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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I
+       Christmas Tales from 'Round the World
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Harrison S. Morris
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2006 [EBook #18720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YULE-LOG GLOW, BOOK I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Ereaut, Jason Isbell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcribers note: Several original spelling, punctuation and
+hyphenation inconsistencies have been rationalised.]
+
+[Illustration: The Yule-log glow]
+
+IN THE
+YULE-LOG GLOW
+
+CHRISTMAS TALES FROM
+'ROUND THE WORLD
+
+
+"Sic as folk tell ower at a winter ingle"
+_Scott_
+
+
+EDITED BY
+HARRISON S. MORRIS
+
+
+THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.
+
+Book I.
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+1900.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1891, by J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
+
+
+
+
+THE THRESHOLD.
+
+
+If, gentle reader, you will step across this threshold, now, as the moon
+rises in the keen Christmas air, and will find a place by the ruddy
+ingle within-doors, you may hear, if you will, a Babel of voices from
+many lands, telling over the adventures of the road and falling into the
+good-fellowship of the happy Christmas season.
+
+Here from the north, with his ample furs thrown back, sits the Russian
+in friendly talk with a gay little wanderer from Sicilian valleys.
+There, with elbow crooked by a foaming tankard, leans the German,
+narrating his perils and pleasures to a gallant Frenchman and a
+sunbrowned Spaniard who smoke and chatter together as now and then
+Mynheer stops for a pull at his pipe.
+
+A Swede, Norwegians, an Englishman or two, and even a happy-go-lucky
+American, are clustered about the Yule-log; for the place you have
+entered is the common-room of the wide world.
+
+As you slip the latch and take your seat, some traveller calls out: A
+Merry Christmas! Another cries: A story, a story! and so they fall to,
+each from his own scrip taking forth a native tale,--and so they sit the
+midnight out listening and talking in turn; while the good cheer goes
+round in endless abundance and laughter and song make interludes for the
+varied narratives.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF BOOK I.
+
+
+
+
+The Three Kings of Cologne
+
+_A modern version of an old English Chronicle._
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+The Three Christmas Masses
+
+_From the French of Alphonse Daudet._
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+A Russian Christmas Party[A]
+
+_By Count Léon Tolstoi._
+
+
+Two Christmases
+
+_From the German of Georg Schuster._
+
+
+A Tale of a Turkey
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+A Still Christmas[B]
+
+_By Agnes Repplier._
+
+
+Thrond
+
+_From the Norwegian of Björnson._
+
+
+Christmas in the Desert
+
+_By Matilda Betham Edwards._
+
+
+
+[A] By courtesy of Messrs. W. S. Gottsberger & Co.
+
+[B] By courtesy of "The Catholic World."
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS, BOOK I.
+
+
+The Yule-log Glow      Frontispiece.
+
+Sonia
+
+The Cavalier From France
+
+My Little Sister Mary
+
+
+
+
+_A Tale Spoken by a Graybeard Out of the East._
+
+"Gracious powers! Perhaps you _are_ a hundred years old, now I think of
+it! You look more than a hundred. Yes, you may be a thousand years old
+for what I know."
+
+_Thackeray._
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE.
+
+A CHRISTMAS TALE FROM AN OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLE.
+
+(Written by John of Hildesheim in the Fourteenth Century.)
+
+Here followeth the manner and form of seeking and offering; and also of
+the burying and translations of the three Holy and Worshipful Kings of
+Cologne: Jaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
+
+
+Now when the Children of Israel were gone out of Egypt and had won and
+made subject to them Jerusalem and all the land lying about, so that no
+man durst set against them in all that country for dread that they had
+of them; then was there a little hill called Vaws, which was also called
+the Hill of Victory, and on this hill the ward of them of Ind was
+ordained and kept by divers sentinels by night and by day against the
+Children of Israel, and afterward against the Romans; so that if any
+people at any time purposed with strong hand to enter into the country
+of the Kingdom of Ind, anon, sentinels of other hills about, through
+tokens, warned the keepers on the hill of Vaws. And by night they made a
+great fire and by day they made a great smoke, for that hill Vaws
+passeth the height of all other hills in all the East. Wherefore, when
+any such token was seen, then all manner of men made ready to defend
+themselves from the enemy that approached.
+
+Now in the time when Balaam prophesied of the Star that should betoken
+the coming of Christ, all the great lords and all the other people of
+Ind and in the East desired greatly to see the Star of which he spake,
+and gave gifts to the keepers of the hill of Vaws, and moreover hired
+them with great rewards, that, if it so were, they saw by day or by
+night, far or near, any light or any star in the air other than was seen
+beforetime, anon they should show and send them word. And thus was it
+that for so long a time the fame of this Star was borne through all the
+lands of the East; until, of the name of the hill of Vaws, arose up a
+worshipful and a great kindred in Ind, which is called the progeny of
+Vaws even unto this day; and there is not a more mighty kindred in all
+the kingdoms of the East; for this worshipful kindred came first from
+the King's blood that was named Melchior, that offered gold to our Lord,
+as ye shall hereafter learn.
+
+In the year of our Lord 1200, when the city of Acon, that in this
+country is called Akers, flourished and stood in virtue, joy, and
+prosperity, and was inhabited richly with worshipful princes, and
+lords, and divers orders of men of religion, and all manner of men of
+all nations and tongues, so that there was no city like unto it in
+nobility and might; then, because of its great name and of the marvels
+that were there, the greatest of birth that were of the progeny of Vaws
+came out of Ind unto Acon; and when they saw there all things more
+wonderful than in Ind; then, because of delight, they abode there and
+made a fair and strong castle for any king or lord. And they brought
+with them out of the East many rich and wonderful ornaments and jewels.
+And among all other jewels, they brought a diadem of gold arrayed with
+precious stones and pearls, and about its edge stood letters of
+Chaldaic, and a star made like after the Star that appeared to the Three
+Kings of the East when they sought God, with a sign of the cross,
+beside. And that diadem was Melchior's, the king of Nubia and of Araby,
+that offered gold to the Babe in the manger. And afterward the master of
+the Order of Templars received this same diadem of gold and many other
+precious jewels; but when that Order was destroyed the diadem and
+precious ornaments were lost, and have never been found unto this day.
+Wherefore there was great sorrow made in all the country for a long time
+after.
+
+But these same princes of Vaws brought with them out of Ind books
+written in Hebrew and Chaldaic, concerning the life and deeds of these
+three blessed Kings, which books were afterward translated into the
+French tongue: and so, from these books, and from hearsay, and sight,
+and also from sermons and homilies out of divers other works, the story
+here written hath been brought together into one book.
+
+And you shall understand that the old kindred of Vaws beareth always in
+its banner, unto this day, a star with a sign of the cross, made after
+the same manner as it appeared to the three blessed Kings.
+
+Now it so happened that after Balaam had prophesied of this Star, the
+more it was sought for the more its fame increased through the land of
+Ind and Chaldee, and all the people desired to see it.
+
+So they ordained twelve of the wisest and greatest clerks of astronomy
+that were in all that country about, and gave them great hire to keep
+watch upon this hill of Vaws for the Star that was prophesied of Balaam.
+And the cause that there were ordained twelve men was, that if one man
+died another should be put in his stead; and also that some should keep
+watch at one time and some another--nevertheless the people looked not
+only after the Star, but after the Man who was betokened by the Star,
+the which Man should be Lord of all folk.
+
+And they of Ind and Chaldee who came often into Jerusalem because of
+merchandise and also for disport--the which, for the most part, be
+learned in astronomy--said that in Ind were many stars in the firmament
+that might not be seen by night in Jerusalem; but, specially on this
+hill of Vaws in clear weather, were seen many and divers strange stars
+that at the foot of the hill were not seen. Yet this hill of Vaws hath
+no more breadth than a little chapel is made upon, the which the three
+worshipful kings did build of stone and timber. And there be about this
+hill many steps upon which men go up to the chapel on high, and also
+there grew many good trees and herbs and divers spices all about the
+hill--for else men might not well go upon this hill because it is so
+high and so narrow. There is also a pillar of stone made above this
+chapel, of wondrous height, and in the head of the pillar standeth a
+great star, well made of gilt, and which turneth with the wind as a
+vane: and through the light of the sun by day, and of the moon by night,
+this star gives light a great way about the country. And many other
+marvels are spoken of this hill of Vaws, the which were long to tell.
+
+Now when the time of grace was come, that God would have mercy on all
+mankind, in which time the Father of Heaven sent down his Son to take
+flesh and blood and to be born a man for salvation of all the world: in
+that time Octavianus, that was Emperor of Rome, sent out a commandment
+that all the people within his empire should be counted and taxed; and
+every man went forth from his dwelling-place into his native country.
+Then came Joseph up from Nazareth unto Bethlehem the city of David,
+because he was of the household and race of King David, and with him
+came Mary that was his wife, and also great with child.
+
+And you shall understand that Bethlehem was never of much reputation,
+neither a place of great quantity. It hath a good site and good ground,
+for there be many caves and dens under the earth thereabout; and it is
+distant from Jerusalem but two little miles; and it is but a castle, but
+is called a city because King David was born there. And in that town was
+sometime a house which belonged to Isai, the father of David, where
+David was born and anointed into the kingdom of Israel by Samuel the
+prophet. And in this same dwelling was the Son of Heaven born of Mary.
+
+And this same house was at the end of a street that was in that time
+called the Covered Street, because, to keep out the great heat and
+burning of the sun, this street was canopied above with black cloths
+and other things,--for such is the use in that country always. And here
+was wont to be great bargaining, or a fair once a week of old clothes;
+and specially of trees or timber, by the little house which stood before
+a den under the earth, made and shaped like a little cellar, where Isai
+and others that dwelt there after him put certain necessaries that
+belonged to the household, against the heat of the sun. It is also the
+manner in all that country that there be certain houses, the which be
+called there _alchan_, that we call hostelries, and in these houses be
+mules, horses, asses, and camels always ready, that, if so that any
+merchant or any man that travelled by the way, be it far or near, need
+any beast for himself, or for his merchandise, then he goeth to such a
+house and there he may hire a horse, or what beast that he will, for a
+certain price. And when he hath such a beast then he goeth from that
+city to another, where to abide and rest him for a time. Then he
+dischargeth his beast of his burden, and so sendeth him to a house
+called there also _alchan_; and the master of the house giveth his beast
+meat, and, when he may, he sendeth it home to the same place that it
+came from.
+
+And such a house was, before the birth of Christ, in the place where
+Christ was born; but, about the time of the Nativity, that house was all
+destroyed, insomuch that there was nothing left but broken walls on
+every side, and a little cave under earth, and a little unthrifty house
+before the cave: and there men sold bread on the same ground; for it is
+the usage in all that country that all the bread that is sold shall be
+brought unto a certain place.
+
+Now when Octavianus had sent out a commandment as it is aforesaid, then
+went Joseph and Mary riding on an ass, late in the eventide, toward the
+city of Bethlehem, and because they came so late, and all places were
+occupied with pilgrims and other men, and also because they came in poor
+array and went about the city, none would receive them, and specially,
+men say, because that Mary, a young woman, sitting upon an ass, heavy
+and sorry, and full weary of the way, was near to the time of bearing of
+her child. Then Joseph led his wife into this shed that none took keep
+of, down into the little dark house, and there our Lord, Jesus Christ,
+the same night was born of the Virgin, without any disease or sorrow of
+her body, for salvation of all mankind.
+
+And in that house, before the cave of old time, was left a manger of the
+length of a fathom, made in the wall; and to that same manger was an ox
+of a poor man tied, that none might harbor. And beside that ox Joseph
+tied his ass, and in that same manger Mary wrapped her blessed Son in
+cloths and laid Him on high before the ass and the ox,--for there was
+none other place.
+
+And shepherds were fast by in the same country keeping their sheep in
+the night, and an angel of Heaven came and stood beside them with a
+great light, wherefore they were in much dread. And the angel said to
+them, "Be not afraid, for I tell you a great joy that shall be to all
+people, for this day is born to us our Lord, Christ, in the city of
+David, and this shall be to you a token: Ye shall find a young child
+wrapped in cloths and put in a manger." And then suddenly there came a
+great multitude of angels of Heaven praising God, who said: "Joy be to
+God on high and peace in earth to men of good will."
+
+Now the place where the angel appeared to the shepherds that night when
+Christ was born is but half a mile from Bethlehem, and in that same
+place David, when he was a child, fed sheep and kept them from the bear
+and the lion.
+
+Some books say that the shepherds in that country, twice in the year,
+are wont to keep their sheep in the night, and, therein, times be when
+the day and the night are both of one length. And you shall understand
+that the land about Bethlehem is all mountainous for the most part, so
+that in some places a man shall not well know winter from summer, and in
+some places it is right cold, and some it is both winter and summer at
+one time, and sometimes on the mountains, in parts of the East, men
+shall find snow in the month of August, and that snow is gathered by
+them that dwell about, and put in caves, and afterward it is borne to
+the market, where the great lords of the country will buy it, and take
+it to their houses, and set it in a basin upon their board to make their
+drink cold.
+
+In September and October, when the sun cometh a little low in that
+country, then seeds and all manner of herbs commonly begin to wax in the
+fields, as in this country herbs begin to grow in March and April; also
+in some parts of the East they reap corn in April and in March, but most
+in May, as in some places the ground is higher, in some places lower;
+but beside Bethlehem are many more places of good pasture and of flat
+ground than elsewhere: insomuch that at Christmas-tide barley beginneth
+to ear and to wax ripe; and then men send thither, from divers
+countries, their horses and mules, to make them fat: and that time we
+call among us Christmas, they call, in their language, the time of
+herbage. And forasmuch as when Christ was born, peace was in all the
+world, and betwixt Bethlehem and that place where the angel appeared to
+the shepherds was but half a mile and a little way more, and also there
+was no great cold thereabout, therefore the shepherds, all that winter
+night and day, now in one place, now in another, dwelled there with
+their sheep, and so they do yet to this day.
+
+Now when Christ was born of the Virgin Mary for salvation of all
+mankind, then His Star, that was prophesied of Balaam and long awaited
+and looked for by the twelve astronomers on the hill of Vaws, at that
+same night and at that same hour, began to arise in the manner of a sun,
+bright shining; and so after, in the form of an eagle, it ascended above
+the hill of Vaws. And all that day in highest air it abode without
+moving, insomuch that when the sun was most hot and most high there was
+no difference in shining betwixt them.
+
+But when the day of the Nativity was passed, the Star ascended up into
+the firmament, and it was nothing like to stars that be painted in
+divers places, for it had right many long streaks and beams, more
+burning and lighter than a brand of fire; and, as an eagle flying and
+beating the air with his wings, right so the streaks and beams of the
+Star stirred it about. And it had in itself the form and likeness of a
+young child, and above him a sign of the holy cross, and a voice was
+heard in the Star, saying: "This day is born to us the King of Jews that
+folk have awaited, and Lord is of them. Go and seek Him and do Him
+worship!"
+
+Then all the people, both man and woman, of all the country about, when
+they saw this wonderful and marvellous Star and also heard the voice out
+of the Star, were greatly aghast and had wonder thereof; but yet they
+knew well that it was the Star that was prophesied by Balaam, and long
+time was desired of all the people in that country.
+
+Now when the three worshipful Kings who in that time reigned in Ind,
+Chaldee, and Persia were informed, by the astronomers, of this Star,
+they were right glad that they had grace to see the Star in their days.
+Wherefore these three worshipful Kings, though each of them was far from
+the other, and none knew of the other's purpose, yet in the same hour
+the Star appeared to all three, and then they ordained and purposed
+them, with great and rich gifts and many rich and diverse ornaments that
+belong to a king's array, and also with mules and camels and horses
+charged with treasure, and with a great multitude of people, to go seek
+and worship the Lord and King of the Jews that was new born, as the
+voice of the Star had commanded. And furthermore they arrayed themselves
+the much more honestly and worshipfully, because they knew well that he
+was a worthier King than any of them was.
+
+And you shall understand that there be three Indias, of which these
+three lords were kings; and all the lands for the most part are islands,
+and there are also there great waters and wildernesses full of wild and
+perilous beasts and horrible serpents, and there grow also reeds so high
+and so great that men make thereof houses and ships. And these isles are
+divided every one by itself far from the others, so that only with great
+travail shall a man pass from one kingdom to another.
+
+Now, in the first Ind was the land of Nubia, and therein reigned King
+Melchior, in the time that Christ was born. Therein also is the land of
+Araby, in which is the hill Sinai: and a man may lightly sail by the Red
+Sea out of Egypt and Syria into Ind. In this land is found gold
+wonderfully red, like thin and small roots, and that gold is the best
+that is in the world. Herein is also a hill called Bena, where is found
+a precious stone, called smaragd.
+
+In the second Ind was the kingdom of Godolia, of which Balthazar was
+king when Christ was born; and this Balthazar offered incense to the
+Babe; for in this land many more good spices grow than in all the
+countries of the East, and especially incense, more than in all places
+of the world; and it droppeth down out of certain trees in the manner of
+gum.
+
+In the third Ind was the kingdom of Thaars. Of that kingdom was Jaspar
+king at the birth of Christ. And Jaspar offered myrrh to the young
+Child, and in this land is the isle of Egrisoulla, where groweth myrrh
+more plentifully than in any place of the world, and it waxeth like ears
+of corn that are burnt with the weather, and right thick; and when it is
+ripe it is so soft that it cleaveth to men's clothes as they go by the
+way.
+
+Now when these three worshipful Kings were passed forth out of their
+kingdoms, the Star evenly went before each King and his people, and when
+they stood still and rested the Star stood still, and when they went
+forward again the Star always went before them in virtue and strength,
+and gave light all the way. And, as it is written before, in the time
+that Christ was born there was peace in all the world, wherefore in all
+the cities and towns which they went through there was no gate shut
+neither by night nor by day; and all men of the cities and towns that
+these worthy Kings went through in the night were wonderfully aghast and
+passingly marvelled thereof, for they saw kings and vast multitudes go
+by in great haste; but they knew not what they were, nor whence they
+came, nor whither they should go. On the morrow the way was greatly
+befouled with horses' hoofs, whereof they were in much doubt what it
+might mean, and great altercation was among them for a long time.
+
+Furthermore, these Kings rode forth over hills, waters, valleys, plains,
+and other divers and perilous places without hindrance or disease, for
+all the way seemed to them plain and even, and they never took shelter
+by night nor by day; nor ever rested; nor did their horses or other
+beasts ever eat or drink till they had come to Bethlehem; and all this
+time seemed to them but a day.
+
+And thus, through the mercy of God and the leading of the Star, they
+came unto Jerusalem and Bethlehem the thirteenth day after Christ was
+born, at the uprising of the sun, whereof is no doubt: for they found
+Mary and her son in the same place where the Child was born, and laid in
+the manger.
+
+But when the three blessed Kings, with their host and company were
+almost come to Jerusalem, saving but two miles, then a great and dark
+cloud held all the earth, and in that dark cloud they lost the Star. And
+Melchior with his people was come fast by Jerusalem beside the hill of
+Calvary, where Christ was afterward crucified; and there the King abode
+in a cloud of fog and in darkness.
+
+At that time the hill of Calvary was a rock of twelve degrees high,
+where thieves and other men for divers trespasses were put to death; and
+there was beside this hill a place where three highways met together.
+But because of the darkness of the cloud, and also because they knew not
+the way, they abode there, and went no further at that time.
+
+And next came Balthazar, and he abode under the same cloud, beside the
+Mount of Olives in a little town that is called Galilee.
+
+Then, when the two Kings were come to these places, the cloud began to
+ascend and wax clear, yet the Star appeared not. But when they saw that
+they were near to the city of Jerusalem, knowing not each other, they
+took their way thither with all their folk; and when they came where the
+three ways met, then also appeared King Jaspar with all his host. And so
+these three glorious Kings, each with his host and burdens and beasts,
+met together in the highway beside the Hill of Calvary. And,
+notwithstanding that none of them ever before had seen the other, nor
+knew him, nor had heard of his coming, yet, at their meeting, each one
+with reverence and joy kissed the other. And they were of diverse
+language, yet all, seeming, used the same tongue.
+
+So, afterward, when they had spoken together and each had told his
+purpose and the cause of his journey, and the cause of all was learned
+to be the same, then they were much more glad and more fervent. And so
+they rode forth, and suddenly, at the uprising of the sun, they came
+into the city of Jerusalem. And when they knew that this was the city
+which the Chaldeans of old time had besieged and destroyed, they were
+right glad, expecting to have found the King born in that city. But
+Herod and all his people were greatly disturbed at their sudden coming,
+for their company and beasts of burden were of so great a number that
+the city might not receive them, but for the most part they lay without
+the gates all about, whereof Isaias prophesied: "The strength of folk
+cometh to thee--that is to say, to the City of Jerusalem--great plenty
+of camels shall do thee service, and dromedaries of Madyan and Effa
+shall come to thee. All men shall come from Saba, bringing gold and
+incense and showing praise to God."
+
+So, these three worshipful Kings, when they were come into the city,
+asked of the people concerning the Child that was born; and, when Herod
+heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, and he gathered
+together all his princes and priests and asked them where Christ should
+be born, and they said: "In Bethlehem of Judea." Then Herod privily
+summoned to him these three Kings, and learned of them the time that the
+Star appeared, and so sent them forth unto Bethlehem, saying: "Go and
+inquire busily of this Child, and when you have found Him, come and tell
+me, that I may go and do Him worship."
+
+Now when these three Kings were informed of the birth of Christ and of
+the place where He was born, and so were passed out of Jerusalem, then
+the Star appeared to them again as it did erst, and went before them
+till they came to Bethlehem. And fast by that place were the shepherds
+to whom the angel appeared with great light, showing them the birth of
+Christ. And the three Kings spake with them, and when the shepherds saw
+the Star they run together and told how the angel had appeared to them,
+and furthermore all that the angel had spoken to them. And the Kings
+were wondrous glad, and with good cheer heard and took consideration of
+the shepherds' words; and so from witness, and from the words of the
+shepherds and from the voice of the angel that was heard out of the
+Star, they had no doubt of the thing. Then anon, when they knew that
+they were come to Bethlehem, they got down from their horses and changed
+all their array, and clothed themselves in the best and richest that
+they had, as kings should be clothed--and always the Star went forth
+before them.
+
+Now the nearer the Kings came to the place where Christ was born the
+brighter shined the Star, and they entered Bethlehem the sixth hour of
+the day. And then they rode through the covered street till they came
+before that little house. And there the Star stood still, and then
+descended and shone with so great a light that the little house and the
+cave within were full of radiance, till anon the Star again went upward
+into the air, and stood still always above the same place, yet the light
+ever remained in the house where Christ and Mary were. So as it is said
+in the Gospel: "They went into the house and found the Child, and fell
+down and worshipped Him, and offered to Him gifts of gold, myrrh, and
+incense."
+
+Of this example came afterward a usage, that in all the countries of the
+East no man should go into the presence of the Sultan, but he brought
+gold or silver or somewhat else in his hands; and, also, ere he spoke
+to the Sultan he should kiss the ground, and this is a custom which is
+used in all the countries of the East to this day. But the Franciscan
+friars, when they approached the Sultan, offered to him only pears or
+apples, for they might not touch gold nor silver; and these offerings
+were received by the Sultan with all reverence and meekness.
+
+Now on the day that the three Kings sought Christ and worshipped Him, He
+was a little child of thirteen days old, and He was somewhat fat, and
+lay wrapped in poor clothes in the hay of the manger up to His arms. And
+Mary, His Mother, as it is written in divers books, was, in person,
+fleshy and somewhat brown. In the presence of the three Kings she was
+covered with a poor white mantle, which she held close before her with
+her left hand. Her head was concealed altogether, save her face, with a
+linen cloth; and she sat upon the manger and with her right hand held up
+the young Child's head. And the Kings worshipped Him and kissed His hand
+devoutly and laid their gifts beside His head.
+
+But what was done with these gifts, ye shall learn hereafter.
+
+Now Melchior, that offered gold to the Holy Child, was the least in
+stature and person of the three Kings. Balthazar, that offered incense,
+was of a medium stature; and Jaspar, that offered myrrh, was most in
+person; whereof is no doubt, for the prophet saith: "Before Him shall
+fall down Ethiops, and His enemies shall lick the earth. They shall come
+to Thee that betrayed Thee, and they shall worship the steps of Thy
+feet." And having regard to the stature of men of that time these Kings
+were right little of person, insomuch that all manner of people
+marvelled at them. And this showed well that they were come from far out
+of the East, for the nearer toward the uprising of the sun that men be
+born, the less they be of stature and be feebler and more tender.
+
+And you shall understand that these three Kings brought out of their
+lands many gifts and rich ornaments which King Alexander left in Ind, in
+Chaldee, and in Persia; and all the ornaments which Queen Saba found in
+Solomon's temple, and divers vessels that were of the king's house and
+the Temple of God in Jerusalem, which, in the time of its destruction,
+were borne into their countries by the Persians and Chaldeans, and many
+other jewels, both gold and silver, and precious stones, brought they
+with them to offer to Christ. But when they found our Lord laid on high
+in the manger and in poor cloths, and the Star that gave so great light
+in all the place, that it seemed as though they stood in a furnace of
+fire, then these Kings were so sore afraid that, of all the rich jewels
+and ornaments they brought with them, they chose nothing, when their
+treasury was opened, but what came first to their hands, for Melchior
+took a round apple of gold, as much as a man might hold in his hand, and
+thirty gilt pennies, and these he offered to our Lord. Balthazar took
+out of his treasury incense; and Jaspar took out myrrh, as it came
+first, and that he offered, with weeping and tears.
+
+And the Kings were so aghast and so devout and fervent in their
+oblations, that to all the words that Mary said they gave but little
+consideration, save only that to every King as he offered his gifts she
+bowed down her head meekly, and said, "_Deo gracias_:" that is to say,
+"I thank God."
+
+When these three Kings had thus performed their way and will, and done
+all things that they came for, then, as mankind asketh and would, they
+and all their men and beasts began to eat, and drink, and sleep, and
+betook them to rest and sport all that day in Bethlehem. For, as is said
+before, they had neither eaten nor drunk during thirteen days. And then
+they meekly told to all men in that city how wonderfully the Star had
+brought them thither from the furthest part of the world.
+
+Now, as the Evangelist saith: A command came to these Kings in their
+sleep that they should not return again to Herod, and so, by another
+way, they went home to their kingdoms. But the Star that went before
+them, appeared no more. And so these three Kings, that suddenly met
+together at the Mount of Calvary, rode home together with great joy and
+honor, and rested by the way as men should do.
+
+And they rode through the provinces that Holofernes of old time had
+traversed with all his hosts, and the people supposed that Holofernes
+had come again, for as they journeyed into any town they were meekly and
+worshipfully received, and evermore they told what they had seen, done,
+and heard, so that their name and praise were never after forgot. But
+the way that before had taken only thirteen days, through leading of the
+Star, they found now to take two years, which was ordained, that all men
+should know what difference is between God's working and man's.
+
+Now, when Herod and the scribes heard that the Kings were gone home
+again, and came not to him as he had bade them, then, of much envy and
+malice, he pursued them a great way; and always he found the people
+bless them, and praise them, and tell of their nobility. Wherefore
+Herod burnt and destroyed all the land that was under his power where
+the Kings had ridden, and especially Tharsis and Cilicia, for he charged
+them that they had suffered the three Kings privily to pass across the
+sea in their ships. And Herod's envy was great when he heard how
+marvellously the Kings had come out of their lands in thirteen days
+through leading of the Star, and how, afterward, they went home again,
+without the Star, through guides and interpreters,--yet no man could
+tell, for wonder, how night and day they passed by; and for this reason
+the paynims, who had no knowledge of Holy Writ, nor of the birth of
+Christ, called these three Kings _Magos_; that is to say, Wise Men of
+the East.
+
+Now, when the Kings were come with great travail to the Hill of Vaws,
+they made there, as is aforesaid, a fair chapel in worship of the Child
+they had sought. Also they made a covenant to meet together at the same
+place once in the year; and there they ordained their burial. Then all
+the princes and lords and worshipful knights of their kingdoms, hearing
+of the return of these three Kings, anon rode forth to them with great,
+solemnity and met them at the place aforesaid, and with meekness and
+humility received them. And when they heard how wonderfully God had
+wrought for their Kings, they held them in more reverence, love, and
+dread forever after.
+
+So, when the Kings had done what they would, they took leave of each
+other, and each one, with his people, rode home to his own land with
+great joy.
+
+And when they were come into their own realms, they preached to all the
+people what they had seen and done on their journey; and they made in
+their temples a star after the likeness of that which appeared to them,
+wherefore many paynims left their errors and worshipped the Holy Child.
+
+And thus these three worshipful Kings dwelt in their kingdoms in honest
+and devout conversation until the coming of St. Thomas, the apostle.
+
+Now, after the three Kings had gone forth from Bethlehem, there began to
+wax, all about, a great fame for Mary and her Child, and for the Kings
+of the East. Wherefore, Mary, in dread of persecution, fled out of the
+little house where Christ was born, and went to another dark cave and
+there abode; and divers men and women loved her and ministered to her
+all manner of necessaries. But when she went out of the little house,
+Mary forgot and left behind her her smock and the clothes in which
+Christ was wrapped, folded together and laid in the manger; and there
+they were, whole and fresh, in the same place to the time when St.
+Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, came thither, long after.
+
+Anon so great was grown Mary's fame that she durst not abide longer
+there for dread of Herod and the Jews, and an angel appeared to Joseph,
+saying: "Arise, and take the Child and His mother and flee into Egypt,
+and tarry there till I summon thee, for it is to come that Herod shall
+seek the Child to slay Him." Then Joseph arose and took the Child and
+His mother and went into Egypt in the night, and there he remained until
+Herod died. And Mary and her Son dwelt in Egypt seven years.
+
+And it is told that by the road which Mary journeyed thither and came
+back again, grew roses, which are called the Roses of Jericho, and they
+grow in no other place. The shepherds of that country, in following
+their sheep, gather these roses in their season, and sell them to
+pilgrims, and thus they be borne into divers lands. And the place where
+Mary dwelt is now a garden where groweth balm, and to every bush a
+Christian man, among the Sultan's prisoners, is assigned to protect it
+and keep it clean; for when a paynim keepeth them, anon the bushes wax
+dry and grow no more. And this balm hath many virtues the which were
+long to tell; but all men in the East believe truly that the place bears
+such a virtue of growing balm because Mary dwelt there seven years, and
+washed and bathed her Son in its wells of water.
+
+And as to the gifts which the three Kings gave to Christ: the thirty
+gilt pennies of Melchior were made of old by Thara, father of Abraham,
+and Abraham bare them with him when he went on pilgrimage out of the
+land of Chaldee into Ebron, which was then called Arabia, and there he
+bought with them a burial-place for himself, his wife, and his children,
+Isaac and Jacob. In exchange for the same thirty pieces Joseph was sold
+by his brethren to merchants of Egypt. Afterward, when Jacob died, they
+were sent to the land of Sheba to buy divers spices and ornaments for
+his sepulture, and so they were put into the king's treasury of that
+land. Then by process of time, in Solomon's reign, the Queen of Sheba
+offered these thirty gilt pennies, with many rich jewels, in the Temple
+at Jerusalem; but in the time of Roboam, King Solomon's son, when
+Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple despoiled, they were carried to
+the King of Arabia, and were put into his treasury with other spoils
+from the Temple.
+
+And Melchior offered these same thirty pieces to Christ, because they
+were of the finest gold, and the best that he had. But when Mary went
+into Egypt she lost all the gifts of the three Kings by the way, bound
+all in one cloth together. And it happened there was a shepherd who had
+so great an infirmity that no leech might heal him, and all that he had
+he paid to the leeches to be whole,--yet it might not be. But, on a
+time, as he went into the fields with his sheep, he found these thirty
+gilt pennies, with incense and myrrh, bound all in a cloth together, and
+he kept them privily to himself, until, hearing tell of a holy prophet
+that healed all men of their infirmities by a word, he came to Christ
+and prayed Him for grace and help; and, being healed, he offered the
+gold, and incense, and myrrh to Him with good devotion. And when Christ
+saw the thirty gilt pennies and precious herbs He knew them well, and
+bade the shepherd go into the Temple and offer them upon the altar.
+
+Now, when the priest saw such oblations laid upon the altar he marvelled
+much, and took all three things and put them in the common treasury. And
+afterward, when Judas Iscariot came into the Temple to make covenant
+with the Princes of the Law to betray his master, they gave him for his
+pay the same thirty pieces of gold, and for them Judas sold his Master.
+And after Christ was crucified, then Judas repented, and went to the
+Temple and cast down to the Princes of the Law the thirty pieces. And
+with fifteen of these gilt pennies the Jews bought a field of burial for
+pilgrims; and the other fifteen they gave to the knights who kept the
+sepulchre of Christ.
+
+And the reason these thirty gilt pennies were called silver in the
+Gospel, notwithstanding they were fine gold, is, that it is the common
+usage in that country so to call them, as men in this country call gold
+from beyond the sea scutys, motouns or florins; moreover in the East the
+same print is made in gold and silver and copper, and the print on the
+thirty pieces is this: on one side is a king's head crowned, and on the
+other are written letters in Chaldaic, which men now cannot read. And
+many marvels are told of these pieces of gold which were long to tell.
+
+Now when Our Lord was ascended into heaven, then he sent St. Thomas, his
+apostle, into Ind, to preach there God's word. And as St. Thomas went
+about in the temples he found a star in every one, painted after the
+manner of the Star that appeared to the three Kings when Christ was
+born, in which Star was a sign of the Cross and a Child above. And when
+St. Thomas saw this he asked of the bishops what it was, and they told
+him that such a Star of old time appeared on the Hill of Vaws in token
+of a Child that was born who should be king of the Jews, as was heard
+spoken out of the same Star.
+
+And when St. Thomas had preached and taught the people the understanding
+of this Star and of the Cross and the Child, then he went to the
+kingdoms of the three Kings, and he found them whole of body and of a
+great age. And St. Thomas christened these three Kings and all their
+people, and the Kings began anon to preach with the Apostle, and when
+they had converted the people to the law of Christ he ordained them to
+be Archbishops. And after this St. Thomas was slain, and in all that
+country where he was martyred both men and women have visages shaped
+like hounds, yet they be not hairy--and they are so unto this day.
+
+Now under the Hill of Vaws St. Thomas and these three Kings had made a
+rich city and called it Sewill, and this city is the best and richest
+city in all the country of Ind to this day; and therein is the
+habitation of Prester John that is called lord of Ind, and there
+dwelleth also the Patriarch of Ind who is called Thomas, in worship of
+St. Thomas and for an everlasting memorial. And when all things were
+disposed by these three Kings they went to the city of Sewill, and there
+they lived twelve years.
+
+And a little before the feast of Christ's nativity, when these years
+were drawn to an end, there appeared a wonderful star above this city
+and the Kings knew that their time was nigh when they should pass out of
+this world. Then of one assent they ordained a fair and large tomb for
+their burial in the church they had made in the city; and in the feast
+of Christmas they did, solemnly, God's service.
+
+And in the feast of the Circumcision, Melchior, King of Araby, laid him
+down before all his people and without any disease yielded up his
+spirit, in the year of his age one hundred and sixteen. Then in the
+feast of Epiphany, five days thereafter, Balthazar, King of Godolie and
+Saba, died in the year of his age one hundred and twelve. And then
+Jaspar the third king, the sixth day after was taken into everlasting
+joy, and they were all buried in the same tomb that they had ordained;
+and the Star that appeared over the city before their death, abode
+always till their bodies were translated unto Cologne, as they of Ind
+tell.
+
+Now after much time had passed, Queen Helen, the mother of the glorious
+Emperor Constantine, began to think greatly of the bodies of these
+three Kings, and she arrayed her with certain people and went into the
+land of Ind. And she had much praise among the people because of the
+finding of Mary's smock and the cloths that Christ was wound in in his
+childhood; and seeing that she was worshipped of all people, the
+Patriarch Thomas and Prester John, took counsel of other lords and
+princes and gave her the bodies of King Melchior and King Balthazar. But
+the Nestorines had borne the body of the third king, King Jaspar, into
+the isle of Egrisoulla. And these Nestorines were the worst heretics of
+the world. For the most part they were black Ethiops, who painted Christ
+and His Mother Mary and the three Kings in their churches all in black,
+and the Devil all white, in despite of all other Christian men. But
+because Queen Helen wished not that the three Kings should be parted,
+she made many prayers and gave great gifts to the chief lords of the
+isle of Egrisoulla, and thus anon did she get the body of King Jaspar.
+
+And you shall understand that after she had found the bodies of all
+these three Kings, Queen Helen put them into one chest and arrayed it
+with great riches, and she brought them unto Constantinople with joy and
+reverence, and laid them in a church that is called St. Sophia; and this
+church King Constantine did make--and he alone, with a little child,
+set up all the pillars of marble.
+
+Now after the death of this worshipful King Constantine and Queen Helen
+aforesaid, there began a new persecution of heresy against the Christian
+faith, and of death against them that would maintain the law of Christ.
+The Greeks forsook the Church and chose a Patriarch for themselves, whom
+they yet obey until this day.
+
+Now in this persecution the bodies and the relics of the three holy
+Kings were put at no reverence, but utterly set at naught. For the
+Saracens and Turks at this time won with strong battle the lands of
+Greece and Armenia, and destroyed a great part of these lands.
+
+Then came an Emperor of Rome who was called Mauricius, and through the
+help of them of Milan he recovered all these lands again, and, as is
+said among men in that country, through counsel of this Emperor the
+bodies of the three Kings were carried unto Milan, and they were there
+laid with all solemnity and worship in a fair church which is called
+after St. Eustorgio, because he had asked the bodies from the Emperor,
+and being granted them had sent them unto Milan.
+
+Then afterward by process of time, it happed that the city of Milan
+began to rebel against the Emperor, who was called Frederick I., and
+this Emperor sent to the Archbishop of Cologne, who was called Rainald,
+for help. Then this Archbishop, through help of divers lords of the land
+of Milan, took the city of Milan and destroyed a great part thereof. And
+the chief men of the city took the bodies of the three Kings and hid
+them privily in the earth.
+
+Now among all others there was in Milan a lord named Asso, and the
+Emperor hated him more than all the rest of its people. So it happed
+that in the destruction of the city the Archbishop won Asso's palace
+through strong hand, and lived therein a great while, for Asso was taken
+and put into prison.
+
+Then, anon, Asso sent privily by his keepers to the Archbishop of
+Cologne and prayed him that he would come and speak with him, and it was
+granted that Asso should go to the Archbishop. And when he was come to
+him, he prayed him that, if he would get him grace of the Emperor and
+his love and the restoration of his lordship, he would give him the
+bodies of the three Kings.
+
+When the Archbishop heard this, he went to the Emperor and prayed for
+Lord Asso, and got him grace and love. And when this was done, Asso
+brought, secretly, the three bodies of the Kings to the Archbishop of
+Cologne.
+
+Then the Archbishop sent the bodies forth, by private means, a great
+way out of the city of Milan, whereupon he went to the Emperor anew and
+prayed him that he would grant him these three bodies, and the Emperor
+did so with good will. Then the Archbishop openly, with great solemnity
+and procession, brought the three holy Kings unto Cologne, and there put
+them in the fair church of St. Peter, worshipfully; and all the people
+of the country, with all the reverence they might, received these holy
+relics; and there they are kept and beholden of all manner of nations
+unto this day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus endeth the translation of these Three Worshipful Kings: Melchior,
+Balthazar, and Jaspar.
+
+
+
+
+_A French Yeoman's Legend._
+
+     "He laughed fit to make the plates rattle, his little brown eyes
+     twinkling all the while."
+
+     _Erckmann-Chatrian._
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE CHRISTMAS MASSES.
+
+
+I.
+
+"Two truffled turkeys, Garrigou?"
+
+"Yes, reverend Father, two magnificent turkeys stuffed with truffles.
+There's no mistake, for I helped to stuff them myself. The flesh almost
+cracked as they roasted, it was so tight--so----"
+
+"Holy Virgin! and I, who love truffles as----Hurry; give me my
+surplice, Garrigou. And what else besides the turkeys; what else did you
+see in the kitchen?"
+
+"Oh! all sorts of good things. Since noon we've done nothing but pluck
+pheasants, pewits, wood-hens, and heath-cocks. Feathers are scattered
+thick. Then from the pond they've brought eels and golden carp and
+trout, and----"
+
+"What size are the trout, Garrigou?"
+
+"Oh, as big as that! reverend Father. Enormous!"
+
+"Heavens, I seem to see them! Have you put the wine in the flasks?"
+
+"Yes, reverend Father, I've put the wine in the flasks. But what's a
+mouthful or two as you go to midnight Mass! You should see the
+dining-hall in the château, full of decanters that sparkle with wine of
+every color. And the silver dishes, above all the ornamented ones; the
+flowers; the candlesticks! I never saw anything to equal it. Monsieur
+the Marquis has invited all the nobility of the neighborhood. You will
+be at least forty at table, without counting either the bailiff or the
+notary. Ah! it will make you very happy to be there, reverend Father.
+Why, only to smell the delicious turkeys--the odor of truffles pursues
+me even yet. Muh!"
+
+"Come, come, Garrigou, you must guard against the sin of greediness, and
+especially on the night of the Nativity. Quickly, now, light the candles
+and sound the first bell for Mass; midnight is very near, and we must
+not be late."
+
+This conversation was held on Christmas night, in the year of grace
+sixteen hundred and sixteen, between the reverend Dom Balaguère,
+formerly prior of Barnabites, now chaplain in the service of the Sires
+de Trinquelague, and his clerk Garrigou; or at least what he supposed
+was his clerk Garrigou, because you will learn that the devil had that
+night taken on the round face and wavering traits of the young
+sacristan, the better to tempt the reverend Father to commit the
+dreadful sin of gluttony. Now, while the supposed Garrigou (hum! hum!)
+rung, with all his might, the bells of the seignorial chapel, the
+reverend Father put on his chasuble in the little sacristy of the
+château; and, his mind already becoming troubled by the gastronomic
+descriptions he had heard, he repeated to himself:
+
+"Roasted turkeys; golden carp; trout as large as that!"
+
+Outside, the night wind blew, scattering the music of the bells, and one
+by one lights began to appear in the shadows about the flanks of Mont
+Ventoux, upon the summit of which rose the ancient towers of
+Trinquelague. These lights were carried by the farmers on their way to
+attend midnight Mass at the château. They climbed the paths in groups of
+five or six, the father leading, lantern in hand, the women enveloped in
+their big brown mantles, where their infants nestled for shelter. In
+spite of the hour and the cold all these honest people marched
+cheerfully on, sustained by the thought that when they came out from the
+Mass they would find, as they did each year, tables spread for them
+below in the kitchens. Now and again on the rough ascent, the coach of
+some seigneur, preceded by torch-bearing porters, reflected in its
+glasses the cold moonlight; or, maybe, a mule trotted along shaking his
+bells, and in the light of the lanterns covered with frost, the farmers
+recognized their bailiff and saluted him as he passed:
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, Master Arnoton."
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."
+
+The night was clear, the stars were polished with cold, the wind stung,
+and a fine sleet, which glistened on the clothes without wetting them,
+kept faithfully the tradition of Christmases white with snow. Raised
+there aloft, the château appeared like the goal of all things, with its
+enormous mass of towers and gables, the belfry of its chapel mounting
+into the blue-black sky, and a crowd of small lights that winked, went
+and came, twinkled at all the windows, and seemed, on the sombre
+background of the building, like sparks running through the cinders of
+burnt paper. Once past the drawbridge and the postern, it was necessary,
+in order to gain the chapel, to traverse the first courtyard, full of
+coaches, of valets, of sedan-chairs, and bright with the flare of
+torches and the fires of the kitchens. There was the click of the
+turnspits, the crash of stewpans, the noises of glass and silver
+preparing for the dinner. From below, a warm vapor, which smelt of
+roasting meat and the strong herbs of curious sauces, whispered to the
+farmers, to the chaplain, to the bailiff--to all the world:
+
+"What a revel we are going to have after Mass!"
+
+
+II.
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din! Midnight Mass is about to begin. In the
+chapel of the château, a miniature cathedral with arches intercrossed
+and a wainscot of oak mounting as high as the walls, all the hangings
+have been arranged, all the candles lit.
+
+And what a host of people! And what toilettes! First, seated in the
+sculptured stall which surrounds the choir, behold the Sire de
+Trinquelague in a suit of salmon-colored taffeta; and next to him all
+the invited nobles. Facing these, on a prie-dieu trimmed with velvet, is
+the old dowager Marquise in her robe of fire-colored brocade, and the
+young Dame de Trinquelague, surmounted by a huge head-dress of lace,
+made in the latest fashion of the French court. Further down, dressed in
+black, with vast pointed perukes and shaven faces, are the bailiff,
+Thomas Arnoton, and the notary, Master Ambroy, two grave objects among
+the flowing silks and figured damasks. Then come the fat majordomos,
+the pages, the grooms, the attendants; dame Barbe, all her keys
+suspended at her side on a ring of thin silver. At the bottom of the
+hall, on the benches, are the Servants, the yeomen with their families;
+and lastly, beyond, all about the doors as they open and shut
+discretely, are the scullions, who steal in, between two sauces, to get
+a little of the Mass, carrying an odor of the revelry into the church,
+all in its gay attire and warm with so many burning candles.
+
+Is it a glimpse of their little white caps that distracts the celebrant
+of the Mass? Or, it may be the clangor made by Garrigou's bells, that
+pulsating sound which shakes the altar with an infernal vibration and
+seems to say all the time:
+
+"Hurry up, hurry up. We'll soon be done; we'll soon be at table!"
+
+The fact is, that each time it sounds--that peal of the devil--the
+chaplain forgets his Mass and thinks of nothing but the coming revel. He
+pictures to himself the uproar of the kitchens; the furnace heated like
+a blacksmith's forge; the vapor of opening trenchers, and in that vapor
+two magnificent turkeys, buttered, tender, bursting with truffles.
+
+Or, perhaps he saw pass the files of little pages bearing dishes
+enveloped in tempting steam, and, with them, entered the grand saloon
+already prepared for the feast. O deliciousness! behold the immense
+table all set and sparkling; the peacocks in their plumes; the pheasants
+with their open wings of reddish-brown; the ruby-colored flagons; the
+pyramids of fruit peeping from green branches; and those marvellous fish
+of which Garrigou told (ah! well, yes, Garrigou!) held aloft on a bed of
+fennel, the mother-of-pearl scales as bright as when they came from the
+water, with a bouquet of odorous herbs in their monster-like nostrils.
+So distinct is the vision of these marvels, that it seems to Dom
+Balaguère as if all the wonderful dishes are served before him on the
+embroideries of the altar-cloth; and two or three times, in place of
+_Dominus vobiscum_, he is surprised to find himself repeating the
+_Benedicite_. Saving these slight mistakes, the holy man does his office
+very conscientiously, without skipping a line, without omitting a
+genuflexion; and all goes well enough as far as the end of the first
+Mass; because, you know, on Christmas night the same celebrant must
+repeat three consecutive Masses.
+
+"One!" said the chaplain, with a sigh of relief; then, without losing a
+minute, he made a sign to his clerk--or the person he believed to be his
+clerk, and----
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din!
+
+The second Mass begins, and with it begins also the sin of Dom
+Balaguère.
+
+"Hurry, hurry, let's get done," cries the thin voice of Garrigou's bell,
+and this time the unlucky priest, abandoning himself to the demon of
+gluttony, rushes through the missal, devouring its pages with all the
+avidity of an overcharged appetite. Frantically he bows; arises; makes
+the signs of the cross, goes through the genuflexions, abbreviates all
+his gestures, the sooner to be finished. Scarcely does he extend his
+arms to the Gospel, or strike his breast where it is required. Between
+the clerk and him it is a race which shall jabber the faster. Verse and
+response hurry each other, tumble over each other. The words, hardly
+pronounced, because it takes too much time to open the mouth, become
+incomprehensible murmurs.
+
+  _Oremus ps--ps--ps--
+  Meâ culpâ--pâ--pâ--._
+
+Like hard-working vintagers pressing grapes in a vat, both wade through
+the Latin of the Mass, splashing it on all sides.
+
+"_Dom--scum!_" says Balaguère.
+
+"_Stutuo!_" responds Garrigou, and all the while the damnable chime
+sounds in their ears, like those little bells put on the post-horses to
+make them gallop more swiftly. Believe me, under such conditions a low
+Mass is vastly expedited!
+
+"Two!" said the chaplain, all out of breath; then without taking time to
+breathe, red, perspiring, he tumbled down the stairs of the altar.
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din! The third Mass begins.
+
+Only a step or so and then the dining-hall! but, alas, the nearer the
+revel approaches, the more the unfortunate Balaguère is seized with the
+very folly of impatience and greediness. His vision accentuates it; the
+golden carp, the roast turkeys are there. He may touch them--he may--Oh,
+Holy Virgin! the dishes steam; the wines send forth sweet odors; and
+shaking out its reckless song, the bell cries to him:
+
+"Hurry up, hurry up; still faster, still faster!"
+
+But how can he go any faster? He scarcely moves his lips, he pronounces
+fully not a single word. He tries to cheat the good God altogether of
+His Mass, and that is what brings his ruin. By temptation upon
+temptation, he begins to jump one verse, then two. Then the epistle is
+too long--he does not finish it; skims the Gospel, passes by the creed
+without even entering, skips the pater, salutes from afar the preface,
+and by bounds and jumps precipitates himself into eternal damnation,
+always following the infamous Garrigou (_vade retro, Satanas_), who
+seconds him with marvellous skill; tucks up his chasuble, turns the
+leaves two by two, disarranges the music-desk, reverses the flagons, and
+unceasingly rings the bell more and more vigorously, more and more
+quickly.
+
+You should have seen what a figure all the assistants cut. Obliged to
+follow, like mimics, a Mass of which they did not understand a word,
+some rose when others kneeled, or seated themselves when others stood,
+and all the actors in this singular office mixed themselves on the
+benches in numberless contrary attitudes.
+
+The star of Christmas, on its journey through the heavens yonder by the
+little manger, paled with astonishment at the confusion.
+
+"The Abbe's in a dreadful hurry: I can't follow him at all," said the
+aged dowager, shaking her head-dress with bewilderment. Master Arnoton,
+his great steel spectacles on his nose, searched in his prayer-book
+where the deuce the words could be. But, after all, that gallant host,
+which itself was thinking only of the feast, was far from being vexed
+because the Mass rode post; and when Balaguère, with beaming
+countenance, turned toward the assembly crying with all his might, _Ite
+missa est_, with a single voice they returned, _Deo gratias_, so
+joyously, so fervently, that one might have thought them already at
+table responding to the first toast of the night.
+
+
+III.
+
+Five minutes later the crowd of seigneurs was seated in the grand
+dining-hall, the chaplain in the midst of them. The château, illuminated
+from top to bottom, echoed with songs, cries, laughter, uproar, and the
+venerable Dom Balaguère planted his fork in the wing of a wood-hen,
+drowning the remorse of his sin under floods of wine of the Pope and the
+sweet juices of the meats.
+
+So much did he eat and drink, that the poor holy man died in the night
+of a terrible attack of sickness, without having even time to repent.
+Then near the morning he arrived in heaven with all the savor of the
+feast still about him and I leave you to imagine how he was received:
+
+"Retire from my sight, evil Christian!" said the Sovereign Judge, "thy
+fault is dark enough to efface a whole life of virtue. Ah, thou hast
+robbed me of a Mass to-night. Thou shalt pay me back three hundred in
+its place, and thou shalt not enter into Paradise unless thou shalt have
+celebrated in thy proper chapel these three hundred Christmas Masses in
+the presence of all those who have sinned by thy fault and with thee."
+
+This, then, is the true legend of Dom Balaguère as they tell it in the
+land of olives. To-day the château of Trinquelague is no more, but the
+chapel still stands erect on the summit of Mont Ventoux, in a grove of
+green oaks. The wind beats its disjointed portal; the grass creeps
+across its threshold; the birds have built in the angles of the altar
+and in the embrasures of the high windows, whence the colored panes have
+long ago vanished. But it appears that every year at Christmas, a
+supernatural light runs about these ruins, and that, in going to Mass or
+feast, the peasants see the chapel illuminated by invisible candles
+which burn brightly even through the wind and snow.
+
+You may laugh if you will, but a vine-dresser of the neighborhood named
+Garrigue, without doubt a descendant of Garrigou, has assured me that
+one Christmas night, finding himself a little so-so-ish, he became lost
+on the mountain beside Trinquelague, and behold what he saw! At eleven
+o'clock, nothing. All was silent, dark, lifeless. Suddenly, toward
+midnight, a chime sounded up above from a clock, an old, old chime
+which seemed six leagues away. Pretty soon, on the ascending road,
+Garrigue saw lights trembling in the uncertain shadows. Under the porch
+of the chapel somebody walked, somebody whispered:
+
+"Good-evening, Master Arnoton."
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."
+
+When the whole company was entered, my vine-dresser, who was exceedingly
+brave, approached stealthily, and peeping through the broken door saw a
+strange spectacle. All those who had passed him were ranged about the
+choir, in the ruined nave, as if the ancient benches still existed.
+Beautiful dames in brocade with coifs of lace; seigneurs bedizzened from
+top to toe; peasants in flowered jackets like those of our
+grandfathers,--everything with an ancient air, faded, dusty, worn-out.
+Now and then the night-birds, habitual dwellers in the chapel, awakened
+by all these lights, winged about the candles, whose flames mounted
+straight and vague as if they burnt behind gauze. And what amused
+Garrigue most was a certain personage with great steel spectacles, who
+shook at each instant his high black peruke, on which one of the birds
+had alighted and entangled itself, silently beating its wings.
+
+At the farthest end, a little old man of boyish size, on his knees in
+the midst of the choir, pulled desperately at the chimeless and silent
+bell; while a priest attired in ancient gold, went and came before the
+altar reciting orisons of which one heard not a single word. Surely,
+that was Dom Balaguère in the act of saying his third low Mass.
+
+
+
+
+_A Love-Passage from a Wandering Cossack._
+
+
+     "Dressed in his everlasting blue frock, he sat near the fire
+     playing cards."
+
+_Turgenieff._
+
+
+
+
+A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY.
+
+
+Count Rostow's affairs were going from bad to worse. He was of a warm,
+generous nature, with unlimited faith in his servants, and hence was
+blind to the mismanagement and dishonesty which had sapped his fortune.
+The possessor of a handsome establishment at the Russian capital,
+Moscow, the owner of rich provincial estates, and the inheritor of a
+noble name and wealth, he was nevertheless on the verge of ruin. He had
+given up his appointment as _Maréchal de la Noblesse_, which he had gone
+to his seat of Otradnoë to assume, because it entailed too many
+expenses; and yet there was no improvement in the state of his finances.
+
+Nicolas and Natacha, his son and daughter, often found their father and
+mother in anxious consultation, talking in low tones of the sale of
+their Moscow house or of their property in the neighborhood. Having thus
+retired into private life, the count now gave neither fêtes nor
+entertainments. Life at Otradnoë was much less gay than in past years;
+still, the house and domain were as full of servants as ever, and
+twenty persons or more sat down to dinner daily. These were dependants,
+friends, and intimates, who were regarded almost as part of the family,
+or at any rate seemed unable to tear themselves away from it: among them
+a musician named Dimmler and his wife, Ioghel the dancing-master and his
+family, and old Mlle. Bélow, former governess of Natacha and Sonia, the
+count's niece and adopted child, and now the tutor of Pétia, his younger
+son; besides others who found it simpler to live at the count's expense
+than at their own. Thus, though there were no more festivities, life was
+carried on almost as expensively as of old, and neither the master nor
+the mistress ever imagined any change possible. Nicolas, again, had
+added to the hunting establishment; there were still fifty horses in the
+stables, still fifteen drivers; handsome presents were given on all
+birthdays and fête days, which invariably wound up as of old with a
+grand dinner to all the neighborhood; the count still played whist or
+boston, invariably letting his cards be seen by his friends, who were
+always ready to make up his table, and relieve him without hesitation of
+the few hundred roubles which constituted their principal income. The
+old man marched on blindfold through the tangle of his pecuniary
+difficulties, trying to conceal them, and only succeeding in augmenting
+them; having neither the courage nor the patience to untie the knots one
+by one.
+
+The loving heart by his side foresaw their children's ruin, but she
+could not accuse her husband, who was, alas! too old for amendment; she
+could only seek some remedy for the disaster. From her woman's point of
+view there was but one: Nicolas's marriage, namely, with some rich
+heiress. She clung desperately to this last chance of salvation; but if
+her son should refuse the wife she should propose to him, every hope of
+reinstating their fortune would vanish. The young lady whom she had in
+view was the daughter of people of the highest respectability, whom the
+Rostows had known from her infancy: Julie Karaguine, who, by the death
+of her second brother, had suddenly come into great wealth.
+
+The countess herself wrote to Mme. Karaguine to ask her whether she
+could regard the match with favor, and received a most flattering
+answer. Indeed, Mme. Karaguine invited Nicolas to her house at Moscow,
+to give her daughter an opportunity of deciding for herself.
+
+Nicolas had often heard his mother say, with tears in her eyes, that her
+dearest wish was to see him married. The fulfilment of this wish would
+sweeten her remaining days, she would say, adding covert hints as to a
+charming girl who would exactly suit him. One day she took the
+opportunity of speaking plainly to him of Julie's charms and merits, and
+urged him to spend a short time in Moscow before Christmas. Nicolas, who
+had no difficulty in guessing what she was aiming at, persuaded her to
+be explicit on the matter, and she owned frankly that her hope was to
+see their sinking fortunes restored by his marriage with her dear Julie!
+
+"Then, mother, if I loved a penniless girl, you would desire me to
+sacrifice my feelings and my honor--to marry solely for money?"
+
+"Nay, nay; you have misunderstood me," she said, not knowing how to
+excuse her mercenary hopes. "I wish only for your happiness!" And then,
+conscious that this was not her sole aim, and that she was not perfectly
+honest, she burst into tears.
+
+"Do not cry, mamma; you have only to say that you really and truly
+desire it, and you know I would give my life to see you happy; that I
+would sacrifice everything, even my feelings."
+
+But this was not his mother's notion. She asked no sacrifice, she would
+have none; she would sooner have sacrificed herself, if it had been
+possible.
+
+"Say no more about it; you do not understand," she said, drying away her
+tears.
+
+"How could she think of such a marriage?" thought Nicolas. "Does she
+think that because Sonia is poor I do not love her? And yet I should be
+a thousand times happier with her than with a doll like Julie."
+
+He stayed in the country, and his mother did not revert to the subject.
+Still, as she saw the growing intimacy between Nicolas and Sonia, she
+could not help worrying Sonia about every little thing, and speaking to
+her with colder formality. Sometimes she reproached herself for these
+continual pin-pricks of annoyance, and was quite vexed with the poor
+girl for submitting to them with such wonderful humility and sweetness,
+for taking every opportunity of showing her devoted gratitude, and for
+loving Nicolas with a faithful and disinterested affection which
+commanded her admiration.
+
+Just about this time a letter came from Prince André, dated from Rome,
+whither he had gone to pass the year of probation demanded by his father
+as a condition to giving consent to his son's marriage with the Countess
+Natacha. It was the fourth the Prince had written since his departure.
+He ought long since to have been on his way home, he said, but the heat
+of the summer had caused the wound he had received at Austerlitz to
+reopen, and this compelled him to postpone his return till early in
+January.
+
+Natacha, though she was so much in love that her very passion for Prince
+André had made her day-dreams happy, had hitherto been open to all the
+bright influences of her young life; but now, after nearly four months
+of parting, she fell into a state of extreme melancholy, and gave way to
+it completely. She bewailed her hard fate, she bewailed the time that
+was slipping away and lost to her, while her heart ached with the dull
+craving to love and be loved. Nicolas, too, had nearly spent his leave
+from his regiment, and the anticipation of his departure added gloom to
+the saddened household.
+
+Christmas came; but, excepting the pompous high Mass and the other
+religious ceremonies, the endless string of neighbors and servants with
+the regular compliments of the season, and the new gowns which made
+their first appearance on the occasion, nothing more than usual happened
+on that day, or more extraordinary than twenty degrees of frost, with
+brilliant sunshine, a still atmosphere, and at night a glorious starry
+sky.
+
+After dinner, on the third day of Christmas-tide, when every one had
+settled into his own corner once more, ennui reigned supreme throughout
+the house. Nicolas, who had been paying a round of visits in the
+neighborhood, was fast asleep in the drawing-room. The old count had
+followed his example in his room. Sonia, seated at a table in the
+sitting-room, was copying a drawing. The countess was playing out a
+"patience," and Nastacia Ivanovna, the old buffoon, with his peevish
+face, sitting in a window with two old women, did not say a word.
+
+Natacha came into the room, and, after leaning over Sonia for a minute
+or two to examine her work, went over to her mother and stood still in
+front of her.
+
+The countess looked up. "Why are you wandering about like a soul in
+torment? What do you want?" she said.
+
+"Want! I want him!" replied Natacha, shortly, and her eyes glowed. "Now,
+here--at once!"
+
+Her mother gazed at her anxiously.
+
+"Do not look at me like that; you will make me cry."
+
+"Sit down here."
+
+"Mamma, I want him, I want him! Why must I die of weariness?" Her voice
+broke and tears started from her eyes. She hastily quitted the
+drawing-room and went to the housekeeper's room, where an old servant
+was scolding one of the girls who had just come in breathless from
+out-of-doors.
+
+"There is a time for all things," growled the old woman. "You have had
+time enough for play."
+
+"Oh, leave her in peace, Kondratievna," said Natacha. "Run away,
+Mavroucha--go."
+
+Pursuing her wandering, Natacha went into the hall; an old man-servant
+was playing cards with two of the boys. Her entrance stopped their game
+and they rose. "And what am I to say to these?" thought she.
+
+"Nikita, would you please go--what on earth can I ask for?--go and find
+me a cock; and you, Micha, a handful of corn."
+
+"A handful of corn?" said Micha, laughing.
+
+"Go, go at once," said the old man.
+
+"And you, Fédor, can you give me a piece of chalk?"
+
+Then she went on to the servants' hall and ordered the samovar to be got
+ready, though it was not yet tea-time; she wanted to try her power over
+Foka, the old butler, the most morose and disobliging of all the
+servants. He could not believe his ears, and asked her if she really
+meant it. "What next will our young lady want?" muttered Foka, affecting
+to be very cross.
+
+No one gave so many orders as Natacha, no one sent them on so many
+errands at once. As soon as a servant came in sight she seemed to invent
+some want or message; she could not help it. It seemed as though she
+wanted to try her power over them; to see whether, some fine day, one or
+another would not rebel against her tyranny; but, on the contrary, they
+always flew to obey her more readily than any one else.
+
+"And now what shall I do, where can I go?" thought she, as she slowly
+went along the corridor, where she presently met the buffoon.
+
+"Nastacia Ivanovna," said she, "if I ever have children, what will they
+be?"
+
+"You! Fleas and grasshoppers, you may depend upon it!"
+
+Natacha went on. "Good God! have mercy, have mercy!" she said to
+herself. "Wherever I go it is always, always the same. I am so weary;
+what shall I do?"
