ot been, she would have seen what an effect her new
cap produced upon the boys. The good lady owned that she did "love a
dressy cap," and on this occasion her head gear was magnificent; for
the towering structure of lace was adorned with buff ribbons to such an
extent that it looked as if a flock of yellow butterflies had settled on
her dear old head. When she trotted about the rooms the ruches quivered,
the little bows all stood erect, and the streamers waved in the breeze
so comically that it was absolutely necessary for Archie to smother the
Brats in the curtains till they had had their first laugh out.

Uncle Mac had brought Fun See to dinner, and it was a mercy he did,
for the elder lads found a vent for their merriment in joking the young
Chinaman on his improved appearance. He was in American costume now,
with a cropped head, and spoke remarkably good English after six months
at school; but, for all that, his yellow face and beady eyes made a
curious contrast to the blonde Campbells all about him. Will called him
the "Typhoon," meaning Tycoon, and the name stuck to him to his great
disgust.

Aunt Peace was brought down and set in the chair of state at table, for
she never failed to join the family on this day, and sat smiling at them
all, "like an embodiment of Peace on earth," Uncle Alec said, as he took
his place beside her, while Uncle Mac supported Aunt Plenty at the other
end.

"I ate hardly any breakfast, and I've done everything I know to make
myself extra hungry, but I really don't think I can eat straight
through, unless I burst my buttons off," whispered Geordie to Will, as
he surveyed the bounteous stores before him with a hopeless sigh.

"A fellow never knows what he can do till he tries," answered Will,
attacking his heaped-up plate with an evident intention of doing his
duty like a man.

Everybody knows what a Christmas dinner is, so we need waste no words in
describing this one, but hasten at once to tell what happened at the
end of it. The end, by the way, was so long in coming that the gas was
lighted before dessert was over, for a snow flurry had come on and the
wintry daylight faded fast. But that only made it all the jollier in the
warm, bright rooms, full of happy souls. Everyone was very merry, but
Archie seemed particularly uplifted so much so, that Charlie confided to
Rose that he was afraid the Chief had been at the decanters.

Rose indignantly denied the insinuation, for when healt