for the girls, red and white
and gold--there were sweets by the pound and by the box--and long yards
and yards of soft silk from India, to make frocks for the girls--and a
real Indian sword for Oswald and a book of Japanese pictures for Noel,
and some ivory chess men for Dicky: the castles of the chessmen are
elephant-and-castles. There is a railway station called that; I never
knew what it meant before. The brown paper and string parcels had boxes
of games in them--and big cases of preserved fruits and things. And the
shabby old newspaper parcels and the boxes had the Indian things in. I
never saw so many beautiful things before. There were carved fans
and silver bangles and strings of amber beads, and necklaces of uncut
gems--turquoises and garnets, the Uncle said they were--and shawls and
scarves of silk, and cabinets of brown and gold, and ivory boxes and
silver trays, and brass things. The Uncle kept saying, 'This is for you,
young man,' or 'Little Alice will like this fan,'or 'Miss Dora would
look well in this green silk, I think. Eh!--what?'

And Father looked on as if it was a dream, till the Uncle suddenly gave
him an ivory paper-knife and a box of cigars, and said, 'My old friend
sent you these, Dick; he's an old friend of yours too, he says.' And he
winked at my Father, for H. O. and I saw him. And my Father winked back,
though he has always told us not to.

That was a wonderful day. It was a treasure, and no mistake! I never saw
such heaps and heaps of presents, like things out of a fairy-tale--and
even Eliza had a shawl. Perhaps she deserved it, for she did cook the
rabbit and the pudding; and Oswald says it is not her fault if her nose
turns up and she does not brush her hair. I do not think Eliza likes
brushing things. It is the same with the carpets. But Oswald tries to
make allowances even for people who do not wash their ears.

The Indian Uncle came to see us often after that, and his friend always
sent us something. Once he tipped us a sovereign each--the Uncle brought
it; and once he sent us money to go to the Crystal Palace, and the Uncle
took us; and another time to a circus; and when Christmas was near the
Uncle said--

'You remember when I dined with you, some time ago, you promised to dine
with me some day, if I could ever afford to give a dinner-party. Well,
I'm going to have one--a Christmas party. Not on Christmas Day, because
every one goes home then--but on the day after. Cold mutton an