+
+Skipping lightly from step to step, she went to the upper story and
+dropped in on the Ioghels. Two governesses were sitting chatting with M.
+and Mme. Ioghel; dessert, consisting of dried fruit, was on the table,
+and they were eagerly discussing the cost of living at Moscow and
+Odessa. Natacha took a seat for a moment, listened with pensive
+attention, and then jumped up again. "The island of Madagascar!" she
+murmured, "Ma-da-gas-car!" and she separated the syllables. Then she
+left the room without answering Mme. Schoss, who was utterly mystified
+by her strange exclamation.
+
+She next met Pétia and a companion, both very full of some fireworks
+which were to be let off that evening. "Pétia!" she exclaimed, "carry me
+down-stairs!" And she sprang upon his back, throwing her arms round his
+neck; and, laughing and galloping, they thus scrambled along to the head
+of the stairs.
+
+"Thank you, that will do. Madagascar!" she repeated; and, jumping down,
+she ran down the flight.
+
+After thus inspecting her dominions, testing her power, and convincing
+herself that her subjects were docile, and that there was no novelty to
+be got out of them, Natacha settled herself in the darkest corner of the
+music-room with her guitar, striking the bass strings, and trying to
+make an accompaniment to an air from an opera that she and Prince André
+had once heard together at St. Petersburg. The uncertain chords which
+her unpractised fingers sketched out would have struck the least
+experienced ear as wanting in harmony and musical accuracy, while to her
+excited imagination they brought a whole train of memories. Leaning
+against the wall and half hidden by a cabinet, with her eyes fixed on a
+thread of light that came under the door from the rooms beyond, she
+listened in ecstasy and dreamed of the past.
+
+Sonia crossed the room with a glass in her hand. Natacha glanced round
+at her and again fixed her eyes on the streak of light. She had the
+strange feeling of having once before gone through the same
+experience--sat in the same place, surrounded by the same details, and
+watching Sonia pass carrying a tumbler. "Yes, it was exactly the same,"
+she thought.
+
+"Sonia, what is this tune?" she said, playing a few notes.
+
+"What, are you there?" said Sonia, startled. "I do not know," she said,
+coming closer to listen, "unless it is from 'La Tempête';" but she spoke
+doubtfully.
+
+"It was exactly so," thought Natacha. "She started as she came forward,
+smiling so gently; and I thought then, as I think now, that there is
+something in her which is quite lacking in me. No," she said aloud, "you
+are quite out; it is the chorus from the 'Porteur d'Eau'--listen," and
+she hummed the air. "Where are you going?"
+
+"For some fresh water to finish my drawing."
+
+"You are always busy and I never. Where is Nicolas?"
+
+"Asleep, I think."
+
+"Go and wake him, Sonia. Tell him to come and sing."
+
+Sonia went, and Natacha relapsed into dreaming and wondering how it had
+all happened. Not being able to solve the puzzle, she drifted into
+reminiscence once more. She could see him--_him_--and feel his
+impassioned eyes fixed on her face. "Oh, make haste back! I am so afraid
+he will not come yet! Besides, it is all very well, but I am growing
+old; I shall be quite different from what I am now! Who knows? Perhaps
+he will come to-day! Perhaps he is here already! Here in the
+drawing-room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten."
+
+She rose, laid down the guitar, and went into the next room. All the
+household party were seated round the tea-table,--the professors, the
+governesses, the guests; the servants were waiting on one and
+another--but there was no Prince André.
+
+"Ah, here she is," said her father. "Come and sit down here." But
+Natacha stopped by her mother without heeding his bidding.
+
+"Oh, mamma, bring him to me, give him to me soon, very soon," she
+murmured, swallowing down a sob. Then she sat down and listened to the
+others. "Good God! always the same people! always the same thing! Papa
+holds his cup as he always does, and blows his tea to cool it as he did
+yesterday, and as he will to-morrow."
+
+She felt a sort of dull rebellion against them all; she hated them for
+always being the same.
+
+After tea Sonia, Natacha, and Nicolas huddled together in their
+favorite, snug corner of the drawing-room; that was where they talked
+freely to each other.
+
+"Do you ever feel," Natacha asked her brother, "as if there was nothing
+left to look forward to; as if you had had all your share of happiness,
+and were not so much weary as utterly dull?"
+
+"Of course I have. Very often I have seen my friends and fellow-officers
+in the highest spirits and been just as jolly myself, and suddenly have
+been struck so dull and dismal, have so hated life, that I have wondered
+whether we were not all to die at once. I remember one day, for
+instance, when I was with the regiment; the band was playing, and I had
+such a fit of melancholy that I never even thought of going to the
+promenade."
+
+"How well I understand that! I recollect once," Natacha went on, "once
+when I was a little girl, I was punished for having eaten some plums, I
+think. I had not done it, and you were all dancing, and I was left
+alone in the school-room. How I cried! cried because I was so sorry for
+myself, and so vexed with you all for making me so unhappy."
+
+"I remember; and I went to comfort you and did not know how; we were
+funny children then; I had a toy with bells that jingled, and I made you
+a present of it."
+
+"Do you remember," said Natacha, "long before that, when we were no
+bigger than my hand, my uncle called us into his room, where it was
+quite dark, and suddenly we saw----"
+
+"A negro!" interrupted Nicolas, smiling at her recollection. "To be
+sure. I can see him now; and to this day I wonder whether it was a dream
+or a reality, or mere fancy invented afterwards."
+
+"He had white teeth and stared at us with his black eyes."
+
+"Do you remember him, Sonia?"
+
+"Yes, yes--but very dimly."
+
+"But papa and mamma have always declared that no negro ever came to the
+house. And the eggs; do you remember the eggs we used to roll up at
+Easter; and one day how two little grinning old women came up through
+the floor and began to spin round the table?"
+
+"Of course. And how papa used to put on his fur coat and fire off his
+gun from the balcony. And don t you remember----?" And so they went on
+recalling, one after the other, not the bitter memories of old age, but
+the bright pictures of early childhood, which float and fade on a
+distant horizon of poetic vagueness, midway between reality and dreams.
+Sonia remembered being frightened once at the sight of Nicolas in his
+braided jacket, and her nurse promising her that she should some day
+have a frock trimmed from top to bottom.
+
+"And they told me you had been found in the garden under a cabbage,"
+said Natacha. "I dared not say it was not true, but it puzzled me
+tremendously."
+
+A door opened, and a woman put in her head, exclaiming, "Mademoiselle,
+mademoiselle, they have fetched the cock!"
+
+"I do not want it now; send it away again, Polia." said Natacha.
+
+Dimmler, who had meanwhile come into the room, went up to the harp,
+which stood in a corner, and in taking off the cover made the strings
+ring discordantly.
+
+"Edward Karlovitch, play my favorite nocturne--Field's," cried the
+countess, from the adjoining room.
+
+Dimmler struck a chord. "How quiet you young people are," he said,
+addressing them.
+
+"Yes, we are studying philosophy," said Natacha, and they went on
+talking of their dreams.
+
+Dimmler had no sooner begun his nocturne than Natacha, crossing the room
+on tiptoe, seized the wax-light that was burning on the table and
+carried it into the next room; then she stole back to her seat, it was
+now quite dark in the larger room, especially in their corner, but the
+silvery moonbeams came in at the wide windows and lay in broad sheets on
+the floor.
+
+"Do you know," whispered Natacha, while Dimmler, after playing the
+nocturne, let his fingers wander over the strings, uncertain what to
+play next, "when I go on remembering one thing beyond another, I go back
+so far, so far, that at last I remember things that happened before I
+was born, and----"
+
+"That is metempsychosis," interrupted Sonia, with a reminiscence of her
+early lessons. "The Egyptians believed that our souls had once inhabited
+the bodies of animals, and would return to animals again after our
+death."
+
+"I do not believe that," said Natacha, still in a low voice, though the
+music had ceased. "But I am quite sure that we were angels once,
+somewhere there beyond, or, perhaps, even here; and that is the reason
+we remember a previous existence."
+
+"May I join the party?" asked Dimmler, coming towards them.
+
+"If we were once angels, how is it that we have fallen lower?"
+
+"Lower? Who says that it is lower? Who knows what I was?" Natacha
+retorted with full conviction. "Since the soul is immortal, and I am to
+live forever in the future, I must have existed in the past, so I have
+eternity behind me, too."
+
+"Yes; but it is very difficult to conceive of that eternity," said
+Dimmler, whose ironical smile had died away.
+
+"Why?" asked Natacha. "After to-day comes to-morrow, and then the day
+after, and so on forever; yesterday has been, to-morrow will be----"
+
+"Natacha, now it is your turn; sing me something," said her mother.
+"What are you doing in that corner like a party of conspirators?"
+
+"I am not at all in the humor, mamma," said she; nevertheless she rose.
+Nicolas sat down to the piano; and standing, as usual, in the middle of
+the room, where the voice sounded best, she sang her mother's favorite
+ballad.
+
+Though she had said she was not in the humor, it was long since Natacha
+had sung so well as she did that evening, and long before she sang so
+well again. Her father, who was talking over business with Mitenka in
+his room, hurriedly gave him some final instructions as soon as he heard
+the first note, as a schoolboy scrambles through his tasks to get to his
+play; but as the steward did not go, he sat in silence, listening, while
+Mitenka, too, standing in his presence, listened with evident
+satisfaction. Nicolas did not take his eyes off his sister's face, and
+only breathed when she took breath. Sonia was under the spell of that
+exquisite voice and thinking of the gulf of difference that lay between
+her and her friend, full conscious that she could never exercise such
+fascination. The old countess had paused in her "patience,"--a sad, fond
+smile played on her lips, her eyes were full of tears, and she shook her
+head, remembering her own youth, looking forward to her daughter's
+future and reflecting on her strange prospects of marriage.
+
+Dimmler, sitting by her side, listened with rapture, his eyes half
+closed.
+
+"She really has a marvellous gift!" he exclaimed. "She has nothing to
+learn,--such power, such sweetness, such roundness!"
+
+"And how much I fear for her happiness!" replied the countess, who in
+her mother's heart could feel the flame that must some day be fatal to
+her child's peace.
+
+Natacha was still singing when Pétia dashed noisily into the room to
+announce, in triumphant tones, that a party of mummers had come.
+
+"Idiot!" exclaimed Natacha, stopping short, and, dropping into a chair,
+she began to sob so violently that it was some time before she could
+recover herself. "It is nothing, mamma, really nothing at all," she
+declared, trying to smile. "Only Pétia frightened me; nothing more." And
+her tears flowed afresh.
+
+All the servants had dressed up, some as bears, Turks, tavern-keepers,
+or fine ladies; others as mongrel monsters. Bringing with them the chill
+of the night outside, they did not at first venture any farther than the
+hall; by degrees, however, they took courage; pushing each other forward
+for self-protection, they all soon came into the music-room. Once there,
+their shyness thawed; they became expansively merry, and singing,
+dancing, and sports were soon the order of the day. The countess, after
+looking at them and identifying them all, went back into the
+sitting-room, leaving her husband, whose jovial face encouraged them to
+enjoy themselves.
+
+The young people had all vanished; but half an hour later an old
+marquise with patches appeared on the scene--none other than Nicolas;
+Pétia as a Turk; a clown--Dimmler; a hussar--Natacha; and a
+Circassian--Sonia. Both the girls had blackened their eyebrows and
+given themselves mustaches with burned cork.
+
+After being received with well-feigned surprise, and recognized more or
+less quickly, the children, who were very proud of their costumes,
+unanimously declared that they must go and display them elsewhere.
+Nicolas, who was dying to take them all for a long drive _en troïka_,[C]
+proposed that, as the roads were in splendid order, they should go, a
+party of ten, to the Little Uncle's.
+
+[C] A team of three horses harnessed abreast.
+
+"You will disturb the old man, and that will be all," said the countess.
+"Why, he has not even room for you all to get into the house! If you
+must go out, you had better go to the Mélukows'."
+
+Mme. Mélukow was a widow living in the neighborhood; her house, full of
+children of all ages, with tutors and governesses, was distant only four
+versts from Otradnoë.
+
+"A capital idea, my dear," cried the count, enchanted. "I will dress up
+in costume and go, too. I will wake them up, I warrant you!"
+
+But this did not at all meet his wife's views. Perfect madness! For him
+to go out with his gouty feet in such cold weather was sheer folly! The
+count gave way, and Mme. Schoss volunteered to chaperon the girls.
+Sonia's was by far the most successful disguise; her fierce eyebrows and
+mustache were wonderfully becoming, her pretty features gained
+expression, and she wore the dress of a man with unexpected swagger and
+smartness. Something in her inmost soul told her that this evening would
+seal her fate.
+
+[Illustration: Sonia]
+
+In a few minutes four sleighs with three horses abreast to each, their
+harness jingling with bells, drew up in a line before the steps, the
+runners creaking and crunching over the frozen snow. Natacha was the
+foremost, and the first to tune her spirits to the pitch of this
+carnival freak. This mirth, in fact, proved highly infectious, and
+reached its height of tumult and excitement when the party went down the
+steps and packed themselves into the sleighs, laughing and shouting to
+each other at the top of their voices. Two of the sleighs were drawn by
+light cart-horses, to the third the count's carriage horses were
+harnessed, and one of these was reputed a famous trotter from Orlow's
+stable; the fourth sleigh, with its rough-coated, black shaft-horse, was
+Nicolas's private property. In his marquise costume, over which he had
+thrown his hussar's cloak, fastened with a belt round the waist, he
+stood gathering up the reins. The moon was shining brightly, reflected
+in the plating of the harness and in the horses' anxious eyes as they
+turned their heads in uneasy amazement at the noisy group that clustered
+under the dark porch. Natacha, Sonia, and Mme. Schoss, with two women
+servants, got into Nicolas's sleigh; Dimmler and his wife, with Pétia,
+into the count's; the rest of the mummers packed into the other sleighs.
+
+"Lead the way, Zakhare!" cried Nicolas, to his father's coachman,
+promising himself the pleasure of outstripping him presently; the
+count's sleigh swayed and strained, the runners, which the frost had
+already glued to the ground, creaked, the bells rang out, the horses
+closed up for a pull, and off they went over the glittering, hard snow,
+flinging it up right and left like spray of powdered sugar. Nicolas
+started next, and the others followed along the narrow way, with no less
+jingling and creaking. While they drove under the wall of the park the
+shadows of the tall, skeleton trees lay on the road, checkering the
+broad moonlight; but as soon as they had left it behind them, the wide
+and spotless plain spread on all sides, its whiteness broken by myriads
+of flashing sparks and spangles of reflected light. Suddenly a rut
+caused the foremost sleigh to jolt violently, and then the others in
+succession; they fell away a little, their intrusive clatter breaking
+the supreme and solemn silence of the night.
+
+"A hare's tracks!" exclaimed Natacha, and her voice pierced the frozen
+air like an arrow.
+
+"How light it is, Nicolas," said Sonia. Nicolas turned round to look at
+the pretty face with its black mustache, under the sable hood, looking
+at once so far away and so close in the moonshine. "It is not Sonia at
+all," he said, smiling.
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Nothing," said he, returning to his former position.
+
+When they got out on the high-road, beaten and ploughed by horses' hoofs
+and polished with the tracks of sleighs, his steeds began to pull and go
+at a great pace. The near horse, turning away his head, was galloping
+rather wildly, while the horse in the shafts pricked his ears and still
+seemed to doubt whether the moment for a dash had come. Zakhare's
+sleigh, lost in the distance, was no more than a black spot on the white
+snow, and as he drew farther away the ringing of the bells was fainter
+and fainter; only the shouts and songs of the maskers rang through the
+calm, clear night.
+
+"On you go, my beauties!" cried Nicolas, shaking the reins and raising
+his whip. The sleigh seemed to leap forward, but the sharp air that cut
+their faces and the flying pace of the two outer horses alone gave them
+any idea of the speed they were making. Nicolas glanced back at the
+other two drivers; they were shouting and urging their shaft-horses with
+cries and cracking of whips, so as not to be quite left behind;
+Nicolas's middle horse, swinging steadily along under the shaft-bow,
+kept up his regular pace, quite ready to go twice as fast the moment he
+should be called upon.
+
+They soon overtook the first troïka, and after going down a slope they
+came upon a wide cross-road running by the side of a meadow.
+
+"Where are we, I wonder," thought Nicolas; "this must be the field and
+slope by the river. No--I do not know where we are! This is all new and
+unfamiliar to me! God only knows where we are! But no matter!" And
+smacking his whip with a will, he went straight ahead. Zakhare held in
+his beasts for an instant, and turned his face, all fringed with frost,
+to look at Nicolas, who came flying onward.
+
+"Steady there, sir!" cried the coachman, and leaning forward, with a
+click of his tongue he urged his horses in their turn to their utmost
+speed. For a few minutes the sleighs ran equal, but before long, in
+spite of all Zakhare could do, Nicolas gained on him and at last flew
+past him like a lightning flash; a cloud of fine snow, kicked up by the
+horses, came showering down on the rival sleigh; the women squeaked,
+and the two teams had a struggle for the precedence, their shadows
+crossing and mingling on the snow.
+
+Then Nicolas, moderating his speed, looked about him; before, behind,
+and on each side of him stretched the fairy scene; a plain strewn with
+stars and flooded with light.
+
+"To the left, Zakhare says. Why to the left?" thought he. "We were going
+to the Mélukows'. But we are going where fate directs or as Heaven may
+guide us. It is all very strange and most delightful, is it not?" he
+said, turning to the others.
+
+"Oh! look at his eyelashes and beard; they are quite white!" exclaimed
+one of the sweet young men, with pencilled mustache and arched eyebrows.
+
+"That I believe is Natacha?" said Nicolas. "And that little
+Circassian--who is he? I do not know him, but I like his looks
+uncommonly! Are you not frozen?" Their answer was a shout of laughter.
+
+Dimmler was talking himself hoarse, and he must be saying very funny
+things, for the party in his sleigh were in fits of laughing.
+
+"Better and better," said Nicolas to himself; "now we are in an
+enchanted forest--the black shadows lie across a flooring of diamonds
+and mix with the sparkling of gems. That might be a fairy palace, out
+there, built of large blocks of marble and jewelled tiles? Did I not
+hear the howl of wild beasts in the distance? Supposing it were only
+Mélukovka that I am coming to after all! On my word, it would be no less
+miraculous to have reached port after steering so completely at random!"
+
+It was, in fact, Mélukovka, for he could see the house servants coming
+out on the balcony with lights, and then down to meet them, only too
+glad of this unexpected diversion.
+
+"Who is there?" a voice asked within.
+
+"The mummers from Count Rostow's; they are his teams," replied the
+servants.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pélaguéïa Danilovna Mélukow, a stout and commanding personality, in
+spectacles and a flowing dressing-gown, was sitting in her drawing-room
+surrounded by her children, whom she was doing her best to amuse by
+modelling heads in wax and tracing the shadows they cast on the wall,
+when steps and voices were heard in the ante-room. Hussars, witches,
+clowns, and bears were rubbing their faces, which were scorched by the
+cold and covered with rime, or shaking the snow off their clothes. As
+soon as they had cast off their furs they rushed into the large
+drawing-room, which was hastily lighted up. Dimmler, the clown, and
+Nicolas, the marquise, performed a dance, while the others stood close
+along the wall, the children shouting and jumping about them with glee.
+
+"It is impossible to know who is who--can that really be Natacha? Look
+at her; does not she remind you of some one? Edward, before Karlovitch,
+how fine you are! and how beautifully you dance! Oh! and that splendid
+Circassian--why, it is Sonia! What a kind and delightful surprise; we
+were so desperately dull. Ha, ha! what a beautiful hussar! A real
+hussar, or a real monkey of a boy--which is he, I wonder? I cannot look
+at you without laughing." They all shouted and laughed and talked at
+once, at the top of their voices.
+
+Natacha, to whom the Mélukows were devoted, soon vanished with them to
+their own room, where corks and various articles of men's clothing were
+brought to them, and clutched by bare arms through a half-open door. Ten
+minutes later all the young people of the house rejoined the company,
+equally unrecognizable. Pélaguéïa Danilovna, going and coming among them
+all, with her spectacles on her nose and a quiet smile, had seats
+arranged and a supper laid out for the visitors, masters and servants
+alike. She looked straight in the face of each in turn, recognizing no
+one of the motley crew--neither the Rostows, nor Dimmler, nor even her
+own children, nor any of the clothes they figured in.
+
+"That one, who is she?" she asked the governess, stopping a Kazan
+Tartar, who was, in fact, her own daughter. "One of the Rostows, is it
+not? And you, gallant hussar, what regiment do you belong to?" she went
+on, addressing Natacha. "Give some _pastila_ to this Turkish lady," she
+cried to the butler; "it is not forbidden by her religion, I believe."
+
+At the sight of some of the reckless dancing which the mummers performed
+under the shelter of their disguise, Pélaguéïa Danilovna could not help
+hiding her face in her handkerchief, while her huge person shook with
+uncontrollable laughter--the laugh of a kindly matron, frankly jovial
+and gay.
+
+When they had danced all the national dances, ending with the
+_Horovody_, she placed every one, both masters and servants, in a large
+circle, holding a cord with a ring and a rouble, and for a while they
+played games. An hour after, when the finery was the worse for wear and
+heat and laughter had removed much of the charcoal, Pélaguéïa Danilovna
+could recognize them, compliment the girls on the success of their
+disguise, and thank the whole party for the amusement they had given
+her. Supper was served for the company in the drawing-room, and for the
+servants in the large dining-room.
+
+"You should try your fortune in the bathroom over there; that is enough
+to frighten you!" said an old maid who lived with the Mélukows.
+
+"Why?" said the eldest girl.
+
+"Oh! you would never dare to do it; you must be very brave."
+
+"Well, I will go," said Sonia.
+
+"Tell us what happened to that young girl, you know," said the youngest
+Mélukow.
+
+"Once a young girl went to the bath, taking with her a cock and two
+plates with knives and forks, which is what you must do; and she waited.
+Suddenly she heard horses' bells--some one was coming; he stopped, came
+up-stairs, and she saw an officer walk into the room; a real live
+officer--at least so he seemed--who sat down opposite to her where the
+second cover was laid."
+
+"Oh! how horrible!" exclaimed Natacha, wide-eyed. "And he spoke to
+her--really spoke?"
+
+"Yes, just as if he had really been a man. He begged and prayed her to
+listen to him, and all she had to do was to refuse him and hold out till
+the cock crowed; but she was too much frightened. She covered her face
+with her hands, and he clasped her in his arms; luckily some girls who
+were on the watch rushed in when she screamed."
+
+"Why do you terrify them with such nonsense?" said Pélaguéïa Danilovna.
+
+"But, mamma, you know you wanted to try your fortune too."
+
+"And if you try your fortune in a barn, what do you do?" asked Sonia.
+
+"That is quite simple. You must go to the barn--now, for instance--and
+listen. If you hear thrashing, it is for ill-luck; if you hear grain
+dropping, that is good."
+
+"Tell us, mother, what happened to you in the barn."
+
+"It is so long ago," said the mother, with a smile, "that I have quite
+forgotten; besides, not one of you is brave enough to try it."
+
+"Yes, I will go," said Sonia. "Let me go."
+
+"Go by all means if you are not afraid."
+
+"May I, Madame Schoss?" said Sonia to the governess.
+
+Now, whether playing games or sitting quietly and chatting, Nicolas had
+not left Sonia's side the whole evening; he felt as if he had seen her
+for the first time, and only just now appreciated all her merits.
+Bright, bewitchingly pretty in her quaint costume, and excited as she
+very rarely was, she had completely fascinated him.
+
+"What a simpleton I must have been!" thought he, responding in thought
+to those sparkling eyes and that triumphant smile which had revealed to
+him a little dimple at the tip of her mustache that he had never
+observed before.
+
+"I am afraid of nothing," she declared. She rose, asked her way,
+precisely, to the barn, and every detail as to what she was to expect,
+waiting there in total silence; then she threw a fur cloak over her
+shoulders, glanced at Nicolas, and went on.
+
+She went along the corridor and down the back-stairs; while Nicolas,
+saying that the heat of the room was too much for him, slipped out by
+the front entrance. It was as cold as ever, and the moon seemed to be
+shining even more brightly than before. The snow at her feet was strewn
+with stars, while their sisters overhead twinkled in the deep gloom of
+the sky, and she soon looked away from them, back to the gleaming earth
+in its radiant mantle of ermine.
+
+Nicolas hurried across the hall, turned the corner of the house, and
+went past the side door where Sonia was to come out. Half-way to the
+barn stacks of wood, in the full moonlight, threw their shadows on the
+path, and beyond, an alley of lime-trees traced a tangled pattern on
+the snow with the fine crossed lines of their leafless twigs. The beams
+of the house and its snow-laden roof looked as if they had been hewn out
+of a block of opal, with iridescent lights where the facets caught the
+silvery moonlight. Suddenly a bough fell crashing off a tree in the
+garden; then all was still again. Sonia's heart beat high with gladness;
+as if she were drinking in not common air, but some life-giving elixir
+of eternal youth and joy.
+
+"Straight on, if you please, miss, and on no account look behind you."
+
+"I am not afraid," said Sonia, her little shoes tapping the stone steps
+and then crunching the carpet of snow as she ran to meet Nicolas, who
+was within a couple of yards of her. And yet not the Nicolas of
+every-day life. What had transfigured him so completely? Was it his
+woman's costume with frizzed-out hair, or was it that radiant smile
+which he so rarely wore, and which at this moment illumined his face?
+
+"But Sonia is quite unlike herself, and yet she is herself," thought
+Nicolas on his side, looking down at the sweet little face in the
+moonlight. He slipped his arms under the fur cloak that wrapped her, and
+drew her to him, and he kissed her lips, which still tasted of the
+burned cork that had blackened her mustache.
+
+"Nicolas--Sonia," they whispered; and Sonia put her little hands round
+his face. Then, hand in hand, they ran to the barn and back, and each
+went in by the different doors they had come out of.
+
+Natacha, who had noted everything, managed so that she, Mme. Schoss, and
+Dimmler should return in one sleigh, while the maids went with Nicolas
+and Sonia in another. Nicolas was in no hurry to get home; he could not
+help looking at Sonia and trying to find under her disguise the true
+Sonia--his Sonia, from whom nothing now could ever part him. The magical
+effects of moonlight, the remembrance of that kiss on her sweet lips,
+the dizzy flight of the snow-clad ground under the horses' hoofs, the
+black sky, studded with diamonds, that bent over their heads, the icy
+air that seemed to give vigor to his lungs--all was enough to make him
+fancy that they were transported to a land of magic.
+
+"Sonia, are you not cold?"
+
+"No; and you?"
+
+Nicolas pulled up, and giving the reins to a man to drive, he ran back
+to the sleigh in which Natacha was sitting.
+
+"Listen," he said, in a whisper and in French; "I have made up my mind
+to tell Sonia."
+
+"And you have spoken to her?" exclaimed Natacha, radiant with joy.
+
+"Oh, Natacha, how queer that mustache makes you look! Are you glad?"
+
+"Glad! I am delighted. I did not say anything, you know, but I have been
+so vexed with you. She is a jewel, a heart of gold. I--I am often
+naughty, and I have no right to have all the happiness to myself now.
+Go, go back to her."
+
+"No. Wait one minute. Mercy, how funny you look!" he repeated, examining
+her closely and discovering in her face, too, an unwonted tenderness and
+emotion that struck him deeply. "Natacha, is there not some magic at the
+bottom of it all, heh?"
+
+"You have acted very wisely. Go."
+
+"If I had ever seen Natacha look as she does at this moment I should
+have asked her advice and have obeyed her, whatever she had bid me do;
+and all would have gone well. So you are glad?" he said, aloud. "I have
+done right?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course you have! I was quite angry with mamma the other
+day about you two. Mamma would have it that Sonia was running after you.
+I will not allow any one to say--no, nor even to think--any evil of her,
+for she is sweetness and truth itself."
+
+"So much the better." Nicolas jumped down and in a few long strides
+overtook his own sleigh, where the little Circassian received him with
+a smile from under the fur hood; and the Circassian was Sonia, and Sonia
+beyond a doubt would be his beloved little wife!
+
+When they got home the two girls went into the countess's room and gave
+her an account of their expedition; then they went to bed. Without
+stopping to wipe off their mustaches they stood chattering as they
+undressed; they had so much to say of their happiness, their future
+prospects, the friendship between their husbands:
+
+"But, oh! when will it all be? I am so afraid it will never come to
+pass," said Natacha, as she went toward a table on which two
+looking-glasses stood.
+
+"Sit down," said Sonia, "and look in the glass; perhaps you will see
+something about it." Natacha lighted two pairs of candles and seated
+herself. "I certainly see a pair of mustaches," she said, laughing.
+
+"You should not laugh," said the maid, very gravely.
+
+Natacha settled herself to gaze without blinking into the mirror; she
+put on a solemn face and sat in silence for some time, wondering what
+she should see. Would a coffin rise before her, or would Prince André
+presently stand revealed against the confused background in the shining
+glass? Her eyes were weary and could hardly distinguish even the
+flickering light of the candles. But with the best will in the world
+she could see nothing; not a spot to suggest the image either of a
+coffin or of a human form. She rose.
+
+"Why do other people see things and I never see anything at all? Take my
+place, Sonia; you must look for yourself and for me, too. I am so
+frightened; if I could but know!"
+
+Sonia sat down and fixed her eyes on the mirror.
+
+"Sofia Alexandrovna will be sure to see something," whispered Douniacha;
+"but you always are laughing at such things." Sonia heard the remark and
+Natacha's whispered reply: "Yes, she is sure to see something; she did
+last year." Three minutes they waited in total silence. "She is sure to
+see something," Natacha repeated, trembling.
+
+Sonia started back, covered her face with one hand, and cried out:
+
+"Natacha!"
+
+"You saw something? What did you see?" And Natacha rushed forward to
+hold up the glass.
+
+But Sonia had seen nothing; her eyes were getting dim, and she was on
+the point of giving it up when Natacha's exclamation had stopped her;
+she did not want to disappoint them; but there is nothing so tiring as
+sitting motionless. She did not know why she had called out and hidden
+her face.
+
+"Did you see him?" asked Natacha.
+
+"Yes; stop a minute. I saw him," said Sonia, not quite sure whether
+"him" was to mean Nicolas or Prince André. "Why not make them believe
+that I saw something?" she thought. "A great many people have done so
+before, and no one can prove the contrary. Yes, I saw him," she
+repeated.
+
+"How? standing up or lying down?"
+
+"I saw him--at first there was nothing; then suddenly I saw him lying
+down."
+
+"André, lying down? Then he is ill!" And Natacha gazed horror-stricken
+at her companion.
+
+"Not at all; he seemed quite cheerful, on the contrary," said she,
+beginning to believe in her own inventions.
+
+"And then--Sonia, what then?"
+
+"Then I saw only confusion--red and blue."
+
+"And when will he come back, Sonia? When shall I see him again? O God! I
+am afraid for him--afraid of everything."
+
+And, without listening to Sonia's attempts at comfort, Natacha slipped
+into bed, and, long after the lights were out, she lay motionless but
+awake, her eyes fixed on the moonshine that came dimly through the
+frost-embroidered windows.
+
+
+
+
+_A Wayfarer's Fancy._
+
+
+     "A felicitous combination of the German, the Sclave, and the
+     Semite, with grand features, brown hair floating in artistic
+     fashion, and brown eyes in spectacles."
+
+_George Eliot._
+
+
+
+
+TWO CHRISTMASES.
+
+
+I.
+
+It was the time of the great war. Germany was desolated. Towns and
+villages were destroyed by flames. Order and law had given way to savage
+power; and from the walls of many a ruined house of God the wooden image
+of the Saviour looked down with a face of anguish on the horrors of the
+degenerate times.
+
+The terrified citizens of towns that were still untouched by war, hid
+themselves within their narrow walls, awaiting, in tremulous fear, the
+day on which their homes must also fall a prey to plundering soldiers.
+If any one were obliged to go beyond the boundaries, he would glance
+anxiously at the bushes on either side of the road; and when night came
+on, he would be forced to look with horror and sorrow at the reddened
+horizon, where a little village or lonely hamlet was burning to ashes.
+
+But who is it cowers there in the ditch by the highway? A dried-up
+little man with deathly-pale countenance, and clad in a black coat!
+Flee, Wanderer! let him not gaze at you with his piercing gray eyes!
+Beware! for that old man is the Plague-man!
+
+The heart of the Wanderer sinks within him. Horrified he rushes away,
+and thanks heaven when, in the gray of the morning, he sees again the
+towers of his native town. Enraptured by the sight of home he believes
+these towers with the dear, well-known faces can protect him; but the
+old cripple has been quicker than he. Before break of day he has knocked
+at the town-gate, and the gate-keeper, on opening it, has scarcely
+looked into his gray eyes before he sank down as though some one had
+felled him with an axe.
+
+Then the gray old man begins his terrible work. Like a bat he slips into
+all dwellings; no gate and no bolt is an obstacle to him. Right up into
+the lofts he climbs and opens the most secret chamber. That threshold he
+passes is doomed to the Black-death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It had happened thus to a little town in Franconia, where but a few
+houses remained untouched by the terrible plague. In this town there
+lived a poor, honest couple with their child, a boy of nearly three
+years. Their cottage lay on a small hill, and was divided from the road
+by a little garden. People ascribed it to this that the awful spirit
+for a long time had left their home untouched. But at last he seemed to
+have found his way to even this out-of-the-way place.
+
+A few days before Christmas the boy fell sick, and on Christmas morning
+he lay motionless in bed, so that the poor parents thought the plague
+had taken their child from them. The father wanted to bury the body at
+once, but the mother showed him the rosy cheeks of the dead child, and
+said that a death that looked so like sleep could do them no harm.
+Thereupon she went into the little garden and cut box-tree leaves from
+under the snow, and made a wreath for the dead darling. She placed the
+wreath on his curly head and moved his bed into the middle of the room,
+where she set candles burning around it, just as we do in quieter times
+for a dear departed one. Then she went into the wood, cut down a small
+Christmas-tree and placed it, all decorated with lights, nuts, and
+bright tinsel, next to the coffin, in order that the dead child might
+also have his Christmas pleasure.
+
+This was the only Christmas-tree that the poor stricken town lit up!
+People passing along the road looked with secret jealousy at the
+illuminated window, wondering how they could still rejoice in such
+bitter times. But no gladsome sounds from the window reached the
+street, where flake after flake was whirling down from the gray heavens,
+covering everything in its white cloak. And unceasingly, as flake after
+flake sank down to earth, so in the little chamber the tears of the poor
+woman rolled down her cheeks till the lights of the Christmas-tree
+burned low, the fire in the stove died away, and sleep closed the
+streaming eyes of the mother. Then all was quiet, very quiet, in the
+little chamber.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But at the gates of Heaven it was very noisy that evening. Countless
+hosts were crowding up the broad stairway, young and old, rich and poor:
+a mixed and motley crowd. There the patrician elbowed the tailor who had
+made his coat; the general the lowest sutler; and a ragged beggar was
+even next to a king, who drew his purple closer around him in order not
+to be contaminated. All were pushing towards the great, light gate, and
+many a one, who on earth had only beaten and jostled others, received
+here in the crowd his own first jostling. At the gate stood a beautiful,
+tall angel, who sprinkled each one with water out of a golden vessel.
+The touch of this water obliterated at once all remembrance of the past.
+
+St. Peter, who considered the noise and bustle too much of a good thing,
+was of the opinion that mankind had none of the bother of dying, all
+the work falling on him; and he was accordingly grumbling to himself.
+Suddenly he saw a little fellow, clad only in a shirt, standing before
+him, shivering all over, and regarding him with innocent, childish eyes,
+as if asking whether he might enter. St. Peter, unwilling that such
+little folks should cause delay in business, said, roughly, "In with
+you!" The little frightened fellow rushed, thereupon, so quickly through
+the gate that the angel did not have time to sprinkle him with the
+waters of oblivion.
+
+Now, as children of two years have but short memories and very harmless
+pasts, the angel smilingly let him slip by. Once inside, little Hans was
+seized by a host of flying angels and whirled away to Paradise, which
+was more beautiful than the fairest garden on earth. Rare plants with
+big, magnificently colored blossoms filled the air with spicy odor. Here
+dwelt the tiny children who had left earth before they knew anything of
+it. Here they could dream on forever; and their breath swept softly over
+every bud. Large butterflies with silken wings were bathing in the clear
+ether, and floating entranced from bud to bud. The heavens glittered and
+lightened as though composed of millions of diamonds; yet the sun did
+not blind the eye, nor the warmth rise to summer heat. Eternal spring
+had banished from these regions battle and death, tempest and decay, and
+far away below in misty distance lay all the sorrows of tormented
+creation. Amongst the flowers wandered blissful forms, absorbed in the
+beauty of surrounding harmony.
+
+The boy curiously observed all this splendor, peered into the dewy buds
+of the flowers, examined the wings of his heavenly playmates, and was
+not a little rejoiced on observing that two wings had also grown on him,
+with which he could fly like a bird. "If neighbor Liesel could only see
+me!" thought Hans, and he felt quite proud at the thought. For,
+notwithstanding all the splendor about him, the picture of his parents'
+home presented itself constantly to his little mind. He had an excellent
+memory of the much despised earth, which soon with magnetic power drew
+all his thoughts towards it. At the sight of the wonderful flowers of
+Paradise, such as the earth never produces, he could think of nothing
+but the violets, and crocuses, and tulips which curled up in spring-time
+out of the black earth of his father's garden. The golden fruits on the
+trees reminded him of the gilded ones of the Christmas-tree, and seemed
+to him even brighter; and although the Paradise of heaven, with its
+eternal clearness, was a thousand times more beautiful than the
+changing air below, yet the little heart felt a dim yearning for the
+beloved earth, the griefs of which he had not yet learned to measure;
+and, amidst all this angelic beauty, he only felt an uncontrollable
+longing for the plain, human countenance of his mother. Then there came
+an end to his enjoyment. He began to cry, and, finally, to roar lustily.
+The other little angels gathered astonished around him, staring at the
+strange playmate who had dewdrops in his eyes and made such awful faces.
+Such a thing did not generally occur in heaven, where all were good and
+quiet. But just then St. James came along and, on seeing the crying
+angel, he spoke pleasantly to him, and finally took him up in his arms
+in order to comfort him. But a great surprise lay in store for the
+Saint; for it would have been easier for him to convert a thousand
+heathens than to quiet the little unruly fellow, who commenced kicking
+and wriggling, and made such a terrible outcry that the angels fluttered
+away in consternation. There stood the Saint with the child in his arms,
+and did not know what to do! At last he concluded to show the strange
+being to the Lord Himself, and went with the little one before His
+throne. Then the Lord Almighty smiled, and all the angels around His
+throne smiled, when they saw St. James, who certainly did not seem very
+well adapted for nursing children, and in whose arms little Hans,
+regardless of all surroundings, continued to roar unmercifully. But the
+merciful Lord opined that the greatest squallers often turned out the
+best men, and He ordered an angel to carry the little one back to dear
+earth.
+
+And this was done. With mighty strokes of his pinions the heavenly
+messenger floated back to earth, which came nearer and nearer with its
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, and with the old, lifeworn town, and from
+out the town rose up the gabled roof of the parents' home with a cap of
+snow upon it.
+
+The boy in the coffin opened his eyes, and with a cry of joy his mother
+pressed him to her heart. Among the boughs of the Christmas-tree there
+was a soft rustling and whispering.
+
+Methinks the tree remembered that winter is only a deep sleep, and was
+dreaming of spring.
+
+
+II.
+
+The years of misery and war were over. In the streets of the old town,
+where only a few years ago the roll of the drum resounded, and where the
+plague, in deathly silence, had spread its black wings, there, the stork
+on the town-hall heard, to his great satisfaction, merry shouts of
+children,--the ringing laugh of peace. A group of boys chased each
+other noisily over the market-place, playing at war. War! which had
+desolated so many of their homes. Oh! the fresh, merry laughter of
+childhood! how like unto ivy it climbeth over all ruins and findeth at
+last the sunshine!
+
+But there was one not amongst the noisy group, and that one was Hans.
+His parents perceived with anxiety that the little noisy child had grown
+into a silent, shy boy, who avoided the games of his comrades and
+dreamingly went his own way. For hours he sat in the garden on the bench
+near his mother's flowers, and gazed dreamingly at the busy bees and
+butterflies, or lay in the woods near by and stared up through the
+branches of the beech-trees at the blue sky.
+
+"What are you thinking of?" his mother would ask at times; then he would
+start up like one awakened from sleep, the thread of whose dreams are
+broken by awaking. "He is ill," the mother would think, anxiously. But
+folks would shake their heads suspiciously when, on speaking to the boy,
+they received no other answer than a shy, questioning look. "There is
+something wanting," said some, with an unmistakable gesture. "He is a
+fool," murmured others.
+
+Thus a boy fares who has peeped too early into Paradise. The children
+of his own age made fun of him, and poor Hans would have been quite
+forsaken if Liesel from next door had not taken his part. She was quite
+the opposite to him,--merry and high-spirited. Whilst he sat dreaming,
+she was romping about, singing and laughing. But the children kept
+together, and the parents thought they might some day be a pair. The
+boy's reserved nature vexed the father, and, being of the opinion that
+man's hand cannot learn too early to handle and knead the tough clay of
+existence, he apprenticed him to a potter, in the hope that time would
+change the character of his son. He was mistaken, however; the boy grew
+up a fine, handsome youth, but in character he remained the boy of
+former days. If he looked up from his work it was not in order to gaze,
+like other journeymen, after a young girl who maybe was tripping past;
+but to stare up at the sky, which shone so blue between the houses, or
+to follow with his eyes the great white clouds away,--who knows whither?
+In his free time he did not go like others to the market-place, but
+would mount the ramparts at the back of his parents' house and gaze into
+the valley below, where the river was bearing its silvery wavelets into
+the far distance. What might not be in the far distance? Far, far away
+yonder must be the place where the dream of his childhood was realized!
+How astonished, then, was his father, when one fine sunny spring morning
+his son stood before him, with knapsack and staff, in order to bid him
+farewell before setting out on his travels. Who would ever have thought
+he would want to travel! The father rejoiced in the belief that the son
+would seek work according to the custom of journeymen workmen, and gave
+him his blessing, and much good advice besides. But he hardly even heard
+the words and advice of his father; there was a singing in his ears and
+a mist before his eyes, so that he felt like one intoxicated. Yes, he
+was a fool! Nor did he see the tears his mother and Liesel were shedding
+at his departure: he only thought of that far-off land, of the dream of
+his childhood. What mattered to him their tears! He wanted only to
+travel to find his Eden. And he travelled. With each rising sun he arose
+and thought, "To-day you will find what you seek;" and when he laid
+himself down tired at night, he thought, "To-morrow I shall reach my
+goal;" and, happy in this thought, he would fall asleep. No mountain was
+too steep for him, no path too stony, no forest too dense; he thought of
+his Eden, and minded not the thorns that tore his flesh. Yes, he was a
+fool!
+
+Far behind him, forgotten, lay his home in the dim distance!
+
+No living creature could tell him where his Paradise lay! The birds of
+the forest went on with their song; the deer gazed at him astonished;
+the brooks babbled on monotonously and sought the way to the ocean.
+People he asked only laughed, and they looked back at the strange lad,
+shaking their heads.
+
+Quickly the time flew by; the spring faded, summer and autumn passed,
+and still he wandered on. His path, that once lay before him green and
+fair, was now covered with snow. He, however, heeded it not, and
+journeyed on. It must come at last, the long-sought goal! At last he
+reached a mighty snow-covered mountain range, so mighty that he said to
+himself, "Beyond this it must surely lie," and in glad hope passed
+forward. A whole day he ascended over snow and ice: his feet were sore
+and bruised, and he was shivering from the cold, and yet no hut was to
+be seen that might offer him shelter. The sun went down in crimson
+behind the ice-armored mountains, leaving behind a bitter coldness, so
+great that the stars in the heavens shivered with frost.
+
+Then it occurred to tired Hans that it was Christmas, and for the first
+time on his journey he thought for a long while of home, where the
+Christmas-tree was now lighting up the warm room, and the dear ones were
+assembling around it. But what mattered the Christmas-tree to him; he
+was seeking Paradise!
+
+Suddenly he saw on the roadside an old man. He was sitting on his
+bundle, and leaning his head on his hands. He must have been very old,
+for his face was furrowed like the bark of an oak, and his snowy beard
+hung nearly to the ground.
+
+Then tired Hans rejoiced, greeted him, and asked how far it might be to
+the nearest habitation of man.
+
+"To-day you can no longer reach it," replied the old man. "Whither are
+you journeying?"
+
+"I seek Paradise," answered Hans: "nearly a year have I wandered over
+the earth, and yet have not found it."
+
+Thereupon the old man arose, laid his hands upon Hans's shoulder, and
+said, "Turn back and go home! I have wandered for more than a thousand
+years on earth, and sought Paradise, and have not found it. Know, then,
+I am Ahasuerus, doomed to everlasting wandering as a penance. Wherever I
+go I am persecuted; where I knock the gate is locked; and nowhere have I
+a home. Stones are my bed, and my bundle is my pillow. Go, poor fool!
+return to the place of your birth. There, some day, they will dig a
+grave for you, wherein you may sleep peacefully. Go back to your home,
+where a Christmas-tree is lit up for you, and where you are loved, and
+leave to me all wandering and seeking: to me, the poor, old, accursed
+man!"
+
+Then Hans was very sad: he threw down his bundle, sat down in the snow,
+and wept bitterly. However, he was so tired from the long journey that
+he soon forgot all his misery, and fell into a deep slumber. The old man
+spread his cloak over him to protect him from the cold, and then
+listened to the deep-drawn breathing of precious sleep, that drowns all
+cares. The youth lying there could sleep, and die, and forget! but he
+himself must keep awake, and live, and wander!
+
+Upon the face of Hans a smile was playing; he was dreaming! Did he see
+the long-sought Paradise? He saw in his dream a house with snow-covered
+gable and little windows; a small house, closely encircled by other
+houses, a garden in front. In a room inside sat his parents round a
+cheerful fire. The spinning-wheel whizzed, and the cat purred in comfort
+in front of the fire. Softly there fell, now and again, a needle from
+the Christmas-tree. A resinous, pine-tree odor filled the room. From the
+next house a clear, maiden's voice was singing the old, old Christmas
+carol,--
+
+  "A rose has bloomed
+  From a tender root,
+  Our fathers have sung:
+  Out of Jesse it came."
+
+And the crackling of the fire, the whizzing of the spinning-wheel, and
+the maiden's song seemed to the dreamer fairer than a thousand Edens. An
+indescribable homesickness overcame him.
+
+When he awoke, the east was radiant with the blush of morning. He sprang
+up and seized his staff. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes. "Home,
+home!" a thousand voices seemed to echo within him.
+
+But up the mountains, outlined by the red of the morn, he saw the old
+man wandering on his comfortless path.
+
+
+
+
+_A Yarn Spun by a Yankee._
+
+
+     "A white-haired, thin-visaged, weather-worn old gentleman in a
+     blue, Quaker-cut coat."
+
+_Hawthorne._
+
+
+
+
+A TALE OF A TURKEY.
+
+
+I.
+
+The shutters of a little spur of warehouses which breaks out into
+mountainous stores and open valleys of streets around the corner, but
+which itself overlooks no fairer view than a narrow, muddy alley of a
+thoroughfare scarcely broad enough to admit two drays abreast, and, by
+actual measurement,--taken with persistent diligence by the adjacent
+office boys,--just two running-jumps from gutter to gutter; the shutters
+of this, in its own eyes, important little trade centre, were up, and a
+great clattering they had made in getting up on a clear, tingling night
+before Christmas, eighteen hundred and--no matter what.
+
+The porters had come out in their faded greatcoats, bandaged right and
+left in woolly mufflers, and more than usually clumsy in padded gloves,
+and had been bitten and tossed about by the wind with such unbecoming
+violence that even a porter felt it necessary to hurry and bustle.
+Taking the shutters by assault from the foe's embraces, they had
+thumped, and banged, and hammered, and scolded them into place, and, in
+undignified haste, had betaken themselves, steaming warm breath through
+their fingers, into their proper and respective places by the
+counting-house fire.
+
+The magic--so it seemed in its effects--tolling of a deep-toned bell in
+the neighborhood would not allow them to doze long in their warm nooks,
+but, like the jealous monster in the fairy-tale, kept its captives
+always going, going, going, for its sixth stroke had not died away
+before they began to appear again, this time with the addition of fur
+hats and little dinner-baskets, and with no perceptible noses--unless
+the existence of watery eyes above their mufflers argued the missing
+features to be in their proper places below--and with an accelerated
+gait--also an act of enchantment.
+
+William, of No. 6, bawled as loud as his worsted gag would permit across
+the street (so termed by a figure of rhetoric) to James, of No. 7:
+
+"Hello, Jim! Cold as blazes, ain't it?"
+
+James, of No. 7, assenting, Thomas, of No. 4, would like to know "How
+blazes can be cold, now?"
+
+William, of No. 6, would say "as thunder," if that would suit him any
+better; and as it appeared to do so they, with half a dozen others,
+breasted the wind and trudged out into the blustery streets beyond.
+
+The merchants, too, had locked their doors, and tried their knobs, and
+looked up at the faces of their stores as if to say, "Merry Christmas to
+you, and I wish you a pleasant day to-morrow!" but in reality to see
+that all was fast, and perchance to indulge in a comfortable survey of
+their snug little properties--and the complacent tread with which they
+followed the porters gives color to the suspicion--and draw from it
+momentum for the enjoyment of the morrow's holiday.
+
+The shutters, then, were up--stop, not all up! One, as you may see by
+the shaft of gas-light that has just fallen across the pavement near the
+top of the court, is still down.
+
+The little square window through which the light eddies on the bricks is
+supported on either side by a heavy door, and all three, the two doors
+and the window, are in turn crowned and anointed on the head, as it
+were, by a very bold sign containing very brazen--in every sense of the
+word--letters which announced pompously, like some servants of similar
+metallic qualities, the name of their master.
+
+Emanuel Griffin--the tongue uncontrollably adds Esquire--was the name,
+and there, if you had looked through the window, in a deep funnel of a
+room, at a desk near the fire, head behind the open leaves of a ledger,
+and feet beneath the warm recesses of the stove, sat its possessor.
+
+Outside the railing which formed a barrier between Emanuel Griffin,
+Esq., and the business world, and encompassed with a less elaborate
+railing, sat, on a high stool in a cold corner, the little,
+blackish-green (perhaps the color gas-light imparts to faded black)
+clerk of Emanuel Griffin, Esq. Whether David Dubbs, such was he called,
+derived the power of writing from his mouth; or whether the gentle
+excitation of moving his lips over toothless gums assisted thought; or
+whether, as some said, he chewed tobacco, a position which nobody ever
+held long, as nobody ever proved him to have expectorated during his
+whole life; his mouth--always closed--moved up and down, up and down,
+with the motion of his pen. Hair he had none, that is, none to speak of;
+there were some few isolated white locks behind his ears and at the back
+of his head, but he made no pretensions to have any, and openly
+acknowledged himself bald--and very candid of him it was to do so.
+
+Chroniclers have told us how, after fierce battles that have raged from
+dawn till nightfall, the moon has come calmly up from the horizon and
+shone peacefully and serenely over the field of strife and death. So
+arose a beneficent smile ever and anon over the wrinkled and careworn
+face of the old clerk; but still he wrote on, Faithful Dave! and if
+pleasant thoughts swept through him they avoided the business that
+occupied his hands and did not interrupt it.
+
+They had long sat in quietness, only broken by the noise of turning
+leaves and crackling coals,--but, in truth, if David Dubbs's eye, in its
+course to and from the clock, had not, like the world, worked silently
+on its axis, there must have been continual creaking--when a noise like
+the name of David emanated from the ledger, and following it--for it was
+near-sighted--the head of Emanuel Griffin, Esq., lifted itself to an
+erect posture and repeated in a less muffled tone, "David!"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the old clerk, in a weak little voice, and climbing
+down to the floor from his perch.
+
+"You may lock up, David. Ten thousand and odd. Ten thousand's a good
+year, David; a very good year. Very--good--indeed! But go and lock up,"
+and then Mr. Griffin took a glance at the clock. "Half-past six! Why
+it's surprising how time does fly, and Christmas Eve, too. Well, well!
+But hurry up with the shutters, David, and we shan't be long----"
+
+Before Mr. Griffin had fully delivered himself of these remarks the
+little person of David Dubbs was out in the cold, was in and out among
+the screws on the door, had put up the shutters, and simultaneously with
+the last word stood in the half-opened door and, all unseen by his
+employer, waved his hand to some one at the corner of the court. He then
+walked as quickly as his little, bent legs--parabolic were they in
+outline, but, as this is not a geometric treatise, it is of no
+particular consequence--would permit him up the long aisle in the centre
+of the room, and sent off timid little echoes of his steps to ramble
+away among the bales of crockery--for it was crockery that Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., dealt in--and rattle among the piles of plates.
+
+Having reached again his little cage of an office, he took down from its
+accustomed peg an old, threadbare coat, and, with much exertion and
+outstretching of arms, finally got it on, turned up the collar, tied
+about his ears a not very robust scarf, and laid thereon, as the
+copestone of his apparel, a dingy high hat that had undergone, in point
+of nap, as many reverses as its wearer in point of fortune. Thus
+attired, he tipped his hat to his employer, all ready, like himself, to
+depart, and started out.
+
+Before he reached the door, a cry from Mr. Griffin arrested him, and he
+came hastily back; for, although it would have required a thumbscrew to
+have made him confess it, yet he had all day long looked forward to the
+time of parting, when he half expected Emanuel Griffin, Esq., contrary
+to his custom though it was, would offer him some little gift out of the
+increased profits of a business he had done no little to advance. But no
+such design had Mr. Griffin conceived, or if he had it was very soon
+suppressed as entirely unworthy of a man of purely business habits, and
+all he had to say was,--
+
+"I know, David, there is something I was to have told you to do. Mrs.
+Griffin impressed it on me this morning, but,"--here he stood thinking
+for a moment,--"no matter," he resumed. "I guess it was nothing very
+important, so good-by, David, and a--good-by!" He was going to say "and
+a merry Christmas;" but for a man of purely business habits to unbend so
+far and become cheerful--why, it's subversive of all business
+discipline, and so he thought to himself.
+
+David, doubly disappointed, turned and passed out, and his old eyes must
+have been extremely sensitive to the wind, for they ran with something
+very like tears that he wiped away with his glove as he muttered,--
+
+"So, no Christmas, after all. Poor girls! Poor girls!" Mr. Griffin was
+not long behind his faithful old clerk. He extinguished the lights with
+great care, and then, with the key in his hand, felt his way to the
+door, banged it after him, and locked it with the satisfaction of a
+miser over a casket of treasures. His journey home led him to the
+opposite end of the court from that which David had passed through, and
+he therefore did not overtake him.
+
+And if he had, would this hard, business-encrusted heart have been less
+cold than the bitter winds that assailed it? Would the sight which made
+David Dubbs forget the fierceness of night have penetrated the chilly
+place where it rested and warmed it in pitying activity? Would the
+tender impulses, which the unsifted morals of barter extinguish, as they
+extinguish much of the nobility in man, have enkindled anew and
+brightened this misery? Not if dollars would have done it; nay, not if
+even a word would have done it, would Emanuel Griffin have relaxed from
+the demeanor which purely business habits imposed upon him. He felt it
+due to his position in business society to maintain rigidly its maxims,
+the chief of which, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, if they
+could," he practised to the letter.
+
+
+II.
+
+Poor David Dubbs! Oh, the long time it seemed since boon companions had
+smitten him on the back and cried, "Bravo, Dave Dubbs! Bravo, old
+fellow!" to his little songs, or encouraged him by such exclamations as
+"Dave Dubbs can't be beat at a ballad!" Oh, the long, long time ago! But
+to proceed. As David Dubbs met the ambushed winds that leaped upon him
+at the corner of the court, he also met the person to whom he had waved
+his hand from the store-door. If you had looked for the stature of a man
+you would have been doubly mistaken,--first in sex, next in size. It was
+neither a man nor a woman. There, in a blustery doorway, shaking with
+cold, but ever on the alert, crouched a little girl. She wore a knitted
+hood, and out of it fell overflowing curls; but her poor, attenuated
+little body was ill-assorted with plenty of any kind, and the wealth of
+curls mocked the poverty of her clothes. A patched shawl affected to
+protect her poor little shoulders, and a calico dress flapped coldly
+about her legs. As David turned the corner she arose, and, for all her
+stiffness and shivering, exclaimed, cheerily, "A merry Christmas,
+father!" and reached to kiss him.
+
+He took her in his arms--she was very, very slight--and lifted her to
+his lips, and then, throwing one side of his own scanty coat about her
+and holding it there with an affectionate hug, he said, "Come, come,
+little daughter, it's too bleak for a little body like you to be out.
+It's cruel, cruel, but I dared not tell him it was so late. What does he
+know or care for my poor little faithful, Loving Scout?"
+
+"Your Scout couldn't miss Christmas Eve, father, if it was ever so
+cold."
+
+"And does she ever miss? No, no, she's a dutiful Scout, winter and
+summer, rain and shine, morning and night, and what should I ever do
+without her!"
+
+So, talking and fighting the wind by turns, they walked on, the bent and
+shuffling old man and his Little Scout, as he had named her and as they
+all affectionately called her, through dark streets where, ever and
+anon, a car or belated dray shivered by, as if the cold had touched even
+its insensibility, and made the tracks resound and the paving blocks
+rattle in the clear air; through deep cisterns of streets, between lofty
+stone banks--as stern almost as their governing boards, for, although
+boards are chiefly wooden, a supplication will quickly petrify them;
+through rows of illuminated stores like walls of Arabian Night visions,
+with traceries of frost on their windows richer in design than the gems
+within them; through clustering crowds that entered or left continually
+the swinging doors of saloons and hotels; past waiting carriages; past
+swearing men; past laughing ladies, and past beggars, wearier, and
+colder, and lonelier than themselves. So they travelled, scarcely
+heeding what they saw in their speed until, on the margin of all the
+din, by a turn through a dark street, they reached a darker alley, and,
+passing down it, at last stopped before their own homely door.
+
+The building had once been a warehouse,--David liked it the better for
+that, he said. "Why, all my life has been spent in trade, and, you see,
+I've sort a become attached to anything that smacks of it, though I've
+little reason to feel so, the Lord knows!" he would exclaim to his
+friends. Up above, over a long door in the top story--you can scarcely
+make it out in the uncertain light--jutted a weather-beaten crane, with
+a long disused pulley dangling at its point, cracked, and rusted, and
+abandoned, and no less cracked and abandoned, shot out from the second
+floor a moss-covered platform that had been intended for the reception
+of bales of stuffs that had never arrived. The mortar had, here and
+there, been wrenched from between the bricks by savage weather and age,
+and the doors, too, had shrunk before their united malignity. How such
+a house had drifted to such a locality is unaccountable, unless--as is
+often the case--some navigator of real estate had thought he descried a
+port, where was only a shoal that left his venture high and dry among
+newer and costlier craft.
+
+However, the nearest approach it had made in the last twenty years or
+so--so David said--to fulfilling its commercial place in the world was
+in opening its doors to a gentleman in the carpentering line. This
+gentleman, Mr. Jacob Tripple by name, occupied the ground floor, and all
+around it were scattered evidences, in the shape of window-frames, and
+wooden-horses, and props, and old lumber, of a thriving business. He,
+with all his men, had departed long ago and left the place dark, and
+still, and cold.
+
+It had lain in this stupor of silence for more than an hour, waiting
+against hope to be resuscitated by any stray echoes that should drop in
+from the neighboring hubbub and waken it up, when it caught among its
+bleak angles the cheery voice of David's Little Scout, and revived--as
+some old men do under the charm of gentle words--to a more respectable
+opinion of itself. So immediately it seemed refreshed, that if it were
+possible for such a decrepit--not to say inanimate--old structure as
+that even metaphorically to prick up its ears, it metaphorically did as
+the sound of Dolly's--her proper name--cheery welcome home echoed round
+it.
+
+"Here we are once more, father," she cried, breaking away from him to
+have the door open when he plodded up to it. "Once more, and a welcome
+home, and a merry Christmas to you!"
+
+"Always on duty, Little Scout! Always on duty!" he called after her.
+(The wind was keen and drew water to his eyes again, and again he
+brushed it away.) "Always on duty," he went on repeating, with a doleful
+effort at cheerfulness.
+
+She was up-stairs by that time, and, opening the door above, had called
+in, "Here's father!" then ran back to meet him, which she did at the
+door below.
+
+What these unusual proceedings meant, David Dubbs might have guessed or
+might have known traditionally, they being of an annual nature, but
+whether he did or not, or whether his ignorance was also traditional, he
+gave no sign, and walked feebly up-stairs, guided by the Little Scout,
+just as if it were not Christmas Eve at all.
+
+What the proceedings did mean was that a steaming pot of coffee at the
+given signal was lifted from its warm corner and tilted into a cup that
+held a conspicuous place at the head of a little white spread table. On
+its right hand sat, in the position of an honored and seldom present
+guest, a juicy-complexioned, but not corpulent beefsteak; opposite to
+it, inviting death by explosion, rested a bowl full of steaming potatoes
+in their native jackets, and the centre was fully occupied by a huge
+loaf with a large family of slices.
+
+Around this collation--aroused by the signal, for they had been idly
+waiting before--moved two pairs of hands with loving attention. The
+cloth was resmoothed, the knives and forks straightened, a brace of
+mealy potatoes was emptied on the two plates that awaited them, and at
+last a ruddy slice of beefsteak was deposited beside and oozed through
+them its savoriness. This last climax was reached just as the door
+opened, and the two pairs of hands speedily transferred themselves to
+the duty--no very arduous one--of helping David and Dolly out of their
+wraps.
+
+And then, with many caresses and kisses and cries of "Take this side,
+father, where the coals are bright!" or "Put your feet here and get them
+good and warm, poor Little Scout!" then, when thick flying questions and
+travellings to the one end of the room for things that were not wanted,
+and excursions to the other end of the room for things that were wanted;
+when the chairs were drawn up; when the grateful old man and his little
+daughter, with those tender hands over their mouths to stifle the
+gratitude they struggled to utter, were duly seated at the table, and
+when the kettle was singing its approval in the corner, then,
+only,--when all these preliminaries were gone through with,--did the
+possessors of the hands that devised them seat themselves on a low
+wooden settee opposite the table and enjoy the zest and delight they had
+ministered to.
+
+Good nature and tender hearts, pale faces and cheerful eyes, honest red
+hands and neatly bound-up hair have never been faithfully reproduced in
+a state of print and paper, much less in imagination, and, indeed, how
+can anything so buxom and comely, even if the plainest in dress, be
+expected to be? It is, therefore, needless to say that the twin
+daughters of David, namely, Molly and Polly Dubbs, being all that is
+here set down, should have been seen in all their kindliness to be truly
+known, and no other form of introduction would do them full justice.
+
+Molly was the counterpart of Polly in all respects save height. She was
+a very little taller than Polly, and a fortunate thing it had been for
+all concerned that she was so. Else, consider the vexation of the
+measles and other diseases essential to youth. Why, in their quandary
+which to begin on, they almost missed the twins altogether as it was.
