came the two dark figures without any candles.

Up to that moment they had lingered behind the others in the background,
and had kept as much as possible in the shadow, but now they stood right
in front of the Holy Family with all the candles shining directly into
their brown faces--and who should they be but Pancho and Pedro come back
from the war?

II

The moment she saw Pancho, Dona Teresa gave a loud scream of joy, and
then she rushed right by every one--almost stepping on the toes of the
priest himself--and threw her arms around his neck, while the Twins, who
got there almost as soon as she did, clasped an arm or a leg, or
whatever part of the