+Consider the complexity of young lovers who should pour into the ears of
+Polly passionate adjectives intended solely to captivate the heart of
+Molly; and, most important of all, consider the conflict of choice which
+would have disquieted the soul of Mr. Jacob Tripple and at last driven
+him to the alternatives of suicide or bigamy.
+
+But all these dangers had been averted by the provisions of Nature, and
+the twins, who had supped, for economic reasons, earlier in the evening,
+sat beaming on while David and little Dolly heartily devoured the
+supper.
+
+David, looking up now for the first time, in the interval of a mouthful
+swallowed and a mouthful threatened, espied a bowery wreath of holly
+that hung around a picture of General Washington in the act of crossing
+a dark, green river Delaware in a court dress of red and breeches of
+yellow, surrounded on all sides by ice and officers in rainbow uniforms,
+and, as this was the only adornment of a rather bare room, it is no
+wonder it caught his eye.
+
+"Why, who's been a-brightening up the gen'ral so Christmas-like?" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"We did, father! Leastwise it was Polly's present," said Molly.
+
+"And who may be a-sending presents to Polly now?" asked David, with a
+twinkle in his eye that had seen better days but none kindlier. "It
+wasn't young Cuffy over at the baker's, nor Jake Tripple, now, was it?"
+
+He looked at Polly for an answer, whereat she stretched her arm along
+the back of the settee and let fall her hand on Molly's shoulder with a
+punch which was intended as punishment for the giggles her sister
+struggled to confine in her mouth with both hands; but which, in spite
+of her, bubbled over and attacked David, and then, with a blush, Polly
+muttered,--
+
+"It wasn't young Cuffy at all, and I hate his loafy, little face, and I
+hate----"
+
+"Not Jacob Tripple! No, no, not good Jake Tripple?" said David,
+reprovingly.
+
+"I didn't say that, father!" she exclaimed. "He's your good old friend,
+and how could I hate him? He came in just before leaving for the day,
+and asked for you--what, made him think you were home I can't tell, for
+it was long before your time--and asked for you, and left the wreath
+for--for--me."
+
+The hem of her long checkered apron then needed close scrutiny and
+folding for some unknown purpose, and this duty diverted her thoughts
+from the subject, but she turned to Dolly, who enjoyed this banter in
+her own quiet little way, which seldom rippled into a loud laugh, for
+her own quiet little face was too pale and too pinched to invite such
+freebooters. "Come, come, Little Scout," she said. "Is she warm now, and
+were the rations good, and did she meet Kriss Kingle on his cold journey
+(with a caress of her pale little cheeks) with heaps of warm dresses,
+and heaps of pretty dolls, and heaps of sweetmeats too big to carry
+himself, so he asked her to carry some home to help him! Did she? (with
+another caress.) And would our Little Scout be sorry if he didn't come
+himself to look after them and----"
+
+"Ah, that reminds me!" said David, quite audibly for him, and rising
+from the table with knife and fork still in hand.
+
+"What reminds you, father?" asked the twins, in chorus.
+
+"Why, coming home!" said David, not very intelligibly.
+
+"What coming home?" again from the chorus, in expectant attitude.
+
+"Why, Tom, I told you!" which he hadn't done at all, but as by this time
+he was deep in the cupboard, where his overcoat hung, and as his voice
+was a little more muffled than usual, it was useless to argue the point,
+so the chorus loudly exclaimed,--
+
+"Tom?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" from David, faintly and rather testily, as he had
+groped through his old coat, and had successively dropped the knife and
+fork, reeking with gravy, into the inside and outside pockets.
+
+"To be sure! Tom coming home and I clean forgot it, what with the cold
+and the surprises," he said again, emerging with the knife and fork in
+one hand and a letter in the other. "Here it is. He'll be home
+to-morrow, he says, God willin', and eat our turkey with us. Poor Tom,
+poor boy! He's been away so long he's forgot Griffin and hard times, or
+he wouldn't say that!"
+
+"Tom! Be home! and to-morrow?"--interruption of chorus as it reaches for
+the letter, opens and reads it aloud--Dolly being lifted in the sturdy
+arms of Molly to look over.
+
+David, meanwhile, overcome by the toothsomeness of beefsteak, falls to
+again, while the others dance a sort of fandango, and turn up the rag
+carpet, and rattle the dishes on the dresser, and lift Dolly high in the
+air to the improvised tune of "Tom's coming home! Tom's coming home!
+Tom's coming home to-morrow!"
+
+"It's another mouth to feed, but it's hard to wish the poor boy back to
+Californy again," huskily said David; then he exclaimed, as the noise
+increased, "Hey dey! Why, you'll spill the coffee next, and cave in the
+walls, too, in a minute, and then there'll be no home for Tom to come
+to!"
+
+This was good humoredly added as the final swing was given to the dance,
+which brought the twins holding Dolly aloft in their arms laughing and
+panting on the settee.
+
+"But tell us, father, is he coming home for good? He don't say so in the
+letter," asked Dolly, and all leaned forward to hear his answer.
+
+"Coming home for good?" mused David. "Yes, he's coming home for good, I
+hope; but I'm fearful he'll find little beside the good in his sisters'
+hearts."
+
+"Poor Tom," said Dolly, with far-away eyes, "he's had a weary life of it
+in the mines, I guess, poor fellow."
+
+"Yes, yes," said David, "and that's what makes it harder that we can't
+greet him with a good Christmas to-morrow. Well, well, it'll be a
+delight to see my poor boy again, hard times or no hard times, and we'll
+be as cheerful as we can be and are now, thanks to my good girls," and
+here he arose from the table, and, seating himself at the fire, opened a
+morning paper that he had found in the waste-basket in Mr. Griffin's
+counting-house (and very worthless it must have been to be found there!)
+in which, through the kind offices of a massive old pair of spectacles,
+he was soon absorbed.
+
+And now, while the Little Scout--in fulfilment of her established
+character--plays the spy on sundry crumbs that slink from notice under
+the table, and while the twins, too busy to talk, wash the dishes and
+dispose them in a glistening row along the dresser, and, while David
+opens the paper and plods up and down it, column by column, like a
+ploughman furrow by furrow up and down a field, and with almost as much
+toil; and while the ancient clock on the shelf over the stove and under
+the motley General Washington ticks loud enough to be heard above the
+clinking dishes and simmering kettle; and while the table, divested of
+its cloth and exhibiting a stained and blistered old back, is glad
+enough to avoid attention by being stowed away in the corner; while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity that come only at the call of good men,
+and good wives, and good sons, and good daughters, but resist the
+imperious beckonings of the wealthiest hands, and wing on over their
+roofs to lowlier, and scantier, and purer habitations--while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity and kindliness throng invisibly into the
+room, and David Dubbs reads stray scraps from his paper to his
+daughters, grouped near the fire at his feet, we must softly withdraw
+and leave them to the care of coming Christmas dreams.
+
+
+III.
+
+Christmas morning had opened brightly with David Dubbs. The sun,
+preceded down the court by hustling winds that knocked at every
+citizen's door and demanded admittance for their oncoming master, had
+left at each house a gift of golden cheerfulness. The sky above was so
+blithe and blue that it smiled down at even so insignificant a crack as
+David Dubbs's court must have appeared to it; and the cold was a jolly
+and snappish cold.
+
+The twins and David's Little Scout were as merry as the Christmas chimes
+they lingered and listened to, and not the daintiest dinner that Mr.
+Cuffy (and that gentleman held the subject somewhat in mind, too, on
+Polly's account) could have delivered at their door would have added one
+jot of happiness to their abundance. David's poor old back bent under
+the stress of poverty that would permit him no indulgences for them--all
+the more dear on that day; but, used to loving self-denial, they never
+missed what they so little desired, and so far were they from giving it
+a thought, that if David had spoken out what he so wilfully turned over
+and over in his mind, that would have given them far more pain and
+anxiety. Mr. Tripple was early in his shop, presumptively to attend to
+some forgotten duties, but, as he did not pay very active attention to
+anything but carefully tying up a square box in white paper, and as he
+did pay very active attention to what went on up-stairs, at the same
+time exhibiting no hurry to get home to dinner, David, who had, towards
+noon, gone around the corner with Polly to make some little purchases of
+groceries before the stores closed, dropped in on his way back and
+invited Mr. Tripple up-stairs. Mr. Tripple at first firmly refused, and
+said, "Very much obliged, Dave, but couldn't think of it. Indeed not.
+They'd 'spect me at home, ye know, Dave." Whereupon Miss Polly added her
+entreaties, and said he needn't expect anything very much, but if he
+would walk up they would be very happy to have him. Mr. Tripple would
+have walked up--and, indeed, wanted very much to walk up--at first, but
+his extreme awkwardness, aggravated by holiday clothes of a tight cut
+and by a paper collar bent above his coat like a scimetar, and almost as
+sharp and glistening as that weapon, impelled him to do violence to his
+wishes in order to appear calm--under _her_ eyes--and to deceive them
+politely as to his real desire. But now, lured on by the siren voice of
+Polly, he consented to go up "a little while" (which meant all the
+afternoon), and taking the white box under his arm he locked the
+shop-door and followed them up the creaking stairs.
+
+Arrived in the room and relieved of hat and coat, Mr. Tripple bowed
+mysteriously to Dolly, and, intrusting her with the box, whispered,--"Go
+and hand that to sister Polly, little un." Polly, receiving it from her,
+exclaimed in surprise,--
+
+"For me, Mr. Tripple?"
+
+"Yes, miss," he replied, growing red and smiling broadly, "a little
+something for Christmas, that's all."
+
+Polly opened the box and extracted a pasteboard plane with some
+artificial shavings pasted upon it, which, when lifted apart, discovered
+a heap of sweetmeats. Dolly and Molly, looking on, exclaimed, "Why, Mr.
+Tripple, what a surprise!" and Polly blushingly added, "So very
+unexpected!"
+
+Mr. Tripple grew redder and nervously crossed his legs, saying, "I
+thought 'twould be kind a appropriate to the trade, you know, and so I
+just fetched it up, and----"
+
+Then Polly, seeing his embarrassment, called on David and the rest to
+come and help themselves, and there was good humor and laughing until
+the twins darted away to got dinner, which was soon prepared, for there
+was little enough to get, and all invited to sit up to the table.
+
+All were duly in their places, and David had, in accordance with
+Christmas custom, offered grace. Mr. Tripple and the girls were slowly
+raising their bowed heads, when a loud knock announced a visitor, and
+hastened the raising of heads to an unseemly hurry.
+
+"Tom!" all exclaimed.
+
+Molly hurried down-stairs, and the rest rushed to the stair-landing,
+where, in a moment, they received, not Tom, but a large, square basket
+that emitted a very fragrant smell of roasted fowl, in the arms of the
+returning Molly. Once in the room, the lid was off in a twinkling, and
+out came a sizable plate, enveloped in dainty, clean napkins, which,
+being removed in layers, exhibited, in all its brown deliciousness, a
+huge turkey, just done to a turn.
+
+The party gathered around in pleased wonder, and as Molly threw the
+napkins into the basket a card fell on the floor. She picked it up and,
+astonished, read, "Emanuel Griffin."
+
+"What!" said David, snatching it and reading it aloud to himself,
+"Emanuel Griffin. So it is, and no mistake!" and then he burst out,
+"Hurrah! hurrah for Griffin! I knew he couldn't forget us this year!"
+His poor old face was almost young again, and his voice,--why, it could
+actually be heard as he ran on: "Why, there never was such a year for
+the china trade, Tripple, and how could he forget me? Jacob Tripple,
+your hand! A kiss, Little Scout! Why, your old father's 'most young
+again, and his good girls shall dine like other good girls, after all!
+How very thoughtful of Griffin to send it in the nick of time, too.
+Come, sit up again before it gets cold, and I wish we had something as
+hot to drink Griffin's health in. Why, I believe I could sing a song
+again if we had something hot. I do, indeed!"
+
+So he ran on in his childish delight at the thought of being remembered,
+and at the far more grateful thought that his beloved daughters were to
+share the gift with him.
+
+When he had ceased, all turned to Molly and asked in one breath who had
+left it. When the clamor slackened, she replied, "Why, young Cuffy from
+the baker's, and all he said was, 'David Dubbs,--to be sent--card
+inside,' and then kissing his hand, and crying 'Love to her,' meaning I
+don't know who," with a smirk at Polly, "he jumped aboard his wagon and
+flew away down the court."
+
+Never was a turkey enjoyed so much, and never had a turkey better
+deserved it.
+
+Mr. Tripple grew bland and talkative under its juicy influence. He even
+winked at Polly occasionally, and one time actually chucked her under
+the chin. She sat next to him, remarking that if he had his way she
+should live forever on turkey and sugar-plums. David ventured to say
+that that course of diet would be pretty indigestive, whereupon Mr.
+Tripple fondly suggested, as he gazed into her eyes, "How would love do
+for a substitute, then?" implying that "his way" would supply that
+abstract edible in equally large doses.
+
+David dryly added "Starvation," and thereupon Polly covered her face
+with her hands, but left open a laughing eye at Molly, and Mr. Tripple
+looked boldly around the board as a man who had said a very bright thing
+indeed, after which survey he broke out into a not very comfortable
+laugh. All the rest laughed, too, then, and such good humor prevailed
+that nothing seemed amiss, and Mr. Tripple's inexperience was kindly
+overlooked.
+
+But now the turkey was fast becoming skeletonized, and the good company
+was fast becoming the reverse. The jollity was increasing and the
+serious intentions of Mr. Tripple were impending and ready to fall into
+open profession on the slightest encouragement. The Little Scout's
+pinched and pale face--sweet and uncomplaining, even through hunger and
+want--smiled gently and less sadly as it leaned in Molly's arms, and,
+looking up, she said,--
+
+"Poor father! How quiet you were last night when we were walking home.
+I knew you were thinking about to-day and the poor dinner. How kind it
+was of good Mr. Griffin. I'd like to thank him myself, father!"
+
+"And so you shall, Little Scout," said David, gayly, bending over and
+kissing her with boyish contempt of aged bones; "and so you shall, and I
+make no doubt he'll be glad to see you, too, Deary."
+
+The clock in a neighboring steeple, simultaneously with its ancient
+kinsman on the shelf, and followed by incoming echoes of a score of
+others, struck one; but the company little heeded that, and the
+conviviality was far from diminishing when another summons rattled the
+street door, and again all exclaimed "There's Tom!" and crowded to the
+landing as before.
+
+Polly this time tripped down and came back in a moment with only a
+letter, saying,--
+
+"A young man, father, with this letter for Mr. Griffin. It's addressed
+to his store, but he said it was important, and, knowing you lived here,
+he depended on you to deliver it at once."
+
+"Has he gone?" said David, grasping it.
+
+"Yes, father," replied Polly, "right off."
+
+Here was a pitiable state of affairs indeed. David Dubbs, aroused from
+the joyful celebration of his Christmas dinner and from the midst of
+this cosey party and sent off across the river to his master's house
+with a miserable letter and by a miserable young man (and if delivering
+letters when every other well-intentioned man is eating his turkey isn't
+miserable, why what is it?). Sent off on a graceless errand for nothing,
+perhaps. But his kind employer, who had done so much for his comfort and
+joy that very day, must not suffer by his neglect, and off he must post;
+that was imperative. Mr. Tripple offered his services when David had
+started down-stairs, and when there was no chance of his turning back,
+but David said, "No, no, Tripple; you just stay and keep the girls
+company till I get back, and that'll be enough for you to attend to.
+Good-by, girls. Good-by, Little Scout; if it wasn't so cold, she should
+go too." And off he trudged, as patient, and cheerful, and proud of his
+master's attention and of his mission, too, now he had fully set out, as
+many a younger and better dressed man would have been.
+
+
+IV.
+
+When Emanuel Griffin, Esq., leaving the dark little street wherein stood
+his warehouse and wherein very much of his life and very little of his
+money was spent--which latter fact had, however, no merely local
+application but was of a general nature--when, to resume, Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., buttoning up his overcoat and, leaving the dark little
+street, turned the next corner among the mountainous stores and looked
+vexedly around for a car to bear him to his home across the river, and
+rattled his keys in his pocket, and nearly hummed a tune in his
+impatience, suddenly, as the car appeared like a new planet, and with
+the easy-going motions of a planet in its ascent had nearly reached
+him--suddenly a thought of something forgotten flashed through his mind,
+and the violence of its reaction turned him completely around and sent
+him in a precipitous hurry in the opposite direction, namely, in that
+which David Dubbs and his little daughter had pursued but a short time
+before.
+
+"Pshaw!" he muttered, and looked as if he would like to add something a
+great deal stronger. "That's what I forgot to tell David; but Mrs. G. 'll
+never forget it, nor forgive it, either, if I don't attend to it
+before I get home." So he turned up his collar, and rubbed his ears, and
+hurried on to keep warm.
+
+His destination proved to be a fancy bakery in the neighborhood of David
+Dubbs's house. The pavement in front of it at that hour and season,
+owing to holiday orders, was sending up warm steam from the oven
+beneath, and a fragrant and appetizing smell of hot bread and browning
+cakes pervaded the street. It was a large establishment of the kind, and
+besides its legitimate line of bread-baking, took charge of the cooking
+and preparing of dinners for ladies of limited domestic conveniences in
+fashionable life. Heedless of the delicious scents which had attracted
+several men with greedy eyes to linger at the window and devour in
+fancy--a process which left them hungrier than ever--the heaps of loaves
+and cakes on the counter within; heedless of the supplicating looks the
+men turned on him, and of the confidential attempts of one or two at a
+begging whisper (but his hurry was in nowise chargeable with that
+inattention); heedless of everything but finishing his errand and
+getting home, Mr. Griffin pushed through the crowd in the store, and,
+reaching the counter, beckoned to a light-haired, light-eyed, and
+red-cheeked youth, in a blue tie and black waistcoat that, through
+constant friction with loaves and flour-barrels, had become of a light
+pepper-and-salt pattern, and hurriedly said,--
+
+"I want a turkey, Cuffy, of about fifteen or twenty pounds, cooked and
+sent to my house by one o'clock to-morrow."
+
+"Can't do it, Mr. Griffin," said the young man, who knew him and had
+bowed as he came up.
+
+"Can't do what?" exclaimed Mr. Griffin, with surprise and dismay.
+
+"Can't send it out," returned the young man, firmly.
+
+"Oh!" said Mr. Griffin, relieved; "I thought you meant that you couldn't
+prepare it!"
+
+"No, sir," commenced the young man. "You see, sir, Mr. Griffin, it's so
+late in the day that all our teams is ordered fur to-morrow at that
+time, and so is our boys, but----"
+
+"Well, I'll soon fix that, Cuffy," said Mr. Griffin, opening his coat
+and taking out a card. "There, just pin that on the turkey when it is
+ready, and carry it over here to Dubbs's--David Dubbs is my clerk. He
+will understand the card, and bring the turkey out to my house. I
+shouldn't be so particular about it if Mrs. Griffin had not impressed it
+on me this morning. I almost forgot it, too."
+
+Then asking the price, and answering,--
+
+"That is very high, Cuffy;" to which that young man replied,--
+
+"I know it is, sir, Mr. Griffin, but then, you see, the demand is werry
+great, sir."
+
+Mr. Griffin paid the bill and hurried out, took a car at the next
+corner, and, after a long, cold ride, got home to allay the anxiety of
+Mrs. Griffin by assuring her that the turkey was ordered, and would be
+sent home promptly to-morrow by David Dubbs.
+
+Christmas morning was, among the Griffin household, which consisted of
+Mr. and Mrs. Griffin and a superannuated servant, a very busy morning
+indeed, for the reason that Mrs. Griffin had, according to annual
+custom, invited more guests to dine than she could conveniently provide
+for. Their house was a cottage in the suburbs, pretty enough in summer
+and no thanks to its mistress or the superannuated servant either, but
+to the unaided impulse of nature, which climbed, in the form of bowery
+vines, wherever a vine could find clinging room; but now, in the midst
+of winter, bright though the day was, the skeletons of so much green
+gayety looked bare, and inhospitable, and cold. The house was approached
+by a long path that started at the iron gate and led up to the porch. It
+was far from a large house, and looked inconvenient, and famished for
+paint, and it was no less inconvenient than it looked, a fact, indeed,
+which necessitated the purchase of a cooked turkey, for the oven was
+small, and the stove in the crazy little kitchen needed all the surface
+it could afford for the vegetables, oysters, and other viands which then
+only, throughout the year, it blazed and glowed under.
+
+The morning wore on and twelve o'clock arrived. The big table in the
+little dining-room was duly dressed and adorned with Mrs. Griffin's
+miscellaneous silver; and after a heated debate between that lady and
+the Superannuated, it was decided that when the company were all in the
+parlor the dining-room door should be left open, and at the bottom of
+the table, which now projected against the door, an additional chair for
+Mr. Griffin should be inserted. Mrs. Griffin said of course the company
+must squeeze in, but they understood all that, and were glad enough to
+get in by any means, to which Superannuated readily assented.
+
+One o'clock, and now the company were all arrived. Mrs. Griffin was duly
+excused by Mr. Griffin, who received them, on the plea of domestic
+duties. They were mostly in the parlor, which contained, beside them, a
+set of red velvet furniture and a shining piano, on legs which emulated
+the unsteadiness of Superannuated's own, and which, in huskiness of
+voice, also resembled that person; a portrait of Mr. Griffin in rigid
+broadcloth, and a companion portrait of Mrs. Griffin in low neck and
+volumes of lace; and last, a very pimply-looking carpet, which seemed to
+suffer from a severe rash.
+
+Mr. Griffin had occupied the space between the folding-doors as the
+company arrived and suavely--as suavely, by the way, as his wincing at
+the cost of it all would admit of--received, introduced, and seated
+them. The first arrival was a single gentleman, whom he saluted as Fred.
+He was short, and bald, and spasmodic,--so much so that his pantaloons
+were never straight, and his collar, through much moistening of its
+raspy edges, was soiled. After him, a lady and gentleman drove up to the
+gate in a carriage, and, alighting, the lady swept up the path, in a
+double sense, while her husband upbraided the driver for the muddy
+condition of the carriage, and then, loudly, "At ten, William!" To which
+William as loudly replied, "Can't do it, sir. Got another order; but
+I'll send you another man."
+
+The gentleman answered more quietly, with a careful look at the house,
+where Mr. Griffin awaited him on the porch,--
+
+"Very well, driver;" and also swept in, and was introduced to Fred as
+Mr. Abbert.
+
+Now came a pair who walked, and were addressed and handed around by the
+host as "My dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Dripps;" and then the volume of
+new-comers became quite abundant; so much so that a number of gentlemen
+with no apparent use for their hands were forced to lean about the hall
+and sit on the stairs, which they did up to the very top one. When the
+company had simmered down a good deal, and only a few very bold
+gentlemen ventured to launch remarks into the unanswering silence, and
+when everybody was wondering what everybody else was going to do next,
+and all were, as they reported the next day, "enjoying themselves
+immensely," there was a stir above stairs, a rustling of dresses, and
+then the gentlemen on the stairs, like a row of falling bricks, were
+driven down before the gracious smiles and bows of the transformed
+hostess.
+
+Tripping down after them and falling at last into the extended arms of
+her husband--rather unsteady under the weight--while the stiffly polite
+gentlemen formed a compact crowd out to the door. Mrs. Griffin was led,
+with no little difficulty, through the seated guests, bestowing bows,
+and smiles, and "Glad to see you, my dear Mr. Dripps," and "How well
+you're looking, my dear Mrs. Abbert," and "Welcome, gentlemen," (whereat
+a murmur ran through the crowd and all shook their heads and tried to
+turn round and bow, but utterly failed,) and "Oh! here's my old Fred,"
+and sundry other bewitching remarks that led the crowd of gentlemen to
+murmur again something like "Charming, be Gad!" and grow uneasy.
+
+But now the bell was rung by Superannuated, who had duly inserted the
+chair, and Mr. Abbert, receiving the hostess from the arm of her
+husband and in turn delivering his smiling wife to Mr. Griffin, led off
+the throng to dinner.
+
+When they arrived at the protruding table, by a preconcerted arrangement
+Mrs. Griffin handed Mr. Abbert to the one side and squeezed herself
+through the other--an action which was imitated by the rest of the
+company, who were finally seated close up to the door--all but Mr.
+Griffin, who was to occupy the extra chair, and, as he was already
+inside, and there was no other means of exit, he was obliged to pass
+through the kitchen and around the house. He soon appeared again through
+the front door and the dinner began.
+
+Mrs. Griffin, who had long before left Superannuated to finish while she
+perfected her toilet, now rang the bell and, on her appearance,
+whispered in her ear. Superannuated whispered in her mistress's ear.
+Mrs. Griffin thereupon uttered a little cry and looked at Mr. Griffin.
+Mr. Griffin, in consternation, cried, "My dear!" and attempted to
+squeeze between the chairs, but failed. Then he looked wildly about him,
+and at last ran through the front door. He soon reappeared at the side
+of his fainting wife, who revived enough to say,--
+
+"I shall never, never forgive you! Oh, the humiliation! the agony!" then
+fainted again.
+
+"What is it?" "What's the matter?" "She's fainted!" and confused screams
+of the ladies came from all sides. Mrs. Dripps passed along her salts
+bottle. Mrs. Abbert held Mrs. Griffin's head, and Fred applied water.
+Under the strong influence of these restoratives she soon revived, and
+whispered to her husband something which caused him also to start and
+look despairingly at her.
+
+She then said to him, loud enough for all to hear, "You must tell them
+it was your fault. Oh, the humiliation!" Here she burst out again, with
+her handkerchief to her eyes, and Mrs. Abbert soothingly said, "Oh,
+never mind him, my dear. I wouldn't mind him!" This was growing
+invidious, and all the gentlemen at the bottom of the table were looking
+scornfully at him.
+
+He therefore said, in a loud voice,--
+
+"The turkey has not arrived,--that is all."
+
+"That is all," whimpered Mrs. Griffin, mockingly. "That is all, he says;
+and isn't it enough, sir, to have all your domestic failings exposed to
+the world?"
+
+Mrs. Griffin alluded to cooking facilities, and grew very bitter, while
+"the world" simpered and exchanged looks.
+
+Mr. Griffin then, in desperation, explained the whole matter,--how he
+had left the card for David Dubbs, and paid for the turkey, and come
+unsuspectingly home. "As," he added, "I have done year after year,
+for----"
+
+Here Mrs. Griffin checked him with symptoms of another faint, and he
+stopped short.
+
+Mr. Abbert then said it was all that rascally clerk, and he ought to be
+discharged at once.
+
+"I know 'em," he added violently and with deeply implied wisdom, which,
+by the way, was the only species of wisdom he ever attained to. "I know
+'em, Griffin!"
+
+Mr. Fred was of a similar opinion, and even more violent in his
+denunciation of David, as he had set his heart on turkey, and the
+appetite died painfully within him.
+
+All the ladies and gentlemen were of various opinions, but all
+concentrated their rage on the poor, innocent little clerk, and panted
+for his clerkly death. In the midst of all this commotion the door-bell
+rang, and intensified it twofold, for nobody could get through to the
+door but by going around the house. This Superannuated finally did, and
+brought back with her the identical little clerk,--the poor, agitated,
+and bowing little clerk who had unconsciously aroused all the
+indignation and tumult, whom sundry gentlemen at the lower end of the
+table had threatened with severe punishment if they ever caught sight of
+him, and who, now catching sight of him, were more than usually silent.
+
+Mr. Griffin looked threateningly at him as, hat in hand, he walked up to
+him, presented a letter, and, in his faint voice, said,--
+
+"A letter for you, sir, left for me to deliver."
+
+He took it, and David continued tremulously to say,--
+
+"And how can I thank you, sir, and madam," turning to Mrs. Griffin, "for
+the bounteous gift----"
+
+"Gift?" exclaimed both in a breath; "what gift? Where is the turkey you
+brought? What gift? What gift?"
+
+"Why, a splendid turkey, with your card kindly----"
+
+This was received by the company with a volley of cries and calls, by a
+relapse on the part of Mrs. Griffin, and by the descent of Mr. Griffin's
+hand upon David's coat-collar, and finally by poor, frightened David's
+ejectment from the kitchen-door, harshly reproached by his employer as a
+thief and vagabond, and warned never to show his face in his store
+again.
+
+"Be off, now!" he cried after him, "you ungrateful, deceitful old
+villain!" and then he slammed the door, and joined the hungry guests, to
+whom he declaimed at some length on the thanklessness of the lower
+classes.
+
+Mrs. Griffin was quickly re-restored, this time to a state of injured
+perfection, and after the united apologies of herself and husband, and
+more abuse of poor, luckless David Dubbs, the company concluded with
+pretty bad grace to make the most of what had been prepared in the way
+of vegetables and side dishes, long ago cold. Mr. Griffin was mad,
+insulted, and hungry, and the contents of the letter he had received
+seemed to add very little warmth to the food, but a great deal to his
+anger, for he tore it up into very small pieces, as if it were David
+himself he was torturing, and, with a look the company did not consider
+very sociable, scattered it on the floor.
+
+
+V.
+
+The sky, as if presaging David Dubbs's misfortune, had grown overcast,
+and flung down spiteful little sallies of snow as he crossed the river
+on his way to Mr. Griffin's. The creaking of the bridge's huge timbers
+and the splitting ice below it made him shiver and pull his threadbare
+coat close about him and sacrifice his old hands to the wind to save his
+freezing ears. The same scarf bound them as the night before, but an icy
+gale like that which swept from the open river would have frozen through
+arctic furs. Notwithstanding all this, his spirits were lighter than
+usual. The scene he had left at home floated on before his eyes, and
+transfused itself with the black, sketchy trees against the sky and
+blent with the ragged barbs of smoke that depended from cottage
+chimneys. The wind had been boisterous enough, and would have torn it
+away on a cantering jaunt not many minutes ago, but, surcharged as it
+was now with blinding snow, it had its own liberty to look after, and
+paid little heed to anything else.
+
+The snow came on thicker and thicker, and had begun to whiten the
+streets by the time David reached Mr. Griffin's house, and now, as he
+stood shocked and bewildered in the garden again, it lay deep and
+dreadfully silent as far as the eye could reach. Had he heard truly? Had
+he, for the first time in a long, and honest, and reputable life, been
+called a thief? And by the man whom his heart had overflowed in
+gratitude to but a moment before! David Dubbs a thief! And what of? What
+had he stolen? Oh, it was cruel to his poor old heart! "And the girls so
+merry, even now," he thought. How; how could he go to them with these
+bitter tidings? To be deprived of even the poor means his pen had
+faithfully and honestly earned for them; to toil so long, so wearily for
+the meed of a thief, for the name of a thief! and he wept in his utter
+woe.
+
+His hat was still on his head, his coat was undone, his scarf had fallen
+back on his shoulders; his poor old eyes were wide apart again, now, and
+the wind tugged at his scanty hair, and the snow, no whiter than itself,
+sifted through it and drifted into the folds of his clothes. But,
+stunned, and tortured, and despairing though he was, the old clerk
+staggered on insensibly homeward. Back through the dreary trees; back
+through the drifted streets; back to the bridge, where he stopped by
+some fatal impulse and leaned near a bleak abutment that overlooked the
+river--gazing, gazing, gazing in a blank stare at the driving channel
+below. The thought, the lurking purpose was shadowed dimly on his
+distraught mind. The cold, rolling river once passed, the seething cakes
+of ice once passed, and it would soon be over, soon be over. Life had
+been a worthless gift to him. His youth had been falsely colored by the
+visions of childhood; his age had been falsely colored by the ambitions
+of youth. Nothing he had looked to in the distance ever had grown into
+reality. Why should he survive his good name! And he clutched the stones
+and raised himself up and quivered at the top of the stone wall.
+
+But now his hand relaxed, and his face, clouded and suffering before,
+fell into a calmer look of attention, almost a smile broke over it, and
+he gazed out against the sky as if transfixed.
+
+It was the vision that had, like the pillar of cloud by day and of fire
+by night, preceded and gladdened him on his way; the scene of his happy,
+unsuspecting girls; of the pale Little Scout--whose simple touch would
+then have instantly revived and soothed him, whose tender love was his
+comfort, his sanctuary from pursuing evils; the scene of his old home,
+far cosier, far more beloved, far more cheerful for all its homeliness,
+for all its poverty, than the more pretentious one of Emanuel Griffin;
+the scene of lowly pleasures it had cherished; of the bitter trials it
+had assuaged; and, finally, of the bright, laughing group he had left
+there, oh! so little prepared, so little conscious of the blight he
+would bring among them. This vision, these thoughts had flowed in upon
+his already disturbed mind, and had driven quite away all consciousness
+of where he was or how long he had stood in the bitter cold, when a
+policeman--overcoated, and furred, and frozen-bearded,--came by, and,
+suspecting things to be not altogether right, caught David by the
+sleeve, and adjusted his scarf and hat, saying,--
+
+"No loafing on the bridge, old man. Move on; move on, now!" at which
+David started, looked all around him, and then moved on as commanded.
+His back, always bent, and his gait, always decrepit and shuffling, were
+now pitiably so, and he had a long, long journey before him; but, thanks
+be to Him whose omnipotent care protects and watches over the poor in
+spirit, he had escaped a far longer one. On and on he went, not cold
+now, not thinking, not in haste; passing thick-coated travellers who
+ran, and clapped their hands, and swung their arms for warmth; passing
+gay companies in cabs that rolled over the snow as softly as footsteps
+on velvet. But he heeded nothing of all this, and staggered onward to
+his own poor home.
+
+A light was streaming out from the windows of the old warehouse,
+crossing the snow piled on the platform above and slanting on the heaps
+beneath. It was an inviting glimmer, a herald from within to all cold
+travellers without of the blessedness of home, and, as David approached
+the corner of the court, his eye was greeted cheerily by its "Welcome
+home!" and, indeed, it was the first thing he had distinctly seen since
+leaving the house of Mr. Griffin. But his heart failed him. How could he
+face his dear girls again and tell them of the destitution of to-morrow?
+Of the worse than poverty? Thus he thought, and lingered, and slunk
+away by turns, but the ray of home-born light allured him, impassively,
+into its midst, and as he stood over against the house, a poor, weak,
+old man, rambling in his mind, and heroically deciding rather to leave
+them in peace to-night, one more night, and return to them to-morrow, a
+window was thrown up, and Jacob Tripple, putting forth his head, looked
+up and down the court, and then directly in front of him, where David
+stood immovable in the light.
+
+"Why, there he is, now!" he cried. "What's gone amiss, David? What's
+kept you so long? Here he is! Here he is!" he exclaimed again and again,
+and, drawing in his head in much less time than the words could be said,
+Jacob Tripple, followed by the girls, was down-stairs, was--still
+followed by the girls--out in the snow, and had forcibly carried David
+up with them.
+
+They laid him on the settee, moaning and crying aloud against Emanuel
+Griffin, and repeating again and again that they were "Beggars, beggars,
+beggars!" and exclaiming, "My poor Little Scout! My poor girls! My
+poor----"
+
+"They shall not suffer, father!" said a new voice, the sound of which
+raised him up with wide-opened eyes and palsied hands at his head, and a
+long stare at the speaker--"It's Tom, father. Don't you know me?"
+repeated the voice.
+
+Know him! How should he know him? tall, and brawny, and whiskered, with
+pleasant blue eyes, and ruddy cheeks, and good nature streaming from his
+whole face! Him who, so many years ago,--a beardless youth--had run off
+to California after gold bubbles, and whom little good had been heard of
+when anything at all was heard of him. Know him? Of course he did not;
+but, as he sat down beside him on the settee and shook his old hand,
+David put his arms about his neck, and hung his head upon his bosom, and
+saw, in imagination, the thriftless boy of long ago whom he loved for
+all his waywardness.
+
+Tom's strong arms soon bore him to his old seat near the fire, and, for
+the first time, David's wandering eye noticed the bower of green holly
+and red-berried mistletoe that decked the room. General Washington was
+loaded with it. The old clock, actually striking in a cheerier voice the
+hour of nine, had its full share. The dresser hid in festoons of it.
+Even David's chair had its sprig. But what was that on the floor? An
+opened trunk, like a cloven pomegranate, displaying within rich trinkets
+that many a lady might covet?
+
+"Wha--what's it all mean, girls? Tell me, Little Scout," said David,
+catching her hand. "What happened to me? I thought I came home--home to
+tell you Griffin threw me out in the snow, and called me a thief, and
+how all of them scowled and cried out at me, and I thought----" then,
+looking at the tall man, he cried again,--
+
+"Tom, is it so? Is it so, my dear boy?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Tom, slowly, to calm him, "it is, happily, all so."
+
+Then his little daughter, who had stood by his side through it all,
+kissed him, and said,--
+
+"Come, father, look at the pretty presents Tom has brought us and you.
+See here's a beautiful new coat hanging on your peg for you, and Molly
+and Polly are as gay as any ladies," and she led him, tottering and
+feeble, to the loaded table--no longer ashamed of its defaced back
+beneath the pile of gifts it bore.
+
+Then Mr. Tripple, hand in hand with the unresisting Polly, and Molly,
+and Tom, an unbroken circuit of cheery faces that electrified David
+Dubbs into a wrinkled smile in spite of lingering grief, clustered
+around the table and exclaimed aloud with admiration at the gifts Tom
+had brought.
+
+But David, still overshadowed by the events of the afternoon, said, in a
+quivering voice,--
+
+"But to-morrow, children, to-morrow! I am discharged by Griffin; we
+shall starve to-morrow!"
+
+"Not while I'm about," laughed Tom. "Come, come, be calm, and I'll tell
+you all about it."
+
+And he did tell of the long years of hope and distress, of despair when
+unconsciously within reach of fortune; of its final realization and of
+its golden yield. "So here I am, father, and your old hand shall write
+no more for Emanuel Griffin."
+
+Then said Dolly, "You don't speak, father; you are surely not sorry?"
+
+Sorry! He was stifled with gratitude; he was transforming into his old
+self. The familiar tenderness of her voice opened the floodgates of his
+heart, and he burst into a louder "Hurrah" than over Griffin's turkey,
+and kissed them all around, Mr. Tripple included, and, indeed, the day
+had been so successfully employed on the part of that gentleman that his
+early entrance into the family was far from problematical--so of course
+David did perfectly right.
+
+Polly here broke in, "And, father, it was Tom who brought the note, and
+Tom who planned the surprise for you. What did it say, Tom? you can tell
+us now."
+
+He laughed quietly, and then said, as if he were reading impressively
+from the open sheet to Mr. Griffin himself, and making him writhe under
+his coolness,--
+
+     "Emanuel Griffin,
+
+     "Sir: The connection of my father, David Dubbs, Esq., with your
+     counting-house, will cease from this day forth.
+
+"Sir, your obedient servant,
+"Thomas Dubbs."
+
+
+
+
+_Told by an English Tourist._
+
+
+     "He seemed to be a kind of connecting link between the old times
+     and the new, and to be, withal, a little antiquated in the taste of
+     his accomplishments."
+
+_Irving._
+
+
+
+
+A STILL CHRISTMAS.
+
+
+It was Christmas eve in the year of our Lord 1653. The snow, which had
+fallen fitfully throughout the day, shrouded in white the sloping roofs
+and narrow London streets, and lay in little, sparkling heaps on every
+jutting cornice or narrow window-ledge where it could find a
+resting-place. But in the west the setting sun shone clearly, firing the
+steeples into sudden glory and gilding every tiny pane of glass that
+faced its dying splendor. The thoroughfares were strangely silent and
+deserted. The roving groups that had been wont at this season to fill
+them with boisterous merriment, the noise, the bustle, the good cheer of
+Christmas--all were lacking. No maskers roamed from street to street,
+jingling their bells, beating their mighty drums, and bidding the
+delighted crowd to make way for the Lord of Misrule. No shouts of "Noel!
+Noel!" rang through the frosty air. No children gathered round their
+neighbors' doors, singing quaint carols and forgotten glees, and bearing
+off rich guerdon in the shape of apples, nuts, and substantial
+Christmas buns. In place of the old-time gayety a dreary silence reigned
+through the deserted highways, and down the narrow footwalk, with even
+step and half-shut eyes, tramped the Puritan herald, ringing his bell
+and proclaiming ever and anon in measured tones, "No Christmas! No
+Christmas!"
+
+In sober and sad-hued garments was the herald arrayed, with leathern
+boots that defied the snow and a copious mantle enveloping his sturdy
+frame. Now and then he stopped to warn a couple of belated idlers that
+they would do well to separate and go quietly to their homes. Now and
+then a little child peeped at him timorously from a doorway, and,
+overawed by his sombre aspect and heavy frown, retreated rapidly to hide
+its fears in the safe shelter of its mother's gown. Men shook their
+heads as he went by, and muttered something that was not always
+complimentary to his presence; and women shrugged their shoulders and
+sighed, and thought, perchance, of other Christmases in the past, with
+Yule-logs burning on the hearth and stray kisses snatched beneath the
+mistletoe. From a latticed window a girl's face peered at him with such
+a light of laughing malice in the brown eyes that the Puritan, catching
+sight of their wicked gleam, paused a moment, as though to reprove the
+maiden for her forwardness, or to inquire what mischief was afoot under
+this humble roof. But the night was growing chill, and he had still far
+to go. It might not be worth while to waste words of counsel on one so
+evidently godless; and, with a heavier scowl than usual, he tramped on,
+swinging his bell with lusty force. "No Christmas! No Christmas!" echoed
+through the darkening streets, and, as he passed, the girl contracted
+her features into a grimace that would have done credit to the
+wide-mouthed gargoyle of a Gothic cathedral.
+
+"Cicely, Cicely!" cried a voice, at this juncture, from within, "close
+the shutters, do, and come and help me."
+
+Cicely, who had been inclined to stare out a little longer, shot the
+heavy oaken bolt into its socket, and, opening a door leading to the
+inner room, disclosed a scene whose ruddy cheerfulness shone all the
+brighter in contrast to the dreary streets outside. A mighty bunch of
+fagots blazed and crackled on the hearth, and above the carved
+chimney-place hung branches of holly, their scarlet, berries glowing
+deeply in the firelight. In one corner, half-veiled by a tapestry
+curtain, a waxen Bambino nestled in its little manger, while before it
+burned a small copper lamp. Wreaths of holly and ivy bedecked the
+doors, and, standing tip-toed on a tall wooden chair, a young girl was
+even now striving to fasten these securely with the aid of a very old
+and wrinkled woman, who seemed more competent to admire than to assist
+the undertaking.
+
+"Some bigger berries, pray, Catherine," she said, impatiently; "and,
+Cicely, if you feel you have loitered enough, hand me those two long ivy
+branches. They should droop gracefully--so! And now stand off a little
+way and tell me how it looks."
+
+The younger sister obeyed, and, stationing herself in the middle of the
+room, surveyed the whole effect with much approval. Annis, her fair face
+flushed with the exertion, balanced herself on her lofty perch and gazed
+complacently upon her handiwork; while even Mistress Vane, who had been
+seated quietly on a deep chair by the fireplace, roused herself as from
+a reverie, and looked half-wistfully around the cheerful room. "What
+bell was that I heard just now?" she asked.
+
+"The herald's, proclaiming a still Christmas," answered Cicely,
+promptly; "and he watched me as sourly as though he knew that we were
+plotting treason."
+
+"Cecil, Cecil!" remonstrated her mother, in alarm. "Surely you did
+nothing imprudent."
+
+"I?" returned Cicely, apparently oblivious as to what she had done. "I
+cast up the whites of my eyes, as though repeating psalms for mine own
+inward sustainment; and seeing me so piously disposed, he was fain to
+pass on to the correction of greater sinners."
+
+"That were well-nigh impossible," said her sister, laughing; but
+Mistress Vane only looked anxious and disturbed. The sense of insecurity
+to which Annis was indifferent, and which Cicely at fourteen found
+absolutely amusing, weighed heavily on the older woman, who had a better
+understanding of the danger, and who had suffered cruelly in the past.
+Husband and son had fallen for a lost cause, confiscation had devoured
+the larger portion of her once fair inheritance; and now, with her two
+young daughters, she found herself beset by perils, harassed by
+stringent laws, and at the mercy of any ill-wind fate might blow her.
+Cromwell's mighty arm held the fretful country in subjection, making the
+name of England great and terrible abroad, and silencing every whisper
+of disaffection at home. The Puritans, in their hour of triumph, stamped
+upon the land the impress of their strong and bitter individuality; and
+a morose asceticism, part real and part affected, crushed out of life
+all the innocent pleasure of living. With every man determined to be
+better than his neighbor, the competition in saintliness ran high. Under
+its vigorous stimulus the May-pole and the Yule-log were alike branded
+as heathenish observances, the Christmas-pie became a "pye of
+abomination," and all amusements, from the drama to bear-baiting, were
+censured with impartial severity. Feast-days were abolished, and even to
+display the emblems of the Nativity was held to be sedition. The
+Established Church, cowed and shorn of its splendor, was treated with
+surly contempt; the Catholics were altogether beyond the pale of
+charity. It was not a time calculated to promote festivity; yet, while
+the heralds proclaimed through the frosty streets that Christmas at last
+was dead, Annis Vane, with holly and ivy, with Yule-dough and
+Babie-cake, was making all things ready for its mysterious birth. And as
+she worked she sang softly under breath the refrain of a carol she had
+learned at her nurse's knee,--
+
+  "This endris night
+  I saw a sight,
+    A star as bright as day;
+  And ever among
+  A maiden sung
+    Lullay, by-by, lullay."
+
+"Is it not strange, mother," she said, breaking suddenly off, "that men
+should deem it a mark of holiness to cast derision on the birth-night
+of their Saviour?"
+
+"Let us be just even to our enemies," replied Mistress Vane, gently.
+"They think not to deride the Nativity, so much as to condemn the
+riotous fashion in which Christians were wont to keep the feast. There
+have been times, Annis, when the Lord of Misrule did more discredit to
+this holy season than does the Puritan to-day."
+
+Annis opened her blue eyes to their very utmost. This view of the matter
+was one she was hardly prepared to accept. "Why, dearest mother," she
+protested, "when should we venture to be happy, if not on Christmas-day?
+And how can we show ourselves too joyful for our salvation? And did not
+his most blessed majesty King Charles knight with his own royal hand a
+Lord of Misrule who held court in the Middle Temple?"
+
+Mistress Vane smiled at her daughter's vehemence. She knew more about
+these jovial monarchs and their courts than Annis did, and it may even
+be that his most blessed majesty's approval carried less weight to her
+experienced mind. But in these dark and chilly days a little enthusiasm
+was helpful in keeping one's heart warm, and she was far too wise a
+mother to disparage it. "Truly they made a brave show then upon
+Christmas-day," she admitted, "for the lord mayor and his corporation, a
+goodly company of gentlemen, rode in procession to the church of St.
+Thomas Acon, and thence to dine together with many pleasant ceremonies.
+And stoups of wine and huge venison pasties were despatched to the
+Temple for the stay and comfort of the mock-court, who made merry all
+day long. And the streets were crowded, far into the night, with maskers
+and revellers; and even the poor might for once forget their poverty,
+and were welcome to the brawn and plum-broth of their richer neighbors."
+
+"And now we have nothing of all this!" cried Cicely, with passionate
+regret. "Nothing to look at and nothing to hear save the cracked bell of
+a dingy herald, who does not even ride a hobby-horse like the merry
+heralds of old. In truth, Master Prynne hath made good his own words
+when he holds that Christmas should be rather a day of mourning than one
+of rejoicing."
+
+"Not so thought my godfather, kind Master Breton," said Annis,
+thoughtfully. "For he hath written that it is the duty of Christians to
+rejoice for the remembrance of Christ and for the maintenance of
+good-fellowship. 'I hold it,' he hath said, 'a memory of the Heaven's
+love and the world's peace, the mirth of the honest and the meeting of
+the friendly.'"
+
+Cicely's eyes danced with glee. "That were well remembered," she said,
+mockingly; "if, now, you can but tell us in turn what your godfather's
+nephew, Captain Rupert Breton, hath thought upon the matter."
+
+Annis flushed scarlet, and the quick tears welled into her eyes as she
+turned them reproachfully upon her sister. It was not easy for her to
+think of her absent lover and maintain the cheerful frame of mind she
+deemed appropriate to the season. The shores of France seemed very far
+away that night, and the long months that had elapsed since the defeat
+at Worcester stretched backward like a lifetime, as she recalled his
+last hurried farewell. He had ridden hard and risked much for those few
+words, and patiently and bravely she had waited ever since, hoping,
+praying, turning her face steadily to the brighter side, and keeping
+ever in mind the happy hour which should reunite them to each other.
+Now, in silence, she bound together the last green boughs and put all in
+order for the night. Old Catherine had long since gone off, yawning and
+blinking, to bed, and Cicely, half-asleep, nodded over the dying fire.
+Only her mother watched her, with eyes of loving scrutiny, and Annis
+smiled brightly as she kissed the careworn face. "I shall not cry
+myself to sleep to-night," she said, resolutely. "This is a time for
+gladness; for the star of Bethlehem is shining in the sky, and the birth
+of the Lord is at hand."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bright glowed the Christmas-logs on the capacious hearth till every
+pointed leaf and scarlet holly-berry shone in the generous firelight.
+
+  "Whosoever against holly doth cry,
+  In a rope shall be hung full high."
+
+For, when the oak and ash trees babbled to the wind, and betrayed the
+Saviour's hiding-place, the holly, the ivy, and the pine kept the secret
+hidden in their silent hearts; and for this good deed they stand green
+and living under winter's icy breath, while their companions shiver
+naked in the blast. Not till the risen sun has danced on Easter morn
+shall the oak adorn a Christian household and prove itself forgiven. The
+Christmas-pie--the Christ-cradle, as the Saxons used to call it--had
+been baked in its oblong dish in memory of the manger at Bethlehem, with
+the star of the Magi cut deeply in the swelling crust. The Yule-dough,
+cunningly moulded into the likeness of a little babe, had been carefully
+laid by as a sovereign protector from the evils of fire, floods,
+carnage, and--so say some ancient writers--from the bite of rabid
+dogs. Annis Vane, decked out in the bravest array her altered fortunes
+would permit, knelt by the blazing hearth. Her ruff was of the finest
+lace, and a row of milk-white pearls clasped her slender throat. She
+shaded her face from the fire, and piled up shining cones of
+bright-brown nuts that seemed to tempt the flames.
+
+[Illustration: The Cavalier From France]
+
+"All we lack now is the mistletoe," she said, half-despondently. "It was
+no easy task to find the holly and bring it home unnoticed; but we
+cannot gather mistletoe near London, and there is none for sale
+throughout the city."
+
+"Of what use is the mistletoe," said the practical Cicely, "when we are
+but three women here alone? We can kiss each other as readily under a
+sprig of ivy, and we can fire our nuts without the help of man or lad,
+provided only we keep one in our minds. Of whom shall I think, Annis?"
+she queried, wrinkling up her pretty forehead in anxious perplexity over
+so disturbing a doubt.
+
+"You are far too young to think of men at all," answered Annis,
+reprovingly, and with all the conscious superiority of age. "Nor do you
+know enough as yet to make such pastime profitable."
+
+Cicely's brows drew together with a frown which plainly indicated the
+nature of the retort upon her lips, but a glance from her mother checked
+her. "The word uttered in vexation is better left unspoken," said
+Mistress Vane, with gentle authority. "And I am waiting here, not to
+listen to disputes, which in these stormy times have grown wearisome,
+but to hear the Christmas carol promised me to-night."
+
+Annis, with flushed cheeks, took down from the wall a little mandolin of
+Spanish workmanship, and, striking a few chords, began the carol, in
+which Cicely, after sacrificing some moments to ill-temper, concluded
+presently to join, her clear flute-notes rising high above her sister's
+weaker tones,--
+
+  "When Christ was born of Mary free,
+  In Bethlehem, in that fair citie,
+  Angels sungen with mirth and glee,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "Herdsmen beheld these angels bright
+  To them appeared with great light,
+  And said, God's Son is born this night,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "The King is comen to save kind,
+  Even in Scripture as we find;
+  Therefore this song have we in mind,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "Then, dear Lord, for thy great grace,
+  Grant us in bliss to see thy face,
+  Where we may sing to thee solace,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!"
+
+As the sounds died into silence there stood one in the icy streets and
+listened. No self-elected saint was he, scenting out treason to the
+Commonwealth, but a cavalier from France, with his love-locks shorn for
+sweet prudence's sake, and a mighty mantle enveloping him from head to
+foot. If Annis Vane had waited, and hoped, and built up her faith in the
+cheer of Christmas-night, the joy she coveted was very near at last.
+After lingering a few moments, as though on the chance of hearing more,
+the stranger advanced and knocked sharply at the heavily-barred door. It
+was opened in due season and with great caution by old Catherine, who
+evidently thought the hour ill-chosen for a new-comer, and mistrusted
+sorely the purpose of his visit. He allowed her scant time, however, to
+threaten or expostulate, but, putting her gently on one side, stepped to
+the inner room. There, pale with anxiety and terror, Mistress Vane
+leaned forward in her chair, while Cicely, half-frightened,
+half-defiant, grasped her mother's skirt. Before the fire stood Annis,
+her blue eyes shining like stars, a round, red spot burning feverishly
+in each cheek, her lace ruff rising and falling distressfully with the
+heaving bosom within. The mandolin had fallen from her hands; the ruddy
+firelight lit up her slight figure and fair, disordered curls. She stood
+thus for a moment, swaying breathless betwixt hope and fear, then, with
+a low, joyous cry, sprang forward into her lover's arms.
+
+Welcome now the good cheer of Christmas-night! Welcome the
+Christmas-pie, the pasty of venison, the pudding stuffed with plums, and
+the flagon of old wine. Love is a brave appetizer when backed by long
+fasting and a ten hours' ride, and Captain Breton brought all the vigor
+of youth and happiness and of a noble hunger to bear upon the viands.
+The glow of the cheerful room was infinitely comforting to the tired
+traveller; the sight of Annis's happy face put fresh hope and courage in
+his heart. He had much to tell of the gay court of France, and of the
+royal exile, who should one day, God willing, sit on his father's
+throne. Nor were there lacking adventures and dangers of his own to give
+flavor to the narrative, nor plans for the future, colored with all the
+happy confidence of youth. He had come home to win his bride, and to
+carry her away to brighter scenes until this soured and gloomy England
+should be merrie England once more. "He who would keep a light heart
+within London walls," said he, "must needs be very sure of heaven, as
+are Master Prynne and Master Philip Stubbes, or very much in love, as am
+I. It lacks but a covered cart and a bell in every street to make one
+feel the Black Death is upon us. If you can laugh in such an atmosphere
+of melancholy, Annis, what will you do in France?"
+
+"Mayhap if I laugh enough in sober London I shall grow too giddy and
+forward in foolish France," returned Annis, gayly; "unless----"
+
+"Unless what, dear heart?"
+
+"Unless while I am safe in Paris you are fighting the battles of the
+king in England. Then tears will come easier than laughter, as in truth
+they have done of late."
+
+"Wherever I may be, your prayers will prove my bulwark," said Captain
+Breton, confidently. "It would take more than a silver bullet to find
+its way to my heart while you are besieging heaven's doors in the
+tumultuous fashion that only women can attain. I bear a charmed life as
+long as you remember your petitions."
+
+Annis answered with a look, and Cicely, nestling by her mother's chair,
+watched her sister with wide, serious eyes. To the child standing on the
+threshold of womanhood the presence of love carries with it an
+intoxicating flavor of mystery. It is something that fills her alike
+with envy and a vague resentment, with wonder and an indefinable desire.
+Its commonest expression is a perverse antipathy to one of the lovers,
+with an irrational increase of affection for the other; and in this case
+Captain Breton came in for his full share of Cicely's smothered anger
+and disdain. He, meanwhile, in happy unconsciousness, chancing to meet
+the brown eyes lifted dreamily to his own, and noting the upward curve
+of the short, sweet lip, thought within himself that this elfish little
+Cicely was growing almost as pretty as her sister--a judgment which
+proves conclusively the blindness of love; for Annis, though fair and
+comely to look upon, came no nearer to her young sister's beauty than
+does the pink-tipped daisy to the half-opened rosebud uncurling slowly
+in the sun. At present, the girl, seeing that she was watched, turned
+away her head pettishly and eyed the leaping flames.
+
+"Annis said to-night there was but one thing lacking to her Christmas
+cheer," she remarked, after a pause, and with the too evident intention
+of saying something vexatious.
+
+"And that was I!" interposed the cavalier, with the ready assurance of a
+lover.
+
+"It was not you at all," returned Cicely, "but the mistletoe. We
+gathered the other greens ourselves, but there was no mistletoe to be
+found within or without the gates of London."
+
+"By a happy chance we can proceed as though we had it," said Captain
+Breton, contentedly, while Annis crimsoned like a rose. "It is a welcome
+little plant, and carries a merry message; but if it be banished in
+these saintly days, we obstinate sinners must kiss without its
+sanction."
+
+"But the maid who is not kissed on Christmas-night beneath the mistletoe
+will never be a wife during the coming year," persisted Cicely, who had
+laid down her line of attack and was not to be driven therefrom.
+
+"Now, will you wager your ring or your new ear-drop on that, little
+sister?" said the captain, laughing at the threat. "Or have you a
+trinket that you value less to risk in such a cause?"
+
+Cicely, deeply affronted, puckered up her brow and drew closer to her
+mother; but Annis, far too happy to be vexed, leaned over and kissed the
+pouting lips. With her, joy meant thanksgiving, and her heart was
+singing--singing the song of the angel of Judea: "In Excelsis Gloria!"
+
+
+
+
+_A Norseman's Saga._
+
+
+     "As he sat there with a sou'wester down over his ears, in a long
+     pilot coat, his figure appeared to assume quite supernatural
+     proportions, and you might almost imagine that you had one of the
+     old Vikings before you."
+
+_Asbjörnsen._
+
+
+
+
+THROND.
+
+
+There was once a man named Alf, who had raised great expectations among
+his fellow-parishioners because he excelled most of them both in the
+work he accomplished and in the advice he gave. Now, when this man was
+thirty years old, he went to live up the mountain, and cleared a piece
+of land for farming, about fourteen miles from any settlement. Many
+people wondered how he could endure thus depending on himself for
+companionship, but they were still more astonished when, a few years
+later, a young girl from the valley, and one, too, who had been the
+gayest of the gay at all the social gatherings and dances of the parish,
+was willing to share his solitude.
+
+This couple were called "the people in the wood," and the man was known
+by the name of "Alf in the wood." People viewed him with inquisitive
+eyes when they met him at church or at work, because they did not
+understand him; but neither did he take the trouble to give them any
+explanation of his conduct. His wife was only seen in the parish twice,
+and on one of these occasions it was to present a child for baptism.
+
+This child was a son, and he was called Thrond. When he grew larger his
+parents often talked about needing help, and, as they could not afford
+to take a full-grown servant, they hired what they called "a half:" they
+brought into their house a girl of fourteen, who took care of the boy
+while the father and mother were busy in the field.
+
+This girl was not the brightest person in the world, and the boy soon
+observed that his mother's words were easy to comprehend, but that it
+was hard to get at the meaning of what Ragnhild said. He never talked
+much with his father, and he was rather afraid of him, for the house had
+to be kept very quiet when he was home. One Christmas Eve--they were
+burning two candles on the table, and the father was drinking from a
+white flask--the father took the boy up in his arms and set him on his
+lap, looked him sternly in the eyes, and exclaimed,--
+
+"Ugh, boy!" Then he added more gently,--"Why, you are not so much
+afraid. Would you have the courage to listen to a story?"
+
+The boy made no reply, but he looked full in his father's face. His
+father then told him about a man from Vaage, whose name was Blessom.
+This man was in Copenhagen for the purpose of getting the king's verdict
+in a law-suit he was engaged in, and he was detained so long that
+Christmas eve overtook him there. Blessom was greatly annoyed at this,
+and, as he was sauntering about the streets fancying himself at home, he
+saw a very large man, in a white, short coat, walking in front of him.
+
+"How fast you are walking!" said Blessom.
+
+"I have a long distance to go in order to get home this evening,"
+replied the man.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To Vaage," answered the man, and walked on.
+
+"Why, that is very nice," said Blessom, "for that is where I am going,
+too."
+
+"Well, then, you may ride with me, if you will stand on the runners of
+my sledge," answered the man, and turned into a side street where his
+horse was standing.
+
+He mounted his seat and looked over his shoulder at Blessom, who was
+just getting on the runners.
+
+"You had better hold fast," said the stranger.
+
+Blessom did as he was told, and it was well he did, for their journey
+was evidently not by land.
+
+"It seems to me that you are driving on the water," cried Blessom.
+
+"I am," said the man, and the spray whirled about them.
+
+But after a while it seemed to Blessom their course no longer lay on the
+water.
+
+"It seems to me we are moving through the air," said he.
+
+"Yes, so we are," replied the stranger.
+
+But when they had gone still farther, Blessom thought he recognized the
+parish they were driving through.
+
+"Is not this Vaage?" cried he.
+
+"Yes, now we are there," replied the stranger, and it seemed to Blessom
+that they had gone pretty fast.
+
+"Thank you for the good ride," said he.
+
+"Thanks to yourself," replied the man, and added, as he whipped up his
+horse, "Now you had better not look after me."
+
+"No, indeed," thought Blessom, and started over the hills for home.
+
+But just then so loud and terrible a crash was heard behind him that it
+seemed as if the whole mountain must be tumbling down, and a bright
+light was shed over the surrounding landscape; he looked round and
+beheld the stranger in the white coat driving through the crackling
+flames into the open mountain, which was yawning wide to receive him,
+like some huge gate. Blessom felt somewhat strange in regard to his
+travelling companion; and thought he would look in another direction;
+but as he had turned his head so it remained, and never more could
+Blossom get it straight again.
+
+The boy had never heard anything to equal this in all his life. He dared
+not ask his father for more, but early the next morning he asked his
+mother if she knew any stories. Yes, of course she did; but hers were
+chiefly about princesses who were in captivity for seven years, until
+the right prince came along. The boy believed that everything he heard
+or read about took place close around him.
+
+He was about eight years old when the first stranger entered their door
+one winter evening. He had black hair, and this was something Thrond had
+never seen before. The stranger saluted them with a short
+"Good-evening!" and came forward. Thrond grew frightened and sat down on
+a cricket by the hearth. The mother asked the man to take a seat on the
+bench along the wall; he did so, and then the mother could examine his
+face more closely.
+
+"Dear me! is not this Knud the fiddler?" cried she.
+
+"Yes, to be sure it is. It has been a long time since I played at your
+wedding."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is quite a while now. Have you been on a long journey?"
+
+"I have been playing for Christmas on the other side of the mountain.
+But half-way down the slope I began to feel very badly, and I was
+obliged to come in here to rest."
+
+The mother brought forward food for him; he sat down to the table, but
+did not say "in the name of Jesus," as the boy had been accustomed to
+hear. When he had finished eating, he got up from the table, and said,--
+
+"Now I feel very comfortable; let me rest a little while."
+
+And he was allowed to rest on Thrond's bed.
+
+For Thrond a bed was made on the floor. As the boy lay there, he felt
+cold on the side that was turned away from the fire, and that was the
+left side. He discovered that it was because this side was exposed to
+the chill night air; for he was lying out in the wood. How came he in
+the wood? He got up and looked about him, and saw that there was fire
+burning a long distance off, and that he was actually alone in the wood.
+He longed to go home to the fire; but could not stir from the spot. Then
+a great fear overcame him; for wild beasts might be roaming about,
+trolls and ghosts might appear to him; he must get home to the fire; but
+he could not stir from the spot. Then his terror grew, he strove with
+all his might to gain self-control, and was at last able to cry,
+"Mother," and then he awoke.
+
+"Dear child, you have had bad dreams," said she, and took him up.
+
+A shudder ran through him, and he glanced round. The stranger was gone,
+and he dared not inquire after him.
+
+His mother appeared in her black dress, and started for the parish. She
+came home with two new strangers, who also had black hair and who wore
+flat caps. They did not say "in the name of Jesus," when they ate, and
+they talked in low tones with the father. Afterwards the latter and they
+went into the barn, and came out again with a large box, which the men
+carried between them. They placed it on a sled, and said farewell. Then
+the mother said,--
+
+"Wait a little, and take with you the smaller box he brought here with
+him."
+
+And she went in to get it. But one of the men said,--
+
+"_He_ can have that," and he pointed at Thrond.
+
+"Use it as well as _he_ who is now lying _here_," added the other
+stranger, pointing at the large box.
+
+Then they both laughed and went on. Thrond looked at the little box
+which thus came into his possession.
+
+"What is there in it?" asked he.
+
+"Carry it in and find out," said the mother.
+
+He did as he was told, but his mother helped him open it. Then a great
+joy lighted up his face, for he saw something very light and fine lying
+there.
+
+"Take it up," said his mother.
+
+He put just one finger down on it, but quickly drew it back again in
+great alarm.
+
+"It cries," said he.
+
+"Have courage," said his mother, and he grasped it with his whole hand
+and drew it forth from the box.
+
+He weighed it and turned it round, he laughed and felt of it.
+
+"Dear me! what is it?" asked he, for it was as light as a toy.
+
+"It is a fiddle."
+
+This was the way that Thrond Alfson got his first violin.
+
+The father could play a little, and he taught the boy how to handle the
+instrument; the mother could sing the tunes she remembered from her
+dancing days, and these the boy learned, but soon began to make new ones
+for himself. He played all the time he was not at his books; he played
+until his father once told him he was fading away before his eyes. All
+the boy had read and heard until that time was put into the fiddle. The
+tender, delicate string was his mother; the one that lay close beside
+it, and always accompanied his mother, was Ragnhild. The coarse string,
+which he seldom ventured to play on, was his father. But of the last
+solemn string he was half afraid, and he gave no name to it. When he
+played a wrong note on the E string, it was the cat; but when he took a
+wrong note on his father's string, it was the ox. The bow was Blessom,
+who drove from Copenhagen to Vaage in one night. And every tune he
+played represented something. The one containing the long solemn tones
+was his mother in her black dress. The one that jerked and skipped was
+like Moses, who stuttered and smote the rock with his staff. The one
+that had to be played quietly, with the bow moving lightly over the
+strings, was the hulder in yonder fog, calling together her cattle,
+where no one but herself could see.
+
+But the music wafted him onward over the mountains, and a great yearning
+took possession of his soul. One day, when his father told about a
+little boy who had been playing at the fair and who had earned a great
+deal of money, Thrond waited for his mother in the kitchen and asked her
+softly if he could not go to the fair and play for people.
+
+"Whoever heard of such a thing!" said his mother; but she immediately
+spoke to his father about it.
+
+"He will get out into the world soon enough," answered the father; and
+he spoke in such a way that the mother did not ask again.
+
+Shortly after this, the father and mother were talking at table about
+some new settlers who had recently moved up on the mountain and were
+about to be married. They had no fiddler for the wedding, the father
+said.
+
+"Could not I be the fiddler?" whispered the boy, when he was alone in
+the kitchen once more with his mother.
+
+"What, a little boy like you?" said she; but she went out to the barn
+where his father was and told him about it.
+
+"He has never been in the parish," she added; "he has never seen a
+church."
+
+"I should not think you would ask about such things," said Alf; but
+neither did he say anything more, and so the mother thought she had
+permission. Consequently she went over to the new settlers and offered
+the boy's services.
+
+"The way he plays," said she, "no little boy has ever played before;"
+and the boy was to be allowed to come.
+
+What joy there was at home! Thrond played from morning until evening and
+practised new tunes; at night he dreamed about them: they bore him far
+over the hills, away to foreign lands, as though he were afloat on
+sailing clouds. His mother made a new suit of clothes for him; but his
+father would not take part in what was going on.
+
+The last night he did not sleep, but thought out a new tune about the
+church which he had never seen. He was up early in the morning, and so
+was his mother, in order to get him his breakfast, but he could not eat.
+He put on his new clothes and took his fiddle in his hand, and it seemed
+to him as though a bright light were glowing before his eyes. His mother
+accompanied him out on the flag-stone, and stood watching him as he
+ascended the slopes; it was the first time he had left home.
+
+His father got quietly out of bed, and walked to the window; he stood
+there, following the boy with his eyes until he heard the mother out on
+the flag-stone, then he went back to bed and was lying down when she
+came in.
+
+She kept stirring about him, as if she wanted to relieve her mind of
+something. And finally it came out,--
+
+"I really think I must walk down to the church and see how things are
+going."
+
+He made no reply, and therefore she considered the matter settled,
+dressed herself, and started.
+
+It was a glorious, sunny day, the boy walked rapidly onward, he listened
+to the song of the birds and saw the sun glittering among the foliage,
+while he proceeded on his way, with his fiddle under his arm. And when
+he reached the bride's house, he was still so occupied with his own
+thoughts, that he observed neither the bridal splendor nor the
+procession; he merely asked if they were about to start, and learned
+that they were. He walked on in advance with his fiddle, and he played
+the whole morning into it, and the tones he produced resounded through
+the trees.
+
+"Will we soon see the church?" he asked over his shoulder.
+
+For a long time he received only "No" for an answer, but at last some
+one said,--
+
+"As soon as you reach that crag yonder, you will see it."
+
+He threw his newest tune into the fiddle, the bow danced on the strings,
+and he kept his eyes fixed intently before him. There lay the parish
+right in front of him!
+
+The first thing he saw was a little light mist, curling like smoke on
+the opposite mountain side. His eyes wandered over the green meadow and
+the large houses, with windows which glistened beneath the scorching
+rays of the sun, like the glacier on a winter's day. The houses kept
+increasing in size, the windows in number, and here on one side of him
+lay the enormous red house, in front of which horses were tied; little
+children were playing on a hill, dogs were sitting watching them. But
+everywhere there penetrated a long, heavy tone, that shook him from head
+to foot, and everything he saw seemed to vibrate with that tone. Then
+suddenly he saw a large, straight house, with a tall, glittering staff
+reaching up to the skies. And below, a hundred windows blazed, so that
+the house seemed to be enveloped in flames. This must be the church, the
+boy thought, and the music must come from it! Round about stood a vast
+multitude of people, and they all looked alike! He put them forthwith
+into relations with the church, and thus acquired a respect mingled with
+awe for the smallest child he saw.
+
+"Now I must play," thought Thrond, and tried to do so.
+
+But what was this? The fiddle had no longer any sound in it. There must
+be some defect in the strings; he examined, but could find none.
+
+"Then it must be because I do not press on hard enough," and he drew his
+bow with a firmer hand; but the fiddle seemed as if it were cracked.
+
+He changed the tune that was meant to represent the church into
+another, but with equally bad results; no music was produced, only
+squeaking and wailing. He felt the cold sweat start out over his face;
+he thought of all these wise people who were standing here and perhaps
+laughing him to scorn, this boy who at home could play so beautifully,
+but who here failed to bring out a single tone!
+
+"Thank God that mother is not here to see my shame!" said he softly to
+himself, as he played among the people; but lo! there she stood, in her
+black dress, and she shrank farther and farther away.
+
+At that moment he beheld far up on the spire the black-haired man who
+had given him the fiddle. "Give it back to me," he now shouted,
+laughing, and stretching out his arms, and the spire went up and down
+with him, up and down. But the boy took the fiddle under one arm,
+screaming, "You shall not have it!" and, turning, ran away from the
+people, beyond the houses, onward through meadow and field, until his
+strength forsook him, and then sank to the ground.
+
+There he lay for a long time, with his face toward the earth, and when
+finally he looked round he saw and heard only God's infinite blue sky
+that floated above him, with its everlasting sough. This was so terrible
+to him that he had to turn his face to the ground again. When he raised
+his head once more his eyes fell on his fiddle, which lay at his side.
+
+"This is all your fault!" shouted the boy, and seized the instrument
+with the intention of dashing it to pieces, but hesitated as he looked
+at it.
+
+"We have had many a happy hour together," said he, then paused.
+Presently he said, "The strings must be severed, for they are
+worthless." And he took out a knife and cut. "Oh!" cried the E string,
+in a short, pained tone. The boy cut. "Oh!" wailed the next, but the boy
+cut. "Oh!" said the third, mournfully; and he paused at the fourth. A
+sharp pain seized him; that fourth string, to which he never dared give
+a name, he did not cut. Now a feeling came over him that it was not the
+fault of the strings that he was unable to play, and just then he saw
+his mother walking slowly up the slope toward where he was lying, that
+she might take him home with her. A greater fright than ever overcame
+him; he held the fiddle by the severed strings, sprang to his feet, and
+shouted down to her,--
+
+"No, mother! I will not go home again until I can play what I have seen
+to-day."
+
+
+
+
+_Contributed by An Oriental Traveller._
+
+     "A great, long devil of a Spahi in his red burnous."
+
+_Daudet._
+
+
+
+
+CHRISTMAS IN THE DESERT.
+
+
+I.
+
+It seemed all too good to be true: the rest from labor, the swift flight
+across southern seas, the landing, amid strange, dark faces on a
+burnished shore, the slow, delicious journey through tamarisk groves and
+palm forests, and the halt in the Desert that came at last.
+
+I had been doing for the last twelve months what young artists and
+authors are constantly doing, to their own ruin and the justifiable
+ill-humor of critics, namely, working against the grain. A sweet,
+generous, and beautiful Patroness, seeing me on the high road to brain
+fever or hopeless mediocrity, stepped forward in time, and sent me to
+the Desert. If ever I achieve anything excellent, it will be owing to
+that lady, the Vittoria Colonna of her humble Michael Angelo. My little
+sister Mary came with me, and, when I tell you that she was a teacher in
+a school, you will easily understand what an intoxicating thing it was
+for her to see a new world every day, and have nothing to do from
+morning, till night. The poor child could hardly believe in an existence
+without Czerny's scales being played on three or four pianos at once,
+and a barrel organ and brass band in the street. "Oh, Tom!" she would
+say to me, a dozen times a day, "I've got C scale and 'Wait for the
+Wagon' on my brain, and can't get rid of them;" so that I verily believe
+to my beautiful Vittoria Colonna Mary's present well-being is due as
+much as my own.
+
+We halted at a little military station on the borders of the Great
+Sahara, about a week before Christmas-day. The weather was perfect, and
+not too warm. A delicious, mellow atmosphere enveloped palm, and plain,
+and mosque; the air, blown across thousands and thousands of acres of
+wild thyme and rosemary, refreshed us like wine: we seemed to have new
+souls and new bodies given us, and were as free from care as the
+swallows flying overhead. Travellers never came to Teschoun, as this
+little oasis is called; but we had placed ourselves under the guidance
+of an enterprising Frenchman, who transacted all sorts of business on
+the road between Mascara and Fig-gig, the last French post in the
+Desert. His name was Dominique, and I shall always look upon him as the
+most remarkable man I ever knew. He was as witty as Sydney Smith, as
+clever at expediences as Robinson Crusoe, as shrewd a politician as
+Machiavelli, as apt at languages as Mezzofanti, and as brave as
+Garibaldi. Being a bachelor, Dominique was none the less ready to
+receive us, and, with the help of an old Corsican named Napoleon, made
+us very comfortable. When Dominique was carrying His Imperial Majesty's
+mails to some remote stations southward, or had gone to an Arab fair to
+buy cattle, Napoleon catered for us and cooked for us, and did both
+admirably. Both master and servant spiced their dishes plentifully with
+that mother-wit, never seen in such perfection as in crude colonies
+where people without it would fare so ill.
+
+"What are we to do for society for poor mademoiselle?" asked Dominique,
+as he served our first dinner. "Monsieur can amuse himself with the
+officers of the garrison, but there are no ladies here."
+
+"When my brother is out, I shall stay at home and talk to Napoleon,"
+Mary said, with a mock assumption of dignity. "I don't want to be
+amused, Monsieur Dominique."
+
+"Mon Dieu, mademoiselle! the officers of the garrison will fall in love
+with you, and that ought to amuse you better than talking to Napoleon,"
+Dominique answered. "It's a very dull life they lead here, these poor
+officers; and if it weren't for hunting gazelles and hyenas, and
+playing the deuce with the Arabs, they'd die of ennui; but a pretty
+young lady like you will turn their heads soon enough."
+
+Mary blushed, and tried to turn the conversation.
+
+"What do they do with themselves all day long?" she asked.
+
+"I'll tell you that quickly enough, mademoiselle. M. le Commandant has
+to see that the Cadi gets what he can out of the Sheiks, and the Sheiks
+get what they can out of the tribes, and that the tribes hold their
+tongue. That is what the Commandant has to do, young lady, and he does
+it pretty well. M. le Capitaine has an easier time of it, except when
+there is an insurrection, and then he makes a raid against the Arabs,
+and after keeping his men out of their way very cleverly, sticks up the
+French flag somewhere in the Desert and comes home. M. le Lieutenant
+does odd jobs for the Commandant and the Capitaine, and plays the flute;
+but we have got M. le Général down here for a few days, and he is
+setting everybody to work. I dare say the end of it will be an
+expedition into the Desert. You may look, monsieur. I'm not talking at
+random, I assure you; generals love war as umbrella-makers love bad
+weather; and it is easier to make people fight than it is to make it
+rain."
+
+"I think French officers must be a wicked set; I hope none of them will
+come near us," Mary said. "The poor Arabs! how my heart bleeds for
+them."
+
+"Tiens! mademoiselle, there is no reason for your heart to bleed. Big
+flies live on little ones all the world over; and if the French eat up
+the Arabs, the Arabs eat up each other. The officers are very nice,
+harmless gentlemen, I assure you; and as to the Commandant, though he
+thinks fighting the best fun in the world, he wouldn't hurt a fly. To
+see him pet his little gazelle would make you cry. She's the only lady
+in the place, and I believe, if she died, it would break his heart. But
+people must have something to be fond of. My old Napoleon, yonder, has
+taken a fancy to a cat, and when the cat dies, Napoleon will be as lost
+as his namesake the Emperor was at St. Helena. Listen a moment; that's
+the Lieutenant practising on his flute: he has a little lodging next
+door."
+
+The Lieutenant played very prettily, and Mary seemed to like his playing
+much better than Dominique's stories. As her room adjoined the
+Lieutenant's, she seemed likely to have the full benefit of his musical
+capacities; but I do not think she lay awake to be serenaded that night.
+We were fairly intoxicated with the sweet air of the Desert we had been
+breathing all day, and went to bed at eight o'clock, too tired and happy
+to dream.
+
+Next morning Dominique informed us that he had himself delivered our
+letter of introduction to M. le Commandant, who promised to wait upon us
+in the course of the day. Not knowing at what hour we might expect him,
+we set to work immediately after breakfast to prepare my room for the
+reception of so distinguished a visitor. I helped Mary as well as I was
+able, and, when nothing remained to do but the dusting, retired into a
+recess to trim my beard.
+
+An Englishwoman is never so well dressed as when she emerges from her
+bedroom at early morning; and I must say that Mary looked the daintiest
+little housewife possible to conceive as she went about dusting and
+polishing in a pink cambric dress and tiny black apron. But, neat as she
+was, and neat as my beard and the room were in a fair way of becoming,
+we were overwhelmed with surprise and confusion at what followed, for
+quite suddenly the door was thrown open; there was a military tramp and
+a rattling of a sword outside, and Dominique exclaimed, in a voice of
+thunder, "M. le Commandant!"
+
+Impassible self-possession is a beautiful quality, and while Mary and I
+stood blushing and aghast, like school children caught at stealing
+cherries, M. le Commandant had made a courteous speech, welcoming us to
+Teschoun. Then we all sat down, and M. le Commandant talked to us. He
+was a sunburnt, soldierly man about fifty-five, with a rough manner but
+a kind smile, and we felt at home with him in a moment.
+
+"I presume that monsieur wishes to see as much of the country as
+possible," he said; "and I shall be enchanted to place at monsieur's
+disposal horses, and my servant and a spahi as guides. But what will
+mademoiselle do while her brother is away? I must send her my little
+gazelle to play with her."
+
+"My sister will like to go with me where it is practicable," I said.
+
+The Commandant opened his eyes, and looked at Mary much as one looks
+upon a pretty little duckling or a year-old baby.
+
+"Monsieur is evidently jesting," he answered. "Mademoiselle would be too
+fatigued to undertake such journeys."
+
+"I don't think so," Mary said. "I have no fear, monsieur, and I like to
+be with my brother."
+
+"Ah, what courage you English ladies have! Well, mademoiselle, we will
+find you a quiet horse, and make everything as pleasant as possible."
+And after inviting us to dine with him one evening, and bidding us to
+make use of him in every possible way, he took leave of us.
+
+"How nice he is!" cried Mary, as soon as the door was closed; "if all
+French officers were like this one, Tom, I think we shall not care how
+long we stay in the Desert----"
+
+"Your heart has very quickly ceased to bleed for the poor Arabs, I see."
+
+"But how can we be sure that Dominique's stories are all true? No, Tom;
+I won't believe any harm of this kind-looking Commandant. I only wish he
+had not come till the room was tidied and I had got on a muslin frock,
+but, as we are sure of having no more visitors, I'll finish your room
+and then unpack."
+
+We were fairly at our work again, when another military step sounded,
+and another sword rattled in the passage outside. This time Dominique's
+arm swung back the door with less pomposity, and Dominique's voice was a
+trifle less emphatic as he ushered in "M. le Capitaine."
+
+Again Mary and I scuttled about like young rabbits, and then stood
+still, staring shyly, and again our embarrassment was met by the calmest
+nonchalance. The second figure was a man of much more presence than the
+Commandant. He had the polished, graceful ease of a man of the world,
+and, though quite as good-natured as the Commandant, his good-nature
+pleased us less, because it was less spontaneous.
+
+"I hope you will stay some time at Teschoun," he said, looking at Mary.
+"The ennui of our lives here is terrible. Think of it, mademoiselle; we
+have no theatre, no music, no society, and no domestic life. To find a
+lady here is like the miraculous advent of an angel." Mary blushed, and
+had no courage to make the sprightly answers she had made the
+Commandant.
+
+The fine air and grand compliments of the Capitaine overcame the little
+thing, but she looked distractingly pretty as she sat opposite to him,
+smiling and blushing when he addressed her, and only saying, "Oui,
+monsieur," or "Non, monsieur," or at most, "Vraiment, monsieur."
+
+"Does mademoiselle ride?" asked the gallant Capitaine.
+
+"Oui, monsieur."
+
+"Then mademoiselle shall ride my little barb; there is hardly such a
+horse anywhere, mademoiselle, so docile, so sweet-tempered, and so
+sure-footed. It is not every lady I would trust with my little horse;
+but I know how an Englishwoman can sit in the saddle, and I am proud to
+offer it to mademoiselle."
+
+"Je vous remercie bien, monsieur."
+
+Then the Capitaine talked of Christmas-day.
+
+"We will have a little fête-champêtre in mademoiselle's honor," he said;
+"we will go to the great water-falls of Boisel-Kebir and breakfast there.
+I will invite my Commandant and all the officers of the garrison.
+Monsieur can make a sketch and mademoiselle can gather flowers."
+
+We expressed ourselves delighted at the proposal, and, after promising
+to send Mary ostrich eggs and jackal skins to take to England, the
+Capitaine left us.
+
+"I don't like the Capitaine as well as the Commandant," Mary said; "but
+how kind they all are to us! It is as if we were princes on a journey of
+triumph. Oh, Tom! what days to remember are these!"
+
+"I think your head will be fairly turned, what with the Commandant's
+dinners and the Capitaine's fêtes-champêtres," I said; "and if the
+Lieutenant----"
+
+"M. le Lieutenant!" announced Dominique, opening the door calmly, as if
+nothing was the matter.
+
+We had been twice so shocked and surprised that we had no more
+embarrassment to expend on the Lieutenant. Indeed, he was rather shy
+himself, which was the very thing to reassure a warm-hearted,
+sympathetic little creature like my sister, and they began to talk
+together without any effort.
+
+He was young and handsome, with a very frank, pleasant expression.
+
+"I am afraid that it is useless for me to offer my poor services," he
+said, very modestly, "my superior officers having forestalled me; but it
+will make me very happy to do anything for you. If mademoiselle would
+like any stuffed birds, or dried flowers and plants, it will give me
+pleasure to procure them for her; and perhaps monsieur would like me to
+show him some wonderful things to paint. I draw a little myself, and
+know where the finest points of view are to be found."
+
+We thanked him heartily, and accepted all that he offered us. As it was
+now time for our second breakfast, or, more properly speaking, lunch, we
+pressed him to partake of it with us, which he did. We should not have
+ventured upon inviting the Commandant, much less the Capitaine, so
+unceremoniously, but the Lieutenant's diffident manner had set us quite
+at our ease.
+
+"I have a very humble apartment," he said; "but if monsieur and
+mademoiselle will visit me, I will do the honors of it with pride and
+pleasure. I can at least offer them a little music."
+
+"Yes, I know that you play," Mary said, smiling; "our rooms join, and I
+heard you playing before I went to sleep last night."
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle! I shall never forgive myself if I disturbed you."
+
+"No, indeed, you did not, monsieur. Much as I liked the music, I was too
+tired to listen to it, and went to sleep all the same."
+
+Then they both laughed gleefully, like children, and the Lieutenant
+promised to play to her and send her to sleep every night.
+
+After breakfast he accompanied us on a tour of inspection. We soon saw
+all that there was to see of Teschoun, namely, a little line of bazaars
+kept by Jews and negroes, a little boulevard of a year's growth, two
+imposing-looking gates,--one looking towards Morocco, one towards the
+Sahara,--a straggling camp, and a wall of circumvallation. There were
+gardens in embryo here and there, but no trees of any size, and not till
+you had got fairly away from Teschoun could you perceive that its aspect
+was striking or imposing. Then, looking back from the craggy heights
+that surrounded it, the white line of the camp and the belt of verdure
+encircling it like a ribbon, struck the eye as a pleasant contrast to
+the warm, yellow atmosphere of earth and sky. The warmth and the
+yellowness were delicious. A fresh, sweet breeze blew across our faces
+from the Desert. We sat down and drew it in with long, devouring
+breaths.
+
+A hundred yards behind us, his bright-brown body sharply outlined
+against the pale, amber-colored sky, stood a little Bedouin smiling down
+upon us. It was a perfect personification of Eastern life, and I made a
+sketch, while the Lieutenant told Mary of his hard campaign southward,
+and his joy at catching the first glimpse of Teschoun from the distance.
+
+When we returned home we found that the Commandant's servant had left a
+bunch of roses for Mary, with his master's compliments; that the
+Capitaine's servant had been sent round with his master's horse for her
+to try, and that the Général had sent word by his aide-de-camp that he
+would himself have the pleasure of calling upon us that evening.
+
+Mary and I felt utterly overwhelmed by such goodness and condescension.
+A real starred, laced Général was about to call on us! We could hardly
+believe that we were our identical, insignificant selves, who, but for
+you, oh! most sweet and honored Patroness, would have sunk under the
+burden of toil imposed upon us. But how all was changed! The poor,
+unknown artist was treated as if he had been Sir Peter Paul Rubens; the
+humble little school teacher was fêted and flattered like the wife of a
+conquering commander-in-chief.
+
+We had invited the young Lieutenant to drink tea with us at eight
+o'clock, and were enjoying a little music after a very sociable fashion,
+when a noisy excitement seemed to shake the house like a shock of an
+earthquake, and M. le Général was announced in Dominique's most
+impressive manner.
+
+M. le Général was by no means an awful-looking person; and, indeed, we
+had so expended our surprise already, that we had no more at command.
+
+He was an excessively stout, merry person, middle-aged, of a beautiful
+complexion, and a capacity to wink that would have vulgarized any one
+else but a general. He made himself very pleasant, accepted a cup of
+tea, praised Mary's French, said that he intended to dine with us at the
+Commandant's to-morrow, and told us some laughable stories about the
+Arabs. I noticed that the Lieutenant seemed quite overawed by the
+presence of the Général, and sat flute in hand, like a statue. Mary
+tried to put him at his ease, but to no purpose. It did not mend matters
+when the Général began first to twit him about his musical
+accomplishments, and then to catechise him on military matters.
+
+"You were in that affair of '59, in Kabylia, weren't you?" he asked,
+in that quick, positive, military tone to which we with difficulty get
+accustomed.
+
+[Illustration: My Little Sister Mary]
+
+"Oui, mon Général."
+
+"It was a badly managed thing, I believe. The Kabyles got the better of
+you more than once, didn't they?"
+
+"I believe so, mon Général."
+
+"Bah!" cried the Général, turning to me. "You see what these young
+officers know of their trade. I have no doubt that Monsieur le
+Lieutenant's musical education is much more advanced, and to serenade
+mademoiselle suits him much better than to make war against the enemies
+of his country."
+
+And, at the mention of the enemies of his country, the Général indulged
+in a wink. When he was ready to go, he sent the Lieutenant to order his
+horse, much as if he had been a little boy of ten years old; and on
+taking leave added half a dozen commissions in the same peremptory tone.
+The poor Lieutenant listened very submissively, but no sooner had the
+Général dashed down the street, followed by his servant, equally well
+mounted, than he grew gay and easy again.
+
+As soon as we were alone, Mary brought out her slender supply of gala
+dresses, and we discussed the important subject of her toilet of the
+next evening.
+
+"It seems to me," I said, "that if you dress for the Lieutenant, you
+will displease the Capitaine; if you dress for the Capitaine, you will
+displease the Commandant; and if you dress for the Commandant, you will
+displease the Général."
+
+Mary gathered up her fineries in alarm. "Don't you think I had better
+stay away from the dinner altogether, Tom?"
+
+"By no means," I said; "settle the matter by dressing to please me."
+
+Which she accordingly did, and the result was a semi-moresque, dainty,
+and glowing bit of costume quite in keeping with the time and place.
+
+
+II.
+
+Precisely at seven o'clock we presented ourselves at the Commandant's,
+Mary looking very pretty in her transparent white dress, brilliant sack
+of Tunis silk, and necklets and bracelets of coral and palm-seeds. The
+little thing had such loving, dark eyes, such a soft bloom on her
+cheeks, and such a sweet mouth, that I could hardly blame the Général
+for wishing to have her sit beside him at dinner. The Commandant, being
+a little shy, would have given up all his privileges as host, but the
+Général insisted upon the Commandant leading her in, and she sat
+between the two. It was very mortifying for the Capitaine and the
+Lieutenant; the former made an effort to be complimentary and
+entertaining across the table, but the latter looked quite crestfallen,
+and hardly raised his eyes from his plate. When we retired to the
+drawing-room, matters went a little better. The tame gazelle was brought
+in for Mademoiselle Marie to see; and while the Général and the
+Commandant had a long discussion on military affairs, the rest of us
+sported with the pretty creature and made pleasant plans for the morrow.
+Then an amusing game of cards was set on foot, over which we were
+growing very merry, when up came the Général and the Commandant.
+
+"Eh, bien!" said the Général, slyly nudging the Capitaine. "We have not
+been so engrossed, but we heard one or two pleasant things talked of.
+Upon my word, Capitaine, I am half disposed not to go to Mascara till
+after your picnic to the water-falls."
+
+"You will do my poor little fête great honor, mon Général," answered the
+Capitaine, adding, naïvely, "but I think that the wild geese flying
+northwards means rain."
+
+"Not a bit of it. We shall have no rain until a fortnight after
+Christmas. Mademoiselle Marie, I shall do myself the honor of offering
+you one of my horses to ride."
+
+"Mademoiselle has already condescended to accept mine," the Capitaine
+put in, with stiffness.
+
+"Mademoiselle Marie, this gentleman has no horse fit to carry a lady.
+The brute he offers you has no more mouth than an elephant. Keep on the
+safe side and ride mine, which is a lamb, I assure you, mademoiselle,--a
+lamb."
+
+The Général spoke in jest, but the Capitaine was very near losing his
+temper. Mary being thus appealed to, thought to extricate herself from
+the difficulty by declaring herself half afraid to ride either horse,
+being an inexperienced horsewoman. But both the gentlemen had mules, and
+both the gentlemen's mules were the best. Poor Mary colored, and looked
+at me in despair.
+
+"I think," I said, "the safest plan will be for my sister to try the
+horses, and see which suits her the best."
+
+Then the different routes to the water-falls were discussed, and the
+different Douars or Arab villages where it would be best to have a
+Diffa, or feast, provided,--Mary's judgment being asked in every
+instance. All this time the Lieutenant had turned over the leaves of a
+newspaper very meekly, and the Commandant had caressed his tame
+gazelle. As soon as she could politely free herself, Mary went up to
+him.
+
+"How pretty, and playful, and fond it is!" she said, stooping down to
+stroke the little creature. The grave face of the Commandant brightened.
+
+"Yes; it would be very _triste_ here without the little thing."
+
+"Do you never go to France, monsieur?"
+
+"I shall perhaps go in two years' time; but you see, mademoiselle, that
+is a long time to look forward to; and if my mother should not be
+living, I might as well stay here."
+
+"Do you like fighting the Arabs in the Desert, then, monsieur?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, when one takes up the profession of arms, fighting and
+exile are _choses entendues_. I often sigh for a settled, domestic life;
+but I might have been worse off. I might have gone to Mexico, for
+instance."
+
+The Commandant's manner was so simple, so manly, and so tinged with
+sadness, that I think any woman would have sympathized with him as much
+as my little sister Mary did. She, poor child, having lived all her life
+in a school-room, was quite ready to make a hero of any man that smiled
+kindly upon her; and here were four heroes, in handsome uniforms, all
+smiling upon her at once! There was the sweet sense of youth drawing
+her to the Lieutenant; but I think the Commandant stood next in her
+favor, and she could not for a moment forget the courteous kindness of
+the other two.
+
+"It must all be a dream, Tom," she said, as she gave me her good-night
+kiss; "but, oh! if it is a dream, don't let me wake yet."
+
+We dreamed some wonderful things in the next few days. Dominique made us
+get up, one morning, very early, and drove us in his little wooden gig
+to an Arab encampment miles away in the Desert. It was dawn when we
+started, and large, pale stars were shining in a violet sky; then, like
+a gorgeous butterfly emerging from a dusky chrysalis, came the Eastern
+day, and we felt as if living in a world warmed by a hundred suns. The
+warm, intoxicating light took possession of our senses, and so sweet, so
+rarefied, so indescribably delicious was the air, that it seemed to give
+wings to our dull bodies. Every now and then we were overtaken by clouds
+of locusts, their little wings glistening like diamonds against the soft
+sky, or flocks of starlings darkened the air, or a serried line of wild
+geese passed majestically overhead. Then we came to the tents, and at
+our approach a dozen dogs rushed out to snap and snarl, and a hundred
+little naked children scampered and scuttled across the way. A stately
+Bedouin made us welcome, and, while Dominique transacted business with
+him, his women gathered around us, chattering and grinning like
+children. Then we were feasted upon cous-cous-sou and figs, and took
+leave, after many "salamaleks."
+
+Another day we went out hunting gazelles, bivouacking along a riverside,
+and feasting, Arab fashion, off a sheep roasted whole. Dominique had
+found a pretty little French girl, daughter of a travelling farrier, to
+act as Mary's handmaid; and she now felt less isolated among so many
+men, and less shy, too. The poor child stood a fair chance of being
+spoiled, what with suddenly finding herself transformed from a
+school-room Cinderella to a fairy-tale princess, and having four lovers,
+all heroes, at once. For it was impossible to deny that the Général, the
+Commandant, the Capitaine, and the Lieutenant all behaved like lovers,
+presenting her with jackal skins, ostrich plumes and eggs, rare birds,
+and other treasures of the Sahara. The Général went so far as to give
+her a little negro boy about ten years old, though this gift we had
+accepted only temporarily, not quite knowing what to do with him when we
+left Teschoun.
+
+Christmas-day came at last. Mary had artfully evaded the delicate point
+about horses by declaring herself afraid of every one's beast but
+Dominique's; accordingly, mounted on Dominique's ugly hack, she led the
+way with the Général, her long, bright hair flowing in curls over her
+shoulders, her cheeks glowing with excitement. The pleasure and
+picturesqueness of the last few days--for Mary had an artistic
+perception of beauty--had brought out a new side to her character; and
+she quite surprised me, from time to time, with her saucy humor and
+quick repartee.
+
+We made a brilliant cavalcade, what with the uniforms of the officers,
+and the richly embroidered saddles and bright-red burnouses of our
+attendant spahis. After riding some miles across a monotonous tract of
+stony desert, we came to a majestic sierra of crag, down which fell a
+dozen water-falls, narrow and bright as sword-blades. A thin little
+stream threaded the ravine, and on its banks grew clumps of the
+tamarisk, the oleander, and the thuya, making an oasis grateful to the
+eyes. Here we sat down and ate our Christmas breakfast, with stray
+thoughts of village bells chiming at home, and school children lustily
+singing their Christmas hymns.
+
+Our host, the Capitaine, had provided a sumptuous feast of Desert
+fare,--roast quails and plovers, cous-cous-sou, figs, dates, and
+bananas, with the addition of champagne; and we were very merry.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the Capitaine, "think what our next Christmas will
+be if you are not here. Persuade monsieur, your brother, to purchase
+some land between Mascara and Teschoun, so that we shall not lose you
+altogether."
+
+The Général nudged the Commandant.
+
+"You see what our friend the Capitaine is dreaming of! Mon Capitaine,
+your escadron is sure to be sent into the interior this spring; put all
+romances out of your head, my dear fellow, and do not entice monsieur
+into the committal of follies."
+
+"I am not the only one to entertain romances," said the Capitaine,
+coolly. "You, mon Général, did us all the honor to spend Christmas at
+Teschoun. We can but attribute such a condescension to the gracious
+influence of mademoiselle."
+
+"Look well after the Commandant when I am gone, gentlemen," continued
+the Général, looking round with a smile. "Matters are gone so far
+already that he loses his temper if a fellow-officer but jests with him.
+What a terrible slur it would be upon the glorious annals of
+French-African conquest, if such a brave officer should show himself
+fonder of stuffing birds for an English demoiselle than running swords
+through ungrateful Arabs!" and the Général looked round with a very
+comical expression of mock horror.
+
+"Mademoiselle has indiscriminately accepted our tokens of homage," the
+Commandant said, maliciously.
+
+"But it yet remains to be seen whose offering has been most acceptable
+to her," went on the Général, adding, _au grand sérieux_, "we won't
+resort to duels unless absolutely necessary."
+
+This sort of banter lasted so long that poor Mary's cheeks burned with
+mixed vanity and mortification, and she made an excuse to leave us.
+
+"And what does our Lieutenant advise monsieur to do?" asked the
+Général,--"to settle here, or to follow his escadron to the Desert?"
+Whereupon the poor Lieutenant colored, and said nothing.
+
+What an experience it was, that Christmas-day in the Desert! The noonday
+sun seemed to dissolve in the warm atmosphere, and, instead of a single
+orb shining overhead, large and golden, we had melted suns innumerable
+about us, and almost lost the sense of corporeity in their charmed
+medium.
+
+When the short bright day waned, and the large stars were coming out one
+by one, we found ourselves near home; and when the heavens had turned to
+bluish-black, and the stars to splendid silvery moons, we passed under
+the gate of Teschoun, and saw our shadows, darker and deeper than real
+things, fall across the white walls of mosque and fortress. For shadow
+and substance lost their identity in the Desert and one is always on the
+point of mistaking the one for the other: if anything, shadow is the
+more real of the two.
+
+So absorbed was I in the suggestions of this mysterious beauty, that I
+had forgotten all about my sister's lovers till we were fairly in our
+little sitting-room. Then Mary began to sigh and blush, and to hint that
+she thought we had better leave Teschoun very soon.
+
+"You see, Tom, dear," she said, with tears in her eyes, "the Général
+says he adores me, and the Commandant says he never loved any one in the
+world until he saw me, and the Capitaine says that if I go away he will
+blow his brains out, and what am I to do?"
+
+"And the Lieutenant,--what did he say?"
+
+"He says nothing," said Mary, looking down; "and,"--here came a
+sob,--"and I like him best of all!"
+
+"But, if he does not declare the same liking for you, we must leave him
+out of the question, and choose between the other three, I suppose."
+
+"He does not speak because he is too modest: I'm sure he likes me," Mary
+added, still ready to cry.
+
+"His state of feeling does not help us much, unless expressed," I
+replied. "Meantime, what am I to say to the Général, the Commandant,
+and the Capitaine, if they ask to marry you?"
+
+The little thing plucked at the folds of her riding-skirt in the
+greatest perplexity.
+
+"I like the Général and I like the Commandant, and I ought not to
+dislike the Capitaine; but I cannot marry one without offending the
+others; and, if I were to marry out here in the Desert, Tom, would you
+stay, too?"
+
+We had been living in such utter fairy-land lately, that I felt as if it
+were quite possible for me to marry some brown-skinned, soft-eyed
+Rebecca, and turn Mahometan. But, in any case, could I desire for my
+sister a happier fate than to marry one of these brave gentlemen, and
+live in the sunny South all the rest of her days? She would be rescued
+from a life of toil and friendlessness, and have another protector
+besides her Bohemian of a brother.
+
+"My dear child," I said, "it would be impossible for me to say that our
+lives should be spent together; but you may be quite sure that nothing
+would utterly divide them. The chief point is, of all your lovers, whom
+do you love?"
+
+To this question I could elicit no positive reply. Mary, in fact, was
+half in love with the Général and the Commandant, and wholly in love
+with the Lieutenant, and was quite incapable of deciding her own fate.
+
+"You must not laugh at me," she said, simply, as we bade each other
+good-night; "it is so new to me to have lovers, and so delightful, that
+I wish I could go on forever being happy, and making them happy, without
+marrying either." Then she blushed and ran off to bed.
+
+The next morning we were taking our early coffee, when we heard the
+clatter of horses' feet, and, looking out, saw one of the Général's
+splendid, brown-skinned, red-cloaked spahis dashing into the town at a
+furious rate. He pulled up at Dominique's door, and, letting his little
+barb prance and rear at will, looked towards us, showing his white teeth
+and waving a letter in one hand.
+
+I left my breakfast and ran down to him. We exchanged "salamaleks," and
+then he put the letter in my hand, adding, in broken French, "Le
+Général,--envoyer cela,--va faire le guerre,--la-bas." Then he put spurs
+to his horse's flanks, and dashed away as fast as he had come.
+
+I broke the seal of the Général's letter, which ran as follows:
+
+     "Monsieur,--This morning at daybreak I received telegraphic
+     information that a serious rising has taken place among the tribes
+     southward of Fig-gig, and I have resolved to march upon them
+     without delay. Judge, monsieur, how more than sorry I am to be
+     forced to quit the society of your charming sister and yourself
+     without making my adieux; but a soldier's duty forces him from the
+     consummation of his fondest desires, when such a consummation seems
+     close at hand, and I go, if not with joy, at least without
+     soldierly reluctance. I shall never forget, monsieur, this episode,
+     an oasis in the desert of my military life; and, while wishing for
+     mademoiselle and yourself all possible prosperity, I hope you will
+     remember Teschoun and the poor exiled officers there, who will
+     never think of you both without regret.
+
+     "I feel it right, under the grave circumstances of the revolt, to
+     advise your speedy return to Mascara, and will order a trusty
+     escort to be in readiness for you when you shall require it.
+
+     "Meantime, receive, monsieur, the expression of my utmost esteem.
+
+"De Marion."
+
+We were both of us talking over the astounding contents of the Général's
+letter, when Napoleon came in, full of news. The insurgents numbered
+thousands, and there were skirmishing parties close to Teschoun.
+Teschoun would be most likely besieged, as it had been more than once,
+etc., etc. As the day wore on, the excitement increased. Little groups
+of French or Jewish shopkeepers collected together and talked gravely,
+Arabs walked about in stately fashion, smiling superciliously. In the
+French camp it was the old story on a lesser scale:
+
+  "And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed,
+    The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
+  Went pouring forward with impetuous speed."
+
+And so great was the need for hurry that we doubted whether we should
+see either of our gallant hosts again. Late in the afternoon, however,
+the Capitaine paid us a formal, sentimental visit, and after him came
+the Commandant, who stood up before us, square and stiff, and stammered
+out a word or two with tears in his kind eyes. Mary held out her little
+hand; but he seemed overcome with shyness or sadness, or both, and
+rushed away without having taken it.
+
+Last of all, when we had quite given him up, came the poor Lieutenant:
+he had been busy on a hundred errands for his superior officers, and had
+only five minutes to spare. We can never do anything with a few last
+moments, and Mary and the Lieutenant had not a word to say to each
+other, though I could see well enough what both would fain have said.
+
+So I quietly left them under the pretext of fetching a cigar, and when I
+returned, at the close of the fifth minute, all that was necessary had
+been said. We then embraced each other after the hearty French fashion.
+Mary and the Lieutenant exchanged rings, and he went off to fight the
+disaffected Arabs as happy as a king!
+
+It was a fine sight to see the troops march out of Teschoun. Color is
+really color in the South, and the lines of blue zouaves and crimson
+spahis against the mellow afternoon sky were vivid and picturesque
+beyond description.
+
+On they went, arms flashing, drums beating, colors flying, till the last
+column had turned the hill, and then evening came on all at once, and we
+felt a dreary sense of disenchantment creeping over us. It was as if we
+had been dreaming during the last few weeks, and now we were waked,
+indeed! Dominique recalled us to ourselves with a cynical smile.
+
+"Bah!" he cries, "it's all play; let 'em pretend to put down
+insurrection as often as they please. It is good for trade and
+promotion, and the Arabs know how to defend themselves."
+
+But events falsified this sarcasm of Monsieur Dominique's, for the
+insurrection proved serious, and it was months before we heard of our
+Lieutenant. When we did hear, the news was good; and the news of him and
+of his English wife--dowered by our Vittoria Colonna--has been good ever
+since.
+
+
+END OF BOOK I.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Harrison S. Morris
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I
+       Christmas Tales from 'Round the World
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Harrison S. Morris
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2006 [EBook #18720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YULE-LOG GLOW, BOOK I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Ereaut, Jason Isbell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h4>
+[Transcribers note: Several original spelling, punctuation and
+hyphenation inconsistencies have been rationalised.]
+</h4>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 429px;">
+<img src="images/img-01.jpg" width="429" height="600" alt="The Yule-log glow" title="The Yule-log glow" />
+<span class="caption">The Yule-log glow</span>
+</div>
+
+
+<h1>
+IN THE<br />
+YULE-LOG GLOW</h1>
+
+<h2>
+CHRISTMAS TALES FROM<br />
+'ROUND THE WORLD<br /><br /><br /></h2>
+
+<h4>
+"Sic as folk tell ower at a winter ingle"<br />
+<i>Scott</i><br /><br /><br /></h4>
+
+<h3>
+EDITED BY</h3>
+<h2>HARRISON S. MORRIS<br /><br /></h2>
+
+<h4>THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.</h4>
+
+<h2>Book I.<br /><br /></h2>
+
+
+<h4>PHILADELPHIA</h4>
+
+<h2>J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY</h2>
+
+<h3>1900.</h3>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span><br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<h4>Copyright, 1891, by <span class="smcap">J. B. Lippincott Company.</span></h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.</span></h4>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE THRESHOLD.</h2>
+
+
+<p>If, gentle reader, you will step across this threshold, now, as the moon
+rises in the keen Christmas air, and will find a place by the ruddy
+ingle within-doors, you may hear, if you will, a Babel of voices from
+many lands, telling over the adventures of the road and falling into the
+good-fellowship of the happy Christmas season.</p>
+
+<p>Here from the north, with his ample furs thrown back, sits the Russian
+in friendly talk with a gay little wanderer from Sicilian valleys.
+There, with elbow crooked by a foaming tankard, leans the German,
+narrating his perils and pleasures to a gallant Frenchman and a
+sunbrowned Spaniard who smoke and chatter together as now and then
+Mynheer stops for a pull at his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>A Swede, Norwegians, an Englishman or two, and even a happy-go-lucky
+American, are clustered about the Yule-log; for the place you have
+entered is the common-room of the wide world.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As you slip the latch and take your seat, some traveller calls out: A
+Merry Christmas! Another cries: A story, a story! and so they fall to,
+each from his own scrip taking forth a native tale,&mdash;and so they sit the
+midnight out listening and talking in turn; while the good cheer goes
+round in endless abundance and laughter and song make interludes for the
+varied narratives.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS OF BOOK I.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+
+<tr>
+<td></td>
+<td align='left'><span class="smcap">PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr><td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Three Kings of Cologne</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>A modern version of an old English Chronicle.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</i></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Harrison S. Morris.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Three Christmas Masses</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_47'>47</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>From the French of Alphonse Daudet.</i></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Harrison S. Morris.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Russian Christmas Party</span><a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_63'>63</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Count L&eacute;on Tolstoi.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Two Christmases</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_103'>103</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>From the German of Georg Schuster.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Tale of a Turkey</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Harrison S. Morris.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Still Christmas</span><a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_173'>173</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Agnes Repplier.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Thrond</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_193'>193</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>From the Norwegian of Bj&ouml;rnson.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Christmas in the Desert</span></td>
+<td align='left'><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><i>By Matilda Betham Edwards.</i><br /><br /></td>
+<td></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> By courtesy of Messrs. W. S. Gottsberger &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> By courtesy of "The Catholic World."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS, BOOK I.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations">
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Yule-log Glow</span></td>
+<td align='left'>Frontispiece.</td></tr>
+
+
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sonia</span></td>
+<td align='left'>Page     <a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Cavalier From France&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></td>
+<td align='left'>Page     <a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">My Little Sister Mary</span></td>
+<td align='left'>Page     <a href='#Page_225'>225</a></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>A Tale Spoken by a Graybeard Out of the East.</i></h2>
+
+<p>"Gracious powers! Perhaps you <i>are</i> a hundred years old, now I think of
+it! You look more than a hundred. Yes, you may be a thousand years old
+for what I know."</p>
+
+<p><i>Thackeray.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2>THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE.</h2>
+
+<h3>A CHRISTMAS TALE FROM AN OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLE.</h3>
+
+<h4>(Written by John of Hildesheim in the Fourteenth Century.)</h4>
+
+<p>Here followeth the manner and form of seeking and offering; and also of
+the burying and translations of the three Holy and Worshipful Kings of
+Cologne: Jaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.</p>
+
+
+<p>Now when the Children of Israel were gone out of Egypt and had won and
+made subject to them Jerusalem and all the land lying about, so that no
+man durst set against them in all that country for dread that they had
+of them; then was there a little hill called Vaws, which was also called
+the Hill of Victory, and on this hill the ward of them of Ind was
+ordained and kept by divers sentinels by night and by day against the
+Children of Israel, and afterward against the Romans; so that if any
+people at any time purposed with strong hand to enter into the country
+of the Kingdom of Ind, anon, sentinels of other hills about, through
+tokens, warned the keepers on the hill of Vaws. And by night they made a
+great fire and by day they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> made a great smoke, for that hill Vaws
+passeth the height of all other hills in all the East. Wherefore, when
+any such token was seen, then all manner of men made ready to defend
+themselves from the enemy that approached.</p>
+
+<p>Now in the time when Balaam prophesied of the Star that should betoken
+the coming of Christ, all the great lords and all the other people of
+Ind and in the East desired greatly to see the Star of which he spake,
+and gave gifts to the keepers of the hill of Vaws, and moreover hired
+them with great rewards, that, if it so were, they saw by day or by
+night, far or near, any light or any star in the air other than was seen
+beforetime, anon they should show and send them word. And thus was it
+that for so long a time the fame of this Star was borne through all the
+lands of the East; until, of the name of the hill of Vaws, arose up a
+worshipful and a great kindred in Ind, which is called the progeny of
+Vaws even unto this day; and there is not a more mighty kindred in all
+the kingdoms of the East; for this worshipful kindred came first from
+the King's blood that was named Melchior, that offered gold to our Lord,
+as ye shall hereafter learn.</p>
+
+<p>In the year of our Lord 1200, when the city of Acon, that in this
+country is called Akers, flourished and stood in virtue, joy, and
+pros<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>perity, and was inhabited richly with worshipful princes, and
+lords, and divers orders of men of religion, and all manner of men of
+all nations and tongues, so that there was no city like unto it in
+nobility and might; then, because of its great name and of the marvels
+that were there, the greatest of birth that were of the progeny of Vaws
+came out of Ind unto Acon; and when they saw there all things more
+wonderful than in Ind; then, because of delight, they abode there and
+made a fair and strong castle for any king or lord. And they brought
+with them out of the East many rich and wonderful ornaments and jewels.
+And among all other jewels, they brought a diadem of gold arrayed with
+precious stones and pearls, and about its edge stood letters of
+Chaldaic, and a star made like after the Star that appeared to the Three
+Kings of the East when they sought God, with a sign of the cross,
+beside. And that diadem was Melchior's, the king of Nubia and of Araby,
+that offered gold to the Babe in the manger. And afterward the master of
+the Order of Templars received this same diadem of gold and many other
+precious jewels; but when that Order was destroyed the diadem and
+precious ornaments were lost, and have never been found unto this day.
+Wherefore there was great sorrow made in all the country for a long time
+after.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But these same princes of Vaws brought with them out of Ind books
+written in Hebrew and Chaldaic, concerning the life and deeds of these
+three blessed Kings, which books were afterward translated into the
+French tongue: and so, from these books, and from hearsay, and sight,
+and also from sermons and homilies out of divers other works, the story
+here written hath been brought together into one book.</p>
+
+<p>And you shall understand that the old kindred of Vaws beareth always in
+its banner, unto this day, a star with a sign of the cross, made after
+the same manner as it appeared to the three blessed Kings.</p>
+
+<p>Now it so happened that after Balaam had prophesied of this Star, the
+more it was sought for the more its fame increased through the land of
+Ind and Chaldee, and all the people desired to see it.</p>
+
+<p>So they ordained twelve of the wisest and greatest clerks of astronomy
+that were in all that country about, and gave them great hire to keep
+watch upon this hill of Vaws for the Star that was prophesied of Balaam.
+And the cause that there were ordained twelve men was, that if one man
+died another should be put in his stead; and also that some should keep
+watch at one time and some another&mdash;nevertheless the people looked not
+only after the Star, but after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> the Man who was betokened by the Star,
+the which Man should be Lord of all folk.</p>
+
+<p>And they of Ind and Chaldee who came often into Jerusalem because of
+merchandise and also for disport&mdash;the which, for the most part, be
+learned in astronomy&mdash;said that in Ind were many stars in the firmament
+that might not be seen by night in Jerusalem; but, specially on this
+hill of Vaws in clear weather, were seen many and divers strange stars
+that at the foot of the hill were not seen. Yet this hill of Vaws hath
+no more breadth than a little chapel is made upon, the which the three
+worshipful kings did build of stone and timber. And there be about this
+hill many steps upon which men go up to the chapel on high, and also
+there grew many good trees and herbs and divers spices all about the
+hill&mdash;for else men might not well go upon this hill because it is so
+high and so narrow. There is also a pillar of stone made above this
+chapel, of wondrous height, and in the head of the pillar standeth a
+great star, well made of gilt, and which turneth with the wind as a
+vane: and through the light of the sun by day, and of the moon by night,
+this star gives light a great way about the country. And many other
+marvels are spoken of this hill of Vaws, the which were long to tell.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the time of grace was come, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> God would have mercy on all
+mankind, in which time the Father of Heaven sent down his Son to take
+flesh and blood and to be born a man for salvation of all the world: in
+that time Octavianus, that was Emperor of Rome, sent out a commandment
+that all the people within his empire should be counted and taxed; and
+every man went forth from his dwelling-place into his native country.
+Then came Joseph up from Nazareth unto Bethlehem the city of David,
+because he was of the household and race of King David, and with him
+came Mary that was his wife, and also great with child.</p>
+
+<p>And you shall understand that Bethlehem was never of much reputation,
+neither a place of great quantity. It hath a good site and good ground,
+for there be many caves and dens under the earth thereabout; and it is
+distant from Jerusalem but two little miles; and it is but a castle, but
+is called a city because King David was born there. And in that town was
+sometime a house which belonged to Isai, the father of David, where
+David was born and anointed into the kingdom of Israel by Samuel the
+prophet. And in this same dwelling was the Son of Heaven born of Mary.</p>
+
+<p>And this same house was at the end of a street that was in that time
+called the Covered Street, because, to keep out the great heat and
+burn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ing of the sun, this street was canopied above with black cloths
+and other things,&mdash;for such is the use in that country always. And here
+was wont to be great bargaining, or a fair once a week of old clothes;
+and specially of trees or timber, by the little house which stood before
+a den under the earth, made and shaped like a little cellar, where Isai
+and others that dwelt there after him put certain necessaries that
+belonged to the household, against the heat of the sun. It is also the
+manner in all that country that there be certain houses, the which be
+called there <i>alchan</i>, that we call hostelries, and in these houses be
+mules, horses, asses, and camels always ready, that, if so that any
+merchant or any man that travelled by the way, be it far or near, need
+any beast for himself, or for his merchandise, then he goeth to such a
+house and there he may hire a horse, or what beast that he will, for a
+certain price. And when he hath such a beast then he goeth from that
+city to another, where to abide and rest him for a time. Then he
+dischargeth his beast of his burden, and so sendeth him to a house
+called there also <i>alchan</i>; and the master of the house giveth his beast
+meat, and, when he may, he sendeth it home to the same place that it
+came from.</p>
+
+<p>And such a house was, before the birth of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> Christ, in the place where
+Christ was born; but, about the time of the Nativity, that house was all
+destroyed, insomuch that there was nothing left but broken walls on
+every side, and a little cave under earth, and a little unthrifty house
+before the cave: and there men sold bread on the same ground; for it is
+the usage in all that country that all the bread that is sold shall be
+brought unto a certain place.</p>
+
+<p>Now when Octavianus had sent out a commandment as it is aforesaid, then
+went Joseph and Mary riding on an ass, late in the eventide, toward the
+city of Bethlehem, and because they came so late, and all places were
+occupied with pilgrims and other men, and also because they came in poor
+array and went about the city, none would receive them, and specially,
+men say, because that Mary, a young woman, sitting upon an ass, heavy
+and sorry, and full weary of the way, was near to the time of bearing of
+her child. Then Joseph led his wife into this shed that none took keep
+of, down into the little dark house, and there our Lord, Jesus Christ,
+the same night was born of the Virgin, without any disease or sorrow of
+her body, for salvation of all mankind.</p>
+
+<p>And in that house, before the cave of old time, was left a manger of the
+length of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> fathom, made in the wall; and to that same manger was an ox
+of a poor man tied, that none might harbor. And beside that ox Joseph
+tied his ass, and in that same manger Mary wrapped her blessed Son in
+cloths and laid Him on high before the ass and the ox,&mdash;for there was
+none other place.</p>
+
+<p>And shepherds were fast by in the same country keeping their sheep in
+the night, and an angel of Heaven came and stood beside them with a
+great light, wherefore they were in much dread. And the angel said to
+them, "Be not afraid, for I tell you a great joy that shall be to all
+people, for this day is born to us our Lord, Christ, in the city of
+David, and this shall be to you a token: Ye shall find a young child
+wrapped in cloths and put in a manger." And then suddenly there came a
+great multitude of angels of Heaven praising God, who said: "Joy be to
+God on high and peace in earth to men of good will."</p>
+
+<p>Now the place where the angel appeared to the shepherds that night when
+Christ was born is but half a mile from Bethlehem, and in that same
+place David, when he was a child, fed sheep and kept them from the bear
+and the lion.</p>
+
+<p>Some books say that the shepherds in that country, twice in the year,
+are wont to keep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> their sheep in the night, and, therein, times be when
+the day and the night are both of one length. And you shall understand
+that the land about Bethlehem is all mountainous for the most part, so
+that in some places a man shall not well know winter from summer, and in
+some places it is right cold, and some it is both winter and summer at
+one time, and sometimes on the mountains, in parts of the East, men
+shall find snow in the month of August, and that snow is gathered by
+them that dwell about, and put in caves, and afterward it is borne to
+the market, where the great lords of the country will buy it, and take
+it to their houses, and set it in a basin upon their board to make their
+drink cold.</p>
+
+<p>In September and October, when the sun cometh a little low in that
+country, then seeds and all manner of herbs commonly begin to wax in the
+fields, as in this country herbs begin to grow in March and April; also
+in some parts of the East they reap corn in April and in March, but most
+in May, as in some places the ground is higher, in some places lower;
+but beside Bethlehem are many more places of good pasture and of flat
+ground than elsewhere: insomuch that at Christmas-tide barley beginneth
+to ear and to wax ripe; and then men send thither, from divers
+countries, their horses and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> mules, to make them fat: and that time we
+call among us Christmas, they call, in their language, the time of
+herbage. And forasmuch as when Christ was born, peace was in all the
+world, and betwixt Bethlehem and that place where the angel appeared to
+the shepherds was but half a mile and a little way more, and also there
+was no great cold thereabout, therefore the shepherds, all that winter
+night and day, now in one place, now in another, dwelled there with
+their sheep, and so they do yet to this day.</p>
+
+<p>Now when Christ was born of the Virgin Mary for salvation of all
+mankind, then His Star, that was prophesied of Balaam and long awaited
+and looked for by the twelve astronomers on the hill of Vaws, at that
+same night and at that same hour, began to arise in the manner of a sun,
+bright shining; and so after, in the form of an eagle, it ascended above
+the hill of Vaws. And all that day in highest air it abode without
+moving, insomuch that when the sun was most hot and most high there was
+no difference in shining betwixt them.</p>
+
+<p>But when the day of the Nativity was passed, the Star ascended up into
+the firmament, and it was nothing like to stars that be painted in
+divers places, for it had right many long streaks and beams, more
+burning and lighter than a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> brand of fire; and, as an eagle flying and
+beating the air with his wings, right so the streaks and beams of the
+Star stirred it about. And it had in itself the form and likeness of a
+young child, and above him a sign of the holy cross, and a voice was
+heard in the Star, saying: "This day is born to us the King of Jews that
+folk have awaited, and Lord is of them. Go and seek Him and do Him
+worship!"</p>
+
+<p>Then all the people, both man and woman, of all the country about, when
+they saw this wonderful and marvellous Star and also heard the voice out
+of the Star, were greatly aghast and had wonder thereof; but yet they
+knew well that it was the Star that was prophesied by Balaam, and long
+time was desired of all the people in that country.</p>
+
+<p>Now when the three worshipful Kings who in that time reigned in Ind,
+Chaldee, and Persia were informed, by the astronomers, of this Star,
+they were right glad that they had grace to see the Star in their days.
+Wherefore these three worshipful Kings, though each of them was far from
+the other, and none knew of the other's purpose, yet in the same hour
+the Star appeared to all three, and then they ordained and purposed
+them, with great and rich gifts and many rich and diverse ornaments that
+belong to a king's array, and also with mules and camels<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> and horses
+charged with treasure, and with a great multitude of people, to go seek
+and worship the Lord and King of the Jews that was new born, as the
+voice of the Star had commanded. And furthermore they arrayed themselves
+the much more honestly and worshipfully, because they knew well that he
+was a worthier King than any of them was.</p>
+
+<p>And you shall understand that there be three Indias, of which these
+three lords were kings; and all the lands for the most part are islands,
+and there are also there great waters and wildernesses full of wild and
+perilous beasts and horrible serpents, and there grow also reeds so high
+and so great that men make thereof houses and ships. And these isles are
+divided every one by itself far from the others, so that only with great
+travail shall a man pass from one kingdom to another.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in the first Ind was the land of Nubia, and therein reigned King
+Melchior, in the time that Christ was born. Therein also is the land of
+Araby, in which is the hill Sinai: and a man may lightly sail by the Red
+Sea out of Egypt and Syria into Ind. In this land is found gold
+wonderfully red, like thin and small roots, and that gold is the best
+that is in the world. Herein is also a hill called Bena, where is found
+a precious stone, called smaragd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the second Ind was the kingdom of Godolia, of which Balthazar was
+king when Christ was born; and this Balthazar offered incense to the
+Babe; for in this land many more good spices grow than in all the
+countries of the East, and especially incense, more than in all places
+of the world; and it droppeth down out of certain trees in the manner of
+gum.</p>
+
+<p>In the third Ind was the kingdom of Thaars. Of that kingdom was Jaspar
+king at the birth of Christ. And Jaspar offered myrrh to the young
+Child, and in this land is the isle of Egrisoulla, where groweth myrrh
+more plentifully than in any place of the world, and it waxeth like ears
+of corn that are burnt with the weather, and right thick; and when it is
+ripe it is so soft that it cleaveth to men's clothes as they go by the
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Now when these three worshipful Kings were passed forth out of their
+kingdoms, the Star evenly went before each King and his people, and when
+they stood still and rested the Star stood still, and when they went
+forward again the Star always went before them in virtue and strength,
+and gave light all the way. And, as it is written before, in the time
+that Christ was born there was peace in all the world, wherefore in all
+the cities and towns which they went through there was no gate shut
+neither by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> night nor by day; and all men of the cities and towns that
+these worthy Kings went through in the night were wonderfully aghast and
+passingly marvelled thereof, for they saw kings and vast multitudes go
+by in great haste; but they knew not what they were, nor whence they
+came, nor whither they should go. On the morrow the way was greatly
+befouled with horses' hoofs, whereof they were in much doubt what it
+might mean, and great altercation was among them for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>Furthermore, these Kings rode forth over hills, waters, valleys, plains,
+and other divers and perilous places without hindrance or disease, for
+all the way seemed to them plain and even, and they never took shelter
+by night nor by day; nor ever rested; nor did their horses or other
+beasts ever eat or drink till they had come to Bethlehem; and all this
+time seemed to them but a day.</p>
+
+<p>And thus, through the mercy of God and the leading of the Star, they
+came unto Jerusalem and Bethlehem the thirteenth day after Christ was
+born, at the uprising of the sun, whereof is no doubt: for they found
+Mary and her son in the same place where the Child was born, and laid in
+the manger.</p>
+
+<p>But when the three blessed Kings, with their host and company were
+almost come to Jerusa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>lem, saving but two miles, then a great and dark
+cloud held all the earth, and in that dark cloud they lost the Star. And
+Melchior with his people was come fast by Jerusalem beside the hill of
+Calvary, where Christ was afterward crucified; and there the King abode
+in a cloud of fog and in darkness.</p>
+
+<p>At that time the hill of Calvary was a rock of twelve degrees high,
+where thieves and other men for divers trespasses were put to death; and
+there was beside this hill a place where three highways met together.
+But because of the darkness of the cloud, and also because they knew not
+the way, they abode there, and went no further at that time.</p>
+
+<p>And next came Balthazar, and he abode under the same cloud, beside the
+Mount of Olives in a little town that is called Galilee.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when the two Kings were come to these places, the cloud began to
+ascend and wax clear, yet the Star appeared not. But when they saw that
+they were near to the city of Jerusalem, knowing not each other, they
+took their way thither with all their folk; and when they came where the
+three ways met, then also appeared King Jaspar with all his host. And so
+these three glorious Kings, each with his host and burdens and beasts,
+met together in the highway beside the Hill of Calvary. And,
+notwith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>standing that none of them ever before had seen the other, nor
+knew him, nor had heard of his coming, yet, at their meeting, each one
+with reverence and joy kissed the other. And they were of diverse
+language, yet all, seeming, used the same tongue.</p>
+
+<p>So, afterward, when they had spoken together and each had told his
+purpose and the cause of his journey, and the cause of all was learned
+to be the same, then they were much more glad and more fervent. And so
+they rode forth, and suddenly, at the uprising of the sun, they came
+into the city of Jerusalem. And when they knew that this was the city
+which the Chaldeans of old time had besieged and destroyed, they were
+right glad, expecting to have found the King born in that city. But
+Herod and all his people were greatly disturbed at their sudden coming,
+for their company and beasts of burden were of so great a number that
+the city might not receive them, but for the most part they lay without
+the gates all about, whereof Isaias prophesied: "The strength of folk
+cometh to thee&mdash;that is to say, to the City of Jerusalem&mdash;great plenty
+of camels shall do thee service, and dromedaries of Madyan and Effa
+shall come to thee. All men shall come from Saba, bringing gold and
+incense and showing praise to God."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So, these three worshipful Kings, when they were come into the city,
+asked of the people concerning the Child that was born; and, when Herod
+heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, and he gathered
+together all his princes and priests and asked them where Christ should
+be born, and they said: "In Bethlehem of Judea." Then Herod privily
+summoned to him these three Kings, and learned of them the time that the
+Star appeared, and so sent them forth unto Bethlehem, saying: "Go and
+inquire busily of this Child, and when you have found Him, come and tell
+me, that I may go and do Him worship."</p>
+
+<p>Now when these three Kings were informed of the birth of Christ and of
+the place where He was born, and so were passed out of Jerusalem, then
+the Star appeared to them again as it did erst, and went before them
+till they came to Bethlehem. And fast by that place were the shepherds
+to whom the angel appeared with great light, showing them the birth of
+Christ. And the three Kings spake with them, and when the shepherds saw
+the Star they run together and told how the angel had appeared to them,
+and furthermore all that the angel had spoken to them. And the Kings
+were wondrous glad, and with good cheer heard and took consideration of
+the shepherds' words; and so from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> witness, and from the words of the
+shepherds and from the voice of the angel that was heard out of the
+Star, they had no doubt of the thing. Then anon, when they knew that
+they were come to Bethlehem, they got down from their horses and changed
+all their array, and clothed themselves in the best and richest that
+they had, as kings should be clothed&mdash;and always the Star went forth
+before them.</p>
+
+<p>Now the nearer the Kings came to the place where Christ was born the
+brighter shined the Star, and they entered Bethlehem the sixth hour of
+the day. And then they rode through the covered street till they came
+before that little house. And there the Star stood still, and then
+descended and shone with so great a light that the little house and the
+cave within were full of radiance, till anon the Star again went upward
+into the air, and stood still always above the same place, yet the light
+ever remained in the house where Christ and Mary were. So as it is said
+in the Gospel: "They went into the house and found the Child, and fell
+down and worshipped Him, and offered to Him gifts of gold, myrrh, and
+incense."</p>
+
+<p>Of this example came afterward a usage, that in all the countries of the
+East no man should go into the presence of the Sultan, but he brought
+gold or silver or somewhat else in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> hands; and, also, ere he spoke
+to the Sultan he should kiss the ground, and this is a custom which is
+used in all the countries of the East to this day. But the Franciscan
+friars, when they approached the Sultan, offered to him only pears or
+apples, for they might not touch gold nor silver; and these offerings
+were received by the Sultan with all reverence and meekness.</p>
+
+<p>Now on the day that the three Kings sought Christ and worshipped Him, He
+was a little child of thirteen days old, and He was somewhat fat, and
+lay wrapped in poor clothes in the hay of the manger up to His arms. And
+Mary, His Mother, as it is written in divers books, was, in person,
+fleshy and somewhat brown. In the presence of the three Kings she was
+covered with a poor white mantle, which she held close before her with
+her left hand. Her head was concealed altogether, save her face, with a
+linen cloth; and she sat upon the manger and with her right hand held up
+the young Child's head. And the Kings worshipped Him and kissed His hand
+devoutly and laid their gifts beside His head.</p>
+
+<p>But what was done with these gifts, ye shall learn hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>Now Melchior, that offered gold to the Holy Child, was the least in
+stature and person of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> the three Kings. Balthazar, that offered incense,
+was of a medium stature; and Jaspar, that offered myrrh, was most in
+person; whereof is no doubt, for the prophet saith: "Before Him shall
+fall down Ethiops, and His enemies shall lick the earth. They shall come
+to Thee that betrayed Thee, and they shall worship the steps of Thy
+feet." And having regard to the stature of men of that time these Kings
+were right little of person, insomuch that all manner of people
+marvelled at them. And this showed well that they were come from far out
+of the East, for the nearer toward the uprising of the sun that men be
+born, the less they be of stature and be feebler and more tender.</p>
+
+<p>And you shall understand that these three Kings brought out of their
+lands many gifts and rich ornaments which King Alexander left in Ind, in
+Chaldee, and in Persia; and all the ornaments which Queen Saba found in
+Solomon's temple, and divers vessels that were of the king's house and
+the Temple of God in Jerusalem, which, in the time of its destruction,
+were borne into their countries by the Persians and Chaldeans, and many
+other jewels, both gold and silver, and precious stones, brought they
+with them to offer to Christ. But when they found our Lord laid on high
+in the manger and in poor cloths, and the Star that gave so great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> light
+in all the place, that it seemed as though they stood in a furnace of
+fire, then these Kings were so sore afraid that, of all the rich jewels
+and ornaments they brought with them, they chose nothing, when their
+treasury was opened, but what came first to their hands, for Melchior
+took a round apple of gold, as much as a man might hold in his hand, and
+thirty gilt pennies, and these he offered to our Lord. Balthazar took
+out of his treasury incense; and Jaspar took out myrrh, as it came
+first, and that he offered, with weeping and tears.</p>
+
+<p>And the Kings were so aghast and so devout and fervent in their
+oblations, that to all the words that Mary said they gave but little
+consideration, save only that to every King as he offered his gifts she
+bowed down her head meekly, and said, "<i>Deo gracias</i>:" that is to say,
+"I thank God."</p>
+
+<p>When these three Kings had thus performed their way and will, and done
+all things that they came for, then, as mankind asketh and would, they
+and all their men and beasts began to eat, and drink, and sleep, and
+betook them to rest and sport all that day in Bethlehem. For, as is said
+before, they had neither eaten nor drunk during thirteen days. And then
+they meekly told to all men in that city how won<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>derfully the Star had
+brought them thither from the furthest part of the world.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as the Evangelist saith: A command came to these Kings in their
+sleep that they should not return again to Herod, and so, by another
+way, they went home to their kingdoms. But the Star that went before
+them, appeared no more. And so these three Kings, that suddenly met
+together at the Mount of Calvary, rode home together with great joy and
+honor, and rested by the way as men should do.</p>
+
+<p>And they rode through the provinces that Holofernes of old time had
+traversed with all his hosts, and the people supposed that Holofernes
+had come again, for as they journeyed into any town they were meekly and
+worshipfully received, and evermore they told what they had seen, done,
+and heard, so that their name and praise were never after forgot. But
+the way that before had taken only thirteen days, through leading of the
+Star, they found now to take two years, which was ordained, that all men
+should know what difference is between God's working and man's.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when Herod and the scribes heard that the Kings were gone home
+again, and came not to him as he had bade them, then, of much envy and
+malice, he pursued them a great way; and always he found the people
+bless them, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> praise them, and tell of their nobility. Wherefore
+Herod burnt and destroyed all the land that was under his power where
+the Kings had ridden, and especially Tharsis and Cilicia, for he charged
+them that they had suffered the three Kings privily to pass across the
+sea in their ships. And Herod's envy was great when he heard how
+marvellously the Kings had come out of their lands in thirteen days
+through leading of the Star, and how, afterward, they went home again,
+without the Star, through guides and interpreters,&mdash;yet no man could
+tell, for wonder, how night and day they passed by; and for this reason
+the paynims, who had no knowledge of Holy Writ, nor of the birth of
+Christ, called these three Kings <i>Magos</i>; that is to say, Wise Men of
+the East.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when the Kings were come with great travail to the Hill of Vaws,
+they made there, as is aforesaid, a fair chapel in worship of the Child
+they had sought. Also they made a covenant to meet together at the same
+place once in the year; and there they ordained their burial. Then all
+the princes and lords and worshipful knights of their kingdoms, hearing
+of the return of these three Kings, anon rode forth to them with great,
+solemnity and met them at the place aforesaid, and with meekness and
+humility received them. And when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> they heard how wonderfully God had
+wrought for their Kings, they held them in more reverence, love, and
+dread forever after.</p>
+
+<p>So, when the Kings had done what they would, they took leave of each
+other, and each one, with his people, rode home to his own land with
+great joy.</p>
+
+<p>And when they were come into their own realms, they preached to all the
+people what they had seen and done on their journey; and they made in
+their temples a star after the likeness of that which appeared to them,
+wherefore many paynims left their errors and worshipped the Holy Child.</p>
+
+<p>And thus these three worshipful Kings dwelt in their kingdoms in honest
+and devout conversation until the coming of St. Thomas, the apostle.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after the three Kings had gone forth from Bethlehem, there began to
+wax, all about, a great fame for Mary and her Child, and for the Kings
+of the East. Wherefore, Mary, in dread of persecution, fled out of the
+little house where Christ was born, and went to another dark cave and
+there abode; and divers men and women loved her and ministered to her
+all manner of necessaries. But when she went out of the little house,
+Mary forgot and left behind her her smock and the clothes in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+Christ was wrapped, folded together and laid in the manger; and there
+they were, whole and fresh, in the same place to the time when St.
+Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, came thither, long after.</p>
+
+<p>Anon so great was grown Mary's fame that she durst not abide longer
+there for dread of Herod and the Jews, and an angel appeared to Joseph,
+saying: "Arise, and take the Child and His mother and flee into Egypt,
+and tarry there till I summon thee, for it is to come that Herod shall
+seek the Child to slay Him." Then Joseph arose and took the Child and
+His mother and went into Egypt in the night, and there he remained until
+Herod died. And Mary and her Son dwelt in Egypt seven years.</p>
+
+<p>And it is told that by the road which Mary journeyed thither and came
+back again, grew roses, which are called the Roses of Jericho, and they
+grow in no other place. The shepherds of that country, in following
+their sheep, gather these roses in their season, and sell them to
+pilgrims, and thus they be borne into divers lands. And the place where
+Mary dwelt is now a garden where groweth balm, and to every bush a
+Christian man, among the Sultan's prisoners, is assigned to protect it
+and keep it clean; for when a paynim keepeth them, anon the bushes wax
+dry and grow no more. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> this balm hath many virtues the which were
+long to tell; but all men in the East believe truly that the place bears
+such a virtue of growing balm because Mary dwelt there seven years, and
+washed and bathed her Son in its wells of water.</p>
+
+<p>And as to the gifts which the three Kings gave to Christ: the thirty
+gilt pennies of Melchior were made of old by Thara, father of Abraham,
+and Abraham bare them with him when he went on pilgrimage out of the
+land of Chaldee into Ebron, which was then called Arabia, and there he
+bought with them a burial-place for himself, his wife, and his children,
+Isaac and Jacob. In exchange for the same thirty pieces Joseph was sold
+by his brethren to merchants of Egypt. Afterward, when Jacob died, they
+were sent to the land of Sheba to buy divers spices and ornaments for
+his sepulture, and so they were put into the king's treasury of that
+land. Then by process of time, in Solomon's reign, the Queen of Sheba
+offered these thirty gilt pennies, with many rich jewels, in the Temple
+at Jerusalem; but in the time of Roboam, King Solomon's son, when
+Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple despoiled, they were carried to
+the King of Arabia, and were put into his treasury with other spoils
+from the Temple.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And Melchior offered these same thirty pieces to Christ, because they
+were of the finest gold, and the best that he had. But when Mary went
+into Egypt she lost all the gifts of the three Kings by the way, bound
+all in one cloth together. And it happened there was a shepherd who had
+so great an infirmity that no leech might heal him, and all that he had
+he paid to the leeches to be whole,&mdash;yet it might not be. But, on a
+time, as he went into the fields with his sheep, he found these thirty
+gilt pennies, with incense and myrrh, bound all in a cloth together, and
+he kept them privily to himself, until, hearing tell of a holy prophet
+that healed all men of their infirmities by a word, he came to Christ
+and prayed Him for grace and help; and, being healed, he offered the
+gold, and incense, and myrrh to Him with good devotion. And when Christ
+saw the thirty gilt pennies and precious herbs He knew them well, and
+bade the shepherd go into the Temple and offer them upon the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Now, when the priest saw such oblations laid upon the altar he marvelled
+much, and took all three things and put them in the common treasury. And
+afterward, when Judas Iscariot came into the Temple to make covenant
+with the Princes of the Law to betray his master, they gave him for his
+pay the same thirty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> pieces of gold, and for them Judas sold his Master.
+And after Christ was crucified, then Judas repented, and went to the
+Temple and cast down to the Princes of the Law the thirty pieces. And
+with fifteen of these gilt pennies the Jews bought a field of burial for
+pilgrims; and the other fifteen they gave to the knights who kept the
+sepulchre of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>And the reason these thirty gilt pennies were called silver in the
+Gospel, notwithstanding they were fine gold, is, that it is the common
+usage in that country so to call them, as men in this country call gold
+from beyond the sea scutys, motouns or florins; moreover in the East the
+same print is made in gold and silver and copper, and the print on the
+thirty pieces is this: on one side is a king's head crowned, and on the
+other are written letters in Chaldaic, which men now cannot read. And
+many marvels are told of these pieces of gold which were long to tell.</p>
+
+<p>How when Our Lord was ascended into heaven, then he sent St. Thomas, his
+apostle, into Ind, to preach there God's word. And as St. Thomas went
+about in the temples he found a star in every one, painted after the
+manner of the Star that appeared to the three Kings when Christ was
+born, in which Star was a sign of the Cross and a Child above. And when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+St. Thomas saw this he asked of the bishops what it was, and they told
+him that such a Star of old time appeared on the Hill of Vaws in token
+of a Child that was born who should be king of the Jews, as was heard
+spoken out of the same Star.</p>
+
+<p>And when St. Thomas had preached and taught the people the understanding
+of this Star and of the Cross and the Child, then he went to the
+kingdoms of the three Kings, and he found them whole of body and of a
+great age. And St. Thomas christened these three Kings and all their
+people, and the Kings began anon to preach with the Apostle, and when
+they had converted the people to the law of Christ he ordained them to
+be Archbishops. And after this St. Thomas was slain, and in all that
+country where he was martyred both men and women have visages shaped
+like hounds, yet they be not hairy&mdash;and they are so unto this day.</p>
+
+<p>Now under the Hill of Vaws St. Thomas and these three Kings had made a
+rich city and called it Sewill, and this city is the best and richest
+city in all the country of Ind to this day; and therein is the
+habitation of Prester John that is called lord of Ind, and there
+dwelleth also the Patriarch of Ind who is called Thomas, in worship of
+St. Thomas and for an everlasting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> memorial. And when all things were
+disposed by these three Kings they went to the city of Sewill, and there
+they lived twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>And a little before the feast of Christ's nativity, when these years
+were drawn to an end, there appeared a wonderful star above this city
+and the Kings knew that their time was nigh when they should pass out of
+this world. Then of one assent they ordained a fair and large tomb for
+their burial in the church they had made in the city; and in the feast
+of Christmas they did, solemnly, God's service.</p>
+
+<p>And in the feast of the Circumcision, Melchior, King of Araby, laid him
+down before all his people and without any disease yielded up his
+spirit, in the year of his age one hundred and sixteen. Then in the
+feast of Epiphany, five days thereafter, Balthazar, King of Godolie and
+Saba, died in the year of his age one hundred and twelve. And then
+Jaspar the third king, the sixth day after was taken into everlasting
+joy, and they were all buried in the same tomb that they had ordained;
+and the Star that appeared over the city before their death, abode
+always till their bodies were translated unto Cologne, as they of Ind
+tell.</p>
+
+<p>Now after much time had passed, Queen Helen, the mother of the glorious
+Emperor Constantine, began to think greatly of the bodies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> of these
+three Kings, and she arrayed her with certain people and went into the
+land of Ind. And she had much praise among the people because of the
+finding of Mary's smock and the cloths that Christ was wound in in his
+childhood; and seeing that she was worshipped of all people, the
+Patriarch Thomas and Prester John, took counsel of other lords and
+princes and gave her the bodies of King Melchior and King Balthazar. But
+the Nestorines had borne the body of the third king, King Jaspar, into
+the isle of Egrisoulla. And these Nestorines were the worst heretics of
+the world. For the most part they were black Ethiops, who painted Christ
+and His Mother Mary and the three Kings in their churches all in black,
+and the Devil all white, in despite of all other Christian men. But
+because Queen Helen wished not that the three Kings should be parted,
+she made many prayers and gave great gifts to the chief lords of the
+isle of Egrisoulla, and thus anon did she get the body of King Jaspar.</p>
+
+<p>And you shall understand that after she had found the bodies of all
+these three Kings, Queen Helen put them into one chest and arrayed it
+with great riches, and she brought them unto Constantinople with joy and
+reverence, and laid them in a church that is called St. Sophia; and this
+church King Constantine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> did make&mdash;and he alone, with a little child,
+set up all the pillars of marble.</p>
+
+<p>Now after the death of this worshipful King Constantine and Queen Helen
+aforesaid, there began a new persecution of heresy against the Christian
+faith, and of death against them that would maintain the law of Christ.
+The Greeks forsook the Church and chose a Patriarch for themselves, whom
+they yet obey until this day.</p>
+
+<p>Now in this persecution the bodies and the relics of the three holy
+Kings were put at no reverence, but utterly set at naught. For the
+Saracens and Turks at this time won with strong battle the lands of
+Greece and Armenia, and destroyed a great part of these lands.</p>
+
+<p>Then came an Emperor of Rome who was called Mauricius, and through the
+help of them of Milan he recovered all these lands again, and, as is
+said among men in that country, through counsel of this Emperor the
+bodies of the three Kings were carried unto Milan, and they were there
+laid with all solemnity and worship in a fair church which is called
+after St. Eustorgio, because he had asked the bodies from the Emperor,
+and being granted them had sent them unto Milan.</p>
+
+<p>Then afterward by process of time, it happed that the city of Milan
+began to rebel against the Emperor, who was called Frederick I., and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+this Emperor sent to the Archbishop of Cologne, who was called Rainald,
+for help. Then this Archbishop, through help of divers lords of the land
+of Milan, took the city of Milan and destroyed a great part thereof. And
+the chief men of the city took the bodies of the three Kings and hid
+them privily in the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Now among all others there was in Milan a lord named Asso, and the
+Emperor hated him more than all the rest of its people. So it happed
+that in the destruction of the city the Archbishop won Asso's palace
+through strong hand, and lived therein a great while, for Asso was taken
+and put into prison.</p>
+
+<p>Then, anon, Asso sent privily by his keepers to the Archbishop of
+Cologne and prayed him that he would come and speak with him, and it was
+granted that Asso should go to the Archbishop. And when he was come to
+him, he prayed him that, if he would get him grace of the Emperor and
+his love and the restoration of his lordship, he would give him the
+bodies of the three Kings.</p>
+
+<p>When the Archbishop heard this, he went to the Emperor and prayed for
+Lord Asso, and got him grace and love. And when this was done, Asso
+brought, secretly, the three bodies of the Kings to the Archbishop of
+Cologne.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Archbishop sent the bodies forth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> by private means, a great
+way out of the city of Milan, whereupon he went to the Emperor anew and
+prayed him that he would grant him these three bodies, and the Emperor
+did so with good will. Then the Archbishop openly, with great solemnity
+and procession, brought the three holy Kings unto Cologne, and there put
+them in the fair church of St. Peter, worshipfully; and all the people
+of the country, with all the reverence they might, received these holy
+relics; and there they are kept and beholden of all manner of nations
+unto this day.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+
+<p>Thus endeth the translation of these Three Worshipful Kings: Melchior,
+Balthazar, and Jaspar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>A French Yeoman's Legend.</i></h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"He laughed fit to make the plates rattle, his little brown eyes
+twinkling all the while."</p>
+
+<p><i>Erckmann-Chatrian.</i></p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE THREE CHRISTMAS MASSES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<p>"Two truffled turkeys, Garrigou?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, reverend Father, two magnificent turkeys stuffed with truffles.
+There's no mistake, for I helped to stuff them myself. The flesh almost
+cracked as they roasted, it was so tight&mdash;so&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Holy Virgin! and I, who love truffles as&mdash;&mdash;Hurry; give me my
+surplice, Garrigou. And what else besides the turkeys; what else did you
+see in the kitchen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! all sorts of good things. Since noon we've done nothing but pluck
+pheasants, pewits, wood-hens, and heath-cocks. Feathers are scattered
+thick. Then from the pond they've brought eels and golden carp and
+trout, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What size are the trout, Garrigou?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, as big as that! reverend Father. Enormous!"</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens, I seem to see them! Have you put the wine in the flasks?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, reverend Father, I've put the wine in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> the flasks. But what's a
+mouthful or two as you go to midnight Mass! You should see the
+dining-hall in the ch&acirc;teau, full of decanters that sparkle with wine of
+every color. And the silver dishes, above all the ornamented ones; the
+flowers; the candlesticks! I never saw anything to equal it. Monsieur
+the Marquis has invited all the nobility of the neighborhood. You will
+be at least forty at table, without counting either the bailiff or the
+notary. Ah! it will make you very happy to be there, reverend Father.
+Why, only to smell the delicious turkeys&mdash;the odor of truffles pursues
+me even yet. Muh!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come, come, Garrigou, you must guard against the sin of greediness, and
+especially on the night of the Nativity. Quickly, now, light the candles
+and sound the first bell for Mass; midnight is very near, and we must
+not be late."</p>
+
+<p>This conversation was held on Christmas night, in the year of grace
+sixteen hundred and sixteen, between the reverend Dom Balagu&egrave;re,
+formerly prior of Barnabites, now chaplain in the service of the Sires
+de Trinquelague, and his clerk Garrigou; or at least what he supposed
+was his clerk Garrigou, because you will learn that the devil had that
+night taken on the round face and wavering traits of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> young
+sacristan, the better to tempt the reverend Father to commit the
+dreadful sin of gluttony. Now, while the supposed Garrigou (hum! hum!)
+rung, with all his might, the bells of the seignorial chapel, the
+reverend Father put on his chasuble in the little sacristy of the
+ch&acirc;teau; and, his mind already becoming troubled by the gastronomic
+descriptions he had heard, he repeated to himself:</p>
+
+<p>"Roasted turkeys; golden carp; trout as large as that!"</p>
+
+<p>Outside, the night wind blew, scattering the music of the bells, and one
+by one lights began to appear in the shadows about the flanks of Mont
+Ventoux, upon the summit of which rose the ancient towers of
+Trinquelague. These lights were carried by the farmers on their way to
+attend midnight Mass at the ch&acirc;teau. They climbed the paths in groups of
+five or six, the father leading, lantern in hand, the women enveloped in
+their big brown mantles, where their infants nestled for shelter. In
+spite of the hour and the cold all these honest people marched
+cheerfully on, sustained by the thought that when they came out from the
+Mass they would find, as they did each year, tables spread for them
+below in the kitchens. Now and again on the rough ascent, the coach of
+some seigneur, preceded by torch-bearing porters,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> reflected in its
+glasses the cold moonlight; or, maybe, a mule trotted along shaking his
+bells, and in the light of the lanterns covered with frost, the farmers
+recognized their bailiff and saluted him as he passed:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, good-evening, Master Arnoton."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."</p>
+
+<p>The night was clear, the stars were polished with cold, the wind stung,
+and a fine sleet, which glistened on the clothes without wetting them,
+kept faithfully the tradition of Christmases white with snow. Raised
+there aloft, the ch&acirc;teau appeared like the goal of all things, with its
+enormous mass of towers and gables, the belfry of its chapel mounting
+into the blue-black sky, and a crowd of small lights that winked, went
+and came, twinkled at all the windows, and seemed, on the sombre
+background of the building, like sparks running through the cinders of
+burnt paper. Once past the drawbridge and the postern, it was necessary,
+in order to gain the chapel, to traverse the first courtyard, full of
+coaches, of valets, of sedan-chairs, and bright with the flare of
+torches and the fires of the kitchens. There was the click of the
+turnspits, the crash of stewpans, the noises of glass and silver
+preparing for the dinner. From below, a warm vapor, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> smelt of
+roasting meat and the strong herbs of curious sauces, whispered to the
+farmers, to the chaplain, to the bailiff&mdash;to all the world:</p>
+
+<p>"What a revel we are going to have after Mass!"<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>II.</p>
+
+<p>Drelindin din! Drelindin din! Midnight Mass is about to begin. In the
+chapel of the ch&acirc;teau, a miniature cathedral with arches intercrossed
+and a wainscot of oak mounting as high as the walls, all the hangings
+have been arranged, all the candles lit.</p>
+
+<p>And what a host of people! And what toilettes! First, seated in the
+sculptured stall which surrounds the choir, behold the Sire de
+Trinquelague in a suit of salmon-colored taffeta; and next to him all
+the invited nobles. Facing these, on a prie-dieu trimmed with velvet, is
+the old dowager Marquise in her robe of fire-colored brocade, and the
+young Dame de Trinquelague, surmounted by a huge head-dress of lace,
+made in the latest fashion of the French court. Further down, dressed in
+black, with vast pointed perukes and shaven faces, are the bailiff,
+Thomas Arnoton, and the notary, Master Ambroy, two grave objects among
+the flowing silks and figured damasks. Then come the fat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> majordomos,
+the pages, the grooms, the attendants; dame Barbe, all her keys
+suspended at her side on a ring of thin silver. At the bottom of the
+hall, on the benches, are the Servants, the yeomen with their families;
+and lastly, beyond, all about the doors as they open and shut
+discretely, are the scullions, who steal in, between two sauces, to get
+a little of the Mass, carrying an odor of the revelry into the church,
+all in its gay attire and warm with so many burning candles.</p>
+
+<p>Is it a glimpse of their little white caps that distracts the celebrant
+of the Mass? Or, it may be the clangor made by Garrigou's bells, that
+pulsating sound which shakes the altar with an infernal vibration and
+seems to say all the time:</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry up, hurry up. We'll soon be done; we'll soon be at table!"</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that each time it sounds&mdash;that peal of the devil&mdash;the
+chaplain forgets his Mass and thinks of nothing but the coming revel. He
+pictures to himself the uproar of the kitchens; the furnace heated like
+a blacksmith's forge; the vapor of opening trenchers, and in that vapor
+two magnificent turkeys, buttered, tender, bursting with truffles.</p>
+
+<p>Or, perhaps he saw pass the files of little pages bearing dishes
+enveloped in tempting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> steam, and, with them, entered the grand saloon
+already prepared for the feast. O deliciousness! behold the immense
+table all set and sparkling; the peacocks in their plumes; the pheasants
+with their open wings of reddish-brown; the ruby-colored flagons; the
+pyramids of fruit peeping from green branches; and those marvellous fish
+of which Garrigou told (ah! well, yes, Garrigou!) held aloft on a bed of
+fennel, the mother-of-pearl scales as bright as when they came from the
+water, with a bouquet of odorous herbs in their monster-like nostrils.
+So distinct is the vision of these marvels, that it seems to Dom
+Balagu&egrave;re as if all the wonderful dishes are served before him on the
+embroideries of the altar-cloth; and two or three times, in place of
+<i>Dominus vobiscum</i>, he is surprised to find himself repeating the
+<i>Benedicite</i>. Saving these slight mistakes, the holy man does his office
+very conscientiously, without skipping a line, without omitting a
+genuflexion; and all goes well enough as far as the end of the first
+Mass; because, you know, on Christmas night the same celebrant must
+repeat three consecutive Masses.</p>
+
+<p>"One!" said the chaplain, with a sigh of relief; then, without losing a
+minute, he made a sign to his clerk&mdash;or the person he believed to be his
+clerk, and&mdash;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Drelindin din! Drelindin din!</p>
+
+<p>The second Mass begins, and with it begins also the sin of Dom
+Balagu&egrave;re.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry, hurry, let's get done," cries the thin voice of Garrigou's bell,
+and this time the unlucky priest, abandoning himself to the demon of
+gluttony, rushes through the missal, devouring its pages with all the
+avidity of an overcharged appetite. Frantically he bows; arises; makes
+the signs of the cross, goes through the genuflexions, abbreviates all
+his gestures, the sooner to be finished. Scarcely does he extend his
+arms to the Gospel, or strike his breast where it is required. Between
+the clerk and him it is a race which shall jabber the faster. Verse and
+response hurry each other, tumble over each other. The words, hardly
+pronounced, because it takes too much time to open the mouth, become
+incomprehensible murmurs.</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Oremus ps&mdash;ps&mdash;ps&mdash;<br />
+Me&acirc; culp&acirc;&mdash;p&acirc;&mdash;p&acirc;&mdash;.</i><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Like hard-working vintagers pressing grapes in a vat, both wade through
+the Latin of the Mass, splashing it on all sides.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Dom&mdash;scum!</i>" says Balagu&egrave;re.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Stutuo!</i>" responds Garrigou, and all the while the damnable chime
+sounds in their ears, like those little bells put on the post-horses to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+make them gallop more swiftly. Believe me, under such conditions a low
+Mass is vastly expedited!</p>
+
+<p>"Two!" said the chaplain, all out of breath; then without taking time to
+breathe, red, perspiring, he tumbled down the stairs of the altar.</p>
+
+<p>Drelindin din! Drelindin din! The third Mass begins.</p>
+
+<p>Only a step or so and then the dining-hall! but, alas, the nearer the
+revel approaches, the more the unfortunate Balagu&egrave;re is seized with the
+very folly of impatience and greediness. His vision accentuates it; the
+golden carp, the roast turkeys are there. He may touch them&mdash;he may&mdash;Oh,
+Holy Virgin! the dishes steam; the wines send forth sweet odors; and
+shaking out its reckless song, the bell cries to him:</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry up, hurry up; still faster, still faster!"</p>
+
+<p>But how can he go any faster? He scarcely moves his lips, he pronounces
+fully not a single word. He tries to cheat the good God altogether of
+His Mass, and that is what brings his ruin. By temptation upon
+temptation, he begins to jump one verse, then two. Then the epistle is
+too long&mdash;he does not finish it; skims the Gospel, passes by the creed
+without even entering, skips the pater, salutes from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> afar the preface,
+and by bounds and jumps precipitates himself into eternal damnation,
+always following the infamous Garrigou (<i>vade retro, Satanas</i>), who
+seconds him with marvellous skill; tucks up his chasuble, turns the
+leaves two by two, disarranges the music-desk, reverses the flagons, and
+unceasingly rings the bell more and more vigorously, more and more
+quickly.</p>
+
+<p>You should have seen what a figure all the assistants cut. Obliged to
+follow, like mimics, a Mass of which they did not understand a word,
+some rose when others kneeled, or seated themselves when others stood,
+and all the actors in this singular office mixed themselves on the
+benches in numberless contrary attitudes.</p>
+
+<p>The star of Christmas, on its journey through the heavens yonder by the
+little manger, paled with astonishment at the confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"The Abbe's in a dreadful hurry: I can't follow him at all," said the
+aged dowager, shaking her head-dress with bewilderment. Master Arnoton,
+his great steel spectacles on his nose, searched in his prayer-book
+where the deuce the words could be. But, after all, that gallant host,
+which itself was thinking only of the feast, was far from being vexed
+because the Mass rode post; and when Balagu&egrave;re, with beaming
+countenance, turned toward the assem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>bly crying with all his might, <i>Ite
+missa est</i>, with a single voice they returned, <i>Deo gratias</i>, so
+joyously, so fervently, that one might have thought them already at
+table responding to the first toast of the night.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>III.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later the crowd of seigneurs was seated in the grand
+dining-hall, the chaplain in the midst of them. The ch&acirc;teau, illuminated
+from top to bottom, echoed with songs, cries, laughter, uproar, and the
+venerable Dom Balagu&egrave;re planted his fork in the wing of a wood-hen,
+drowning the remorse of his sin under floods of wine of the Pope and the
+sweet juices of the meats.</p>
+
+<p>So much did he eat and drink, that the poor holy man died in the night
+of a terrible attack of sickness, without having even time to repent.
+Then near the morning he arrived in heaven with all the savor of the
+feast still about him and I leave you to imagine how he was received:</p>
+
+<p>"Retire from my sight, evil Christian!" said the Sovereign Judge, "thy
+fault is dark enough to efface a whole life of virtue. Ah, thou hast
+robbed me of a Mass to-night. Thou shalt pay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> me back three hundred in
+its place, and thou shalt not enter into Paradise unless thou shalt have
+celebrated in thy proper chapel these three hundred Christmas Masses in
+the presence of all those who have sinned by thy fault and with thee."</p>
+
+<p>This, then, is the true legend of Dom Balagu&egrave;re as they tell it in the
+land of olives. To-day the ch&acirc;teau of Trinquelague is no more, but the
+chapel still stands erect on the summit of Mont Ventoux, in a grove of
+green oaks. The wind beats its disjointed portal; the grass creeps
+across its threshold; the birds have built in the angles of the altar
+and in the embrasures of the high windows, whence the colored panes have
+long ago vanished. But it appears that every year at Christmas, a
+supernatural light runs about these ruins, and that, in going to Mass or
+feast, the peasants see the chapel illuminated by invisible candles
+which burn brightly even through the wind and snow.</p>
+
+<p>You may laugh if you will, but a vine-dresser of the neighborhood named
+Garrigue, without doubt a descendant of Garrigou, has assured me that
+one Christmas night, finding himself a little so-so-ish, he became lost
+on the mountain beside Trinquelague, and behold what he saw! At eleven
+o'clock, nothing. All was silent, dark, lifeless. Suddenly, toward
+midnight, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> chime sounded up above from a clock, an old, old chime
+which seemed six leagues away. Pretty soon, on the ascending road,
+Garrigue saw lights trembling in the uncertain shadows. Under the porch
+of the chapel somebody walked, somebody whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, Master Arnoton."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."</p>
+
+<p>When the whole company was entered, my vine-dresser, who was exceedingly
+brave, approached stealthily, and peeping through the broken door saw a
+strange spectacle. All those who had passed him were ranged about the
+choir, in the ruined nave, as if the ancient benches still existed.
+Beautiful dames in brocade with coifs of lace; seigneurs bedizzened from
+top to toe; peasants in flowered jackets like those of our
+grandfathers,&mdash;everything with an ancient air, faded, dusty, worn-out.
+Now and then the night-birds, habitual dwellers in the chapel, awakened
+by all these lights, winged about the candles, whose flames mounted
+straight and vague as if they burnt behind gauze. And what amused
+Garrigue most was a certain personage with great steel spectacles, who
+shook at each instant his high black peruke, on which one of the birds
+had alighted and entangled itself, silently beating its wings.</p>
+
+<p>At the farthest end, a little old man of boyish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> size, on his knees in
+the midst of the choir, pulled desperately at the chimeless and silent
+bell; while a priest attired in ancient gold, went and came before the
+altar reciting orisons of which one heard not a single word. Surely,
+that was Dom Balagu&egrave;re in the act of saying his third low Mass.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>A Love-Passage from a Wandering Cossack.</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Dressed in his everlasting blue frock, he sat near the fire
+playing cards."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Turgenieff.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Count Rostow's affairs were going from bad to worse. He was of a warm,
+generous nature, with unlimited faith in his servants, and hence was
+blind to the mismanagement and dishonesty which had sapped his fortune.
+The possessor of a handsome establishment at the Russian capital,
+Moscow, the owner of rich provincial estates, and the inheritor of a
+noble name and wealth, he was nevertheless on the verge of ruin. He had
+given up his appointment as <i>Mar&eacute;chal de la Noblesse</i>, which he had gone
+to his seat of Otradno&euml; to assume, because it entailed too many
+expenses; and yet there was no improvement in the state of his finances.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolas and Natacha, his son and daughter, often found their father and
+mother in anxious consultation, talking in low tones of the sale of
+their Moscow house or of their property in the neighborhood. Having thus
+retired into private life, the count now gave neither f&ecirc;tes nor
+entertainments. Life at Otradno&euml; was much less gay than in past years;
+still, the house and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> domain were as full of servants as ever, and
+twenty persons or more sat down to dinner daily. These were dependants,
+friends, and intimates, who were regarded almost as part of the family,
+or at any rate seemed unable to tear themselves away from it: among them
+a musician named Dimmler and his wife, Ioghel the dancing-master and his
+family, and old Mlle. B&eacute;low, former governess of Natacha and Sonia, the
+count's niece and adopted child, and now the tutor of P&eacute;tia, his younger
+son; besides others who found it simpler to live at the count's expense
+than at their own. Thus, though there were no more festivities, life was
+carried on almost as expensively as of old, and neither the master nor
+the mistress ever imagined any change possible. Nicolas, again, had
+added to the hunting establishment; there were still fifty horses in the
+stables, still fifteen drivers; handsome presents were given on all
+birthdays and f&ecirc;te days, which invariably wound up as of old with a
+grand dinner to all the neighborhood; the count still played whist or
+boston, invariably letting his cards be seen by his friends, who were
+always ready to make up his table, and relieve him without hesitation of
+the few hundred roubles which constituted their principal income. The
+old man marched on blindfold through the tangle of his pecuniary
+difficulties,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> trying to conceal them, and only succeeding in augmenting
+them; having neither the courage nor the patience to untie the knots one
+by one.</p>
+
+<p>The loving heart by his side foresaw their children's ruin, but she
+could not accuse her husband, who was, alas! too old for amendment; she
+could only seek some remedy for the disaster. From her woman's point of
+view there was but one: Nicolas's marriage, namely, with some rich
+heiress. She clung desperately to this last chance of salvation; but if
+her son should refuse the wife she should propose to him, every hope of
+reinstating their fortune would vanish. The young lady whom she had in
+view was the daughter of people of the highest respectability, whom the
+Rostows had known from her infancy: Julie Karaguine, who, by the death
+of her second brother, had suddenly come into great wealth.</p>
+
+<p>The countess herself wrote to Mme. Karaguine to ask her whether she
+could regard the match with favor, and received a most flattering
+answer. Indeed, Mme. Karaguine invited Nicolas to her house at Moscow,
+to give her daughter an opportunity of deciding for herself.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolas had often heard his mother say, with tears in her eyes, that her
+dearest wish was to see him married. The fulfilment of this wish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> would
+sweeten her remaining days, she would say, adding covert hints as to a
+charming girl who would exactly suit him. One day she took the
+opportunity of speaking plainly to him of Julie's charms and merits, and
+urged him to spend a short time in Moscow before Christmas. Nicolas, who
+had no difficulty in guessing what she was aiming at, persuaded her to
+be explicit on the matter, and she owned frankly that her hope was to
+see their sinking fortunes restored by his marriage with her dear Julie!</p>
+
+<p>"Then, mother, if I loved a penniless girl, you would desire me to
+sacrifice my feelings and my honor&mdash;to marry solely for money?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay; you have misunderstood me," she said, not knowing how to
+excuse her mercenary hopes. "I wish only for your happiness!" And then,
+conscious that this was not her sole aim, and that she was not perfectly
+honest, she burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not cry, mamma; you have only to say that you really and truly
+desire it, and you know I would give my life to see you happy; that I
+would sacrifice everything, even my feelings."</p>
+
+<p>But this was not his mother's notion. She asked no sacrifice, she would
+have none; she would sooner have sacrificed herself, if it had been
+possible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Say no more about it; you do not understand," she said, drying away her
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>"How could she think of such a marriage?" thought Nicolas. "Does she
+think that because Sonia is poor I do not love her? And yet I should be
+a thousand times happier with her than with a doll like Julie."</p>
+
+<p>He stayed in the country, and his mother did not revert to the subject.
+Still, as she saw the growing intimacy between Nicolas and Sonia, she
+could not help worrying Sonia about every little thing, and speaking to
+her with colder formality. Sometimes she reproached herself for these
+continual pin-pricks of annoyance, and was quite vexed with the poor
+girl for submitting to them with such wonderful humility and sweetness,
+for taking every opportunity of showing her devoted gratitude, and for
+loving Nicolas with a faithful and disinterested affection which
+commanded her admiration.</p>
+
+<p>Just about this time a letter came from Prince Andr&eacute;, dated from Rome,
+whither he had gone to pass the year of probation demanded by his father
+as a condition to giving consent to his son's marriage with the Countess
+Natacha. It was the fourth the Prince had written since his departure.
+He ought long since to have been on his way home, he said, but the heat
+of the summer had caused the wound he had received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> at Austerlitz to
+reopen, and this compelled him to postpone his return till early in
+January.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha, though she was so much in love that her very passion for Prince
+Andr&eacute; had made her day-dreams happy, had hitherto been open to all the
+bright influences of her young life; but now, after nearly four months
+of parting, she fell into a state of extreme melancholy, and gave way to
+it completely. She bewailed her hard fate, she bewailed the time that
+was slipping away and lost to her, while her heart ached with the dull
+craving to love and be loved. Nicolas, too, had nearly spent his leave
+from his regiment, and the anticipation of his departure added gloom to
+the saddened household.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas came; but, excepting the pompous high Mass and the other
+religious ceremonies, the endless string of neighbors and servants with
+the regular compliments of the season, and the new gowns which made
+their first appearance on the occasion, nothing more than usual happened
+on that day, or more extraordinary than twenty degrees of frost, with
+brilliant sunshine, a still atmosphere, and at night a glorious starry
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, on the third day of Christmas-tide, when every one had
+settled into his own corner once more, ennui reigned supreme through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>out
+the house. Nicolas, who had been paying a round of visits in the
+neighborhood, was fast asleep in the drawing-room. The old count had
+followed his example in his room. Sonia, seated at a table in the
+sitting-room, was copying a drawing. The countess was playing out a
+"patience," and Nastacia Ivanovna, the old buffoon, with his peevish
+face, sitting in a window with two old women, did not say a word.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha came into the room, and, after leaning over Sonia for a minute
+or two to examine her work, went over to her mother and stood still in
+front of her.</p>
+
+<p>The countess looked up. "Why are you wandering about like a soul in
+torment? What do you want?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Want! I want him!" replied Natacha, shortly, and her eyes glowed. "Now,
+here&mdash;at once!"</p>
+
+<p>Her mother gazed at her anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not look at me like that; you will make me cry."</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down here."</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma, I want him, I want him! Why must I die of weariness?" Her voice
+broke and tears started from her eyes. She hastily quitted the
+drawing-room and went to the housekeeper's room, where an old servant
+was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> scolding one of the girls who had just come in breathless from
+out-of-doors.</p>
+
+<p>"There is a time for all things," growled the old woman. "You have had
+time enough for play."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, leave her in peace, Kondratievna," said Natacha. "Run away,
+Mavroucha&mdash;go."</p>
+
+<p>Pursuing her wandering, Natacha went into the hall; an old man-servant
+was playing cards with two of the boys. Her entrance stopped their game
+and they rose. "And what am I to say to these?" thought she.</p>
+
+<p>"Nikita, would you please go&mdash;what on earth can I ask for?&mdash;go and find
+me a cock; and you, Micha, a handful of corn."</p>
+
+<p>"A handful of corn?" said Micha, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Go, go at once," said the old man.</p>
+
+<p>"And you, F&eacute;dor, can you give me a piece of chalk?"</p>
+
+<p>Then she went on to the servants' hall and ordered the samovar to be got
+ready, though it was not yet tea-time; she wanted to try her power over
+Foka, the old butler, the most morose and disobliging of all the
+servants. He could not believe his ears, and asked her if she really
+meant it. "What next will our young lady want?" muttered Foka, affecting
+to be very cross.</p>
+
+<p>No one gave so many orders as Natacha, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> one sent them on so many
+errands at once. As soon as a servant came in sight she seemed to invent
+some want or message; she could not help it. It seemed as though she
+wanted to try her power over them; to see whether, some fine day, one or
+another would not rebel against her tyranny; but, on the contrary, they
+always flew to obey her more readily than any one else.</p>
+
+<p>"And now what shall I do, where can I go?" thought she, as she slowly
+went along the corridor, where she presently met the buffoon.</p>
+
+<p>"Nastacia Ivanovna," said she, "if I ever have children, what will they
+be?"</p>
+
+<p>"You! Fleas and grasshoppers, you may depend upon it!"</p>
+
+<p>Natacha went on. "Good God! have mercy, have mercy!" she said to
+herself. "Wherever I go it is always, always the same. I am so weary;
+what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Skipping lightly from step to step, she went to the upper story and
+dropped in on the Ioghels. Two governesses were sitting chatting with M.
+and Mme. Ioghel; dessert, consisting of dried fruit, was on the table,
+and they were eagerly discussing the cost of living at Moscow and
+Odessa. Natacha took a seat for a moment, listened with pensive
+attention, and then jumped up again. "The island of Madagascar!" she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+murmured, "Ma-da-gas-car!" and she separated the syllables. Then she
+left the room without answering Mme. Schoss, who was utterly mystified
+by her strange exclamation.</p>
+
+<p>She next met P&eacute;tia and a companion, both very full of some fireworks
+which were to be let off that evening. "P&eacute;tia!" she exclaimed, "carry me
+down-stairs!" And she sprang upon his back, throwing her arms round his
+neck; and, laughing and galloping, they thus scrambled along to the head
+of the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, that will do. Madagascar!" she repeated; and, jumping down,
+she ran down the flight.</p>
+
+<p>After thus inspecting her dominions, testing her power, and convincing
+herself that her subjects were docile, and that there was no novelty to
+be got out of them, Natacha settled herself in the darkest corner of the
+music-room with her guitar, striking the bass strings, and trying to
+make an accompaniment to an air from an opera that she and Prince Andr&eacute;
+had once heard together at St. Petersburg. The uncertain chords which
+her unpractised fingers sketched out would have struck the least
+experienced ear as wanting in harmony and musical accuracy, while to her
+excited imagination they brought a whole train of memories. Leaning
+against the wall and half hidden by a cabi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>net, with her eyes fixed on a
+thread of light that came under the door from the rooms beyond, she
+listened in ecstasy and dreamed of the past.</p>
+
+<p>Sonia crossed the room with a glass in her hand. Natacha glanced round
+at her and again fixed her eyes on the streak of light. She had the
+strange feeling of having once before gone through the same
+experience&mdash;sat in the same place, surrounded by the same details, and
+watching Sonia pass carrying a tumbler. "Yes, it was exactly the same,"
+she thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Sonia, what is this tune?" she said, playing a few notes.</p>
+
+<p>"What, are you there?" said Sonia, startled. "I do not know," she said,
+coming closer to listen, "unless it is from 'La Temp&ecirc;te';" but she spoke
+doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It was exactly so," thought Natacha. "She started as she came forward,
+smiling so gently; and I thought then, as I think now, that there is
+something in her which is quite lacking in me. No," she said aloud, "you
+are quite out; it is the chorus from the 'Porteur d'Eau'&mdash;listen," and
+she hummed the air. "Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"For some fresh water to finish my drawing."</p>
+
+<p>"You are always busy and I never. Where is Nicolas?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Asleep, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and wake him, Sonia. Tell him to come and sing."</p>
+
+<p>Sonia went, and Natacha relapsed into dreaming and wondering how it had
+all happened. Not being able to solve the puzzle, she drifted into
+reminiscence once more. She could see him&mdash;<i>him</i>&mdash;and feel his
+impassioned eyes fixed on her face. "Oh, make haste back! I am so afraid
+he will not come yet! Besides, it is all very well, but I am growing
+old; I shall be quite different from what I am now! Who knows? Perhaps
+he will come to-day! Perhaps he is here already! Here in the
+drawing-room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten."</p>
+
+<p>She rose, laid down the guitar, and went into the next room. All the
+household party were seated round the tea-table,&mdash;the professors, the
+governesses, the guests; the servants were waiting on one and
+another&mdash;but there was no Prince Andr&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, here she is," said her father. "Come and sit down here." But
+Natacha stopped by her mother without heeding his bidding.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mamma, bring him to me, give him to me soon, very soon," she
+murmured, swallowing down a sob. Then she sat down and listened to the
+others. "Good God! always the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> people! always the same thing! Papa
+holds his cup as he always does, and blows his tea to cool it as he did
+yesterday, and as he will to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>She felt a sort of dull rebellion against them all; she hated them for
+always being the same.</p>
+
+<p>After tea Sonia, Natacha, and Nicolas huddled together in their
+favorite, snug corner of the drawing-room; that was where they talked
+freely to each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you ever feel," Natacha asked her brother, "as if there was nothing
+left to look forward to; as if you had had all your share of happiness,
+and were not so much weary as utterly dull?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I have. Very often I have seen my friends and fellow-officers
+in the highest spirits and been just as jolly myself, and suddenly have
+been struck so dull and dismal, have so hated life, that I have wondered
+whether we were not all to die at once. I remember one day, for
+instance, when I was with the regiment; the band was playing, and I had
+such a fit of melancholy that I never even thought of going to the
+promenade."</p>
+
+<p>"How well I understand that! I recollect once," Natacha went on, "once
+when I was a little girl, I was punished for having eaten some plums, I
+think. I had not done it, and you were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> all dancing, and I was left
+alone in the school-room. How I cried! cried because I was so sorry for
+myself, and so vexed with you all for making me so unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember; and I went to comfort you and did not know how; we were
+funny children then; I had a toy with bells that jingled, and I made you
+a present of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember," said Natacha, "long before that, when we were no
+bigger than my hand, my uncle called us into his room, where it was
+quite dark, and suddenly we saw&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"A negro!" interrupted Nicolas, smiling at her recollection. "To be
+sure. I can see him now; and to this day I wonder whether it was a dream
+or a reality, or mere fancy invented afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"He had white teeth and stared at us with his black eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember him, Sonia?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes&mdash;but very dimly."</p>
+
+<p>"But papa and mamma have always declared that no negro ever came to the
+house. And the eggs; do you remember the eggs we used to roll up at
+Easter; and one day how two little grinning old women came up through
+the floor and began to spin round the table?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. And how papa used to put on his fur coat and fire off his
+gun from the balcony.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> And don t you remember&mdash;&mdash;?" And so they went on
+recalling, one after the other, not the bitter memories of old age, but
+the bright pictures of early childhood, which float and fade on a
+distant horizon of poetic vagueness, midway between reality and dreams.
+Sonia remembered being frightened once at the sight of Nicolas in his
+braided jacket, and her nurse promising her that she should some day
+have a frock trimmed from top to bottom.</p>
+
+<p>"And they told me you had been found in the garden under a cabbage,"
+said Natacha. "I dared not say it was not true, but it puzzled me
+tremendously."</p>
+
+<p>A door opened, and a woman put in her head, exclaiming, "Mademoiselle,
+mademoiselle, they have fetched the cock!"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not want it now; send it away again, Polia." said Natacha.</p>
+
+<p>Dimmler, who had meanwhile come into the room, went up to the harp,
+which stood in a corner, and in taking off the cover made the strings
+ring discordantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Edward Karlovitch, play my favorite nocturne&mdash;Field's," cried the
+countess, from the adjoining room.</p>
+
+<p>Dimmler struck a chord. "How quiet you young people are," he said,
+addressing them.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we are studying philosophy," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Natacha, and they went on
+talking of their dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Dimmler had no sooner begun his nocturne than Natacha, crossing the room
+on tiptoe, seized the wax-light that was burning on the table and
+carried it into the next room; then she stole back to her seat, it was
+now quite dark in the larger room, especially in their corner, but the
+silvery moonbeams came in at the wide windows and lay in broad sheets on
+the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," whispered Natacha, while Dimmler, after playing the
+nocturne, let his fingers wander over the strings, uncertain what to
+play next, "when I go on remembering one thing beyond another, I go back
+so far, so far, that at last I remember things that happened before I
+was born, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That is metempsychosis," interrupted Sonia, with a reminiscence of her
+early lessons. "The Egyptians believed that our souls had once inhabited
+the bodies of animals, and would return to animals again after our
+death."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe that," said Natacha, still in a low voice, though the
+music had ceased. "But I am quite sure that we were angels once,
+somewhere there beyond, or, perhaps, even here; and that is the reason
+we remember a previous existence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"May I join the party?" asked Dimmler, coming towards them.</p>
+
+<p>"If we were once angels, how is it that we have fallen lower?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lower? Who says that it is lower? Who knows what I was?" Natacha
+retorted with full conviction. "Since the soul is immortal, and I am to
+live forever in the future, I must have existed in the past, so I have
+eternity behind me, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; but it is very difficult to conceive of that eternity," said
+Dimmler, whose ironical smile had died away.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Natacha. "After to-day comes to-morrow, and then the day
+after, and so on forever; yesterday has been, to-morrow will be&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Natacha, now it is your turn; sing me something," said her mother.
+"What are you doing in that corner like a party of conspirators?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not at all in the humor, mamma," said she; nevertheless she rose.
+Nicolas sat down to the piano; and standing, as usual, in the middle of
+the room, where the voice sounded best, she sang her mother's favorite
+ballad.</p>
+
+<p>Though she had said she was not in the humor, it was long since Natacha
+had sung so well as she did that evening, and long before she sang so
+well again. Her father, who was talking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> over business with Mitenka in
+his room, hurriedly gave him some final instructions as soon as he heard
+the first note, as a schoolboy scrambles through his tasks to get to his
+play; but as the steward did not go, he sat in silence, listening, while
+Mitenka, too, standing in his presence, listened with evident
+satisfaction. Nicolas did not take his eyes off his sister's face, and
+only breathed when she took breath. Sonia was under the spell of that
+exquisite voice and thinking of the gulf of difference that lay between
+her and her friend, full conscious that she could never exercise such
+fascination. The old countess had paused in her "patience,"&mdash;a sad, fond
+smile played on her lips, her eyes were full of tears, and she shook her
+head, remembering her own youth, looking forward to her daughter's
+future and reflecting on her strange prospects of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Dimmler, sitting by her side, listened with rapture, his eyes half
+closed.</p>
+
+<p>"She really has a marvellous gift!" he exclaimed. "She has nothing to
+learn,&mdash;such power, such sweetness, such roundness!"</p>
+
+<p>"And how much I fear for her happiness!" replied the countess, who in
+her mother's heart could feel the flame that must some day be fatal to
+her child's peace.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha was still singing when P&eacute;tia dashed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> noisily into the room to
+announce, in triumphant tones, that a party of mummers had come.</p>
+
+<p>"Idiot!" exclaimed Natacha, stopping short, and, dropping into a chair,
+she began to sob so violently that it was some time before she could
+recover herself. "It is nothing, mamma, really nothing at all," she
+declared, trying to smile. "Only P&eacute;tia frightened me; nothing more." And
+her tears flowed afresh.</p>
+
+<p>All the servants had dressed up, some as bears, Turks, tavern-keepers,
+or fine ladies; others as mongrel monsters. Bringing with them the chill
+of the night outside, they did not at first venture any farther than the
+hall; by degrees, however, they took courage; pushing each other forward
+for self-protection, they all soon came into the music-room. Once there,
+their shyness thawed; they became expansively merry, and singing,
+dancing, and sports were soon the order of the day. The countess, after
+looking at them and identifying them all, went back into the
+sitting-room, leaving her husband, whose jovial face encouraged them to
+enjoy themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The young people had all vanished; but half an hour later an old
+marquise with patches appeared on the scene&mdash;none other than Nicolas;
+P&eacute;tia as a Turk; a clown&mdash;Dimmler; a hussar&mdash;Natacha; and a
+Circassian&mdash;Sonia. Both the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> girls had blackened their eyebrows and
+given themselves mustaches with burned cork.</p>
+
+<p>After being received with well-feigned surprise, and recognized more or
+less quickly, the children, who were very proud of their costumes,
+unanimously declared that they must go and display them elsewhere.
+Nicolas, who was dying to take them all for a long drive <i>en tro&iuml;ka</i>,<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a>
+proposed that, as the roads were in splendid order, they should go, a
+party of ten, to the Little Uncle's.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> A team of three horses harnessed abreast.</p></div>
+
+<p>"You will disturb the old man, and that will be all," said the countess.
+"Why, he has not even room for you all to get into the house! If you
+must go out, you had better go to the M&eacute;lukows'."</p>
+
+<p>Mme. M&eacute;lukow was a widow living in the neighborhood; her house, full of
+children of all ages, with tutors and governesses, was distant only four
+versts from Otradno&euml;.</p>
+
+<p>"A capital idea, my dear," cried the count, enchanted. "I will dress up
+in costume and go, too. I will wake them up, I warrant you!"</p>
+
+<p>But this did not at all meet his wife's views. Perfect madness! For him
+to go out with his gouty feet in such cold weather was sheer folly! The
+count gave way, and Mme. Schoss volun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>teered to chaperon the girls.
+Sonia's was by far the most successful disguise; her fierce eyebrows and
+mustache were wonderfully becoming, her pretty features gained
+expression, and she wore the dress of a man with unexpected swagger and
+smartness. Something in her inmost soul told her that this evening would
+seal her fate.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 287px;">
+<img src="images/img-02.jpg" width="287" height="600"
+alt="Sonia" title="Sonia" />
+<span class="caption">Sonia</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In a few minutes four sleighs with three horses abreast to each, their
+harness jingling with bells, drew up in a line before the steps, the
+runners creaking and crunching over the frozen snow. Natacha was the
+foremost, and the first to tune her spirits to the pitch of this
+carnival freak. This mirth, in fact, proved highly infectious, and
+reached its height of tumult and excitement when the party went down the
+steps and packed themselves into the sleighs, laughing and shouting to
+each other at the top of their voices. Two of the sleighs were drawn by
+light cart-horses, to the third the count's carriage horses were
+harnessed, and one of these was reputed a famous trotter from Orlow's
+stable; the fourth sleigh, with its rough-coated, black shaft-horse, was
+Nicolas's private property. In his marquise costume, over which he had
+thrown his hussar's cloak, fastened with a belt round the waist, he
+stood gathering up the reins. The moon was shining brightly, re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>flected
+in the plating of the harness and in the horses' anxious eyes as they
+turned their heads in uneasy amazement at the noisy group that clustered
+under the dark porch. Natacha, Sonia, and Mme. Schoss, with two women
+servants, got into Nicolas's sleigh; Dimmler and his wife, with P&eacute;tia,
+into the count's; the rest of the mummers packed into the other sleighs.</p>
+
+<p>"Lead the way, Zakhare!" cried Nicolas, to his father's coachman,
+promising himself the pleasure of outstripping him presently; the
+count's sleigh swayed and strained, the runners, which the frost had
+already glued to the ground, creaked, the bells rang out, the horses
+closed up for a pull, and off they went over the glittering, hard snow,
+flinging it up right and left like spray of powdered sugar. Nicolas
+started next, and the others followed along the narrow way, with no less
+jingling and creaking. While they drove under the wall of the park the
+shadows of the tall, skeleton trees lay on the road, checkering the
+broad moonlight; but as soon as they had left it behind them, the wide
+and spotless plain spread on all sides, its whiteness broken by myriads
+of flashing sparks and spangles of reflected light. Suddenly a rut
+caused the foremost sleigh to jolt violently, and then the others in
+succession; they fell away a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> little, their intrusive clatter breaking
+the supreme and solemn silence of the night.</p>
+
+<p>"A hare's tracks!" exclaimed Natacha, and her voice pierced the frozen
+air like an arrow.</p>
+
+<p>"How light it is, Nicolas," said Sonia. Nicolas turned round to look at
+the pretty face with its black mustache, under the sable hood, looking
+at once so far away and so close in the moonshine. "It is not Sonia at
+all," he said, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what is the matter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing," said he, returning to his former position.</p>
+
+<p>When they got out on the high-road, beaten and ploughed by horses' hoofs
+and polished with the tracks of sleighs, his steeds began to pull and go
+at a great pace. The near horse, turning away his head, was galloping
+rather wildly, while the horse in the shafts pricked his ears and still
+seemed to doubt whether the moment for a dash had come. Zakhare's
+sleigh, lost in the distance, was no more than a black spot on the white
+snow, and as he drew farther away the ringing of the bells was fainter
+and fainter; only the shouts and songs of the maskers rang through the
+calm, clear night.</p>
+
+<p>"On you go, my beauties!" cried Nicolas, shaking the reins and raising
+his whip. The sleigh seemed to leap forward, but the sharp air that cut
+their faces and the flying pace of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> the two outer horses alone gave them
+any idea of the speed they were making. Nicolas glanced back at the
+other two drivers; they were shouting and urging their shaft-horses with
+cries and cracking of whips, so as not to be quite left behind;
+Nicolas's middle horse, swinging steadily along under the shaft-bow,
+kept up his regular pace, quite ready to go twice as fast the moment he
+should be called upon.</p>
+
+<p>They soon overtook the first tro&iuml;ka, and after going down a slope they
+came upon a wide cross-road running by the side of a meadow.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are we, I wonder," thought Nicolas; "this must be the field and
+slope by the river. No&mdash;I do not know where we are! This is all new and
+unfamiliar to me! God only knows where we are! But no matter!" And
+smacking his whip with a will, he went straight ahead. Zakhare held in
+his beasts for an instant, and turned his face, all fringed with frost,
+to look at Nicolas, who came flying onward.</p>
+
+<p>"Steady there, sir!" cried the coachman, and leaning forward, with a
+click of his tongue he urged his horses in their turn to their utmost
+speed. For a few minutes the sleighs ran equal, but before long, in
+spite of all Zakhare could do, Nicolas gained on him and at last flew
+past him like a lightning flash; a cloud of fine snow, kicked up by the
+horses, came showering down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> on the rival sleigh; the women squeaked,
+and the two teams had a struggle for the precedence, their shadows
+crossing and mingling on the snow.</p>
+
+<p>Then Nicolas, moderating his speed, looked about him; before, behind,
+and on each side of him stretched the fairy scene; a plain strewn with
+stars and flooded with light.</p>
+
+<p>"To the left, Zakhare says. Why to the left?" thought he. "We were going
+to the M&eacute;lukows'. But we are going where fate directs or as Heaven may
+guide us. It is all very strange and most delightful, is it not?" he
+said, turning to the others.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! look at his eyelashes and beard; they are quite white!" exclaimed
+one of the sweet young men, with pencilled mustache and arched eyebrows.</p>
+
+<p>"That I believe is Natacha?" said Nicolas. "And that little
+Circassian&mdash;who is he? I do not know him, but I like his looks
+uncommonly! Are you not frozen?" Their answer was a shout of laughter.</p>
+
+<p>Dimmler was talking himself hoarse, and he must be saying very funny
+things, for the party in his sleigh were in fits of laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Better and better," said Nicolas to himself; "now we are in an
+enchanted forest&mdash;the black shadows lie across a flooring of diamonds
+and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> mix with the sparkling of gems. That might be a fairy palace, out
+there, built of large blocks of marble and jewelled tiles? Did I not
+hear the howl of wild beasts in the distance? Supposing it were only
+M&eacute;lukovka that I am coming to after all! On my word, it would be no less
+miraculous to have reached port after steering so completely at random!"</p>
+
+<p>It was, in fact, M&eacute;lukovka, for he could see the house servants coming
+out on the balcony with lights, and then down to meet them, only too
+glad of this unexpected diversion.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there?" a voice asked within.</p>
+
+<p>"The mummers from Count Rostow's; they are his teams," replied the
+servants.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>P&eacute;lagu&eacute;&iuml;a Danilovna M&eacute;lukow, a stout and commanding personality, in
+spectacles and a flowing dressing-gown, was sitting in her drawing-room
+surrounded by her children, whom she was doing her best to amuse by
+modelling heads in wax and tracing the shadows they cast on the wall,
+when steps and voices were heard in the ante-room. Hussars, witches,
+clowns, and bears were rubbing their faces, which were scorched by the
+cold and covered with rime, or shaking the snow off their clothes. As
+soon as they had cast off their furs they rushed into the large
+drawing-room, which was hastily lighted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> up. Dimmler, the clown, and
+Nicolas, the marquise, performed a dance, while the others stood close
+along the wall, the children shouting and jumping about them with glee.</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible to know who is who&mdash;can that really be Natacha? Look
+at her; does not she remind you of some one? Edward, before Karlovitch,
+how fine you are! and how beautifully you dance! Oh! and that splendid
+Circassian&mdash;why, it is Sonia! What a kind and delightful surprise; we
+were so desperately dull. Ha, ha! what a beautiful hussar! A real
+hussar, or a real monkey of a boy&mdash;which is he, I wonder? I cannot look
+at you without laughing." They all shouted and laughed and talked at
+once, at the top of their voices.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha, to whom the M&eacute;lukows were devoted, soon vanished with them to
+their own room, where corks and various articles of men's clothing were
+brought to them, and clutched by bare arms through a half-open door. Ten
+minutes later all the young people of the house rejoined the company,
+equally unrecognizable. P&eacute;lagu&eacute;&iuml;a Danilovna, going and coming among them
+all, with her spectacles on her nose and a quiet smile, had seats
+arranged and a supper laid out for the visitors, masters and servants
+alike. She looked straight in the face of each in turn, recognizing no
+one of the motley crew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>&mdash;neither the Rostows, nor Dimmler, nor even her
+own children, nor any of the clothes they figured in.</p>
+
+<p>"That one, who is she?" she asked the governess, stopping a Kazan
+Tartar, who was, in fact, her own daughter. "One of the Rostows, is it
+not? And you, gallant hussar, what regiment do you belong to?" she went
+on, addressing Natacha. "Give some <i>pastila</i> to this Turkish lady," she
+cried to the butler; "it is not forbidden by her religion, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>At the sight of some of the reckless dancing which the mummers performed
+under the shelter of their disguise, P&eacute;lagu&eacute;&iuml;a Danilovna could not help
+hiding her face in her handkerchief, while her huge person shook with
+uncontrollable laughter&mdash;the laugh of a kindly matron, frankly jovial
+and gay.</p>
+
+<p>When they had danced all the national dances, ending with the
+<i>Horovody</i>, she placed every one, both masters and servants, in a large
+circle, holding a cord with a ring and a rouble, and for a while they
+played games. An hour after, when the finery was the worse for wear and
+heat and laughter had removed much of the charcoal, P&eacute;lagu&eacute;&iuml;a Danilovna
+could recognize them, compliment the girls on the success of their
+disguise, and thank the whole party for the amusement they had given
+her. Supper<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> was served for the company in the drawing-room, and for the
+servants in the large dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>"You should try your fortune in the bathroom over there; that is enough
+to frighten you!" said an old maid who lived with the M&eacute;lukows.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said the eldest girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! you would never dare to do it; you must be very brave."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I will go," said Sonia.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us what happened to that young girl, you know," said the youngest
+M&eacute;lukow.</p>
+
+<p>"Once a young girl went to the bath, taking with her a cock and two
+plates with knives and forks, which is what you must do; and she waited.
+Suddenly she heard horses' bells&mdash;some one was coming; he stopped, came
+up-stairs, and she saw an officer walk into the room; a real live
+officer&mdash;at least so he seemed&mdash;who sat down opposite to her where the
+second cover was laid."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! how horrible!" exclaimed Natacha, wide-eyed. "And he spoke to
+her&mdash;really spoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, just as if he had really been a man. He begged and prayed her to
+listen to him, and all she had to do was to refuse him and hold out till
+the cock crowed; but she was too much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> frightened. She covered her face
+with her hands, and he clasped her in his arms; luckily some girls who
+were on the watch rushed in when she screamed."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you terrify them with such nonsense?" said P&eacute;lagu&eacute;&iuml;a Danilovna.</p>
+
+<p>"But, mamma, you know you wanted to try your fortune too."</p>
+
+<p>"And if you try your fortune in a barn, what do you do?" asked Sonia.</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite simple. You must go to the barn&mdash;now, for instance&mdash;and
+listen. If you hear thrashing, it is for ill-luck; if you hear grain
+dropping, that is good."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell us, mother, what happened to you in the barn."</p>
+
+<p>"It is so long ago," said the mother, with a smile, "that I have quite
+forgotten; besides, not one of you is brave enough to try it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will go," said Sonia. "Let me go."</p>
+
+<p>"Go by all means if you are not afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"May I, Madame Schoss?" said Sonia to the governess.</p>
+
+<p>Now, whether playing games or sitting quietly and chatting, Nicolas had
+not left Sonia's side the whole evening; he felt as if he had seen her
+for the first time, and only just now appreciated all her merits.
+Bright, bewitchingly pretty in her quaint costume, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> excited as she
+very rarely was, she had completely fascinated him.</p>
+
+<p>"What a simpleton I must have been!" thought he, responding in thought
+to those sparkling eyes and that triumphant smile which had revealed to
+him a little dimple at the tip of her mustache that he had never
+observed before.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid of nothing," she declared. She rose, asked her way,
+precisely, to the barn, and every detail as to what she was to expect,
+waiting there in total silence; then she threw a fur cloak over her
+shoulders, glanced at Nicolas, and went on.</p>
+
+<p>She went along the corridor and down the back-stairs; while Nicolas,
+saying that the heat of the room was too much for him, slipped out by
+the front entrance. It was as cold as ever, and the moon seemed to be
+shining even more brightly than before. The snow at her feet was strewn
+with stars, while their sisters overhead twinkled in the deep gloom of
+the sky, and she soon looked away from them, back to the gleaming earth
+in its radiant mantle of ermine.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolas hurried across the hall, turned the corner of the house, and
+went past the side door where Sonia was to come out. Half-way to the
+barn stacks of wood, in the full moonlight, threw their shadows on the
+path, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> beyond, an alley of lime-trees traced a tangled pattern on
+the snow with the fine crossed lines of their leafless twigs. The beams
+of the house and its snow-laden roof looked as if they had been hewn out
+of a block of opal, with iridescent lights where the facets caught the
+silvery moonlight. Suddenly a bough fell crashing off a tree in the
+garden; then all was still again. Sonia's heart beat high with gladness;
+as if she were drinking in not common air, but some life-giving elixir
+of eternal youth and joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Straight on, if you please, miss, and on no account look behind you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not afraid," said Sonia, her little shoes tapping the stone steps
+and then crunching the carpet of snow as she ran to meet Nicolas, who
+was within a couple of yards of her. And yet not the Nicolas of
+every-day life. What had transfigured him so completely? Was it his
+woman's costume with frizzed-out hair, or was it that radiant smile
+which he so rarely wore, and which at this moment illumined his face?</p>
+
+<p>"But Sonia is quite unlike herself, and yet she is herself," thought
+Nicolas on his side, looking down at the sweet little face in the
+moonlight. He slipped his arms under the fur cloak that wrapped her, and
+drew her to him, and he kissed her lips, which still tasted of the
+burned cork that had blackened her mustache.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Nicolas&mdash;Sonia," they whispered; and Sonia put her little hands round
+his face. Then, hand in hand, they ran to the barn and back, and each
+went in by the different doors they had come out of.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha, who had noted everything, managed so that she, Mme. Schoss, and
+Dimmler should return in one sleigh, while the maids went with Nicolas
+and Sonia in another. Nicolas was in no hurry to get home; he could not
+help looking at Sonia and trying to find under her disguise the true
+Sonia&mdash;his Sonia, from whom nothing now could ever part him. The magical
+effects of moonlight, the remembrance of that kiss on her sweet lips,
+the dizzy flight of the snow-clad ground under the horses' hoofs, the
+black sky, studded with diamonds, that bent over their heads, the icy
+air that seemed to give vigor to his lungs&mdash;all was enough to make him
+fancy that they were transported to a land of magic.</p>
+
+<p>"Sonia, are you not cold?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; and you?"</p>
+
+<p>Nicolas pulled up, and giving the reins to a man to drive, he ran back
+to the sleigh in which Natacha was sitting.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," he said, in a whisper and in French; "I have made up my mind
+to tell Sonia."</p>
+
+<p>"And you have spoken to her?" exclaimed Natacha, radiant with joy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Natacha, how queer that mustache makes you look! Are you glad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Glad! I am delighted. I did not say anything, you know, but I have been
+so vexed with you. She is a jewel, a heart of gold. I&mdash;I am often
+naughty, and I have no right to have all the happiness to myself now.
+Go, go back to her."</p>
+
+<p>"No. Wait one minute. Mercy, how funny you look!" he repeated, examining
+her closely and discovering in her face, too, an unwonted tenderness and
+emotion that struck him deeply. "Natacha, is there not some magic at the
+bottom of it all, heh?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have acted very wisely. Go."</p>
+
+<p>"If I had ever seen Natacha look as she does at this moment I should
+have asked her advice and have obeyed her, whatever she had bid me do;
+and all would have gone well. So you are glad?" he said, aloud. "I have
+done right?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, of course you have! I was quite angry with mamma the other
+day about you two. Mamma would have it that Sonia was running after you.
+I will not allow any one to say&mdash;no, nor even to think&mdash;any evil of her,
+for she is sweetness and truth itself."</p>
+
+<p>"So much the better." Nicolas jumped down and in a few long strides
+overtook his own sleigh, where the little Circassian received him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> with
+a smile from under the fur hood; and the Circassian was Sonia, and Sonia
+beyond a doubt would be his beloved little wife!</p>
+
+<p>When they got home the two girls went into the countess's room and gave
+her an account of their expedition; then they went to bed. Without
+stopping to wipe off their mustaches they stood chattering as they
+undressed; they had so much to say of their happiness, their future
+prospects, the friendship between their husbands:</p>
+
+<p>"But, oh! when will it all be? I am so afraid it will never come to
+pass," said Natacha, as she went toward a table on which two
+looking-glasses stood.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down," said Sonia, "and look in the glass; perhaps you will see
+something about it." Natacha lighted two pairs of candles and seated
+herself. "I certainly see a pair of mustaches," she said, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"You should not laugh," said the maid, very gravely.</p>
+
+<p>Natacha settled herself to gaze without blinking into the mirror; she
+put on a solemn face and sat in silence for some time, wondering what
+she should see. Would a coffin rise before her, or would Prince Andr&eacute;
+presently stand revealed against the confused background in the shining
+glass? Her eyes were weary and could hardly distinguish even the
+flickering light of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> the candles. But with the best will in the world
+she could see nothing; not a spot to suggest the image either of a
+coffin or of a human form. She rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Why do other people see things and I never see anything at all? Take my
+place, Sonia; you must look for yourself and for me, too. I am so
+frightened; if I could but know!"</p>
+
+<p>Sonia sat down and fixed her eyes on the mirror.</p>
+
+<p>"Sofia Alexandrovna will be sure to see something," whispered Douniacha;
+"but you always are laughing at such things." Sonia heard the remark and
+Natacha's whispered reply: "Yes, she is sure to see something; she did
+last year." Three minutes they waited in total silence. "She is sure to
+see something," Natacha repeated, trembling.</p>
+
+<p>Sonia started back, covered her face with one hand, and cried out:</p>
+
+<p>"Natacha!"</p>
+
+<p>"You saw something? What did you see?" And Natacha rushed forward to
+hold up the glass.</p>
+
+<p>But Sonia had seen nothing; her eyes were getting dim, and she was on
+the point of giving it up when Natacha's exclamation had stopped her;
+she did not want to disappoint them; but there is nothing so tiring as
+sitting motionless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> She did not know why she had called out and hidden
+her face.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see him?" asked Natacha.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; stop a minute. I saw him," said Sonia, not quite sure whether
+"him" was to mean Nicolas or Prince Andr&eacute;. "Why not make them believe
+that I saw something?" she thought. "A great many people have done so
+before, and no one can prove the contrary. Yes, I saw him," she
+repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"How? standing up or lying down?"</p>
+
+<p>"I saw him&mdash;at first there was nothing; then suddenly I saw him lying
+down."</p>
+
+<p>"Andr&eacute;, lying down? Then he is ill!" And Natacha gazed horror-stricken
+at her companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all; he seemed quite cheerful, on the contrary," said she,
+beginning to believe in her own inventions.</p>
+
+<p>"And then&mdash;Sonia, what then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I saw only confusion&mdash;red and blue."</p>
+
+<p>"And when will he come back, Sonia? When shall I see him again? O God! I
+am afraid for him&mdash;afraid of everything."</p>
+
+<p>And, without listening to Sonia's attempts at comfort, Natacha slipped
+into bed, and, long after the lights were out, she lay motionless but
+awake, her eyes fixed on the moonshine that came dimly through the
+frost-embroidered windows.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>A Wayfarer's Fancy.</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A felicitous combination of the German, the Sclave, and the
+Semite, with grand features, brown hair floating in artistic
+fashion, and brown eyes in spectacles."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>George Eliot.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>TWO CHRISTMASES.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<p>It was the time of the great war. Germany was desolated. Towns and
+villages were destroyed by flames. Order and law had given way to savage
+power; and from the walls of many a ruined house of God the wooden image
+of the Saviour looked down with a face of anguish on the horrors of the
+degenerate times.</p>
+
+<p>The terrified citizens of towns that were still untouched by war, hid
+themselves within their narrow walls, awaiting, in tremulous fear, the
+day on which their homes must also fall a prey to plundering soldiers.
+If any one were obliged to go beyond the boundaries, he would glance
+anxiously at the bushes on either side of the road; and when night came
+on, he would be forced to look with horror and sorrow at the reddened
+horizon, where a little village or lonely hamlet was burning to ashes.</p>
+
+<p>But who is it cowers there in the ditch by the highway? A dried-up
+little man with deathly-pale countenance, and clad in a black coat!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+Flee, Wanderer! let him not gaze at you with his piercing gray eyes!
+Beware! for that old man is the Plague-man!</p>
+
+<p>The heart of the Wanderer sinks within him. Horrified he rushes away,
+and thanks heaven when, in the gray of the morning, he sees again the
+towers of his native town. Enraptured by the sight of home he believes
+these towers with the dear, well-known faces can protect him; but the
+old cripple has been quicker than he. Before break of day he has knocked
+at the town-gate, and the gate-keeper, on opening it, has scarcely
+looked into his gray eyes before he sank down as though some one had
+felled him with an axe.</p>
+
+<p>Then the gray old man begins his terrible work. Like a bat he slips into
+all dwellings; no gate and no bolt is an obstacle to him. Right up into
+the lofts he climbs and opens the most secret chamber. That threshold he
+passes is doomed to the Black-death.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It had happened thus to a little town in Franconia, where but a few
+houses remained untouched by the terrible plague. In this town there
+lived a poor, honest couple with their child, a boy of nearly three
+years. Their cottage lay on a small hill, and was divided from the road
+by a little garden. People ascribed it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> to this that the awful spirit
+for a long time had left their home untouched. But at last he seemed to
+have found his way to even this out-of-the-way place.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before Christmas the boy fell sick, and on Christmas morning
+he lay motionless in bed, so that the poor parents thought the plague
+had taken their child from them. The father wanted to bury the body at
+once, but the mother showed him the rosy cheeks of the dead child, and
+said that a death that looked so like sleep could do them no harm.
+Thereupon she went into the little garden and cut box-tree leaves from
+under the snow, and made a wreath for the dead darling. She placed the
+wreath on his curly head and moved his bed into the middle of the room,
+where she set candles burning around it, just as we do in quieter times
+for a dear departed one. Then she went into the wood, cut down a small
+Christmas-tree and placed it, all decorated with lights, nuts, and
+bright tinsel, next to the coffin, in order that the dead child might
+also have his Christmas pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>This was the only Christmas-tree that the poor stricken town lit up!
+People passing along the road looked with secret jealousy at the
+illuminated window, wondering how they could still rejoice in such
+bitter times. But no gladsome sounds from the window reached the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>
+street, where flake after flake was whirling down from the gray heavens,
+covering everything in its white cloak. And unceasingly, as flake after
+flake sank down to earth, so in the little chamber the tears of the poor
+woman rolled down her cheeks till the lights of the Christmas-tree
+burned low, the fire in the stove died away, and sleep closed the
+streaming eyes of the mother. Then all was quiet, very quiet, in the
+little chamber.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>But at the gates of Heaven it was very noisy that evening. Countless
+hosts were crowding up the broad stairway, young and old, rich and poor:
+a mixed and motley crowd. There the patrician elbowed the tailor who had
+made his coat; the general the lowest sutler; and a ragged beggar was
+even next to a king, who drew his purple closer around him in order not
+to be contaminated. All were pushing towards the great, light gate, and
+many a one, who on earth had only beaten and jostled others, received
+here in the crowd his own first jostling. At the gate stood a beautiful,
+tall angel, who sprinkled each one with water out of a golden vessel.
+The touch of this water obliterated at once all remembrance of the past.</p>
+
+<p>St. Peter, who considered the noise and bustle too much of a good thing,
+was of the opin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>ion that mankind had none of the bother of dying, all
+the work falling on him; and he was accordingly grumbling to himself.
+Suddenly he saw a little fellow, clad only in a shirt, standing before
+him, shivering all over, and regarding him with innocent, childish eyes,
+as if asking whether he might enter. St. Peter, unwilling that such
+little folks should cause delay in business, said, roughly, "In with
+you!" The little frightened fellow rushed, thereupon, so quickly through
+the gate that the angel did not have time to sprinkle him with the
+waters of oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>Now, as children of two years have but short memories and very harmless
+pasts, the angel smilingly let him slip by. Once inside, little Hans was
+seized by a host of flying angels and whirled away to Paradise, which
+was more beautiful than the fairest garden on earth. Rare plants with
+big, magnificently colored blossoms filled the air with spicy odor. Here
+dwelt the tiny children who had left earth before they knew anything of
+it. Here they could dream on forever; and their breath swept softly over
+every bud. Large butterflies with silken wings were bathing in the clear
+ether, and floating entranced from bud to bud. The heavens glittered and
+lightened as though composed of millions of diamonds; yet the sun did
+not blind the eye, nor the warmth rise to sum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>mer heat. Eternal spring
+had banished from these regions battle and death, tempest and decay, and
+far away below in misty distance lay all the sorrows of tormented
+creation. Amongst the flowers wandered blissful forms, absorbed in the
+beauty of surrounding harmony.</p>
+
+<p>The boy curiously observed all this splendor, peered into the dewy buds
+of the flowers, examined the wings of his heavenly playmates, and was
+not a little rejoiced on observing that two wings had also grown on him,
+with which he could fly like a bird. "If neighbor Liesel could only see
+me!" thought Hans, and he felt quite proud at the thought. For,
+notwithstanding all the splendor about him, the picture of his parents'
+home presented itself constantly to his little mind. He had an excellent
+memory of the much despised earth, which soon with magnetic power drew
+all his thoughts towards it. At the sight of the wonderful flowers of
+Paradise, such as the earth never produces, he could think of nothing
+but the violets, and crocuses, and tulips which curled up in spring-time
+out of the black earth of his father's garden. The golden fruits on the
+trees reminded him of the gilded ones of the Christmas-tree, and seemed
+to him even brighter; and although the Paradise of heaven, with its
+eternal clearness, was a thousand times more beautiful than the
+changing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> air below, yet the little heart felt a dim yearning for the
+beloved earth, the griefs of which he had not yet learned to measure;
+and, amidst all this angelic beauty, he only felt an uncontrollable
+longing for the plain, human countenance of his mother. Then there came
+an end to his enjoyment. He began to cry, and, finally, to roar lustily.
+The other little angels gathered astonished around him, staring at the
+strange playmate who had dewdrops in his eyes and made such awful faces.
+Such a thing did not generally occur in heaven, where all were good and
+quiet. But just then St. James came along and, on seeing the crying
+angel, he spoke pleasantly to him, and finally took him up in his arms
+in order to comfort him. But a great surprise lay in store for the
+Saint; for it would have been easier for him to convert a thousand
+heathens than to quiet the little unruly fellow, who commenced kicking
+and wriggling, and made such a terrible outcry that the angels fluttered
+away in consternation. There stood the Saint with the child in his arms,
+and did not know what to do! At last he concluded to show the strange
+being to the Lord Himself, and went with the little one before His
+throne. Then the Lord Almighty smiled, and all the angels around His
+throne smiled, when they saw St. James, who certainly did not seem very
+well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> adapted for nursing children, and in whose arms little Hans,
+regardless of all surroundings, continued to roar unmercifully. But the
+merciful Lord opined that the greatest squallers often turned out the
+best men, and He ordered an angel to carry the little one back to dear
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>And this was done. With mighty strokes of his pinions the heavenly
+messenger floated back to earth, which came nearer and nearer with its
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, and with the old, lifeworn town, and from
+out the town rose up the gabled roof of the parents' home with a cap of
+snow upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The boy in the coffin opened his eyes, and with a cry of joy his mother
+pressed him to her heart. Among the boughs of the Christmas-tree there
+was a soft rustling and whispering.</p>
+
+<p>Methinks the tree remembered that winter is only a deep sleep, and was
+dreaming of spring.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>II.</p>
+
+<p>The years of misery and war were over. In the streets of the old town,
+where only a few years ago the roll of the drum resounded, and where the
+plague, in deathly silence, had spread its black wings, there, the stork
+on the town-hall heard, to his great satisfaction, merry shouts of
+children,&mdash;the ringing laugh of peace.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> A group of boys chased each
+other noisily over the market-place, playing at war. War! which had
+desolated so many of their homes. Oh! the fresh, merry laughter of
+childhood! how like unto ivy it climbeth over all ruins and findeth at
+last the sunshine!</p>
+
+<p>But there was one not amongst the noisy group, and that one was Hans.
+His parents perceived with anxiety that the little noisy child had grown
+into a silent, shy boy, who avoided the games of his comrades and
+dreamingly went his own way. For hours he sat in the garden on the bench
+near his mother's flowers, and gazed dreamingly at the busy bees and
+butterflies, or lay in the woods near by and stared up through the
+branches of the beech-trees at the blue sky.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you thinking of?" his mother would ask at times; then he would
+start up like one awakened from sleep, the thread of whose dreams are
+broken by awaking. "He is ill," the mother would think, anxiously. But
+folks would shake their heads suspiciously when, on speaking to the boy,
+they received no other answer than a shy, questioning look. "There is
+something wanting," said some, with an unmistakable gesture. "He is a
+fool," murmured others.</p>
+
+<p>Thus a boy fares who has peeped too early<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> into Paradise. The children
+of his own age made fun of him, and poor Hans would have been quite
+forsaken if Liesel from next door had not taken his part. She was quite
+the opposite to him,&mdash;merry and high-spirited. Whilst he sat dreaming,
+she was romping about, singing and laughing. But the children kept
+together, and the parents thought they might some day be a pair. The
+boy's reserved nature vexed the father, and, being of the opinion that
+man's hand cannot learn too early to handle and knead the tough clay of
+existence, he apprenticed him to a potter, in the hope that time would
+change the character of his son. He was mistaken, however; the boy grew
+up a fine, handsome youth, but in character he remained the boy of
+former days. If he looked up from his work it was not in order to gaze,
+like other journeymen, after a young girl who maybe was tripping past;
+but to stare up at the sky, which shone so blue between the houses, or
+to follow with his eyes the great white clouds away,&mdash;who knows whither?
+In his free time he did not go like others to the market-place, but
+would mount the ramparts at the back of his parents' house and gaze into
+the valley below, where the river was bearing its silvery wavelets into
+the far distance. What might not be in the far distance? Far, far away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>
+yonder must be the place where the dream of his childhood was realized!
+How astonished, then, was his father, when one fine sunny spring morning
+his son stood before him, with knapsack and staff, in order to bid him
+farewell before setting out on his travels. Who would ever have thought
+he would want to travel! The father rejoiced in the belief that the son
+would seek work according to the custom of journeymen workmen, and gave
+him his blessing, and much good advice besides. But he hardly even heard
+the words and advice of his father; there was a singing in his ears and
+a mist before his eyes, so that he felt like one intoxicated. Yes, he
+was a fool! Nor did he see the tears his mother and Liesel were shedding
+at his departure: he only thought of that far-off land, of the dream of
+his childhood. What mattered to him their tears! He wanted only to
+travel to find his Eden. And he travelled. With each rising sun he arose
+and thought, "To-day you will find what you seek;" and when he laid
+himself down tired at night, he thought, "To-morrow I shall reach my
+goal;" and, happy in this thought, he would fall asleep. No mountain was
+too steep for him, no path too stony, no forest too dense; he thought of
+his Eden, and minded not the thorns that tore his flesh. Yes, he was a
+fool!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Far behind him, forgotten, lay his home in the dim distance!</p>
+
+<p>No living creature could tell him where his Paradise lay! The birds of
+the forest went on with their song; the deer gazed at him astonished;
+the brooks babbled on monotonously and sought the way to the ocean.
+People he asked only laughed, and they looked back at the strange lad,
+shaking their heads.</p>
+
+<p>Quickly the time flew by; the spring faded, summer and autumn passed,
+and still he wandered on. His path, that once lay before him green and
+fair, was now covered with snow. He, however, heeded it not, and
+journeyed on. It must come at last, the long-sought goal! At last he
+reached a mighty snow-covered mountain range, so mighty that he said to
+himself, "Beyond this it must surely lie," and in glad hope passed
+forward. A whole day he ascended over snow and ice: his feet were sore
+and bruised, and he was shivering from the cold, and yet no hut was to
+be seen that might offer him shelter. The sun went down in crimson
+behind the ice-armored mountains, leaving behind a bitter coldness, so
+great that the stars in the heavens shivered with frost.</p>
+
+<p>Then it occurred to tired Hans that it was Christmas, and for the first
+time on his journey he thought for a long while of home, where the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+Christmas-tree was now lighting up the warm room, and the dear ones were
+assembling around it. But what mattered the Christmas-tree to him; he
+was seeking Paradise!</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he saw on the roadside an old man. He was sitting on his
+bundle, and leaning his head on his hands. He must have been very old,
+for his face was furrowed like the bark of an oak, and his snowy beard
+hung nearly to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Then tired Hans rejoiced, greeted him, and asked how far it might be to
+the nearest habitation of man.</p>
+
+<p>"To-day you can no longer reach it," replied the old man. "Whither are
+you journeying?"</p>
+
+<p>"I seek Paradise," answered Hans: "nearly a year have I wandered over
+the earth, and yet have not found it."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the old man arose, laid his hands upon Hans's shoulder, and
+said, "Turn back and go home! I have wandered for more than a thousand
+years on earth, and sought Paradise, and have not found it. Know, then,
+I am Ahasuerus, doomed to everlasting wandering as a penance. Wherever I
+go I am persecuted; where I knock the gate is locked; and nowhere have I
+a home. Stones are my bed, and my bundle is my pillow. Go, poor fool!
+return to the place of your birth. There, some day, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> will dig a
+grave for you, wherein you may sleep peacefully. Go back to your home,
+where a Christmas-tree is lit up for you, and where you are loved, and
+leave to me all wandering and seeking: to me, the poor, old, accursed
+man!"</p>
+
+<p>Then Hans was very sad: he threw down his bundle, sat down in the snow,
+and wept bitterly. However, he was so tired from the long journey that
+he soon forgot all his misery, and fell into a deep slumber. The old man
+spread his cloak over him to protect him from the cold, and then
+listened to the deep-drawn breathing of precious sleep, that drowns all
+cares. The youth lying there could sleep, and die, and forget! but he
+himself must keep awake, and live, and wander!</p>
+
+<p>Upon the face of Hans a smile was playing; he was dreaming! Did he see
+the long-sought Paradise? He saw in his dream a house with snow-covered
+gable and little windows; a small house, closely encircled by other
+houses, a garden in front. In a room inside sat his parents round a
+cheerful fire. The spinning-wheel whizzed, and the cat purred in comfort
+in front of the fire. Softly there fell, now and again, a needle from
+the Christmas-tree. A resinous, pine-tree odor filled the room. From the
+next house a clear, maiden's voice was singing the old, old Christmas
+carol,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="poem">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'>
+"A rose has bloomed<br />
+From a tender root,<br />
+Our fathers have sung:<br />
+Out of Jesse it came."
+</td></tr></table></div>
+
+<p>And the crackling of the fire, the whizzing of the spinning-wheel, and
+the maiden's song seemed to the dreamer fairer than a thousand Edens. An
+indescribable homesickness overcame him.</p>
+
+<p>When he awoke, the east was radiant with the blush of morning. He sprang
+up and seized his staff. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes. "Home,
+home!" a thousand voices seemed to echo within him.</p>
+
+<p>But up the mountains, outlined by the red of the morn, he saw the old
+man wandering on his comfortless path.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>A Yarn Spun by a Yankee.</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A white-haired, thin-visaged, weather-worn old gentleman in a
+blue, Quaker-cut coat."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Hawthorne.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A TALE OF A TURKEY.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<p>The shutters of a little spur of warehouses which breaks out into
+mountainous stores and open valleys of streets around the corner, but
+which itself overlooks no fairer view than a narrow, muddy alley of a
+thoroughfare scarcely broad enough to admit two drays abreast, and, by
+actual measurement,&mdash;taken with persistent diligence by the adjacent
+office boys,&mdash;just two running-jumps from gutter to gutter; the shutters
+of this, in its own eyes, important little trade centre, were up, and a
+great clattering they had made in getting up on a clear, tingling night
+before Christmas, eighteen hundred and&mdash;no matter what.</p>
+
+<p>The porters had come out in their faded greatcoats, bandaged right and
+left in woolly mufflers, and more than usually clumsy in padded gloves,
+and had been bitten and tossed about by the wind with such unbecoming
+violence that even a porter felt it necessary to hurry and bustle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+Taking the shutters by assault from the foe's embraces, they had
+thumped, and banged, and hammered, and scolded them into place, and, in
+undignified haste, had betaken themselves, steaming warm breath through
+their fingers, into their proper and respective places by the
+counting-house fire.</p>
+
+<p>The magic&mdash;so it seemed in its effects&mdash;tolling of a deep-toned bell in
+the neighborhood would not allow them to doze long in their warm nooks,
+but, like the jealous monster in the fairy-tale, kept its captives
+always going, going, going, for its sixth stroke had not died away
+before they began to appear again, this time with the addition of fur
+hats and little dinner-baskets, and with no perceptible noses&mdash;unless
+the existence of watery eyes above their mufflers argued the missing
+features to be in their proper places below&mdash;and with an accelerated
+gait&mdash;also an act of enchantment.</p>
+
+<p>William, of No. 6, bawled as loud as his worsted gag would permit across
+the street (so termed by a figure of rhetoric) to James, of No. 7:</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, Jim! Cold as blazes, ain't it?"</p>
+
+<p>James, of No. 7, assenting, Thomas, of No. 4, would like to know "How
+blazes can be cold, now?"</p>
+
+<p>William, of No. 6, would say "as thunder,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> if that would suit him any
+better; and as it appeared to do so they, with half a dozen others,
+breasted the wind and trudged out into the blustery streets beyond.</p>
+
+<p>The merchants, too, had locked their doors, and tried their knobs, and
+looked up at the faces of their stores as if to say, "Merry Christmas to
+you, and I wish you a pleasant day to-morrow!" but in reality to see
+that all was fast, and perchance to indulge in a comfortable survey of
+their snug little properties&mdash;and the complacent tread with which they
+followed the porters gives color to the suspicion&mdash;and draw from it
+momentum for the enjoyment of the morrow's holiday.</p>
+
+<p>The shutters, then, were up&mdash;stop, not all up! One, as you may see by
+the shaft of gas-light that has just fallen across the pavement near the
+top of the court, is still down.</p>
+
+<p>The little square window through which the light eddies on the bricks is
+supported on either side by a heavy door, and all three, the two doors
+and the window, are in turn crowned and anointed on the head, as it
+were, by a very bold sign containing very brazen&mdash;in every sense of the
+word&mdash;letters which announced pompously, like some servants of similar
+metallic qualities, the name of their master.</p>
+
+<p>Emanuel Griffin&mdash;the tongue uncontrollably<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> adds Esquire&mdash;was the name,
+and there, if you had looked through the window, in a deep funnel of a
+room, at a desk near the fire, head behind the open leaves of a ledger,
+and feet beneath the warm recesses of the stove, sat its possessor.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the railing which formed a barrier between Emanuel Griffin,
+Esq., and the business world, and encompassed with a less elaborate
+railing, sat, on a high stool in a cold corner, the little,
+blackish-green (perhaps the color gas-light imparts to faded black)
+clerk of Emanuel Griffin, Esq. Whether David Dubbs, such was he called,
+derived the power of writing from his mouth; or whether the gentle
+excitation of moving his lips over toothless gums assisted thought; or
+whether, as some said, he chewed tobacco, a position which nobody ever
+held long, as nobody ever proved him to have expectorated during his
+whole life; his mouth&mdash;always closed&mdash;moved up and down, up and down,
+with the motion of his pen. Hair he had none, that is, none to speak of;
+there were some few isolated white locks behind his ears and at the back
+of his head, but he made no pretensions to have any, and openly
+acknowledged himself bald&mdash;and very candid of him it was to do so.</p>
+
+<p>Chroniclers have told us how, after fierce battles that have raged from
+dawn till nightfall,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> the moon has come calmly up from the horizon and
+shone peacefully and serenely over the field of strife and death. So
+arose a beneficent smile ever and anon over the wrinkled and careworn
+face of the old clerk; but still he wrote on, Faithful Dave! and if
+pleasant thoughts swept through him they avoided the business that
+occupied his hands and did not interrupt it.</p>
+
+<p>They had long sat in quietness, only broken by the noise of turning
+leaves and crackling coals,&mdash;but, in truth, if David Dubbs's eye, in its
+course to and from the clock, had not, like the world, worked silently
+on its axis, there must have been continual creaking&mdash;when a noise like
+the name of David emanated from the ledger, and following it&mdash;for it was
+near-sighted&mdash;the head of Emanuel Griffin, Esq., lifted itself to an
+erect posture and repeated in a less muffled tone, "David!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," answered the old clerk, in a weak little voice, and climbing
+down to the floor from his perch.</p>
+
+<p>"You may lock up, David. Ten thousand and odd. Ten thousand's a good
+year, David; a very good year. Very&mdash;good&mdash;indeed! But go and lock up,"
+and then Mr. Griffin took a glance at the clock. "Half-past six! Why
+it's surprising how time does fly, and Christmas Eve,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> too. Well, well!
+But hurry up with the shutters, David, and we shan't be long&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Before Mr. Griffin had fully delivered himself of these remarks the
+little person of David Dubbs was out in the cold, was in and out among
+the screws on the door, had put up the shutters, and simultaneously with
+the last word stood in the half-opened door and, all unseen by his
+employer, waved his hand to some one at the corner of the court. He then
+walked as quickly as his little, bent legs&mdash;parabolic were they in
+outline, but, as this is not a geometric treatise, it is of no
+particular consequence&mdash;would permit him up the long aisle in the centre
+of the room, and sent off timid little echoes of his steps to ramble
+away among the bales of crockery&mdash;for it was crockery that Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., dealt in&mdash;and rattle among the piles of plates.</p>
+
+<p>Having reached again his little cage of an office, he took down from its
+accustomed peg an old, threadbare coat, and, with much exertion and
+outstretching of arms, finally got it on, turned up the collar, tied
+about his ears a not very robust scarf, and laid thereon, as the
+copestone of his apparel, a dingy high hat that had undergone, in point
+of nap, as many reverses as its wearer in point of fortune. Thus
+attired, he tipped his hat to his employer, all ready, like himself, to
+depart, and started out.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before he reached the door, a cry from Mr. Griffin arrested him, and he
+came hastily back; for, although it would have required a thumbscrew to
+have made him confess it, yet he had all day long looked forward to the
+time of parting, when he half expected Emanuel Griffin, Esq., contrary
+to his custom though it was, would offer him some little gift out of the
+increased profits of a business he had done no little to advance. But no
+such design had Mr. Griffin conceived, or if he had it was very soon
+suppressed as entirely unworthy of a man of purely business habits, and
+all he had to say was,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know, David, there is something I was to have told you to do. Mrs.
+Griffin impressed it on me this morning, but,"&mdash;here he stood thinking
+for a moment,&mdash;"no matter," he resumed. "I guess it was nothing very
+important, so good-by, David, and a&mdash;good-by!" He was going to say "and
+a merry Christmas;" but for a man of purely business habits to unbend so
+far and become cheerful&mdash;why, it's subversive of all business
+discipline, and so he thought to himself.</p>
+
+<p>David, doubly disappointed, turned and passed out, and his old eyes must
+have been extremely sensitive to the wind, for they ran with something
+very like tears that he wiped away with his glove as he muttered,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"So, no Christmas, after all. Poor girls! Poor girls!" Mr. Griffin was
+not long behind his faithful old clerk. He extinguished the lights with
+great care, and then, with the key in his hand, felt his way to the
+door, banged it after him, and locked it with the satisfaction of a
+miser over a casket of treasures. His journey home led him to the
+opposite end of the court from that which David had passed through, and
+he therefore did not overtake him.</p>
+
+<p>And if he had, would this hard, business-encrusted heart have been less
+cold than the bitter winds that assailed it? Would the sight which made
+David Dubbs forget the fierceness of night have penetrated the chilly
+place where it rested and warmed it in pitying activity? Would the
+tender impulses, which the unsifted morals of barter extinguish, as they
+extinguish much of the nobility in man, have enkindled anew and
+brightened this misery? Not if dollars would have done it; nay, not if
+even a word would have done it, would Emanuel Griffin have relaxed from
+the demeanor which purely business habits imposed upon him. He felt it
+due to his position in business society to maintain rigidly its maxims,
+the chief of which, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, if they
+could," he practised to the letter.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>II.</p>
+
+<p>Poor David Dubbs! Oh, the long time it seemed since boon companions had
+smitten him on the back and cried, "Bravo, Dave Dubbs! Bravo, old
+fellow!" to his little songs, or encouraged him by such exclamations as
+"Dave Dubbs can't be beat at a ballad!" Oh, the long, long time ago! But
+to proceed. As David Dubbs met the ambushed winds that leaped upon him
+at the corner of the court, he also met the person to whom he had waved
+his hand from the store-door. If you had looked for the stature of a man
+you would have been doubly mistaken,&mdash;first in sex, next in size. It was
+neither a man nor a woman. There, in a blustery doorway, shaking with
+cold, but ever on the alert, crouched a little girl. She wore a knitted
+hood, and out of it fell overflowing curls; but her poor, attenuated
+little body was ill-assorted with plenty of any kind, and the wealth of
+curls mocked the poverty of her clothes. A patched shawl affected to
+protect her poor little shoulders, and a calico dress flapped coldly
+about her legs. As David turned the corner she arose, and, for all her
+stiffness and shivering, exclaimed, cheerily, "A merry Christmas,
+father!" and reached to kiss him.</p>
+
+<p>He took her in his arms&mdash;she was very, very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> slight&mdash;and lifted her to
+his lips, and then, throwing one side of his own scanty coat about her
+and holding it there with an affectionate hug, he said, "Come, come,
+little daughter, it's too bleak for a little body like you to be out.
+It's cruel, cruel, but I dared not tell him it was so late. What does he
+know or care for my poor little faithful, Loving Scout?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Scout couldn't miss Christmas Eve, father, if it was ever so
+cold."</p>
+
+<p>"And does she ever miss? No, no, she's a dutiful Scout, winter and
+summer, rain and shine, morning and night, and what should I ever do
+without her!"</p>
+
+<p>So, talking and fighting the wind by turns, they walked on, the bent and
+shuffling old man and his Little Scout, as he had named her and as they
+all affectionately called her, through dark streets where, ever and
+anon, a car or belated dray shivered by, as if the cold had touched even
+its insensibility, and made the tracks resound and the paving blocks
+rattle in the clear air; through deep cisterns of streets, between lofty
+stone banks&mdash;as stern almost as their governing boards, for, although
+boards are chiefly wooden, a supplication will quickly petrify them;
+through rows of illuminated stores like walls of Arabian Night visions,
+with traceries of frost on their windows richer in design than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> the gems
+within them; through clustering crowds that entered or left continually
+the swinging doors of saloons and hotels; past waiting carriages; past
+swearing men; past laughing ladies, and past beggars, wearier, and
+colder, and lonelier than themselves. So they travelled, scarcely
+heeding what they saw in their speed until, on the margin of all the
+din, by a turn through a dark street, they reached a darker alley, and,
+passing down it, at last stopped before their own homely door.</p>
+
+<p>The building had once been a warehouse,&mdash;David liked it the better for
+that, he said. "Why, all my life has been spent in trade, and, you see,
+I've sort a become attached to anything that smacks of it, though I've
+little reason to feel so, the Lord knows!" he would exclaim to his
+friends. Up above, over a long door in the top story&mdash;you can scarcely
+make it out in the uncertain light&mdash;jutted a weather-beaten crane, with
+a long disused pulley dangling at its point, cracked, and rusted, and
+abandoned, and no less cracked and abandoned, shot out from the second
+floor a moss-covered platform that had been intended for the reception
+of bales of stuffs that had never arrived. The mortar had, here and
+there, been wrenched from between the bricks by savage weather and age,
+and the doors, too, had shrunk before their united ma<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>lignity. How such
+a house had drifted to such a locality is unaccountable, unless&mdash;as is
+often the case&mdash;some navigator of real estate had thought he descried a
+port, where was only a shoal that left his venture high and dry among
+newer and costlier craft.</p>
+
+<p>However, the nearest approach it had made in the last twenty years or
+so&mdash;so David said&mdash;to fulfilling its commercial place in the world was
+in opening its doors to a gentleman in the carpentering line. This
+gentleman, Mr. Jacob Tripple by name, occupied the ground floor, and all
+around it were scattered evidences, in the shape of window-frames, and
+wooden-horses, and props, and old lumber, of a thriving business. He,
+with all his men, had departed long ago and left the place dark, and
+still, and cold.</p>
+
+<p>It had lain in this stupor of silence for more than an hour, waiting
+against hope to be resuscitated by any stray echoes that should drop in
+from the neighboring hubbub and waken it up, when it caught among its
+bleak angles the cheery voice of David's Little Scout, and revived&mdash;as
+some old men do under the charm of gentle words&mdash;to a more respectable
+opinion of itself. So immediately it seemed refreshed, that if it were
+possible for such a decrepit&mdash;not to say inanimate&mdash;old structure as
+that even metaphorically to prick up its ears, it metaphorically<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> did as
+the sound of Dolly's&mdash;her proper name&mdash;cheery welcome home echoed round
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are once more, father," she cried, breaking away from him to
+have the door open when he plodded up to it. "Once more, and a welcome
+home, and a merry Christmas to you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Always on duty, Little Scout! Always on duty!" he called after her.
+(The wind was keen and drew water to his eyes again, and again he
+brushed it away.) "Always on duty," he went on repeating, with a doleful
+effort at cheerfulness.</p>
+
+<p>She was up-stairs by that time, and, opening the door above, had called
+in, "Here's father!" then ran back to meet him, which she did at the
+door below.</p>
+
+<p>What these unusual proceedings meant, David Dubbs might have guessed or
+might have known traditionally, they being of an annual nature, but
+whether he did or not, or whether his ignorance was also traditional, he
+gave no sign, and walked feebly up-stairs, guided by the Little Scout,
+just as if it were not Christmas Eve at all.</p>
+
+<p>What the proceedings did mean was that a steaming pot of coffee at the
+given signal was lifted from its warm corner and tilted into a cup that
+held a conspicuous place at the head of a little white spread table. On
+its right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> hand sat, in the position of an honored and seldom present
+guest, a juicy-complexioned, but not corpulent beefsteak; opposite to
+it, inviting death by explosion, rested a bowl full of steaming potatoes
+in their native jackets, and the centre was fully occupied by a huge
+loaf with a large family of slices.</p>
+
+<p>Around this collation&mdash;aroused by the signal, for they had been idly
+waiting before&mdash;moved two pairs of hands with loving attention. The
+cloth was resmoothed, the knives and forks straightened, a brace of
+mealy potatoes was emptied on the two plates that awaited them, and at
+last a ruddy slice of beefsteak was deposited beside and oozed through
+them its savoriness. This last climax was reached just as the door
+opened, and the two pairs of hands speedily transferred themselves to
+the duty&mdash;no very arduous one&mdash;of helping David and Dolly out of their
+wraps.</p>
+
+<p>And then, with many caresses and kisses and cries of "Take this side,
+father, where the coals are bright!" or "Put your feet here and get them
+good and warm, poor Little Scout!" then, when thick flying questions and
+travellings to the one end of the room for things that were not wanted,
+and excursions to the other end of the room for things that were wanted;
+when the chairs were drawn up; when the grateful old man and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> little
+daughter, with those tender hands over their mouths to stifle the
+gratitude they struggled to utter, were duly seated at the table, and
+when the kettle was singing its approval in the corner, then,
+only,&mdash;when all these preliminaries were gone through with,&mdash;did the
+possessors of the hands that devised them seat themselves on a low
+wooden settee opposite the table and enjoy the zest and delight they had
+ministered to.</p>
+
+<p>Good nature and tender hearts, pale faces and cheerful eyes, honest red
+hands and neatly bound-up hair have never been faithfully reproduced in
+a state of print and paper, much less in imagination, and, indeed, how
+can anything so buxom and comely, even if the plainest in dress, be
+expected to be? It is, therefore, needless to say that the twin
+daughters of David, namely, Molly and Polly Dubbs, being all that is
+here set down, should have been seen in all their kindliness to be truly
+known, and no other form of introduction would do them full justice.</p>
+
+<p>Molly was the counterpart of Polly in all respects save height. She was
+a very little taller than Polly, and a fortunate thing it had been for
+all concerned that she was so. Else, consider the vexation of the
+measles and other diseases essential to youth. Why, in their quandary
+which to begin on, they almost missed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> the twins altogether as it was.
+Consider the complexity of young lovers who should pour into the ears of
+Polly passionate adjectives intended solely to captivate the heart of
+Molly; and, most important of all, consider the conflict of choice which
+would have disquieted the soul of Mr. Jacob Tripple and at last driven
+him to the alternatives of suicide or bigamy.</p>
+
+<p>But all these dangers had been averted by the provisions of Nature, and
+the twins, who had supped, for economic reasons, earlier in the evening,
+sat beaming on while David and little Dolly heartily devoured the
+supper.</p>
+
+<p>David, looking up now for the first time, in the interval of a mouthful
+swallowed and a mouthful threatened, espied a bowery wreath of holly
+that hung around a picture of General Washington in the act of crossing
+a dark, green river Delaware in a court dress of red and breeches of
+yellow, surrounded on all sides by ice and officers in rainbow uniforms,
+and, as this was the only adornment of a rather bare room, it is no
+wonder it caught his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, who's been a-brightening up the gen'ral so Christmas-like?" he
+exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"We did, father! Leastwise it was Polly's present," said Molly.</p>
+
+<p>"And who may be a-sending presents to Polly now?" asked David, with a
+twinkle in his eye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> that had seen better days but none kindlier. "It
+wasn't young Cuffy over at the baker's, nor Jake Tripple, now, was it?"</p>
+
+<p>He looked at Polly for an answer, whereat she stretched her arm along
+the back of the settee and let fall her hand on Molly's shoulder with a
+punch which was intended as punishment for the giggles her sister
+struggled to confine in her mouth with both hands; but which, in spite
+of her, bubbled over and attacked David, and then, with a blush, Polly
+muttered,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't young Cuffy at all, and I hate his loafy, little face, and I
+hate&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not Jacob Tripple! No, no, not good Jake Tripple?" said David,
+reprovingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say that, father!" she exclaimed. "He's your good old friend,
+and how could I hate him? He came in just before leaving for the day,
+and asked for you&mdash;what, made him think you were home I can't tell, for
+it was long before your time&mdash;and asked for you, and left the wreath
+for&mdash;for&mdash;me."</p>
+
+<p>The hem of her long checkered apron then needed close scrutiny and
+folding for some unknown purpose, and this duty diverted her thoughts
+from the subject, but she turned to Dolly, who enjoyed this banter in
+her own quiet little way, which seldom rippled into a loud laugh, for
+her own quiet little face was too<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> pale and too pinched to invite such
+freebooters. "Come, come, Little Scout," she said. "Is she warm now, and
+were the rations good, and did she meet Kriss Kingle on his cold journey
+(with a caress of her pale little cheeks) with heaps of warm dresses,
+and heaps of pretty dolls, and heaps of sweetmeats too big to carry
+himself, so he asked her to carry some home to help him! Did she? (with
+another caress.) And would our Little Scout be sorry if he didn't come
+himself to look after them and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that reminds me!" said David, quite audibly for him, and rising
+from the table with knife and fork still in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"What reminds you, father?" asked the twins, in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, coming home!" said David, not very intelligibly.</p>
+
+<p>"What coming home?" again from the chorus, in expectant attitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Tom, I told you!" which he hadn't done at all, but as by this time
+he was deep in the cupboard, where his overcoat hung, and as his voice
+was a little more muffled than usual, it was useless to argue the point,
+so the chorus loudly exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, yes!" from David, faintly and rather testily, as he had
+groped through his old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> coat, and had successively dropped the knife and
+fork, reeking with gravy, into the inside and outside pockets.</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure! Tom coming home and I clean forgot it, what with the cold
+and the surprises," he said again, emerging with the knife and fork in
+one hand and a letter in the other. "Here it is. He'll be home
+to-morrow, he says, God willin', and eat our turkey with us. Poor Tom,
+poor boy! He's been away so long he's forgot Griffin and hard times, or
+he wouldn't say that!"</p>
+
+<p>"Tom! Be home! and to-morrow?"&mdash;interruption of chorus as it reaches for
+the letter, opens and reads it aloud&mdash;Dolly being lifted in the sturdy
+arms of Molly to look over.</p>
+
+<p>David, meanwhile, overcome by the toothsomeness of beefsteak, falls to
+again, while the others dance a sort of fandango, and turn up the rag
+carpet, and rattle the dishes on the dresser, and lift Dolly high in the
+air to the improvised tune of "Tom's coming home! Tom's coming home!
+Tom's coming home to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's another mouth to feed, but it's hard to wish the poor boy back to
+Californy again," huskily said David; then he exclaimed, as the noise
+increased, "Hey dey! Why, you'll spill the coffee next, and cave in the
+walls, too, in a minute, and then there'll be no home for Tom to come
+to!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was good humoredly added as the final swing was given to the dance,
+which brought the twins holding Dolly aloft in their arms laughing and
+panting on the settee.</p>
+
+<p>"But tell us, father, is he coming home for good? He don't say so in the
+letter," asked Dolly, and all leaned forward to hear his answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Coming home for good?" mused David. "Yes, he's coming home for good, I
+hope; but I'm fearful he'll find little beside the good in his sisters'
+hearts."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Tom," said Dolly, with far-away eyes, "he's had a weary life of it
+in the mines, I guess, poor fellow."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said David, "and that's what makes it harder that we can't
+greet him with a good Christmas to-morrow. Well, well, it'll be a
+delight to see my poor boy again, hard times or no hard times, and we'll
+be as cheerful as we can be and are now, thanks to my good girls," and
+here he arose from the table, and, seating himself at the fire, opened a
+morning paper that he had found in the waste-basket in Mr. Griffin's
+counting-house (and very worthless it must have been to be found there!)
+in which, through the kind offices of a massive old pair of spectacles,
+he was soon absorbed.</p>
+
+<p>And now, while the Little Scout&mdash;in fulfilment of her established
+character&mdash;plays the spy on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> sundry crumbs that slink from notice under
+the table, and while the twins, too busy to talk, wash the dishes and
+dispose them in a glistening row along the dresser, and, while David
+opens the paper and plods up and down it, column by column, like a
+ploughman furrow by furrow up and down a field, and with almost as much
+toil; and while the ancient clock on the shelf over the stove and under
+the motley General Washington ticks loud enough to be heard above the
+clinking dishes and simmering kettle; and while the table, divested of
+its cloth and exhibiting a stained and blistered old back, is glad
+enough to avoid attention by being stowed away in the corner; while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity that come only at the call of good men,
+and good wives, and good sons, and good daughters, but resist the
+imperious beckonings of the wealthiest hands, and wing on over their
+roofs to lowlier, and scantier, and purer habitations&mdash;while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity and kindliness throng invisibly into the
+room, and David Dubbs reads stray scraps from his paper to his
+daughters, grouped near the fire at his feet, we must softly withdraw
+and leave them to the care of coming Christmas dreams.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span><br /></p>
+
+<p>III.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas morning had opened brightly with David Dubbs. The sun,
+preceded down the court by hustling winds that knocked at every
+citizen's door and demanded admittance for their oncoming master, had
+left at each house a gift of golden cheerfulness. The sky above was so
+blithe and blue that it smiled down at even so insignificant a crack as
+David Dubbs's court must have appeared to it; and the cold was a jolly
+and snappish cold.</p>
+
+<p>The twins and David's Little Scout were as merry as the Christmas chimes
+they lingered and listened to, and not the daintiest dinner that Mr.
+Cuffy (and that gentleman held the subject somewhat in mind, too, on
+Polly's account) could have delivered at their door would have added one
+jot of happiness to their abundance. David's poor old back bent under
+the stress of poverty that would permit him no indulgences for them&mdash;all
+the more dear on that day; but, used to loving self-denial, they never
+missed what they so little desired, and so far were they from giving it
+a thought, that if David had spoken out what he so wilfully turned over
+and over in his mind, that would have given them far more pain and
+anxiety. Mr. Tripple was early in his shop, presumptively<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> to attend to
+some forgotten duties, but, as he did not pay very active attention to
+anything but carefully tying up a square box in white paper, and as he
+did pay very active attention to what went on up-stairs, at the same
+time exhibiting no hurry to get home to dinner, David, who had, towards
+noon, gone around the corner with Polly to make some little purchases of
+groceries before the stores closed, dropped in on his way back and
+invited Mr. Tripple up-stairs. Mr. Tripple at first firmly refused, and
+said, "Very much obliged, Dave, but couldn't think of it. Indeed not.
+They'd 'spect me at home, ye know, Dave." Whereupon Miss Polly added her
+entreaties, and said he needn't expect anything very much, but if he
+would walk up they would be very happy to have him. Mr. Tripple would
+have walked up&mdash;and, indeed, wanted very much to walk up&mdash;at first, but
+his extreme awkwardness, aggravated by holiday clothes of a tight cut
+and by a paper collar bent above his coat like a scimetar, and almost as
+sharp and glistening as that weapon, impelled him to do violence to his
+wishes in order to appear calm&mdash;under <i>her</i> eyes&mdash;and to deceive them
+politely as to his real desire. But now, lured on by the siren voice of
+Polly, he consented to go up "a little while" (which meant all the
+afternoon), and taking the white box under his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> arm he locked the
+shop-door and followed them up the creaking stairs.</p>
+
+<p>Arrived in the room and relieved of hat and coat, Mr. Tripple bowed
+mysteriously to Dolly, and, intrusting her with the box, whispered,&mdash;"Go
+and hand that to sister Polly, little un." Polly, receiving it from her,
+exclaimed in surprise,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"For me, Mr. Tripple?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, miss," he replied, growing red and smiling broadly, "a little
+something for Christmas, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>Polly opened the box and extracted a pasteboard plane with some
+artificial shavings pasted upon it, which, when lifted apart, discovered
+a heap of sweetmeats. Dolly and Molly, looking on, exclaimed, "Why, Mr.
+Tripple, what a surprise!" and Polly blushingly added, "So very
+unexpected!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tripple grew redder and nervously crossed his legs, saying, "I
+thought 'twould be kind a appropriate to the trade, you know, and so I
+just fetched it up, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Then Polly, seeing his embarrassment, called on David and the rest to
+come and help themselves, and there was good humor and laughing until
+the twins darted away to got dinner, which was soon prepared, for there
+was little enough to get, and all invited to sit up to the table.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>All were duly in their places, and David had, in accordance with
+Christmas custom, offered grace. Mr. Tripple and the girls were slowly
+raising their bowed heads, when a loud knock announced a visitor, and
+hastened the raising of heads to an unseemly hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"Tom!" all exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Molly hurried down-stairs, and the rest rushed to the stair-landing,
+where, in a moment, they received, not Tom, but a large, square basket
+that emitted a very fragrant smell of roasted fowl, in the arms of the
+returning Molly. Once in the room, the lid was off in a twinkling, and
+out came a sizable plate, enveloped in dainty, clean napkins, which,
+being removed in layers, exhibited, in all its brown deliciousness, a
+huge turkey, just done to a turn.</p>
+
+<p>The party gathered around in pleased wonder, and as Molly threw the
+napkins into the basket a card fell on the floor. She picked it up and,
+astonished, read, "Emanuel Griffin."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" said David, snatching it and reading it aloud to himself,
+"Emanuel Griffin. So it is, and no mistake!" and then he burst out,
+"Hurrah! hurrah for Griffin! I knew he couldn't forget us this year!"
+His poor old face was almost young again, and his voice,&mdash;why, it could
+actually be heard as he ran on: "Why, there never was such a year for
+the china trade,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Tripple, and how could he forget me? Jacob Tripple,
+your hand! A kiss, Little Scout! Why, your old father's 'most young
+again, and his good girls shall dine like other good girls, after all!
+How very thoughtful of Griffin to send it in the nick of time, too.
+Come, sit up again before it gets cold, and I wish we had something as
+hot to drink Griffin's health in. Why, I believe I could sing a song
+again if we had something hot. I do, indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>So he ran on in his childish delight at the thought of being remembered,
+and at the far more grateful thought that his beloved daughters were to
+share the gift with him.</p>
+
+<p>When he had ceased, all turned to Molly and asked in one breath who had
+left it. When the clamor slackened, she replied, "Why, young Cuffy from
+the baker's, and all he said was, 'David Dubbs,&mdash;to be sent&mdash;card
+inside,' and then kissing his hand, and crying 'Love to her,' meaning I
+don't know who," with a smirk at Polly, "he jumped aboard his wagon and
+flew away down the court."</p>
+
+<p>Never was a turkey enjoyed so much, and never had a turkey better
+deserved it.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Tripple grew bland and talkative under its juicy influence. He even
+winked at Polly occasionally, and one time actually chucked her under
+the chin. She sat next to him, remarking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> that if he had his way she
+should live forever on turkey and sugar-plums. David ventured to say
+that that course of diet would be pretty indigestive, whereupon Mr.
+Tripple fondly suggested, as he gazed into her eyes, "How would love do
+for a substitute, then?" implying that "his way" would supply that
+abstract edible in equally large doses.</p>
+
+<p>David dryly added "Starvation," and thereupon Polly covered her face
+with her hands, but left open a laughing eye at Molly, and Mr. Tripple
+looked boldly around the board as a man who had said a very bright thing
+indeed, after which survey he broke out into a not very comfortable
+laugh. All the rest laughed, too, then, and such good humor prevailed
+that nothing seemed amiss, and Mr. Tripple's inexperience was kindly
+overlooked.</p>
+
+<p>But now the turkey was fast becoming skeletonized, and the good company
+was fast becoming the reverse. The jollity was increasing and the
+serious intentions of Mr. Tripple were impending and ready to fall into
+open profession on the slightest encouragement. The Little Scout's
+pinched and pale face&mdash;sweet and uncomplaining, even through hunger and
+want&mdash;smiled gently and less sadly as it leaned in Molly's arms, and,
+looking up, she said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Poor father! How quiet you were last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> night when we were walking home.
+I knew you were thinking about to-day and the poor dinner. How kind it
+was of good Mr. Griffin. I'd like to thank him myself, father!"</p>
+
+<p>"And so you shall, Little Scout," said David, gayly, bending over and
+kissing her with boyish contempt of aged bones; "and so you shall, and I
+make no doubt he'll be glad to see you, too, Deary."</p>
+
+<p>The clock in a neighboring steeple, simultaneously with its ancient
+kinsman on the shelf, and followed by incoming echoes of a score of
+others, struck one; but the company little heeded that, and the
+conviviality was far from diminishing when another summons rattled the
+street door, and again all exclaimed "There's Tom!" and crowded to the
+landing as before.</p>
+
+<p>Polly this time tripped down and came back in a moment with only a
+letter, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A young man, father, with this letter for Mr. Griffin. It's addressed
+to his store, but he said it was important, and, knowing you lived here,
+he depended on you to deliver it at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he gone?" said David, grasping it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father," replied Polly, "right off."</p>
+
+<p>Here was a pitiable state of affairs indeed. David Dubbs, aroused from
+the joyful celebration of his Christmas dinner and from the midst of
+this cosey party and sent off across the river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> to his master's house
+with a miserable letter and by a miserable young man (and if delivering
+letters when every other well-intentioned man is eating his turkey isn't
+miserable, why what is it?). Sent off on a graceless errand for nothing,
+perhaps. But his kind employer, who had done so much for his comfort and
+joy that very day, must not suffer by his neglect, and off he must post;
+that was imperative. Mr. Tripple offered his services when David had
+started down-stairs, and when there was no chance of his turning back,
+but David said, "No, no, Tripple; you just stay and keep the girls
+company till I get back, and that'll be enough for you to attend to.
+Good-by, girls. Good-by, Little Scout; if it wasn't so cold, she should
+go too." And off he trudged, as patient, and cheerful, and proud of his
+master's attention and of his mission, too, now he had fully set out, as
+many a younger and better dressed man would have been.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>IV.</p>
+
+<p>When Emanuel Griffin, Esq., leaving the dark little street wherein stood
+his warehouse and wherein very much of his life and very little of his
+money was spent&mdash;which latter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> fact had, however, no merely local
+application but was of a general nature&mdash;when, to resume, Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., buttoning up his overcoat and, leaving the dark little
+street, turned the next corner among the mountainous stores and looked
+vexedly around for a car to bear him to his home across the river, and
+rattled his keys in his pocket, and nearly hummed a tune in his
+impatience, suddenly, as the car appeared like a new planet, and with
+the easy-going motions of a planet in its ascent had nearly reached
+him&mdash;suddenly a thought of something forgotten flashed through his mind,
+and the violence of its reaction turned him completely around and sent
+him in a precipitous hurry in the opposite direction, namely, in that
+which David Dubbs and his little daughter had pursued but a short time
+before.</p>
+
+<p>"Pshaw!" he muttered, and looked as if he would like to add something a
+great deal stronger. "That's what I forgot to tell David; but Mrs. G. 'll
+never forget it, nor forgive it, either, if I don't attend to it
+before I get home." So he turned up his collar, and rubbed his ears, and
+hurried on to keep warm.</p>
+
+<p>His destination proved to be a fancy bakery in the neighborhood of David
+Dubbs's house. The pavement in front of it at that hour and season,
+owing to holiday orders, was sending up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> warm steam from the oven
+beneath, and a fragrant and appetizing smell of hot bread and browning
+cakes pervaded the street. It was a large establishment of the kind, and
+besides its legitimate line of bread-baking, took charge of the cooking
+and preparing of dinners for ladies of limited domestic conveniences in
+fashionable life. Heedless of the delicious scents which had attracted
+several men with greedy eyes to linger at the window and devour in
+fancy&mdash;a process which left them hungrier than ever&mdash;the heaps of loaves
+and cakes on the counter within; heedless of the supplicating looks the
+men turned on him, and of the confidential attempts of one or two at a
+begging whisper (but his hurry was in nowise chargeable with that
+inattention); heedless of everything but finishing his errand and
+getting home, Mr. Griffin pushed through the crowd in the store, and,
+reaching the counter, beckoned to a light-haired, light-eyed, and
+red-cheeked youth, in a blue tie and black waistcoat that, through
+constant friction with loaves and flour-barrels, had become of a light
+pepper-and-salt pattern, and hurriedly said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I want a turkey, Cuffy, of about fifteen or twenty pounds, cooked and
+sent to my house by one o'clock to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't do it, Mr. Griffin," said the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> man, who knew him and had
+bowed as he came up.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't do what?" exclaimed Mr. Griffin, with surprise and dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't send it out," returned the young man, firmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Mr. Griffin, relieved; "I thought you meant that you couldn't
+prepare it!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," commenced the young man. "You see, sir, Mr. Griffin, it's so
+late in the day that all our teams is ordered fur to-morrow at that
+time, and so is our boys, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'll soon fix that, Cuffy," said Mr. Griffin, opening his coat
+and taking out a card. "There, just pin that on the turkey when it is
+ready, and carry it over here to Dubbs's&mdash;David Dubbs is my clerk. He
+will understand the card, and bring the turkey out to my house. I
+shouldn't be so particular about it if Mrs. Griffin had not impressed it
+on me this morning. I almost forgot it, too."</p>
+
+<p>Then asking the price, and answering,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That is very high, Cuffy;" to which that young man replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I know it is, sir, Mr. Griffin, but then, you see, the demand is werry
+great, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Griffin paid the bill and hurried out, took a car at the next
+corner, and, after a long, cold ride, got home to allay the anxiety of
+Mrs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Griffin by assuring her that the turkey was ordered, and would be
+sent home promptly to-morrow by David Dubbs.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas morning was, among the Griffin household, which consisted of
+Mr. and Mrs. Griffin and a superannuated servant, a very busy morning
+indeed, for the reason that Mrs. Griffin had, according to annual
+custom, invited more guests to dine than she could conveniently provide
+for. Their house was a cottage in the suburbs, pretty enough in summer
+and no thanks to its mistress or the superannuated servant either, but
+to the unaided impulse of nature, which climbed, in the form of bowery
+vines, wherever a vine could find clinging room; but now, in the midst
+of winter, bright though the day was, the skeletons of so much green
+gayety looked bare, and inhospitable, and cold. The house was approached
+by a long path that started at the iron gate and led up to the porch. It
+was far from a large house, and looked inconvenient, and famished for
+paint, and it was no less inconvenient than it looked, a fact, indeed,
+which necessitated the purchase of a cooked turkey, for the oven was
+small, and the stove in the crazy little kitchen needed all the surface
+it could afford for the vegetables, oysters, and other viands which then
+only, throughout the year, it blazed and glowed under.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The morning wore on and twelve o'clock arrived. The big table in the
+little dining-room was duly dressed and adorned with Mrs. Griffin's
+miscellaneous silver; and after a heated debate between that lady and
+the Superannuated, it was decided that when the company were all in the
+parlor the dining-room door should be left open, and at the bottom of
+the table, which now projected against the door, an additional chair for
+Mr. Griffin should be inserted. Mrs. Griffin said of course the company
+must squeeze in, but they understood all that, and were glad enough to
+get in by any means, to which Superannuated readily assented.</p>
+
+<p>One o'clock, and now the company were all arrived. Mrs. Griffin was duly
+excused by Mr. Griffin, who received them, on the plea of domestic
+duties. They were mostly in the parlor, which contained, beside them, a
+set of red velvet furniture and a shining piano, on legs which emulated
+the unsteadiness of Superannuated's own, and which, in huskiness of
+voice, also resembled that person; a portrait of Mr. Griffin in rigid
+broadcloth, and a companion portrait of Mrs. Griffin in low neck and
+volumes of lace; and last, a very pimply-looking carpet, which seemed to
+suffer from a severe rash.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Griffin had occupied the space between the folding-doors as the
+company arrived and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> suavely&mdash;as suavely, by the way, as his wincing at
+the cost of it all would admit of&mdash;received, introduced, and seated
+them. The first arrival was a single gentleman, whom he saluted as Fred.
+He was short, and bald, and spasmodic,&mdash;so much so that his pantaloons
+were never straight, and his collar, through much moistening of its
+raspy edges, was soiled. After him, a lady and gentleman drove up to the
+gate in a carriage, and, alighting, the lady swept up the path, in a
+double sense, while her husband upbraided the driver for the muddy
+condition of the carriage, and then, loudly, "At ten, William!" To which
+William as loudly replied, "Can't do it, sir. Got another order; but
+I'll send you another man."</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman answered more quietly, with a careful look at the house,
+where Mr. Griffin awaited him on the porch,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, driver;" and also swept in, and was introduced to Fred as
+Mr. Abbert.</p>
+
+<p>Now came a pair who walked, and were addressed and handed around by the
+host as "My dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Dripps;" and then the volume of
+newcomers became quite abundant; so much so that a number of gentlemen
+with no apparent use for their hands were forced to lean about the hall
+and sit on the stairs, which they did up to the very top one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> When the
+company had simmered down a good deal, and only a few very bold
+gentlemen ventured to launch remarks into the unanswering silence, and
+when everybody was wondering what everybody else was going to do next,
+and all were, as they reported the next day, "enjoying themselves
+immensely," there was a stir above stairs, a rustling of dresses, and
+then the gentlemen on the stairs, like a row of falling bricks, were
+driven down before the gracious smiles and bows of the transformed
+hostess.</p>
+
+<p>Tripping down after them and falling at last into the extended arms of
+her husband&mdash;rather unsteady under the weight&mdash;while the stiffly polite
+gentlemen formed a compact crowd out to the door. Mrs. Griffin was led,
+with no little difficulty, through the seated guests, bestowing bows,
+and smiles, and "Glad to see you, my dear Mr. Dripps," and "How well
+you're looking, my dear Mrs. Abbert," and "Welcome, gentlemen," (whereat
+a murmur ran through the crowd and all shook their heads and tried to
+turn round and bow, but utterly failed,) and "Oh! here's my old Fred,"
+and sundry other bewitching remarks that led the crowd of gentlemen to
+murmur again something like "Charming, be Gad!" and grow uneasy.</p>
+
+<p>But now the bell was rung by Superannuated, who had duly inserted the
+chair, and Mr. Abbert,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> receiving the hostess from the arm of her
+husband and in turn delivering his smiling wife to Mr. Griffin, led off
+the throng to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>When they arrived at the protruding table, by a preconcerted arrangement
+Mrs. Griffin handed Mr. Abbert to the one side and squeezed herself
+through the other&mdash;an action which was imitated by the rest of the
+company, who were finally seated close up to the door&mdash;all but Mr.
+Griffin, who was to occupy the extra chair, and, as he was already
+inside, and there was no other means of exit, he was obliged to pass
+through the kitchen and around the house. He soon appeared again through
+the front door and the dinner began.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Griffin, who had long before left Superannuated to finish while she
+perfected her toilet, now rang the bell and, on her appearance,
+whispered in her ear. Superannuated whispered in her mistress's ear.
+Mrs. Griffin thereupon uttered a little cry and looked at Mr. Griffin.
+Mr. Griffin, in consternation, cried, "My dear!" and attempted to
+squeeze between the chairs, but failed. Then he looked wildly about him,
+and at last ran through the front door. He soon reappeared at the side
+of his fainting wife, who revived enough to say,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never, never forgive you! Oh, the humiliation! the agony!" then
+fainted again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" "What's the matter?" "She's fainted!" and confused screams
+of the ladies came from all sides. Mrs. Dripps passed along her salts
+bottle. Mrs. Abbert held Mrs. Griffin's head, and Fred applied water.
+Under the strong influence of these restoratives she soon revived, and
+whispered to her husband something which caused him also to start and
+look despairingly at her.</p>
+
+<p>She then said to him, loud enough for all to hear, "You must tell them
+it was your fault. Oh, the humiliation!" Here she burst out again, with
+her handkerchief to her eyes, and Mrs. Abbert soothingly said, "Oh,
+never mind him, my dear. I wouldn't mind him!" This was growing
+invidious, and all the gentlemen at the bottom of the table were looking
+scornfully at him.</p>
+
+<p>He therefore said, in a loud voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The turkey has not arrived,&mdash;that is all."</p>
+
+<p>"That is all," whimpered Mrs. Griffin, mockingly. "That is all, he says;
+and isn't it enough, sir, to have all your domestic failings exposed to
+the world?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Griffin alluded to cooking facilities, and grew very bitter, while
+"the world" simpered and exchanged looks.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Griffin then, in desperation, explained the whole matter,&mdash;how he
+had left the card for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> David Dubbs, and paid for the turkey, and come
+unsuspectingly home. "As," he added, "I have done year after year,
+for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Mrs. Griffin checked him with symptoms of another faint, and he
+stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Abbert then said it was all that rascally clerk, and he ought to be
+discharged at once.</p>
+
+<p>"I know 'em," he added violently and with deeply implied wisdom, which,
+by the way, was the only species of wisdom he ever attained to. "I know
+'em, Griffin!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Fred was of a similar opinion, and even more violent in his
+denunciation of David, as he had set his heart on turkey, and the
+appetite died painfully within him.</p>
+
+<p>All the ladies and gentlemen were of various opinions, but all
+concentrated their rage on the poor, innocent little clerk, and panted
+for his clerkly death. In the midst of all this commotion the door-bell
+rang, and intensified it twofold, for nobody could get through to the
+door but by going around the house. This Superannuated finally did, and
+brought back with her the identical little clerk,&mdash;the poor, agitated,
+and bowing little clerk who had unconsciously aroused all the
+indignation and tumult, whom sundry gentlemen at the lower end of the
+table had threatened with severe punishment if they ever caught sight of
+him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> and who, now catching sight of him, were more than usually silent.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Griffin looked threateningly at him as, hat in hand, he walked up to
+him, presented a letter, and, in his faint voice, said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"A letter for you, sir, left for me to deliver."</p>
+
+<p>He took it, and David continued tremulously to say,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And how can I thank you, sir, and madam," turning to Mrs. Griffin, "for
+the bounteous gift&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Gift?" exclaimed both in a breath; "what gift? Where is the turkey you
+brought? What gift? What gift?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, a splendid turkey, with your card kindly&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>This was received by the company with a volley of cries and calls, by a
+relapse on the part of Mrs. Griffin, and by the descent of Mr. Griffin's
+hand upon David's coat-collar, and finally by poor, frightened David's
+ejectment from the kitchen-door, harshly reproached by his employer as a
+thief and vagabond, and warned never to show his face in his store
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"Be off, now!" he cried after him, "you ungrateful, deceitful old
+villain!" and then he slammed the door, and joined the hungry guests, to
+whom he declaimed at some length on the thanklessness of the lower
+classes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Griffin was quickly re-restored, this time to a state of injured
+perfection, and after the united apologies of herself and husband, and
+more abuse of poor, luckless David Dubbs, the company concluded with
+pretty bad grace to make the most of what had been prepared in the way
+of vegetables and side dishes, long ago cold. Mr. Griffin was mad,
+insulted, and hungry, and the contents of the letter he had received
+seemed to add very little warmth to the food, but a great deal to his
+anger, for he tore it up into very small pieces, as if it were David
+himself he was torturing, and, with a look the company did not consider
+very sociable, scattered it on the floor.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>V.</p>
+
+<p>The sky, as if presaging David Dubbs's misfortune, had grown overcast,
+and flung down spiteful little sallies of snow as he crossed the river
+on his way to Mr. Griffin's. The creaking of the bridge's huge timbers
+and the splitting ice below it made him shiver and pull his threadbare
+coat close about him and sacrifice his old hands to the wind to save his
+freezing ears. The same scarf bound them as the night before, but an icy
+gale like that which swept from the open river would have frozen through
+arctic furs. Notwithstanding all this, his spirits were lighter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> than
+usual. The scene he had left at home floated on before his eyes, and
+transfused itself with the black, sketchy trees against the sky and
+blent with the ragged barbs of smoke that depended from cottage
+chimneys. The wind had been boisterous enough, and would have torn it
+away on a cantering jaunt not many minutes ago, but, surcharged as it
+was now with blinding snow, it had its own liberty to look after, and
+paid little heed to anything else.</p>
+
+<p>The snow came on thicker and thicker, and had begun to whiten the
+streets by the time David reached Mr. Griffin's house, and now, as he
+stood shocked and bewildered in the garden again, it lay deep and
+dreadfully silent as far as the eye could reach. Had he heard truly? Had
+he, for the first time in a long, and honest, and reputable life, been
+called a thief? And by the man whom his heart had overflowed in
+gratitude to but a moment before! David Dubbs a thief! And what of? What
+had he stolen? Oh, it was cruel to his poor old heart! "And the girls so
+merry, even now," he thought. How; how could he go to them with these
+bitter tidings? To be deprived of even the poor means his pen had
+faithfully and honestly earned for them; to toil so long, so wearily for
+the meed of a thief, for the name of a thief! and he wept in his utter
+woe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His hat was still on his head, his coat was undone, his scarf had fallen
+back on his shoulders; his poor old eyes were wide apart again, now, and
+the wind tugged at his scanty hair, and the snow, no whiter than itself,
+sifted through it and drifted into the folds of his clothes. But,
+stunned, and tortured, and despairing though he was, the old clerk
+staggered on insensibly homeward. Back through the dreary trees; back
+through the drifted streets; back to the bridge, where he stopped by
+some fatal impulse and leaned near a bleak abutment that overlooked the
+river&mdash;gazing, gazing, gazing in a blank stare at the driving channel
+below. The thought, the lurking purpose was shadowed dimly on his
+distraught mind. The cold, rolling river once passed, the seething cakes
+of ice once passed, and it would soon be over, soon be over. Life had
+been a worthless gift to him. His youth had been falsely colored by the
+visions of childhood; his age had been falsely colored by the ambitions
+of youth. Nothing he had looked to in the distance ever had grown into
+reality. Why should he survive his good name! And he clutched the stones
+and raised himself up and quivered at the top of the stone wall.</p>
+
+<p>But now his hand relaxed, and his face, clouded and suffering before,
+fell into a calmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> look of attention, almost a smile broke over it, and
+he gazed out against the sky as if transfixed.</p>
+
+<p>It was the vision that had, like the pillar of cloud by day and of fire
+by night, preceded and gladdened him on his way; the scene of his happy,
+unsuspecting girls; of the pale Little Scout&mdash;whose simple touch would
+then have instantly revived and soothed him, whose tender love was his
+comfort, his sanctuary from pursuing evils; the scene of his old home,
+far cosier, far more beloved, far more cheerful for all its homeliness,
+for all its poverty, than the more pretentious one of Emanuel Griffin;
+the scene of lowly pleasures it had cherished; of the bitter trials it
+had assuaged; and, finally, of the bright, laughing group he had left
+there, oh! so little prepared, so little conscious of the blight he
+would bring among them. This vision, these thoughts had flowed in upon
+his already disturbed mind, and had driven quite away all consciousness
+of where he was or how long he had stood in the bitter cold, when a
+policeman&mdash;overcoated, and furred, and frozen-bearded,&mdash;came by, and,
+suspecting things to be not altogether right, caught David by the
+sleeve, and adjusted his scarf and hat, saying,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No loafing on the bridge, old man. Move on; move on, now!" at which
+David started,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> looked all around him, and then moved on as commanded.
+His back, always bent, and his gait, always decrepit and shuffling, were
+now pitiably so, and he had a long, long journey before him; but, thanks
+be to Him whose omnipotent care protects and watches over the poor in
+spirit, he had escaped a far longer one. On and on he went, not cold
+now, not thinking, not in haste; passing thick-coated travellers who
+ran, and clapped their hands, and swung their arms for warmth; passing
+gay companies in cabs that rolled over the snow as softly as footsteps
+on velvet. But he heeded nothing of all this, and staggered onward to
+his own poor home.</p>
+
+<p>A light was streaming out from the windows of the old warehouse,
+crossing the snow piled on the platform above and slanting on the heaps
+beneath. It was an inviting glimmer, a herald from within to all cold
+travellers without of the blessedness of home, and, as David approached
+the corner of the court, his eye was greeted cheerily by its "Welcome
+home!" and, indeed, it was the first thing he had distinctly seen since
+leaving the house of Mr. Griffin. But his heart failed him. How could he
+face his dear girls again and tell them of the destitution of to-morrow?
+Of the worse than poverty? Thus he thought, and lingered, and slunk
+away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> by turns, but the ray of home-born light allured him, impassively,
+into its midst, and as he stood over against the house, a poor, weak,
+old man, rambling in his mind, and heroically deciding rather to leave
+them in peace to-night, one more night, and return to them to-morrow, a
+window was thrown up, and Jacob Tripple, putting forth his head, looked
+up and down the court, and then directly in front of him, where David
+stood immovable in the light.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, there he is, now!" he cried. "What's gone amiss, David? What's
+kept you so long? Here he is! Here he is!" he exclaimed again and again,
+and, drawing in his head in much less time than the words could be said,
+Jacob Tripple, followed by the girls, was down-stairs, was&mdash;still
+followed by the girls&mdash;out in the snow, and had forcibly carried David
+up with them.</p>
+
+<p>They laid him on the settee, moaning and crying aloud against Emanuel
+Griffin, and repeating again and again that they were "Beggars, beggars,
+beggars!" and exclaiming, "My poor Little Scout! My poor girls! My
+poor&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They shall not suffer, father!" said a new voice, the sound of which
+raised him up with wide-opened eyes and palsied hands at his head, and a
+long stare at the speaker&mdash;"It's Tom,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> father. Don't you know me?"
+repeated the voice.</p>
+
+<p>Know him! How should he know him? tall, and brawny, and whiskered, with
+pleasant blue eyes, and ruddy cheeks, and good nature streaming from his
+whole face! Him who, so many years ago,&mdash;a beardless youth&mdash;had run off
+to California after gold bubbles, and whom little good had been heard of
+when anything at all was heard of him. Know him? Of course he did not;
+but, as he sat down beside him on the settee and shook his old hand,
+David put his arms about his neck, and hung his head upon his bosom, and
+saw, in imagination, the thriftless boy of long ago whom he loved for
+all his waywardness.</p>
+
+<p>Tom's strong arms soon bore him to his old seat near the fire, and, for
+the first time, David's wandering eye noticed the bower of green holly
+and red-berried mistletoe that decked the room. General Washington was
+loaded with it. The old clock, actually striking in a cheerier voice the
+hour of nine, had its full share. The dresser hid in festoons of it.
+Even David's chair had its sprig. But what was that on the floor? An
+opened trunk, like a cloven pomegranate, displaying within rich trinkets
+that many a lady might covet?</p>
+
+<p>"Wha&mdash;what's it all mean, girls? Tell me,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> Little Scout," said David,
+catching her hand. "What happened to me? I thought I came home&mdash;home to
+tell you Griffin threw me out in the snow, and called me a thief, and
+how all of them scowled and cried out at me, and I thought&mdash;&mdash;" then,
+looking at the tall man, he cried again,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Tom, is it so? Is it so, my dear boy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father," said Tom, slowly, to calm him, "it is, happily, all so."</p>
+
+<p>Then his little daughter, who had stood by his side through it all,
+kissed him, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Come, father, look at the pretty presents Tom has brought us and you.
+See here's a beautiful new coat hanging on your peg for you, and Molly
+and Polly are as gay as any ladies," and she led him, tottering and
+feeble, to the loaded table&mdash;no longer ashamed of its defaced back
+beneath the pile of gifts it bore.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Tripple, hand in hand with the unresisting Polly, and Molly,
+and Tom, an unbroken circuit of cheery faces that electrified David
+Dubbs into a wrinkled smile in spite of lingering grief, clustered
+around the table and exclaimed aloud with admiration at the gifts Tom
+had brought.</p>
+
+<p>But David, still overshadowed by the events of the afternoon, said, in a
+quivering voice,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"But to-morrow, children, to-morrow! I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> discharged by Griffin; we
+shall starve to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not while I'm about," laughed Tom. "Come, come, be calm, and I'll tell
+you all about it."</p>
+
+<p>And he did tell of the long years of hope and distress, of despair when
+unconsciously within reach of fortune; of its final realization and of
+its golden yield. "So here I am, father, and your old hand shall write
+no more for Emanuel Griffin."</p>
+
+<p>Then said Dolly, "You don't speak, father; you are surely not sorry?"</p>
+
+<p>Sorry! He was stifled with gratitude; he was transforming into his old
+self. The familiar tenderness of her voice opened the floodgates of his
+heart, and he burst into a louder "Hurrah" than over Griffin's turkey,
+and kissed them all around, Mr. Tripple included, and, indeed, the day
+had been so successfully employed on the part of that gentleman that his
+early entrance into the family was far from problematical&mdash;so of course
+David did perfectly right.</p>
+
+<p>Polly here broke in, "And, father, it was Tom who brought the note, and
+Tom who planned the surprise for you. What did it say, Tom? you can tell
+us now."</p>
+
+<p>He laughed quietly, and then said, as if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> were reading impressively
+from the open sheet to Mr. Griffin himself, and making him writhe under
+his coolness,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Emanuel Griffin</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>: The connection of my father, David Dubbs, Esq., with your
+counting-house, will cease from this day forth.</p>
+
+<p>
+"Sir, your obedient servant,<br />
+"<span class="smcap">Thomas Dubbs.</span>"<br /></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>Told by an English Tourist.</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"He seemed to be a kind of connecting link between the old times
+and the new, and to be, withal, a little antiquated in the taste of
+his accomplishments."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Irving.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>A STILL CHRISTMAS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was Christmas eve in the year of our Lord 1653. The snow, which had
+fallen fitfully throughout the day, shrouded in white the sloping roofs
+and narrow London streets, and lay in little, sparkling heaps on every
+jutting cornice or narrow window-ledge where it could find a
+resting-place. But in the west the setting sun shone clearly, firing the
+steeples into sudden glory and gilding every tiny pane of glass that
+faced its dying splendor. The thoroughfares were strangely silent and
+deserted. The roving groups that had been wont at this season to fill
+them with boisterous merriment, the noise, the bustle, the good cheer of
+Christmas&mdash;all were lacking. No maskers roamed from street to street,
+jingling their bells, beating their mighty drums, and bidding the
+delighted crowd to make way for the Lord of Misrule. No shouts of "Noel!
+Noel!" rang through the frosty air. No children gathered round their
+neighbors' doors, singing quaint carols and forgotten glees, and bearing
+off rich guerdon in the shape of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> apples, nuts, and substantial
+Christmas buns. In place of the old-time gayety a dreary silence reigned
+through the deserted highways, and down the narrow footwalk, with even
+step and half-shut eyes, tramped the Puritan herald, ringing his bell
+and proclaiming ever and anon in measured tones, "No Christmas! No
+Christmas!"</p>
+
+<p>In sober and sad-hued garments was the herald arrayed, with leathern
+boots that defied the snow and a copious mantle enveloping his sturdy
+frame. Now and then he stopped to warn a couple of belated idlers that
+they would do well to separate and go quietly to their homes. Now and
+then a little child peeped at him timorously from a doorway, and,
+overawed by his sombre aspect and heavy frown, retreated rapidly to hide
+its fears in the safe shelter of its mother's gown. Men shook their
+heads as he went by, and muttered something that was not always
+complimentary to his presence; and women shrugged their shoulders and
+sighed, and thought, perchance, of other Christmases in the past, with
+Yule-logs burning on the hearth and stray kisses snatched beneath the
+mistletoe. From a latticed window a girl's face peered at him with such
+a light of laughing malice in the brown eyes that the Puritan, catching
+sight of their wicked gleam, paused a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> moment, as though to reprove the
+maiden for her forwardness, or to inquire what mischief was afoot under
+this humble roof. But the night was growing chill, and he had still far
+to go. It might not be worth while to waste words of counsel on one so
+evidently godless; and, with a heavier scowl than usual, he tramped on,
+swinging his bell with lusty force. "No Christmas! No Christmas!" echoed
+through the darkening streets, and, as he passed, the girl contracted
+her features into a grimace that would have done credit to the
+wide-mouthed gargoyle of a Gothic cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>"Cicely, Cicely!" cried a voice, at this juncture, from within, "close
+the shutters, do, and come and help me."</p>
+
+<p>Cicely, who had been inclined to stare out a little longer, shot the
+heavy oaken bolt into its socket, and, opening a door leading to the
+inner room, disclosed a scene whose ruddy cheerfulness shone all the
+brighter in contrast to the dreary streets outside. A mighty bunch of
+fagots blazed and crackled on the hearth, and above the carved
+chimney-place hung branches of holly, their scarlet, berries glowing
+deeply in the firelight. In one corner, half-veiled by a tapestry
+curtain, a waxen Bambino nestled in its little manger, while before it
+burned a small copper lamp. Wreaths of holly and ivy be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>decked the
+doors, and, standing tip-toed on a tall wooden chair, a young girl was
+even now striving to fasten these securely with the aid of a very old
+and wrinkled woman, who seemed more competent to admire than to assist
+the undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>"Some bigger berries, pray, Catherine," she said, impatiently; "and,
+Cicely, if you feel you have loitered enough, hand me those two long ivy
+branches. They should droop gracefully&mdash;so! And now stand off a little
+way and tell me how it looks."</p>
+
+<p>The younger sister obeyed, and, stationing herself in the middle of the
+room, surveyed the whole effect with much approval. Annis, her fair face
+flushed with the exertion, balanced herself on her lofty perch and gazed
+complacently upon her handiwork; while even Mistress Vane, who had been
+seated quietly on a deep chair by the fireplace, roused herself as from
+a reverie, and looked half-wistfully around the cheerful room. "What
+bell was that I heard just now?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"The herald's, proclaiming a still Christmas," answered Cicely,
+promptly; "and he watched me as sourly as though he knew that we were
+plotting treason."</p>
+
+<p>"Cecil, Cecil!" remonstrated her mother, in alarm. "Surely you did
+nothing imprudent."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I?" returned Cicely, apparently oblivious as to what she had done. "I
+cast up the whites of my eyes, as though repeating psalms for mine own
+inward sustainment; and seeing me so piously disposed, he was fain to
+pass on to the correction of greater sinners."</p>
+
+<p>"That were well-nigh impossible," said her sister, laughing; but
+Mistress Vane only looked anxious and disturbed. The sense of insecurity
+to which Annis was indifferent, and which Cicely at fourteen found
+absolutely amusing, weighed heavily on the older woman, who had a better
+understanding of the danger, and who had suffered cruelly in the past.
+Husband and son had fallen for a lost cause, confiscation had devoured
+the larger portion of her once fair inheritance; and now, with her two
+young daughters, she found herself beset by perils, harassed by
+stringent laws, and at the mercy of any ill-wind fate might blow her.
+Cromwell's mighty arm held the fretful country in subjection, making the
+name of England great and terrible abroad, and silencing every whisper
+of disaffection at home. The Puritans, in their hour of triumph, stamped
+upon the land the impress of their strong and bitter individuality; and
+a morose asceticism, part real and part affected, crushed out of life
+all the innocent pleasure of living. With every man determined<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> to be
+better than his neighbor, the competition in saintliness ran high. Under
+its vigorous stimulus the May-pole and the Yule-log were alike branded
+as heathenish observances, the Christmas-pie became a "pye of
+abomination," and all amusements, from the drama to bear-baiting, were
+censured with impartial severity. Feast-days were abolished, and even to
+display the emblems of the Nativity was held to be sedition. The
+Established Church, cowed and shorn of its splendor, was treated with
+surly contempt; the Catholics were altogether beyond the pale of
+charity. It was not a time calculated to promote festivity; yet, while
+the heralds proclaimed through the frosty streets that Christmas at last
+was dead, Annis Vane, with holly and ivy, with Yule-dough and
+Babie-cake, was making all things ready for its mysterious birth. And as
+she worked she sang softly under breath the refrain of a carol she had
+learned at her nurse's knee,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="poem">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'>
+"This endris night<br />
+I saw a sight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A star as bright as day;</span><br />
+And ever among<br />
+A maiden sung<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lullay, by-by, lullay."</span>
+</td></tr></table></div>
+
+
+<p>"Is it not strange, mother," she said, breaking suddenly off, "that men
+should deem it a mark<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> of holiness to cast derision on the birth-night
+of their Saviour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let us be just even to our enemies," replied Mistress Vane, gently.
+"They think not to deride the Nativity, so much as to condemn the
+riotous fashion in which Christians were wont to keep the feast. There
+have been times, Annis, when the Lord of Misrule did more discredit to
+this holy season than does the Puritan to-day."</p>
+
+<p>Annis opened her blue eyes to their very utmost. This view of the matter
+was one she was hardly prepared to accept. "Why, dearest mother," she
+protested, "when should we venture to be happy, if not on Christmas-day?
+And how can we show ourselves too joyful for our salvation? And did not
+his most blessed majesty King Charles knight with his own royal hand a
+Lord of Misrule who held court in the Middle Temple?"</p>
+
+<p>Mistress Vane smiled at her daughter's vehemence. She knew more about
+these jovial monarchs and their courts than Annis did, and it may even
+be that his most blessed majesty's approval carried less weight to her
+experienced mind. But in these dark and chilly days a little enthusiasm
+was helpful in keeping one's heart warm, and she was far too wise a
+mother to disparage it. "Truly they made a brave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> show then upon
+Christmas-day," she admitted, "for the lord mayor and his corporation, a
+goodly company of gentlemen, rode in procession to the church of St.
+Thomas Acon, and thence to dine together with many pleasant ceremonies.
+And stoups of wine and huge venison pasties were despatched to the
+Temple for the stay and comfort of the mock-court, who made merry all
+day long. And the streets were crowded, far into the night, with maskers
+and revellers; and even the poor might for once forget their poverty,
+and were welcome to the brawn and plum-broth of their richer neighbors."</p>
+
+<p>"And now we have nothing of all this!" cried Cicely, with passionate
+regret. "Nothing to look at and nothing to hear save the cracked bell of
+a dingy herald, who does not even ride a hobby-horse like the merry
+heralds of old. In truth, Master Prynne hath made good his own words
+when he holds that Christmas should be rather a day of mourning than one
+of rejoicing."</p>
+
+<p>"Not so thought my godfather, kind Master Breton," said Annis,
+thoughtfully. "For he hath written that it is the duty of Christians to
+rejoice for the remembrance of Christ and for the maintenance of
+good-fellowship. 'I hold it,' he hath said, 'a memory of the Heaven's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+love and the world's peace, the mirth of the honest and the meeting of
+the friendly.'"</p>
+
+<p>Cicely's eyes danced with glee. "That were well remembered," she said,
+mockingly; "if, now, you can but tell us in turn what your godfather's
+nephew, Captain Rupert Breton, hath thought upon the matter."</p>
+
+<p>Annis flushed scarlet, and the quick tears welled into her eyes as she
+turned them reproachfully upon her sister. It was not easy for her to
+think of her absent lover and maintain the cheerful frame of mind she
+deemed appropriate to the season. The shores of France seemed very far
+away that night, and the long months that had elapsed since the defeat
+at Worcester stretched backward like a lifetime, as she recalled his
+last hurried farewell. He had ridden hard and risked much for those few
+words, and patiently and bravely she had waited ever since, hoping,
+praying, turning her face steadily to the brighter side, and keeping
+ever in mind the happy hour which should reunite them to each other.
+Now, in silence, she bound together the last green boughs and put all in
+order for the night. Old Catherine had long since gone off, yawning and
+blinking, to bed, and Cicely, half-asleep, nodded over the dying fire.
+Only her mother watched her, with eyes of loving scrutiny, and Annis
+smiled brightly as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> she kissed the careworn face. "I shall not cry
+myself to sleep to-night," she said, resolutely. "This is a time for
+gladness; for the star of Bethlehem is shining in the sky, and the birth
+of the Lord is at hand."</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Bright glowed the Christmas-logs on the capacious hearth till every
+pointed leaf and scarlet holly-berry shone in the generous firelight.</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="poem">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'>
+"Whosoever against holly doth cry,<br />
+In a rope shall be hung full high."
+</td></tr></table></div>
+
+<p>For, when the oak and ash trees babbled to the wind, and betrayed the
+Saviour's hiding-place, the holly, the ivy, and the pine kept the secret
+hidden in their silent hearts; and for this good deed they stand green
+and living under winter's icy breath, while their companions shiver
+naked in the blast. Not till the risen sun has danced on Easter morn
+shall the oak adorn a Christian household and prove itself forgiven. The
+Christmas-pie&mdash;the Christ-cradle, as the Saxons used to call it&mdash;had
+been baked in its oblong dish in memory of the manger at Bethlehem, with
+the star of the Magi cut deeply in the swelling crust. The Yule-dough,
+cunningly moulded into the likeness of a little babe, had been carefully
+laid by as a sovereign protector from the evils of fire, floods,
+carnage, and&mdash;so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> say some ancient writers&mdash;from the bite of rabid
+dogs. Annis Vane, decked out in the bravest array her altered fortunes
+would permit, knelt by the blazing hearth. Her ruff was of the finest
+lace, and a row of milk-white pearls clasped her slender throat. She
+shaded her face from the fire, and piled up shining cones of
+bright-brown nuts that seemed to tempt the flames.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img-03.jpg" width="600" height="357"
+alt="The Cavalier From France" title="The Cavalier From France" />
+<span class="caption">The Cavalier From France</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"All we lack now is the mistletoe," she said, half-despondently. "It was
+no easy task to find the holly and bring it home unnoticed; but we
+cannot gather mistletoe near London, and there is none for sale
+throughout the city."</p>
+
+<p>"Of what use is the mistletoe," said the practical Cicely, "when we are
+but three women here alone? We can kiss each other as readily under a
+sprig of ivy, and we can fire our nuts without the help of man or lad,
+provided only we keep one in our minds. Of whom shall I think, Annis?"
+she queried, wrinkling up her pretty forehead in anxious perplexity over
+so disturbing a doubt.</p>
+
+<p>"You are far too young to think of men at all," answered Annis,
+reprovingly, and with all the conscious superiority of age. "Nor do you
+know enough as yet to make such pastime profitable."</p>
+
+<p>Cicely's brows drew together with a frown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> which plainly indicated the
+nature of the retort upon her lips, but a glance from her mother checked
+her. "The word uttered in vexation is better left unspoken," said
+Mistress Vane, with gentle authority. "And I am waiting here, not to
+listen to disputes, which in these stormy times have grown wearisome,
+but to hear the Christmas carol promised me to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Annis, with flushed cheeks, took down from the wall a little mandolin of
+Spanish workmanship, and, striking a few chords, began the carol, in
+which Cicely, after sacrificing some moments to ill-temper, concluded
+presently to join, her clear flute-notes rising high above her sister's
+weaker tones,&mdash;<br /></p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="poem">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'>
+"When Christ was born of Mary free,<br />
+In Bethlehem, in that fair citie,<br />
+Angels sungen with mirth and glee,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">In Excelsis Gloria!</span><br />
+
+"Herdsmen beheld these angels bright<br />
+To them appeared with great light,<br />
+And said, God's Son is born this night,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">In Excelsis Gloria!</span><br />
+
+"The King is comen to save kind,<br />
+Even in Scripture as we find;<br />
+Therefore this song have we in mind,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">In Excelsis Gloria!</span><br />
+
+"Then, dear Lord, for thy great grace,<br />
+Grant us in bliss to see thy face,<br />
+Where we may sing to thee solace,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">In Excelsis Gloria!"</span>
+</td></tr></table></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the sounds died into silence there stood one in the icy streets and
+listened. No self-elected saint was he, scenting out treason to the
+Commonwealth, but a cavalier from France, with his love-locks shorn for
+sweet prudence's sake, and a mighty mantle enveloping him from head to
+foot. If Annis Vane had waited, and hoped, and built up her faith in the
+cheer of Christmas-night, the joy she coveted was very near at last.
+After lingering a few moments, as though on the chance of hearing more,
+the stranger advanced and knocked sharply at the heavily-barred door. It
+was opened in due season and with great caution by old Catherine, who
+evidently thought the hour ill-chosen for a newcomer, and mistrusted
+sorely the purpose of his visit. He allowed her scant time, however, to
+threaten or expostulate, but, putting her gently on one side, stepped to
+the inner room. There, pale with anxiety and terror, Mistress Vane
+leaned forward in her chair, while Cicely, half-frightened,
+half-defiant, grasped her mother's skirt. Before the fire stood Annis,
+her blue eyes shining like stars, a round, red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> spot burning feverishly
+in each cheek, her lace ruff rising and falling distressfully with the
+heaving bosom within. The mandolin had fallen from her hands; the ruddy
+firelight lit up her slight figure and fair, disordered curls. She stood
+thus for a moment, swaying breathless betwixt hope and fear, then, with
+a low, joyous cry, sprang forward into her lover's arms.</p>
+
+<p>Welcome now the good cheer of Christmas-night! Welcome the
+Christmas-pie, the pasty of venison, the pudding stuffed with plums, and
+the flagon of old wine. Love is a brave appetizer when backed by long
+fasting and a ten hours' ride, and Captain Breton brought all the vigor
+of youth and happiness and of a noble hunger to bear upon the viands.
+The glow of the cheerful room was infinitely comforting to the tired
+traveller; the sight of Annis's happy face put fresh hope and courage in
+his heart. He had much to tell of the gay court of France, and of the
+royal exile, who should one day, God willing, sit on his father's
+throne. Nor were there lacking adventures and dangers of his own to give
+flavor to the narrative, nor plans for the future, colored with all the
+happy confidence of youth. He had come home to win his bride, and to
+carry her away to brighter scenes until this soured and gloomy England
+should be merrie England once more. "He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> who would keep a light heart
+within London walls," said he, "must needs be very sure of heaven, as
+are Master Prynne and Master Philip Stubbes, or very much in love, as am
+I. It lacks but a covered cart and a bell in every street to make one
+feel the Black Death is upon us. If you can laugh in such an atmosphere
+of melancholy, Annis, what will you do in France?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayhap if I laugh enough in sober London I shall grow too giddy and
+forward in foolish France," returned Annis, gayly; "unless&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless what, dear heart?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unless while I am safe in Paris you are fighting the battles of the
+king in England. Then tears will come easier than laughter, as in truth
+they have done of late."</p>
+
+<p>"Wherever I may be, your prayers will prove my bulwark," said Captain
+Breton, confidently. "It would take more than a silver bullet to find
+its way to my heart while you are besieging heaven's doors in the
+tumultuous fashion that only women can attain. I bear a charmed life as
+long as you remember your petitions."</p>
+
+<p>Annis answered with a look, and Cicely, nestling by her mother's chair,
+watched her sister with wide, serious eyes. To the child standing on the
+threshold of womanhood the presence of love carries with it an
+intoxicating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> flavor of mystery. It is something that fills her alike
+with envy and a vague resentment, with wonder and an indefinable desire.
+Its commonest expression is a perverse antipathy to one of the lovers,
+with an irrational increase of affection for the other; and in this case
+Captain Breton came in for his full share of Cicely's smothered anger
+and disdain. He, meanwhile, in happy unconsciousness, chancing to meet
+the brown eyes lifted dreamily to his own, and noting the upward curve
+of the short, sweet lip, thought within himself that this elfish little
+Cicely was growing almost as pretty as her sister&mdash;a judgment which
+proves conclusively the blindness of love; for Annis, though fair and
+comely to look upon, came no nearer to her young sister's beauty than
+does the pink-tipped daisy to the half-opened rosebud uncurling slowly
+in the sun. At present, the girl, seeing that she was watched, turned
+away her head pettishly and eyed the leaping flames.</p>
+
+<p>"Annis said to-night there was but one thing lacking to her Christmas
+cheer," she remarked, after a pause, and with the too evident intention
+of saying something vexatious.</p>
+
+<p>"And that was I!" interposed the cavalier, with the ready assurance of a
+lover.</p>
+
+<p>"It was not you at all," returned Cicely,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> "but the mistletoe. We
+gathered the other greens ourselves, but there was no mistletoe to be
+found within or without the gates of London."</p>
+
+<p>"By a happy chance we can proceed as though we had it," said Captain
+Breton, contentedly, while Annis crimsoned like a rose. "It is a welcome
+little plant, and carries a merry message; but if it be banished in
+these saintly days, we obstinate sinners must kiss without its
+sanction."</p>
+
+<p>"But the maid who is not kissed on Christmas-night beneath the mistletoe
+will never be a wife during the coming year," persisted Cicely, who had
+laid down her line of attack and was not to be driven therefrom.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, will you wager your ring or your new ear-drop on that, little
+sister?" said the captain, laughing at the threat. "Or have you a
+trinket that you value less to risk in such a cause?"</p>
+
+<p>Cicely, deeply affronted, puckered up her brow and drew closer to her
+mother; but Annis, far too happy to be vexed, leaned over and kissed the
+pouting lips. With her, joy meant thanksgiving, and her heart was
+singing&mdash;singing the song of the angel of Judea: "In Excelsis Gloria!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>A Norseman's Saga.</i></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"As he sat there with a sou'wester down over his ears, in a long
+pilot coat, his figure appeared to assume quite supernatural
+proportions, and you might almost imagine that you had one of the
+old Vikings before you."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Asbj&ouml;rnsen.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THROND.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There was once a man named Alf, who had raised great expectations among
+his fellow-parishioners because he excelled most of them both in the
+work he accomplished and in the advice he gave. Now, when this man was
+thirty years old, he went to live up the mountain, and cleared a piece
+of land for farming, about fourteen miles from any settlement. Many
+people wondered how he could endure thus depending on himself for
+companionship, but they were still more astonished when, a few years
+later, a young girl from the valley, and one, too, who had been the
+gayest of the gay at all the social gatherings and dances of the parish,
+was willing to share his solitude.</p>
+
+<p>This couple were called "the people in the wood," and the man was known
+by the name of "Alf in the wood." People viewed him with inquisitive
+eyes when they met him at church or at work, because they did not
+understand him; but neither did he take the trouble to give them any
+explanation of his conduct. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> wife was only seen in the parish twice,
+and on one of these occasions it was to present a child for baptism.</p>
+
+<p>This child was a son, and he was called Thrond. When he grew larger his
+parents often talked about needing help, and, as they could not afford
+to take a full-grown servant, they hired what they called "a half:" they
+brought into their house a girl of fourteen, who took care of the boy
+while the father and mother were busy in the field.</p>
+
+<p>This girl was not the brightest person in the world, and the boy soon
+observed that his mother's words were easy to comprehend, but that it
+was hard to get at the meaning of what Ragnhild said. He never talked
+much with his father, and he was rather afraid of him, for the house had
+to be kept very quiet when he was home. One Christmas Eve&mdash;they were
+burning two candles on the table, and the father was drinking from a
+white flask&mdash;the father took the boy up in his arms and set him on his
+lap, looked him sternly in the eyes, and exclaimed,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ugh, boy!" Then he added more gently,&mdash;"Why, you are not so much
+afraid. Would you have the courage to listen to a story?"</p>
+
+<p>The boy made no reply, but he looked full in his father's face. His
+father then told him about a man from Vaage, whose name was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> Blessom.
+This man was in Copenhagen for the purpose of getting the king's verdict
+in a law-suit he was engaged in, and he was detained so long that
+Christmas eve overtook him there. Blessom was greatly annoyed at this,
+and, as he was sauntering about the streets fancying himself at home, he
+saw a very large man, in a white, short coat, walking in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"How fast you are walking!" said Blessom.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a long distance to go in order to get home this evening,"
+replied the man.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"To Vaage," answered the man, and walked on.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, that is very nice," said Blessom, "for that is where I am going,
+too."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, you may ride with me, if you will stand on the runners of
+my sledge," answered the man, and turned into a side street where his
+horse was standing.</p>
+
+<p>He mounted his seat and looked over his shoulder at Blessom, who was
+just getting on the runners.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better hold fast," said the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>Blessom did as he was told, and it was well he did, for their journey
+was evidently not by land.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me that you are driving on the water," cried Blessom.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I am," said the man, and the spray whirled about them.</p>
+
+<p>But after a while it seemed to Blessom their course no longer lay on the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me we are moving through the air," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, so we are," replied the stranger.</p>
+
+<p>But when they had gone still farther, Blessom thought he recognized the
+parish they were driving through.</p>
+
+<p>"Is not this Vaage?" cried he.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, now we are there," replied the stranger, and it seemed to Blessom
+that they had gone pretty fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you for the good ride," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks to yourself," replied the man, and added, as he whipped up his
+horse, "Now you had better not look after me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed," thought Blessom, and started over the hills for home.</p>
+
+<p>But just then so loud and terrible a crash was heard behind him that it
+seemed as if the whole mountain must be tumbling down, and a bright
+light was shed over the surrounding landscape; he looked round and
+beheld the stranger in the white coat driving through the crackling
+flames into the open mountain, which was yawning wide to receive him,
+like some huge gate. Blessom felt somewhat strange in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> regard to his
+travelling companion; and thought he would look in another direction;
+but as he had turned his head so it remained, and never more could
+Blossom get it straight again.</p>
+
+<p>The boy had never heard anything to equal this in all his life. He dared
+not ask his father for more, but early the next morning he asked his
+mother if she knew any stories. Yes, of course she did; but hers were
+chiefly about princesses who were in captivity for seven years, until
+the right prince came along. The boy believed that everything he heard
+or read about took place close around him.</p>
+
+<p>He was about eight years old when the first stranger entered their door
+one winter evening. He had black hair, and this was something Thrond had
+never seen before. The stranger saluted them with a short
+"Good-evening!" and came forward. Thrond grew frightened and sat down on
+a cricket by the hearth. The mother asked the man to take a seat on the
+bench along the wall; he did so, and then the mother could examine his
+face more closely.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! is not this Knud the fiddler?" cried she.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to be sure it is. It has been a long time since I played at your
+wedding."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes; it is quite a while now. Have you been on a long journey?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I have been playing for Christmas on the other side of the mountain.
+But half-way down the slope I began to feel very badly, and I was
+obliged to come in here to rest."</p>
+
+<p>The mother brought forward food for him; he sat down to the table, but
+did not say "in the name of Jesus," as the boy had been accustomed to
+hear. When he had finished eating, he got up from the table, and said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now I feel very comfortable; let me rest a little while."</p>
+
+<p>And he was allowed to rest on Thrond's bed.</p>
+
+<p>For Thrond a bed was made on the floor. As the boy lay there, he felt
+cold on the side that was turned away from the fire, and that was the
+left side. He discovered that it was because this side was exposed to
+the chill night air; for he was lying out in the wood. How came he in
+the wood? He got up and looked about him, and saw that there was fire
+burning a long distance off, and that he was actually alone in the wood.
+He longed to go home to the fire; but could not stir from the spot. Then
+a great fear overcame him; for wild beasts might be roaming about,
+trolls and ghosts might appear to him; he must get home to the fire; but
+he could not stir from the spot. Then his terror grew, he strove with
+all his might to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> gain self-control, and was at last able to cry,
+"Mother," and then he awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear child, you have had bad dreams," said she, and took him up.</p>
+
+<p>A shudder ran through him, and he glanced round. The stranger was gone,
+and he dared not inquire after him.</p>
+
+<p>His mother appeared in her black dress, and started for the parish. She
+came home with two new strangers, who also had black hair and who wore
+flat caps. They did not say "in the name of Jesus," when they ate, and
+they talked in low tones with the father. Afterwards the latter and they
+went into the barn, and came out again with a large box, which the men
+carried between them. They placed it on a sled, and said farewell. Then
+the mother said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a little, and take with you the smaller box he brought here with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>And she went in to get it. But one of the men said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<i>He</i> can have that," and he pointed at Thrond.</p>
+
+<p>"Use it as well as <i>he</i> who is now lying <i>here</i>," added the other
+stranger, pointing at the large box.</p>
+
+<p>Then they both laughed and went on. Thrond looked at the little box
+which thus came into his possession.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What is there in it?" asked he.</p>
+
+<p>"Carry it in and find out," said the mother.</p>
+
+<p>He did as he was told, but his mother helped him open it. Then a great
+joy lighted up his face, for he saw something very light and fine lying
+there.</p>
+
+<p>"Take it up," said his mother.</p>
+
+<p>He put just one finger down on it, but quickly drew it back again in
+great alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"It cries," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Have courage," said his mother, and he grasped it with his whole hand
+and drew it forth from the box.</p>
+
+<p>He weighed it and turned it round, he laughed and felt of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me! what is it?" asked he, for it was as light as a toy.</p>
+
+<p>"It is a fiddle."</p>
+
+<p>This was the way that Thrond Alfson got his first violin.</p>
+
+<p>The father could play a little, and he taught the boy how to handle the
+instrument; the mother could sing the tunes she remembered from her
+dancing days, and these the boy learned, but soon began to make new ones
+for himself. He played all the time he was not at his books; he played
+until his father once told him he was fading away before his eyes. All
+the boy had read and heard until that time was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> put into the fiddle. The
+tender, delicate string was his mother; the one that lay close beside
+it, and always accompanied his mother, was Ragnhild. The coarse string,
+which he seldom ventured to play on, was his father. But of the last
+solemn string he was half afraid, and he gave no name to it. When he
+played a wrong note on the E string, it was the cat; but when he took a
+wrong note on his father's string, it was the ox. The bow was Blessom,
+who drove from Copenhagen to Vaage in one night. And every tune he
+played represented something. The one containing the long solemn tones
+was his mother in her black dress. The one that jerked and skipped was
+like Moses, who stuttered and smote the rock with his staff. The one
+that had to be played quietly, with the bow moving lightly over the
+strings, was the hulder in yonder fog, calling together her cattle,
+where no one but herself could see.</p>
+
+<p>But the music wafted him onward over the mountains, and a great yearning
+took possession of his soul. One day, when his father told about a
+little boy who had been playing at the fair and who had earned a great
+deal of money, Thrond waited for his mother in the kitchen and asked her
+softly if he could not go to the fair and play for people.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoever heard of such a thing!" said his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> mother; but she immediately
+spoke to his father about it.</p>
+
+<p>"He will get out into the world soon enough," answered the father; and
+he spoke in such a way that the mother did not ask again.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after this, the father and mother were talking at table about
+some new settlers who had recently moved up on the mountain and were
+about to be married. They had no fiddler for the wedding, the father
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Could not I be the fiddler?" whispered the boy, when he was alone in
+the kitchen once more with his mother.</p>
+
+<p>"What, a little boy like you?" said she; but she went out to the barn
+where his father was and told him about it.</p>
+
+<p>"He has never been in the parish," she added; "he has never seen a
+church."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not think you would ask about such things," said Alf; but
+neither did he say anything more, and so the mother thought she had
+permission. Consequently she went over to the new settlers and offered
+the boy's services.</p>
+
+<p>"The way he plays," said she, "no little boy has ever played before;"
+and the boy was to be allowed to come.</p>
+
+<p>What joy there was at home! Thrond played from morning until evening and
+practised new tunes; at night he dreamed about them: they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> bore him far
+over the hills, away to foreign lands, as though he were afloat on
+sailing clouds. His mother made a new suit of clothes for him; but his
+father would not take part in what was going on.</p>
+
+<p>The last night he did not sleep, but thought out a new tune about the
+church which he had never seen. He was up early in the morning, and so
+was his mother, in order to get him his breakfast, but he could not eat.
+He put on his new clothes and took his fiddle in his hand, and it seemed
+to him as though a bright light were glowing before his eyes. His mother
+accompanied him out on the flag-stone, and stood watching him as he
+ascended the slopes; it was the first time he had left home.</p>
+
+<p>His father got quietly out of bed, and walked to the window; he stood
+there, following the boy with his eyes until he heard the mother out on
+the flag-stone, then he went back to bed and was lying down when she
+came in.</p>
+
+<p>She kept stirring about him, as if she wanted to relieve her mind of
+something. And finally it came out,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I really think I must walk down to the church and see how things are
+going."</p>
+
+<p>He made no reply, and therefore she considered the matter settled,
+dressed herself, and started.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It was a glorious, sunny day, the boy walked rapidly onward, he listened
+to the song of the birds and saw the sun glittering among the foliage,
+while he proceeded on his way, with his fiddle under his arm. And when
+he reached the bride's house, he was still so occupied with his own
+thoughts, that he observed neither the bridal splendor nor the
+procession; he merely asked if they were about to start, and learned
+that they were. He walked on in advance with his fiddle, and he played
+the whole morning into it, and the tones he produced resounded through
+the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Will we soon see the church?" he asked over his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time he received only "No" for an answer, but at last some
+one said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as you reach that crag yonder, you will see it."</p>
+
+<p>He threw his newest tune into the fiddle, the bow danced on the strings,
+and he kept his eyes fixed intently before him. There lay the parish
+right in front of him!</p>
+
+<p>The first thing he saw was a little light mist, curling like smoke on
+the opposite mountain side. His eyes wandered over the green meadow and
+the large houses, with windows which glistened beneath the scorching
+rays of the sun, like the glacier on a winter's day. The houses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> kept
+increasing in size, the windows in number, and here on one side of him
+lay the enormous red house, in front of which horses were tied; little
+children were playing on a hill, dogs were sitting watching them. But
+everywhere there penetrated a long, heavy tone, that shook him from head
+to foot, and everything he saw seemed to vibrate with that tone. Then
+suddenly he saw a large, straight house, with a tall, glittering staff
+reaching up to the skies. And below, a hundred windows blazed, so that
+the house seemed to be enveloped in flames. This must be the church, the
+boy thought, and the music must come from it! Round about stood a vast
+multitude of people, and they all looked alike! He put them forthwith
+into relations with the church, and thus acquired a respect mingled with
+awe for the smallest child he saw.</p>
+
+<p>"Now I must play," thought Thrond, and tried to do so.</p>
+
+<p>But what was this? The fiddle had no longer any sound in it. There must
+be some defect in the strings; he examined, but could find none.</p>
+
+<p>"Then it must be because I do not press on hard enough," and he drew his
+bow with a firmer hand; but the fiddle seemed as if it were cracked.</p>
+
+<p>He changed the tune that was meant to repre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>sent the church into
+another, but with equally bad results; no music was produced, only
+squeaking and wailing. He felt the cold sweat start out over his face;
+he thought of all these wise people who were standing here and perhaps
+laughing him to scorn, this boy who at home could play so beautifully,
+but who here failed to bring out a single tone!</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God that mother is not here to see my shame!" said he softly to
+himself, as he played among the people; but lo! there she stood, in her
+black dress, and she shrank farther and farther away.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment he beheld far up on the spire the black-haired man who
+had given him the fiddle. "Give it back to me," he now shouted,
+laughing, and stretching out his arms, and the spire went up and down
+with him, up and down. But the boy took the fiddle under one arm,
+screaming, "You shall not have it!" and, turning, ran away from the
+people, beyond the houses, onward through meadow and field, until his
+strength forsook him, and then sank to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>There he lay for a long time, with his face toward the earth, and when
+finally he looked round he saw and heard only God's infinite blue sky
+that floated above him, with its everlasting sough. This was so terrible
+to him that he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> to turn his face to the ground again. When he raised
+his head once more his eyes fell on his fiddle, which lay at his side.</p>
+
+<p>"This is all your fault!" shouted the boy, and seized the instrument
+with the intention of dashing it to pieces, but hesitated as he looked
+at it.</p>
+
+<p>"We have had many a happy hour together," said he, then paused.
+Presently he said, "The strings must be severed, for they are
+worthless." And he took out a knife and cut. "Oh!" cried the E string,
+in a short, pained tone. The boy cut. "Oh!" wailed the next, but the boy
+cut. "Oh!" said the third, mournfully; and he paused at the fourth. A
+sharp pain seized him; that fourth string, to which he never dared give
+a name, he did not cut. Now a feeling came over him that it was not the
+fault of the strings that he was unable to play, and just then he saw
+his mother walking slowly up the slope toward where he was lying, that
+she might take him home with her. A greater fright than ever overcame
+him; he held the fiddle by the severed strings, sprang to his feet, and
+shouted down to her,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"No, mother! I will not go home again until I can play what I have seen
+to-day."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><i>Contributed by An Oriental Traveller.</i></h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"A great, long devil of a Spahi in his red burnous."</p></div>
+
+<p><i>Daudet.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CHRISTMAS IN THE DESERT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed all too good to be true: the rest from labor, the swift flight
+across southern seas, the landing, amid strange, dark faces on a
+burnished shore, the slow, delicious journey through tamarisk groves and
+palm forests, and the halt in the Desert that came at last.</p>
+
+<p>I had been doing for the last twelve months what young artists and
+authors are constantly doing, to their own ruin and the justifiable
+ill-humor of critics, namely, working against the grain. A sweet,
+generous, and beautiful Patroness, seeing me on the high road to brain
+fever or hopeless mediocrity, stepped forward in time, and sent me to
+the Desert. If ever I achieve anything excellent, it will be owing to
+that lady, the Vittoria Colonna of her humble Michael Angelo. My little
+sister Mary came with me, and, when I tell you that she was a teacher in
+a school, you will easily understand what an intoxicating thing it was
+for her to see a new world every day, and have nothing to do from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+morning, till night. The poor child could hardly believe in an existence
+without Czerny's scales being played on three or four pianos at once,
+and a barrel organ and brass band in the street. "Oh, Tom!" she would
+say to me, a dozen times a day, "I've got C scale and 'Wait for the
+Wagon' on my brain, and can't get rid of them;" so that I verily believe
+to my beautiful Vittoria Colonna Mary's present well-being is due as
+much as my own.</p>
+
+<p>We halted at a little military station on the borders of the Great
+Sahara, about a week before Christmas-day. The weather was perfect, and
+not too warm. A delicious, mellow atmosphere enveloped palm, and plain,
+and mosque; the air, blown across thousands and thousands of acres of
+wild thyme and rosemary, refreshed us like wine: we seemed to have new
+souls and new bodies given us, and were as free from care as the
+swallows flying overhead. Travellers never came to Teschoun, as this
+little oasis is called; but we had placed ourselves under the guidance
+of an enterprising Frenchman, who transacted all sorts of business on
+the road between Mascara and Fig-gig, the last French post in the
+Desert. His name was Dominique, and I shall always look upon him as the
+most remarkable man I ever knew. He was as witty as Sydney Smith, as
+clever at expediences as Robinson Crusoe, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> shrewd a politician as
+Machiavelli, as apt at languages as Mezzofanti, and as brave as
+Garibaldi. Being a bachelor, Dominique was none the less ready to
+receive us, and, with the help of an old Corsican named Napoleon, made
+us very comfortable. When Dominique was carrying His Imperial Majesty's
+mails to some remote stations southward, or had gone to an Arab fair to
+buy cattle, Napoleon catered for us and cooked for us, and did both
+admirably. Both master and servant spiced their dishes plentifully with
+that mother-wit, never seen in such perfection as in crude colonies
+where people without it would fare so ill.</p>
+
+<p>"What are we to do for society for poor mademoiselle?" asked Dominique,
+as he served our first dinner. "Monsieur can amuse himself with the
+officers of the garrison, but there are no ladies here."</p>
+
+<p>"When my brother is out, I shall stay at home and talk to Napoleon,"
+Mary said, with a mock assumption of dignity. "I don't want to be
+amused, Monsieur Dominique."</p>
+
+<p>"Mon Dieu, mademoiselle! the officers of the garrison will fall in love
+with you, and that ought to amuse you better than talking to Napoleon,"
+Dominique answered. "It's a very dull life they lead here, these poor
+officers; and if it weren't for hunting gazelles and hyenas,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> and
+playing the deuce with the Arabs, they'd die of ennui; but a pretty
+young lady like you will turn their heads soon enough."</p>
+
+<p>Mary blushed, and tried to turn the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"What do they do with themselves all day long?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you that quickly enough, mademoiselle. M. le Commandant has
+to see that the Cadi gets what he can out of the Sheiks, and the Sheiks
+get what they can out of the tribes, and that the tribes hold their
+tongue. That is what the Commandant has to do, young lady, and he does
+it pretty well. M. le Capitaine has an easier time of it, except when
+there is an insurrection, and then he makes a raid against the Arabs,
+and after keeping his men out of their way very cleverly, sticks up the
+French flag somewhere in the Desert and comes home. M. le Lieutenant
+does odd jobs for the Commandant and the Capitaine, and plays the flute;
+but we have got M. le G&eacute;n&eacute;ral down here for a few days, and he is
+setting everybody to work. I dare say the end of it will be an
+expedition into the Desert. You may look, monsieur. I'm not talking at
+random, I assure you; generals love war as umbrella-makers love bad
+weather; and it is easier to make people fight than it is to make it
+rain."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I think French officers must be a wicked set; I hope none of them will
+come near us," Mary said. "The poor Arabs! how my heart bleeds for
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"Tiens! mademoiselle, there is no reason for your heart to bleed. Big
+flies live on little ones all the world over; and if the French eat up
+the Arabs, the Arabs eat up each other. The officers are very nice,
+harmless gentlemen, I assure you; and as to the Commandant, though he
+thinks fighting the best fun in the world, he wouldn't hurt a fly. To
+see him pet his little gazelle would make you cry. She's the only lady
+in the place, and I believe, if she died, it would break his heart. But
+people must have something to be fond of. My old Napoleon, yonder, has
+taken a fancy to a cat, and when the cat dies, Napoleon will be as lost
+as his namesake the Emperor was at St. Helena. Listen a moment; that's
+the Lieutenant practising on his flute: he has a little lodging next
+door."</p>
+
+<p>The Lieutenant played very prettily, and Mary seemed to like his playing
+much better than Dominique's stories. As her room adjoined the
+Lieutenant's, she seemed likely to have the full benefit of his musical
+capacities; but I do not think she lay awake to be serenaded that night.
+We were fairly intoxicated with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> sweet air of the Desert we had been
+breathing all day, and went to bed at eight o'clock, too tired and happy
+to dream.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning Dominique informed us that he had himself delivered our
+letter of introduction to M. le Commandant, who promised to wait upon us
+in the course of the day. Not knowing at what hour we might expect him,
+we set to work immediately after breakfast to prepare my room for the
+reception of so distinguished a visitor. I helped Mary as well as I was
+able, and, when nothing remained to do but the dusting, retired into a
+recess to trim my beard.</p>
+
+<p>An Englishwoman is never so well dressed as when she emerges from her
+bedroom at early morning; and I must say that Mary looked the daintiest
+little housewife possible to conceive as she went about dusting and
+polishing in a pink cambric dress and tiny black apron. But, neat as she
+was, and neat as my beard and the room were in a fair way of becoming,
+we were overwhelmed with surprise and confusion at what followed, for
+quite suddenly the door was thrown open; there was a military tramp and
+a rattling of a sword outside, and Dominique exclaimed, in a voice of
+thunder, "M. le Commandant!"</p>
+
+<p>Impassible self-possession is a beautiful quality,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> and while Mary and I
+stood blushing and aghast, like school children caught at stealing
+cherries, M. le Commandant had made a courteous speech, welcoming us to
+Teschoun. Then we all sat down, and M. le Commandant talked to us. He
+was a sunburnt, soldierly man about fifty-five, with a rough manner but
+a kind smile, and we felt at home with him in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"I presume that monsieur wishes to see as much of the country as
+possible," he said; "and I shall be enchanted to place at monsieur's
+disposal horses, and my servant and a spahi as guides. But what will
+mademoiselle do while her brother is away? I must send her my little
+gazelle to play with her."</p>
+
+<p>"My sister will like to go with me where it is practicable," I said.</p>
+
+<p>The Commandant opened his eyes, and looked at Mary much as one looks
+upon a pretty little duckling or a year-old baby.</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur is evidently jesting," he answered. "Mademoiselle would be too
+fatigued to undertake such journeys."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so," Mary said. "I have no fear, monsieur, and I like to
+be with my brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, what courage you English ladies have! Well, mademoiselle, we will
+find you a quiet horse, and make everything as pleasant as pos<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>sible."
+And after inviting us to dine with him one evening, and bidding us to
+make use of him in every possible way, he took leave of us.</p>
+
+<p>"How nice he is!" cried Mary, as soon as the door was closed; "if all
+French officers were like this one, Tom, I think we shall not care how
+long we stay in the Desert&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Your heart has very quickly ceased to bleed for the poor Arabs, I see."</p>
+
+<p>"But how can we be sure that Dominique's stories are all true? No, Tom;
+I won't believe any harm of this kind-looking Commandant. I only wish he
+had not come till the room was tidied and I had got on a muslin frock,
+but, as we are sure of having no more visitors, I'll finish your room
+and then unpack."</p>
+
+<p>We were fairly at our work again, when another military step sounded,
+and another sword rattled in the passage outside. This time Dominique's
+arm swung back the door with less pomposity, and Dominique's voice was a
+trifle less emphatic as he ushered in "M. le Capitaine."</p>
+
+<p>Again Mary and I scuttled about like young rabbits, and then stood
+still, staring shyly, and again our embarrassment was met by the calmest
+nonchalance. The second figure was a man of much more presence than the
+Commandant. He had the polished, graceful ease of a man of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> the world,
+and, though quite as good-natured as the Commandant, his good-nature
+pleased us less, because it was less spontaneous.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will stay some time at Teschoun," he said, looking at Mary.
+"The ennui of our lives here is terrible. Think of it, mademoiselle; we
+have no theatre, no music, no society, and no domestic life. To find a
+lady here is like the miraculous advent of an angel." Mary blushed, and
+had no courage to make the sprightly answers she had made the
+Commandant.</p>
+
+<p>The fine air and grand compliments of the Capitaine overcame the little
+thing, but she looked distractingly pretty as she sat opposite to him,
+smiling and blushing when he addressed her, and only saying, "Oui,
+monsieur," or "Non, monsieur," or at most, "Vraiment, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Does mademoiselle ride?" asked the gallant Capitaine.</p>
+
+<p>"Oui, monsieur."</p>
+
+<p>"Then mademoiselle shall ride my little barb; there is hardly such a
+horse anywhere, mademoiselle, so docile, so sweet-tempered, and so
+sure-footed. It is not every lady I would trust with my little horse;
+but I know how an Englishwoman can sit in the saddle, and I am proud to
+offer it to mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Je vous remercie bien, monsieur."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then the Capitaine talked of Christmas-day.</p>
+
+<p>"We will have a little f&ecirc;te-champ&ecirc;tre in mademoiselle's honor," he said;
+"we will go to the great water-falls of Boisel-Kebir and breakfast there.
+I will invite my Commandant and all the officers of the garrison.
+Monsieur can make a sketch and mademoiselle can gather flowers."</p>
+
+<p>We expressed ourselves delighted at the proposal, and, after promising
+to send Mary ostrich eggs and jackal skins to take to England, the
+Capitaine left us.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like the Capitaine as well as the Commandant," Mary said; "but
+how kind they all are to us! It is as if we were princes on a journey of
+triumph. Oh, Tom! what days to remember are these!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think your head will be fairly turned, what with the Commandant's
+dinners and the Capitaine's f&ecirc;tes-champ&ecirc;tres," I said; "and if the
+Lieutenant&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"M. le Lieutenant!" announced Dominique, opening the door calmly, as if
+nothing was the matter.</p>
+
+<p>We had been twice so shocked and surprised that we had no more
+embarrassment to expend on the Lieutenant. Indeed, he was rather shy
+himself, which was the very thing to reassure a warm-hearted,
+sympathetic little creature like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> my sister, and they began to talk
+together without any effort.</p>
+
+<p>He was young and handsome, with a very frank, pleasant expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid that it is useless for me to offer my poor services," he
+said, very modestly, "my superior officers having forestalled me; but it
+will make me very happy to do anything for you. If mademoiselle would
+like any stuffed birds, or dried flowers and plants, it will give me
+pleasure to procure them for her; and perhaps monsieur would like me to
+show him some wonderful things to paint. I draw a little myself, and
+know where the finest points of view are to be found."</p>
+
+<p>We thanked him heartily, and accepted all that he offered us. As it was
+now time for our second breakfast, or, more properly speaking, lunch, we
+pressed him to partake of it with us, which he did. We should not have
+ventured upon inviting the Commandant, much less the Capitaine, so
+unceremoniously, but the Lieutenant's diffident manner had set us quite
+at our ease.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a very humble apartment," he said; "but if monsieur and
+mademoiselle will visit me, I will do the honors of it with pride and
+pleasure. I can at least offer them a little music."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know that you play," Mary said, smiling; "our rooms join, and I
+heard you playing before I went to sleep last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mademoiselle! I shall never forgive myself if I disturbed you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed, you did not, monsieur. Much as I liked the music, I was too
+tired to listen to it, and went to sleep all the same."</p>
+
+<p>Then they both laughed gleefully, like children, and the Lieutenant
+promised to play to her and send her to sleep every night.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast he accompanied us on a tour of inspection. We soon saw
+all that there was to see of Teschoun, namely, a little line of bazaars
+kept by Jews and negroes, a little boulevard of a year's growth, two
+imposing-looking gates,&mdash;one looking towards Morocco, one towards the
+Sahara,&mdash;a straggling camp, and a wall of circumvallation. There were
+gardens in embryo here and there, but no trees of any size, and not till
+you had got fairly away from Teschoun could you perceive that its aspect
+was striking or imposing. Then, looking back from the craggy heights
+that surrounded it, the white line of the camp and the belt of verdure
+encircling it like a ribbon, struck the eye as a pleasant contrast to
+the warm, yellow atmosphere of earth and sky. The warmth and the
+yellowness were delicious. A fresh, sweet breeze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> blew across our faces
+from the Desert. We sat down and drew it in with long, devouring
+breaths.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred yards behind us, his bright-brown body sharply outlined
+against the pale, amber-colored sky, stood a little Bedouin smiling down
+upon us. It was a perfect personification of Eastern life, and I made a
+sketch, while the Lieutenant told Mary of his hard campaign southward,
+and his joy at catching the first glimpse of Teschoun from the distance.</p>
+
+<p>When we returned home we found that the Commandant's servant had left a
+bunch of roses for Mary, with his master's compliments; that the
+Capitaine's servant had been sent round with his master's horse for her
+to try, and that the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral had sent word by his aide-de-camp that he
+would himself have the pleasure of calling upon us that evening.</p>
+
+<p>Mary and I felt utterly overwhelmed by such goodness and condescension.
+A real starred, laced G&eacute;n&eacute;ral was about to call on us! We could hardly
+believe that we were our identical, insignificant selves, who, but for
+you, oh! most sweet and honored Patroness, would have sunk under the
+burden of toil imposed upon us. But how all was changed! The poor,
+unknown artist was treated as if he had been Sir Peter Paul Rubens; the
+humble little school<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> teacher was f&ecirc;ted and flattered like the wife of a
+conquering commander-in-chief.</p>
+
+<p>We had invited the young Lieutenant to drink tea with us at eight
+o'clock, and were enjoying a little music after a very sociable fashion,
+when a noisy excitement seemed to shake the house like a shock of an
+earthquake, and M. le G&eacute;n&eacute;ral was announced in Dominique's most
+impressive manner.</p>
+
+<p>M. le G&eacute;n&eacute;ral was by no means an awful-looking person; and, indeed, we
+had so expended our surprise already, that we had no more at command.</p>
+
+<p>He was an excessively stout, merry person, middle-aged, of a beautiful
+complexion, and a capacity to wink that would have vulgarized any one
+else but a general. He made himself very pleasant, accepted a cup of
+tea, praised Mary's French, said that he intended to dine with us at the
+Commandant's to-morrow, and told us some laughable stories about the
+Arabs. I noticed that the Lieutenant seemed quite overawed by the
+presence of the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, and sat flute in hand, like a statue. Mary
+tried to put him at his ease, but to no purpose. It did not mend matters
+when the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral began first to twit him about his musical
+accomplishments, and then to catechise him on military matters.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p><p>"You were in that affair of '59, in Kabylia, weren't you?" he asked,
+in that quick, positive, military tone to which we with difficulty get
+accustomed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 316px;">
+<img src="images/img-04.jpg" width="316" height="400"
+alt="My Little Sister Mary" title="My Little Sister Mary" />
+<span class="caption">My Little Sister Mary</span>
+<br /></div>
+
+<p>"Oui, mon G&eacute;n&eacute;ral."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a badly managed thing, I believe. The Kabyles got the better of
+you more than once, didn't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so, mon G&eacute;n&eacute;ral."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" cried the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, turning to me. "You see what these young
+officers know of their trade. I have no doubt that Monsieur le
+Lieutenant's musical education is much more advanced, and to serenade
+mademoiselle suits him much better than to make war against the enemies
+of his country."</p>
+
+<p>And, at the mention of the enemies of his country, the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral indulged
+in a wink. When he was ready to go, he sent the Lieutenant to order his
+horse, much as if he had been a little boy of ten years old; and on
+taking leave added half a dozen commissions in the same peremptory tone.
+The poor Lieutenant listened very submissively, but no sooner had the
+G&eacute;n&eacute;ral dashed down the street, followed by his servant, equally well
+mounted, than he grew gay and easy again.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as we were alone, Mary brought out her slender supply of gala
+dresses, and we dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>cussed the important subject of her toilet of the
+next evening.</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me," I said, "that if you dress for the Lieutenant, you
+will displease the Capitaine; if you dress for the Capitaine, you will
+displease the Commandant; and if you dress for the Commandant, you will
+displease the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral."</p>
+
+<p>Mary gathered up her fineries in alarm. "Don't you think I had better
+stay away from the dinner altogether, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"By no means," I said; "settle the matter by dressing to please me."</p>
+
+<p>Which she accordingly did, and the result was a semi-moresque, dainty,
+and glowing bit of costume quite in keeping with the time and place.<br /><br /></p>
+
+
+<p>II.</p>
+
+<p>Precisely at seven o'clock we presented ourselves at the Commandant's,
+Mary looking very pretty in her transparent white dress, brilliant sack
+of Tunis silk, and necklets and bracelets of coral and palm-seeds. The
+little thing had such loving, dark eyes, such a soft bloom on her
+cheeks, and such a sweet mouth, that I could hardly blame the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral
+for wishing to have her sit beside him at dinner. The Commandant, being
+a little shy, would have given up all his privileges as host, but the
+G&eacute;n&eacute;ral insisted upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> the Commandant leading her in, and she sat
+between the two. It was very mortifying for the Capitaine and the
+Lieutenant; the former made an effort to be complimentary and
+entertaining across the table, but the latter looked quite crestfallen,
+and hardly raised his eyes from his plate. When we retired to the
+drawing-room, matters went a little better. The tame gazelle was brought
+in for Mademoiselle Marie to see; and while the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral and the
+Commandant had a long discussion on military affairs, the rest of us
+sported with the pretty creature and made pleasant plans for the morrow.
+Then an amusing game of cards was set on foot, over which we were
+growing very merry, when up came the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral and the Commandant.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh, bien!" said the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, slyly nudging the Capitaine. "We have not
+been so engrossed, but we heard one or two pleasant things talked of.
+Upon my word, Capitaine, I am half disposed not to go to Mascara till
+after your picnic to the water-falls."</p>
+
+<p>"You will do my poor little f&ecirc;te great honor, mon G&eacute;n&eacute;ral," answered the
+Capitaine, adding, na&iuml;vely, "but I think that the wild geese flying
+northwards means rain."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it. We shall have no rain until a fortnight after
+Christmas. Mademoi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>selle Marie, I shall do myself the honor of offering
+you one of my horses to ride."</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle has already condescended to accept mine," the Capitaine
+put in, with stiffness.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle Marie, this gentleman has no horse fit to carry a lady.
+The brute he offers you has no more mouth than an elephant. Keep on the
+safe side and ride mine, which is a lamb, I assure you, mademoiselle,&mdash;a
+lamb."</p>
+
+<p>The G&eacute;n&eacute;ral spoke in jest, but the Capitaine was very near losing his
+temper. Mary being thus appealed to, thought to extricate herself from
+the difficulty by declaring herself half afraid to ride either horse,
+being an inexperienced horsewoman. But both the gentlemen had mules, and
+both the gentlemen's mules were the best. Poor Mary colored, and looked
+at me in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," I said, "the safest plan will be for my sister to try the
+horses, and see which suits her the best."</p>
+
+<p>Then the different routes to the water-falls were discussed, and the
+different Douars or Arab villages where it would be best to have a
+Diffa, or feast, provided,&mdash;Mary's judgment being asked in every
+instance. All this time the Lieutenant had turned over the leaves of a
+newspaper very meekly, and the Commandant had caressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> his tame
+gazelle. As soon as she could politely free herself, Mary went up to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"How pretty, and playful, and fond it is!" she said, stooping down to
+stroke the little creature. The grave face of the Commandant brightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; it would be very <i>triste</i> here without the little thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you never go to France, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"I shall perhaps go in two years' time; but you see, mademoiselle, that
+is a long time to look forward to; and if my mother should not be
+living, I might as well stay here."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you like fighting the Arabs in the Desert, then, monsieur?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle, when one takes up the profession of arms, fighting and
+exile are <i>choses entendues</i>. I often sigh for a settled, domestic life;
+but I might have been worse off. I might have gone to Mexico, for
+instance."</p>
+
+<p>The Commandant's manner was so simple, so manly, and so tinged with
+sadness, that I think any woman would have sympathized with him as much
+as my little sister Mary did. She, poor child, having lived all her life
+in a school-room, was quite ready to make a hero of any man that smiled
+kindly upon her; and here were four heroes, in handsome uniforms, all
+smiling upon her at once! There was the sweet sense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> of youth drawing
+her to the Lieutenant; but I think the Commandant stood next in her
+favor, and she could not for a moment forget the courteous kindness of
+the other two.</p>
+
+<p>"It must all be a dream, Tom," she said, as she gave me her good-night
+kiss; "but, oh! if it is a dream, don't let me wake yet."</p>
+
+<p>We dreamed some wonderful things in the next few days. Dominique made us
+get up, one morning, very early, and drove us in his little wooden gig
+to an Arab encampment miles away in the Desert. It was dawn when we
+started, and large, pale stars were shining in a violet sky; then, like
+a gorgeous butterfly emerging from a dusky chrysalis, came the Eastern
+day, and we felt as if living in a world warmed by a hundred suns. The
+warm, intoxicating light took possession of our senses, and so sweet, so
+rarefied, so indescribably delicious was the air, that it seemed to give
+wings to our dull bodies. Every now and then we were overtaken by clouds
+of locusts, their little wings glistening like diamonds against the soft
+sky, or flocks of starlings darkened the air, or a serried line of wild
+geese passed majestically overhead. Then we came to the tents, and at
+our approach a dozen dogs rushed out to snap and snarl, and a hundred
+little naked children scampered and scuttled across the way. A stately
+Bedouin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> made us welcome, and, while Dominique transacted business with
+him, his women gathered around us, chattering and grinning like
+children. Then we were feasted upon cous-cous-sou and figs, and took
+leave, after many "salamaleks."</p>
+
+<p>Another day we went out hunting gazelles, bivouacking along a riverside,
+and feasting, Arab fashion, off a sheep roasted whole. Dominique had
+found a pretty little French girl, daughter of a travelling farrier, to
+act as Mary's handmaid; and she now felt less isolated among so many
+men, and less shy, too. The poor child stood a fair chance of being
+spoiled, what with suddenly finding herself transformed from a
+school-room Cinderella to a fairy-tale princess, and having four lovers,
+all heroes, at once. For it was impossible to deny that the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, the
+Commandant, the Capitaine, and the Lieutenant all behaved like lovers,
+presenting her with jackal skins, ostrich plumes and eggs, rare birds,
+and other treasures of the Sahara. The G&eacute;n&eacute;ral went so far as to give
+her a little negro boy about ten years old, though this gift we had
+accepted only temporarily, not quite knowing what to do with him when we
+left Teschoun.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas-day came at last. Mary had artfully evaded the delicate point
+about horses by declaring herself afraid of every one's beast but
+Dominique's; accordingly, mounted on Domi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>nique's ugly hack, she led the
+way with the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, her long, bright hair flowing in curls over her
+shoulders, her cheeks glowing with excitement. The pleasure and
+picturesqueness of the last few days&mdash;for Mary had an artistic
+perception of beauty&mdash;had brought out a new side to her character; and
+she quite surprised me, from time to time, with her saucy humor and
+quick repartee.</p>
+
+<p>We made a brilliant cavalcade, what with the uniforms of the officers,
+and the richly embroidered saddles and bright-red burnouses of our
+attendant spahis. After riding some miles across a monotonous tract of
+stony desert, we came to a majestic sierra of crag, down which fell a
+dozen water-falls, narrow and bright as sword-blades. A thin little
+stream threaded the ravine, and on its banks grew clumps of the
+tamarisk, the oleander, and the thuya, making an oasis grateful to the
+eyes. Here we sat down and ate our Christmas breakfast, with stray
+thoughts of village bells chiming at home, and school children lustily
+singing their Christmas hymns.</p>
+
+<p>Our host, the Capitaine, had provided a sumptuous feast of Desert
+fare,&mdash;roast quails and plovers, cous-cous-sou, figs, dates, and
+bananas, with the addition of champagne; and we were very merry.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle," said the Capitaine, "think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> what our next Christmas will
+be if you are not here. Persuade monsieur, your brother, to purchase
+some land between Mascara and Teschoun, so that we shall not lose you
+altogether."</p>
+
+<p>The G&eacute;n&eacute;ral nudged the Commandant.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what our friend the Capitaine is dreaming of! Mon Capitaine,
+your escadron is sure to be sent into the interior this spring; put all
+romances out of your head, my dear fellow, and do not entice monsieur
+into the committal of follies."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not the only one to entertain romances," said the Capitaine,
+coolly. "You, mon G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, did us all the honor to spend Christmas at
+Teschoun. We can but attribute such a condescension to the gracious
+influence of mademoiselle."</p>
+
+<p>"Look well after the Commandant when I am gone, gentlemen," continued
+the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, looking round with a smile. "Matters are gone so far
+already that he loses his temper if a fellow-officer but jests with him.
+What a terrible slur it would be upon the glorious annals of
+French-African conquest, if such a brave officer should show himself
+fonder of stuffing birds for an English demoiselle than running swords
+through ungrateful Arabs!" and the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral looked round with a very
+comical expression of mock horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle has indiscriminately accepted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> our tokens of homage," the
+Commandant said, maliciously.</p>
+
+<p>"But it yet remains to be seen whose offering has been most acceptable
+to her," went on the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, adding, <i>au grand s&eacute;rieux</i>, "we won't
+resort to duels unless absolutely necessary."</p>
+
+<p>This sort of banter lasted so long that poor Mary's cheeks burned with
+mixed vanity and mortification, and she made an excuse to leave us.</p>
+
+<p>"And what does our Lieutenant advise monsieur to do?" asked the
+G&eacute;n&eacute;ral,&mdash;"to settle here, or to follow his escadron to the Desert?"
+Whereupon the poor Lieutenant colored, and said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>What an experience it was, that Christmas-day in the Desert! The noonday
+sun seemed to dissolve in the warm atmosphere, and, instead of a single
+orb shining overhead, large and golden, we had melted suns innumerable
+about us, and almost lost the sense of corporeity in their charmed
+medium.</p>
+
+<p>When the short bright day waned, and the large stars were coming out one
+by one, we found ourselves near home; and when the heavens had turned to
+bluish-black, and the stars to splendid silvery moons, we passed under
+the gate of Teschoun, and saw our shadows, darker and deeper than real
+things, fall across<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> the white walls of mosque and fortress. For shadow
+and substance lost their identity in the Desert and one is always on the
+point of mistaking the one for the other: if anything, shadow is the
+more real of the two.</p>
+
+<p>So absorbed was I in the suggestions of this mysterious beauty, that I
+had forgotten all about my sister's lovers till we were fairly in our
+little sitting-room. Then Mary began to sigh and blush, and to hint that
+she thought we had better leave Teschoun very soon.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Tom, dear," she said, with tears in her eyes, "the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral
+says he adores me, and the Commandant says he never loved any one in the
+world until he saw me, and the Capitaine says that if I go away he will
+blow his brains out, and what am I to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"And the Lieutenant,&mdash;what did he say?"</p>
+
+<p>"He says nothing," said Mary, looking down; "and,"&mdash;here came a
+sob,&mdash;"and I like him best of all!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, if he does not declare the same liking for you, we must leave him
+out of the question, and choose between the other three, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>"He does not speak because he is too modest: I'm sure he likes me," Mary
+added, still ready to cry.</p>
+
+<p>"His state of feeling does not help us much, unless expressed," I
+replied. "Meantime, what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> am I to say to the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral, the Commandant,
+and the Capitaine, if they ask to marry you?"</p>
+
+<p>The little thing plucked at the folds of her riding-skirt in the
+greatest perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"I like the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral and I like the Commandant, and I ought not to
+dislike the Capitaine; but I cannot marry one without offending the
+others; and, if I were to marry out here in the Desert, Tom, would you
+stay, too?"</p>
+
+<p>We had been living in such utter fairy-land lately, that I felt as if it
+were quite possible for me to marry some brown-skinned, soft-eyed
+Rebecca, and turn Mahometan. But, in any case, could I desire for my
+sister a happier fate than to marry one of these brave gentlemen, and
+live in the sunny South all the rest of her days? She would be rescued
+from a life of toil and friendlessness, and have another protector
+besides her Bohemian of a brother.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear child," I said, "it would be impossible for me to say that our
+lives should be spent together; but you may be quite sure that nothing
+would utterly divide them. The chief point is, of all your lovers, whom
+do you love?"</p>
+
+<p>To this question I could elicit no positive reply. Mary, in fact, was
+half in love with the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral and the Commandant, and wholly in love
+with the Lieutenant, and was quite incapable of deciding her own fate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You must not laugh at me," she said, simply, as we bade each other
+good-night; "it is so new to me to have lovers, and so delightful, that
+I wish I could go on forever being happy, and making them happy, without
+marrying either." Then she blushed and ran off to bed.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning we were taking our early coffee, when we heard the
+clatter of horses' feet, and, looking out, saw one of the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral's
+splendid, brown-skinned, red-cloaked spahis dashing into the town at a
+furious rate. He pulled up at Dominique's door, and, letting his little
+barb prance and rear at will, looked towards us, showing his white teeth
+and waving a letter in one hand.</p>
+
+<p>I left my breakfast and ran down to him. We exchanged "salamaleks," and
+then he put the letter in my hand, adding, in broken French, "Le
+G&eacute;n&eacute;ral,&mdash;envoyer cela,&mdash;va faire le guerre,&mdash;la-bas." Then he put spurs
+to his horse's flanks, and dashed away as fast as he had come.</p>
+
+<p>I broke the seal of the Général's letter, which ran as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Monsieur,</span>&mdash;This morning at daybreak I received telegraphic
+information that a serious rising has taken place among the tribes
+southward of Fig-gig, and I have resolved to march upon them
+without delay. Judge, monsieur,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> how more than sorry I am to be
+forced to quit the society of your charming sister and yourself
+without making my adieux; but a soldier's duty forces him from the
+consummation of his fondest desires, when such a consummation seems
+close at hand, and I go, if not with joy, at least without
+soldierly reluctance. I shall never forget, monsieur, this episode,
+an oasis in the desert of my military life; and, while wishing for
+mademoiselle and yourself all possible prosperity, I hope you will
+remember Teschoun and the poor exiled officers there, who will
+never think of you both without regret.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel it right, under the grave circumstances of the revolt, to
+advise your speedy return to Mascara, and will order a trusty
+escort to be in readiness for you when you shall require it.</p>
+
+<p>"Meantime, receive, monsieur, the expression of my utmost esteem.</p>
+
+
+<p style="text-align: right">"<span class="smcap">De Marion.</span>"<br /></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>We were both of us talking over the astounding contents of the G&eacute;n&eacute;ral's
+letter, when Napoleon came in, full of news. The insurgents numbered
+thousands, and there were skirmishing parties close to Teschoun.
+Teschoun would be most likely besieged, as it had been more than once,
+etc., etc. As the day wore on, the excitement increased. Little groups
+of French or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> Jewish shopkeepers collected together and talked gravely,
+Arabs walked about in stately fashion, smiling superciliously. In the
+French camp it was the old story on a lesser scale:</p>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" summary="poem">
+<tr>
+<td align='left'>
+"And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The mustering squadron, and the clattering car</span><br />
+Went pouring forward with impetuous speed."
+</td></tr></table></div>
+
+<p>And so great was the need for hurry that we doubted whether we should
+see either of our gallant hosts again. Late in the afternoon, however,
+the Capitaine paid us a formal, sentimental visit, and after him came
+the Commandant, who stood up before us, square and stiff, and stammered
+out a word or two with tears in his kind eyes. Mary held out her little
+hand; but he seemed overcome with shyness or sadness, or both, and
+rushed away without having taken it.</p>
+
+<p>Last of all, when we had quite given him up, came the poor Lieutenant:
+he had been busy on a hundred errands for his superior officers, and had
+only five minutes to spare. We can never do anything with a few last
+moments, and Mary and the Lieutenant had not a word to say to each
+other, though I could see well enough what both would fain have said.</p>
+
+<p>So I quietly left them under the pretext of fetching a cigar, and when I
+returned, at the close of the fifth minute, all that was necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> had
+been said. We then embraced each other after the hearty French fashion.
+Mary and the Lieutenant exchanged rings, and he went off to fight the
+disaffected Arabs as happy as a king!</p>
+
+<p>It was a fine sight to see the troops march out of Teschoun. Color is
+really color in the South, and the lines of blue zouaves and crimson
+spahis against the mellow afternoon sky were vivid and picturesque
+beyond description.</p>
+
+<p>On they went, arms flashing, drums beating, colors flying, till the last
+column had turned the hill, and then evening came on all at once, and we
+felt a dreary sense of disenchantment creeping over us. It was as if we
+had been dreaming during the last few weeks, and now we were waked,
+indeed! Dominique recalled us to ourselves with a cynical smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" he cries, "it's all play; let 'em pretend to put down
+insurrection as often as they please. It is good for trade and
+promotion, and the Arabs know how to defend themselves."</p>
+
+<p>But events falsified this sarcasm of Monsieur Dominique's, for the
+insurrection proved serious, and it was months before we heard of our
+Lieutenant. When we did hear, the news was good; and the news of him and
+of his English wife&mdash;dowered by our Vittoria Colonna&mdash;has been good ever
+since.</p>
+
+
+<p>
+END OF BOOK I.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I
+       Christmas Tales from 'Round the World
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Harrison S. Morris
+
+Release Date: June 29, 2006 [EBook #18720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE YULE-LOG GLOW, BOOK I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Paul Ereaut, Jason Isbell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcribers note: Several original spelling, punctuation and
+hyphenation inconsistencies have been rationalised.]
+
+[Illustration: The Yule-log glow]
+
+IN THE
+YULE-LOG GLOW
+
+CHRISTMAS TALES FROM
+'ROUND THE WORLD
+
+
+"Sic as folk tell ower at a winter ingle"
+_Scott_
+
+
+EDITED BY
+HARRISON S. MORRIS
+
+
+THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.
+
+Book I.
+
+
+PHILADELPHIA
+
+J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
+
+1900.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1891, by J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia.
+
+
+
+
+THE THRESHOLD.
+
+
+If, gentle reader, you will step across this threshold, now, as the moon
+rises in the keen Christmas air, and will find a place by the ruddy
+ingle within-doors, you may hear, if you will, a Babel of voices from
+many lands, telling over the adventures of the road and falling into the
+good-fellowship of the happy Christmas season.
+
+Here from the north, with his ample furs thrown back, sits the Russian
+in friendly talk with a gay little wanderer from Sicilian valleys.
+There, with elbow crooked by a foaming tankard, leans the German,
+narrating his perils and pleasures to a gallant Frenchman and a
+sunbrowned Spaniard who smoke and chatter together as now and then
+Mynheer stops for a pull at his pipe.
+
+A Swede, Norwegians, an Englishman or two, and even a happy-go-lucky
+American, are clustered about the Yule-log; for the place you have
+entered is the common-room of the wide world.
+
+As you slip the latch and take your seat, some traveller calls out: A
+Merry Christmas! Another cries: A story, a story! and so they fall to,
+each from his own scrip taking forth a native tale,--and so they sit the
+midnight out listening and talking in turn; while the good cheer goes
+round in endless abundance and laughter and song make interludes for the
+varied narratives.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF BOOK I.
+
+
+
+
+The Three Kings of Cologne
+
+_A modern version of an old English Chronicle._
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+The Three Christmas Masses
+
+_From the French of Alphonse Daudet._
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+A Russian Christmas Party[A]
+
+_By Count Leon Tolstoi._
+
+
+Two Christmases
+
+_From the German of Georg Schuster._
+
+
+A Tale of a Turkey
+
+_By Harrison S. Morris._
+
+
+A Still Christmas[B]
+
+_By Agnes Repplier._
+
+
+Thrond
+
+_From the Norwegian of Bjoernson._
+
+
+Christmas in the Desert
+
+_By Matilda Betham Edwards._
+
+
+
+[A] By courtesy of Messrs. W. S. Gottsberger & Co.
+
+[B] By courtesy of "The Catholic World."
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS, BOOK I.
+
+
+The Yule-log Glow      Frontispiece.
+
+Sonia
+
+The Cavalier From France
+
+My Little Sister Mary
+
+
+
+
+_A Tale Spoken by a Graybeard Out of the East._
+
+"Gracious powers! Perhaps you _are_ a hundred years old, now I think of
+it! You look more than a hundred. Yes, you may be a thousand years old
+for what I know."
+
+_Thackeray._
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE.
+
+A CHRISTMAS TALE FROM AN OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLE.
+
+(Written by John of Hildesheim in the Fourteenth Century.)
+
+Here followeth the manner and form of seeking and offering; and also of
+the burying and translations of the three Holy and Worshipful Kings of
+Cologne: Jaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.
+
+
+Now when the Children of Israel were gone out of Egypt and had won and
+made subject to them Jerusalem and all the land lying about, so that no
+man durst set against them in all that country for dread that they had
+of them; then was there a little hill called Vaws, which was also called
+the Hill of Victory, and on this hill the ward of them of Ind was
+ordained and kept by divers sentinels by night and by day against the
+Children of Israel, and afterward against the Romans; so that if any
+people at any time purposed with strong hand to enter into the country
+of the Kingdom of Ind, anon, sentinels of other hills about, through
+tokens, warned the keepers on the hill of Vaws. And by night they made a
+great fire and by day they made a great smoke, for that hill Vaws
+passeth the height of all other hills in all the East. Wherefore, when
+any such token was seen, then all manner of men made ready to defend
+themselves from the enemy that approached.
+
+Now in the time when Balaam prophesied of the Star that should betoken
+the coming of Christ, all the great lords and all the other people of
+Ind and in the East desired greatly to see the Star of which he spake,
+and gave gifts to the keepers of the hill of Vaws, and moreover hired
+them with great rewards, that, if it so were, they saw by day or by
+night, far or near, any light or any star in the air other than was seen
+beforetime, anon they should show and send them word. And thus was it
+that for so long a time the fame of this Star was borne through all the
+lands of the East; until, of the name of the hill of Vaws, arose up a
+worshipful and a great kindred in Ind, which is called the progeny of
+Vaws even unto this day; and there is not a more mighty kindred in all
+the kingdoms of the East; for this worshipful kindred came first from
+the King's blood that was named Melchior, that offered gold to our Lord,
+as ye shall hereafter learn.
+
+In the year of our Lord 1200, when the city of Acon, that in this
+country is called Akers, flourished and stood in virtue, joy, and
+prosperity, and was inhabited richly with worshipful princes, and
+lords, and divers orders of men of religion, and all manner of men of
+all nations and tongues, so that there was no city like unto it in
+nobility and might; then, because of its great name and of the marvels
+that were there, the greatest of birth that were of the progeny of Vaws
+came out of Ind unto Acon; and when they saw there all things more
+wonderful than in Ind; then, because of delight, they abode there and
+made a fair and strong castle for any king or lord. And they brought
+with them out of the East many rich and wonderful ornaments and jewels.
+And among all other jewels, they brought a diadem of gold arrayed with
+precious stones and pearls, and about its edge stood letters of
+Chaldaic, and a star made like after the Star that appeared to the Three
+Kings of the East when they sought God, with a sign of the cross,
+beside. And that diadem was Melchior's, the king of Nubia and of Araby,
+that offered gold to the Babe in the manger. And afterward the master of
+the Order of Templars received this same diadem of gold and many other
+precious jewels; but when that Order was destroyed the diadem and
+precious ornaments were lost, and have never been found unto this day.
+Wherefore there was great sorrow made in all the country for a long time
+after.
+
+But these same princes of Vaws brought with them out of Ind books
+written in Hebrew and Chaldaic, concerning the life and deeds of these
+three blessed Kings, which books were afterward translated into the
+French tongue: and so, from these books, and from hearsay, and sight,
+and also from sermons and homilies out of divers other works, the story
+here written hath been brought together into one book.
+
+And you shall understand that the old kindred of Vaws beareth always in
+its banner, unto this day, a star with a sign of the cross, made after
+the same manner as it appeared to the three blessed Kings.
+
+Now it so happened that after Balaam had prophesied of this Star, the
+more it was sought for the more its fame increased through the land of
+Ind and Chaldee, and all the people desired to see it.
+
+So they ordained twelve of the wisest and greatest clerks of astronomy
+that were in all that country about, and gave them great hire to keep
+watch upon this hill of Vaws for the Star that was prophesied of Balaam.
+And the cause that there were ordained twelve men was, that if one man
+died another should be put in his stead; and also that some should keep
+watch at one time and some another--nevertheless the people looked not
+only after the Star, but after the Man who was betokened by the Star,
+the which Man should be Lord of all folk.
+
+And they of Ind and Chaldee who came often into Jerusalem because of
+merchandise and also for disport--the which, for the most part, be
+learned in astronomy--said that in Ind were many stars in the firmament
+that might not be seen by night in Jerusalem; but, specially on this
+hill of Vaws in clear weather, were seen many and divers strange stars
+that at the foot of the hill were not seen. Yet this hill of Vaws hath
+no more breadth than a little chapel is made upon, the which the three
+worshipful kings did build of stone and timber. And there be about this
+hill many steps upon which men go up to the chapel on high, and also
+there grew many good trees and herbs and divers spices all about the
+hill--for else men might not well go upon this hill because it is so
+high and so narrow. There is also a pillar of stone made above this
+chapel, of wondrous height, and in the head of the pillar standeth a
+great star, well made of gilt, and which turneth with the wind as a
+vane: and through the light of the sun by day, and of the moon by night,
+this star gives light a great way about the country. And many other
+marvels are spoken of this hill of Vaws, the which were long to tell.
+
+Now when the time of grace was come, that God would have mercy on all
+mankind, in which time the Father of Heaven sent down his Son to take
+flesh and blood and to be born a man for salvation of all the world: in
+that time Octavianus, that was Emperor of Rome, sent out a commandment
+that all the people within his empire should be counted and taxed; and
+every man went forth from his dwelling-place into his native country.
+Then came Joseph up from Nazareth unto Bethlehem the city of David,
+because he was of the household and race of King David, and with him
+came Mary that was his wife, and also great with child.
+
+And you shall understand that Bethlehem was never of much reputation,
+neither a place of great quantity. It hath a good site and good ground,
+for there be many caves and dens under the earth thereabout; and it is
+distant from Jerusalem but two little miles; and it is but a castle, but
+is called a city because King David was born there. And in that town was
+sometime a house which belonged to Isai, the father of David, where
+David was born and anointed into the kingdom of Israel by Samuel the
+prophet. And in this same dwelling was the Son of Heaven born of Mary.
+
+And this same house was at the end of a street that was in that time
+called the Covered Street, because, to keep out the great heat and
+burning of the sun, this street was canopied above with black cloths
+and other things,--for such is the use in that country always. And here
+was wont to be great bargaining, or a fair once a week of old clothes;
+and specially of trees or timber, by the little house which stood before
+a den under the earth, made and shaped like a little cellar, where Isai
+and others that dwelt there after him put certain necessaries that
+belonged to the household, against the heat of the sun. It is also the
+manner in all that country that there be certain houses, the which be
+called there _alchan_, that we call hostelries, and in these houses be
+mules, horses, asses, and camels always ready, that, if so that any
+merchant or any man that travelled by the way, be it far or near, need
+any beast for himself, or for his merchandise, then he goeth to such a
+house and there he may hire a horse, or what beast that he will, for a
+certain price. And when he hath such a beast then he goeth from that
+city to another, where to abide and rest him for a time. Then he
+dischargeth his beast of his burden, and so sendeth him to a house
+called there also _alchan_; and the master of the house giveth his beast
+meat, and, when he may, he sendeth it home to the same place that it
+came from.
+
+And such a house was, before the birth of Christ, in the place where
+Christ was born; but, about the time of the Nativity, that house was all
+destroyed, insomuch that there was nothing left but broken walls on
+every side, and a little cave under earth, and a little unthrifty house
+before the cave: and there men sold bread on the same ground; for it is
+the usage in all that country that all the bread that is sold shall be
+brought unto a certain place.
+
+Now when Octavianus had sent out a commandment as it is aforesaid, then
+went Joseph and Mary riding on an ass, late in the eventide, toward the
+city of Bethlehem, and because they came so late, and all places were
+occupied with pilgrims and other men, and also because they came in poor
+array and went about the city, none would receive them, and specially,
+men say, because that Mary, a young woman, sitting upon an ass, heavy
+and sorry, and full weary of the way, was near to the time of bearing of
+her child. Then Joseph led his wife into this shed that none took keep
+of, down into the little dark house, and there our Lord, Jesus Christ,
+the same night was born of the Virgin, without any disease or sorrow of
+her body, for salvation of all mankind.
+
+And in that house, before the cave of old time, was left a manger of the
+length of a fathom, made in the wall; and to that same manger was an ox
+of a poor man tied, that none might harbor. And beside that ox Joseph
+tied his ass, and in that same manger Mary wrapped her blessed Son in
+cloths and laid Him on high before the ass and the ox,--for there was
+none other place.
+
+And shepherds were fast by in the same country keeping their sheep in
+the night, and an angel of Heaven came and stood beside them with a
+great light, wherefore they were in much dread. And the angel said to
+them, "Be not afraid, for I tell you a great joy that shall be to all
+people, for this day is born to us our Lord, Christ, in the city of
+David, and this shall be to you a token: Ye shall find a young child
+wrapped in cloths and put in a manger." And then suddenly there came a
+great multitude of angels of Heaven praising God, who said: "Joy be to
+God on high and peace in earth to men of good will."
+
+Now the place where the angel appeared to the shepherds that night when
+Christ was born is but half a mile from Bethlehem, and in that same
+place David, when he was a child, fed sheep and kept them from the bear
+and the lion.
+
+Some books say that the shepherds in that country, twice in the year,
+are wont to keep their sheep in the night, and, therein, times be when
+the day and the night are both of one length. And you shall understand
+that the land about Bethlehem is all mountainous for the most part, so
+that in some places a man shall not well know winter from summer, and in
+some places it is right cold, and some it is both winter and summer at
+one time, and sometimes on the mountains, in parts of the East, men
+shall find snow in the month of August, and that snow is gathered by
+them that dwell about, and put in caves, and afterward it is borne to
+the market, where the great lords of the country will buy it, and take
+it to their houses, and set it in a basin upon their board to make their
+drink cold.
+
+In September and October, when the sun cometh a little low in that
+country, then seeds and all manner of herbs commonly begin to wax in the
+fields, as in this country herbs begin to grow in March and April; also
+in some parts of the East they reap corn in April and in March, but most
+in May, as in some places the ground is higher, in some places lower;
+but beside Bethlehem are many more places of good pasture and of flat
+ground than elsewhere: insomuch that at Christmas-tide barley beginneth
+to ear and to wax ripe; and then men send thither, from divers
+countries, their horses and mules, to make them fat: and that time we
+call among us Christmas, they call, in their language, the time of
+herbage. And forasmuch as when Christ was born, peace was in all the
+world, and betwixt Bethlehem and that place where the angel appeared to
+the shepherds was but half a mile and a little way more, and also there
+was no great cold thereabout, therefore the shepherds, all that winter
+night and day, now in one place, now in another, dwelled there with
+their sheep, and so they do yet to this day.
+
+Now when Christ was born of the Virgin Mary for salvation of all
+mankind, then His Star, that was prophesied of Balaam and long awaited
+and looked for by the twelve astronomers on the hill of Vaws, at that
+same night and at that same hour, began to arise in the manner of a sun,
+bright shining; and so after, in the form of an eagle, it ascended above
+the hill of Vaws. And all that day in highest air it abode without
+moving, insomuch that when the sun was most hot and most high there was
+no difference in shining betwixt them.
+
+But when the day of the Nativity was passed, the Star ascended up into
+the firmament, and it was nothing like to stars that be painted in
+divers places, for it had right many long streaks and beams, more
+burning and lighter than a brand of fire; and, as an eagle flying and
+beating the air with his wings, right so the streaks and beams of the
+Star stirred it about. And it had in itself the form and likeness of a
+young child, and above him a sign of the holy cross, and a voice was
+heard in the Star, saying: "This day is born to us the King of Jews that
+folk have awaited, and Lord is of them. Go and seek Him and do Him
+worship!"
+
+Then all the people, both man and woman, of all the country about, when
+they saw this wonderful and marvellous Star and also heard the voice out
+of the Star, were greatly aghast and had wonder thereof; but yet they
+knew well that it was the Star that was prophesied by Balaam, and long
+time was desired of all the people in that country.
+
+Now when the three worshipful Kings who in that time reigned in Ind,
+Chaldee, and Persia were informed, by the astronomers, of this Star,
+they were right glad that they had grace to see the Star in their days.
+Wherefore these three worshipful Kings, though each of them was far from
+the other, and none knew of the other's purpose, yet in the same hour
+the Star appeared to all three, and then they ordained and purposed
+them, with great and rich gifts and many rich and diverse ornaments that
+belong to a king's array, and also with mules and camels and horses
+charged with treasure, and with a great multitude of people, to go seek
+and worship the Lord and King of the Jews that was new born, as the
+voice of the Star had commanded. And furthermore they arrayed themselves
+the much more honestly and worshipfully, because they knew well that he
+was a worthier King than any of them was.
+
+And you shall understand that there be three Indias, of which these
+three lords were kings; and all the lands for the most part are islands,
+and there are also there great waters and wildernesses full of wild and
+perilous beasts and horrible serpents, and there grow also reeds so high
+and so great that men make thereof houses and ships. And these isles are
+divided every one by itself far from the others, so that only with great
+travail shall a man pass from one kingdom to another.
+
+Now, in the first Ind was the land of Nubia, and therein reigned King
+Melchior, in the time that Christ was born. Therein also is the land of
+Araby, in which is the hill Sinai: and a man may lightly sail by the Red
+Sea out of Egypt and Syria into Ind. In this land is found gold
+wonderfully red, like thin and small roots, and that gold is the best
+that is in the world. Herein is also a hill called Bena, where is found
+a precious stone, called smaragd.
+
+In the second Ind was the kingdom of Godolia, of which Balthazar was
+king when Christ was born; and this Balthazar offered incense to the
+Babe; for in this land many more good spices grow than in all the
+countries of the East, and especially incense, more than in all places
+of the world; and it droppeth down out of certain trees in the manner of
+gum.
+
+In the third Ind was the kingdom of Thaars. Of that kingdom was Jaspar
+king at the birth of Christ. And Jaspar offered myrrh to the young
+Child, and in this land is the isle of Egrisoulla, where groweth myrrh
+more plentifully than in any place of the world, and it waxeth like ears
+of corn that are burnt with the weather, and right thick; and when it is
+ripe it is so soft that it cleaveth to men's clothes as they go by the
+way.
+
+Now when these three worshipful Kings were passed forth out of their
+kingdoms, the Star evenly went before each King and his people, and when
+they stood still and rested the Star stood still, and when they went
+forward again the Star always went before them in virtue and strength,
+and gave light all the way. And, as it is written before, in the time
+that Christ was born there was peace in all the world, wherefore in all
+the cities and towns which they went through there was no gate shut
+neither by night nor by day; and all men of the cities and towns that
+these worthy Kings went through in the night were wonderfully aghast and
+passingly marvelled thereof, for they saw kings and vast multitudes go
+by in great haste; but they knew not what they were, nor whence they
+came, nor whither they should go. On the morrow the way was greatly
+befouled with horses' hoofs, whereof they were in much doubt what it
+might mean, and great altercation was among them for a long time.
+
+Furthermore, these Kings rode forth over hills, waters, valleys, plains,
+and other divers and perilous places without hindrance or disease, for
+all the way seemed to them plain and even, and they never took shelter
+by night nor by day; nor ever rested; nor did their horses or other
+beasts ever eat or drink till they had come to Bethlehem; and all this
+time seemed to them but a day.
+
+And thus, through the mercy of God and the leading of the Star, they
+came unto Jerusalem and Bethlehem the thirteenth day after Christ was
+born, at the uprising of the sun, whereof is no doubt: for they found
+Mary and her son in the same place where the Child was born, and laid in
+the manger.
+
+But when the three blessed Kings, with their host and company were
+almost come to Jerusalem, saving but two miles, then a great and dark
+cloud held all the earth, and in that dark cloud they lost the Star. And
+Melchior with his people was come fast by Jerusalem beside the hill of
+Calvary, where Christ was afterward crucified; and there the King abode
+in a cloud of fog and in darkness.
+
+At that time the hill of Calvary was a rock of twelve degrees high,
+where thieves and other men for divers trespasses were put to death; and
+there was beside this hill a place where three highways met together.
+But because of the darkness of the cloud, and also because they knew not
+the way, they abode there, and went no further at that time.
+
+And next came Balthazar, and he abode under the same cloud, beside the
+Mount of Olives in a little town that is called Galilee.
+
+Then, when the two Kings were come to these places, the cloud began to
+ascend and wax clear, yet the Star appeared not. But when they saw that
+they were near to the city of Jerusalem, knowing not each other, they
+took their way thither with all their folk; and when they came where the
+three ways met, then also appeared King Jaspar with all his host. And so
+these three glorious Kings, each with his host and burdens and beasts,
+met together in the highway beside the Hill of Calvary. And,
+notwithstanding that none of them ever before had seen the other, nor
+knew him, nor had heard of his coming, yet, at their meeting, each one
+with reverence and joy kissed the other. And they were of diverse
+language, yet all, seeming, used the same tongue.
+
+So, afterward, when they had spoken together and each had told his
+purpose and the cause of his journey, and the cause of all was learned
+to be the same, then they were much more glad and more fervent. And so
+they rode forth, and suddenly, at the uprising of the sun, they came
+into the city of Jerusalem. And when they knew that this was the city
+which the Chaldeans of old time had besieged and destroyed, they were
+right glad, expecting to have found the King born in that city. But
+Herod and all his people were greatly disturbed at their sudden coming,
+for their company and beasts of burden were of so great a number that
+the city might not receive them, but for the most part they lay without
+the gates all about, whereof Isaias prophesied: "The strength of folk
+cometh to thee--that is to say, to the City of Jerusalem--great plenty
+of camels shall do thee service, and dromedaries of Madyan and Effa
+shall come to thee. All men shall come from Saba, bringing gold and
+incense and showing praise to God."
+
+So, these three worshipful Kings, when they were come into the city,
+asked of the people concerning the Child that was born; and, when Herod
+heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, and he gathered
+together all his princes and priests and asked them where Christ should
+be born, and they said: "In Bethlehem of Judea." Then Herod privily
+summoned to him these three Kings, and learned of them the time that the
+Star appeared, and so sent them forth unto Bethlehem, saying: "Go and
+inquire busily of this Child, and when you have found Him, come and tell
+me, that I may go and do Him worship."
+
+Now when these three Kings were informed of the birth of Christ and of
+the place where He was born, and so were passed out of Jerusalem, then
+the Star appeared to them again as it did erst, and went before them
+till they came to Bethlehem. And fast by that place were the shepherds
+to whom the angel appeared with great light, showing them the birth of
+Christ. And the three Kings spake with them, and when the shepherds saw
+the Star they run together and told how the angel had appeared to them,
+and furthermore all that the angel had spoken to them. And the Kings
+were wondrous glad, and with good cheer heard and took consideration of
+the shepherds' words; and so from witness, and from the words of the
+shepherds and from the voice of the angel that was heard out of the
+Star, they had no doubt of the thing. Then anon, when they knew that
+they were come to Bethlehem, they got down from their horses and changed
+all their array, and clothed themselves in the best and richest that
+they had, as kings should be clothed--and always the Star went forth
+before them.
+
+Now the nearer the Kings came to the place where Christ was born the
+brighter shined the Star, and they entered Bethlehem the sixth hour of
+the day. And then they rode through the covered street till they came
+before that little house. And there the Star stood still, and then
+descended and shone with so great a light that the little house and the
+cave within were full of radiance, till anon the Star again went upward
+into the air, and stood still always above the same place, yet the light
+ever remained in the house where Christ and Mary were. So as it is said
+in the Gospel: "They went into the house and found the Child, and fell
+down and worshipped Him, and offered to Him gifts of gold, myrrh, and
+incense."
+
+Of this example came afterward a usage, that in all the countries of the
+East no man should go into the presence of the Sultan, but he brought
+gold or silver or somewhat else in his hands; and, also, ere he spoke
+to the Sultan he should kiss the ground, and this is a custom which is
+used in all the countries of the East to this day. But the Franciscan
+friars, when they approached the Sultan, offered to him only pears or
+apples, for they might not touch gold nor silver; and these offerings
+were received by the Sultan with all reverence and meekness.
+
+Now on the day that the three Kings sought Christ and worshipped Him, He
+was a little child of thirteen days old, and He was somewhat fat, and
+lay wrapped in poor clothes in the hay of the manger up to His arms. And
+Mary, His Mother, as it is written in divers books, was, in person,
+fleshy and somewhat brown. In the presence of the three Kings she was
+covered with a poor white mantle, which she held close before her with
+her left hand. Her head was concealed altogether, save her face, with a
+linen cloth; and she sat upon the manger and with her right hand held up
+the young Child's head. And the Kings worshipped Him and kissed His hand
+devoutly and laid their gifts beside His head.
+
+But what was done with these gifts, ye shall learn hereafter.
+
+Now Melchior, that offered gold to the Holy Child, was the least in
+stature and person of the three Kings. Balthazar, that offered incense,
+was of a medium stature; and Jaspar, that offered myrrh, was most in
+person; whereof is no doubt, for the prophet saith: "Before Him shall
+fall down Ethiops, and His enemies shall lick the earth. They shall come
+to Thee that betrayed Thee, and they shall worship the steps of Thy
+feet." And having regard to the stature of men of that time these Kings
+were right little of person, insomuch that all manner of people
+marvelled at them. And this showed well that they were come from far out
+of the East, for the nearer toward the uprising of the sun that men be
+born, the less they be of stature and be feebler and more tender.
+
+And you shall understand that these three Kings brought out of their
+lands many gifts and rich ornaments which King Alexander left in Ind, in
+Chaldee, and in Persia; and all the ornaments which Queen Saba found in
+Solomon's temple, and divers vessels that were of the king's house and
+the Temple of God in Jerusalem, which, in the time of its destruction,
+were borne into their countries by the Persians and Chaldeans, and many
+other jewels, both gold and silver, and precious stones, brought they
+with them to offer to Christ. But when they found our Lord laid on high
+in the manger and in poor cloths, and the Star that gave so great light
+in all the place, that it seemed as though they stood in a furnace of
+fire, then these Kings were so sore afraid that, of all the rich jewels
+and ornaments they brought with them, they chose nothing, when their
+treasury was opened, but what came first to their hands, for Melchior
+took a round apple of gold, as much as a man might hold in his hand, and
+thirty gilt pennies, and these he offered to our Lord. Balthazar took
+out of his treasury incense; and Jaspar took out myrrh, as it came
+first, and that he offered, with weeping and tears.
+
+And the Kings were so aghast and so devout and fervent in their
+oblations, that to all the words that Mary said they gave but little
+consideration, save only that to every King as he offered his gifts she
+bowed down her head meekly, and said, "_Deo gracias_:" that is to say,
+"I thank God."
+
+When these three Kings had thus performed their way and will, and done
+all things that they came for, then, as mankind asketh and would, they
+and all their men and beasts began to eat, and drink, and sleep, and
+betook them to rest and sport all that day in Bethlehem. For, as is said
+before, they had neither eaten nor drunk during thirteen days. And then
+they meekly told to all men in that city how wonderfully the Star had
+brought them thither from the furthest part of the world.
+
+Now, as the Evangelist saith: A command came to these Kings in their
+sleep that they should not return again to Herod, and so, by another
+way, they went home to their kingdoms. But the Star that went before
+them, appeared no more. And so these three Kings, that suddenly met
+together at the Mount of Calvary, rode home together with great joy and
+honor, and rested by the way as men should do.
+
+And they rode through the provinces that Holofernes of old time had
+traversed with all his hosts, and the people supposed that Holofernes
+had come again, for as they journeyed into any town they were meekly and
+worshipfully received, and evermore they told what they had seen, done,
+and heard, so that their name and praise were never after forgot. But
+the way that before had taken only thirteen days, through leading of the
+Star, they found now to take two years, which was ordained, that all men
+should know what difference is between God's working and man's.
+
+Now, when Herod and the scribes heard that the Kings were gone home
+again, and came not to him as he had bade them, then, of much envy and
+malice, he pursued them a great way; and always he found the people
+bless them, and praise them, and tell of their nobility. Wherefore
+Herod burnt and destroyed all the land that was under his power where
+the Kings had ridden, and especially Tharsis and Cilicia, for he charged
+them that they had suffered the three Kings privily to pass across the
+sea in their ships. And Herod's envy was great when he heard how
+marvellously the Kings had come out of their lands in thirteen days
+through leading of the Star, and how, afterward, they went home again,
+without the Star, through guides and interpreters,--yet no man could
+tell, for wonder, how night and day they passed by; and for this reason
+the paynims, who had no knowledge of Holy Writ, nor of the birth of
+Christ, called these three Kings _Magos_; that is to say, Wise Men of
+the East.
+
+Now, when the Kings were come with great travail to the Hill of Vaws,
+they made there, as is aforesaid, a fair chapel in worship of the Child
+they had sought. Also they made a covenant to meet together at the same
+place once in the year; and there they ordained their burial. Then all
+the princes and lords and worshipful knights of their kingdoms, hearing
+of the return of these three Kings, anon rode forth to them with great,
+solemnity and met them at the place aforesaid, and with meekness and
+humility received them. And when they heard how wonderfully God had
+wrought for their Kings, they held them in more reverence, love, and
+dread forever after.
+
+So, when the Kings had done what they would, they took leave of each
+other, and each one, with his people, rode home to his own land with
+great joy.
+
+And when they were come into their own realms, they preached to all the
+people what they had seen and done on their journey; and they made in
+their temples a star after the likeness of that which appeared to them,
+wherefore many paynims left their errors and worshipped the Holy Child.
+
+And thus these three worshipful Kings dwelt in their kingdoms in honest
+and devout conversation until the coming of St. Thomas, the apostle.
+
+Now, after the three Kings had gone forth from Bethlehem, there began to
+wax, all about, a great fame for Mary and her Child, and for the Kings
+of the East. Wherefore, Mary, in dread of persecution, fled out of the
+little house where Christ was born, and went to another dark cave and
+there abode; and divers men and women loved her and ministered to her
+all manner of necessaries. But when she went out of the little house,
+Mary forgot and left behind her her smock and the clothes in which
+Christ was wrapped, folded together and laid in the manger; and there
+they were, whole and fresh, in the same place to the time when St.
+Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, came thither, long after.
+
+Anon so great was grown Mary's fame that she durst not abide longer
+there for dread of Herod and the Jews, and an angel appeared to Joseph,
+saying: "Arise, and take the Child and His mother and flee into Egypt,
+and tarry there till I summon thee, for it is to come that Herod shall
+seek the Child to slay Him." Then Joseph arose and took the Child and
+His mother and went into Egypt in the night, and there he remained until
+Herod died. And Mary and her Son dwelt in Egypt seven years.
+
+And it is told that by the road which Mary journeyed thither and came
+back again, grew roses, which are called the Roses of Jericho, and they
+grow in no other place. The shepherds of that country, in following
+their sheep, gather these roses in their season, and sell them to
+pilgrims, and thus they be borne into divers lands. And the place where
+Mary dwelt is now a garden where groweth balm, and to every bush a
+Christian man, among the Sultan's prisoners, is assigned to protect it
+and keep it clean; for when a paynim keepeth them, anon the bushes wax
+dry and grow no more. And this balm hath many virtues the which were
+long to tell; but all men in the East believe truly that the place bears
+such a virtue of growing balm because Mary dwelt there seven years, and
+washed and bathed her Son in its wells of water.
+
+And as to the gifts which the three Kings gave to Christ: the thirty
+gilt pennies of Melchior were made of old by Thara, father of Abraham,
+and Abraham bare them with him when he went on pilgrimage out of the
+land of Chaldee into Ebron, which was then called Arabia, and there he
+bought with them a burial-place for himself, his wife, and his children,
+Isaac and Jacob. In exchange for the same thirty pieces Joseph was sold
+by his brethren to merchants of Egypt. Afterward, when Jacob died, they
+were sent to the land of Sheba to buy divers spices and ornaments for
+his sepulture, and so they were put into the king's treasury of that
+land. Then by process of time, in Solomon's reign, the Queen of Sheba
+offered these thirty gilt pennies, with many rich jewels, in the Temple
+at Jerusalem; but in the time of Roboam, King Solomon's son, when
+Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple despoiled, they were carried to
+the King of Arabia, and were put into his treasury with other spoils
+from the Temple.
+
+And Melchior offered these same thirty pieces to Christ, because they
+were of the finest gold, and the best that he had. But when Mary went
+into Egypt she lost all the gifts of the three Kings by the way, bound
+all in one cloth together. And it happened there was a shepherd who had
+so great an infirmity that no leech might heal him, and all that he had
+he paid to the leeches to be whole,--yet it might not be. But, on a
+time, as he went into the fields with his sheep, he found these thirty
+gilt pennies, with incense and myrrh, bound all in a cloth together, and
+he kept them privily to himself, until, hearing tell of a holy prophet
+that healed all men of their infirmities by a word, he came to Christ
+and prayed Him for grace and help; and, being healed, he offered the
+gold, and incense, and myrrh to Him with good devotion. And when Christ
+saw the thirty gilt pennies and precious herbs He knew them well, and
+bade the shepherd go into the Temple and offer them upon the altar.
+
+Now, when the priest saw such oblations laid upon the altar he marvelled
+much, and took all three things and put them in the common treasury. And
+afterward, when Judas Iscariot came into the Temple to make covenant
+with the Princes of the Law to betray his master, they gave him for his
+pay the same thirty pieces of gold, and for them Judas sold his Master.
+And after Christ was crucified, then Judas repented, and went to the
+Temple and cast down to the Princes of the Law the thirty pieces. And
+with fifteen of these gilt pennies the Jews bought a field of burial for
+pilgrims; and the other fifteen they gave to the knights who kept the
+sepulchre of Christ.
+
+And the reason these thirty gilt pennies were called silver in the
+Gospel, notwithstanding they were fine gold, is, that it is the common
+usage in that country so to call them, as men in this country call gold
+from beyond the sea scutys, motouns or florins; moreover in the East the
+same print is made in gold and silver and copper, and the print on the
+thirty pieces is this: on one side is a king's head crowned, and on the
+other are written letters in Chaldaic, which men now cannot read. And
+many marvels are told of these pieces of gold which were long to tell.
+
+Now when Our Lord was ascended into heaven, then he sent St. Thomas, his
+apostle, into Ind, to preach there God's word. And as St. Thomas went
+about in the temples he found a star in every one, painted after the
+manner of the Star that appeared to the three Kings when Christ was
+born, in which Star was a sign of the Cross and a Child above. And when
+St. Thomas saw this he asked of the bishops what it was, and they told
+him that such a Star of old time appeared on the Hill of Vaws in token
+of a Child that was born who should be king of the Jews, as was heard
+spoken out of the same Star.
+
+And when St. Thomas had preached and taught the people the understanding
+of this Star and of the Cross and the Child, then he went to the
+kingdoms of the three Kings, and he found them whole of body and of a
+great age. And St. Thomas christened these three Kings and all their
+people, and the Kings began anon to preach with the Apostle, and when
+they had converted the people to the law of Christ he ordained them to
+be Archbishops. And after this St. Thomas was slain, and in all that
+country where he was martyred both men and women have visages shaped
+like hounds, yet they be not hairy--and they are so unto this day.
+
+Now under the Hill of Vaws St. Thomas and these three Kings had made a
+rich city and called it Sewill, and this city is the best and richest
+city in all the country of Ind to this day; and therein is the
+habitation of Prester John that is called lord of Ind, and there
+dwelleth also the Patriarch of Ind who is called Thomas, in worship of
+St. Thomas and for an everlasting memorial. And when all things were
+disposed by these three Kings they went to the city of Sewill, and there
+they lived twelve years.
+
+And a little before the feast of Christ's nativity, when these years
+were drawn to an end, there appeared a wonderful star above this city
+and the Kings knew that their time was nigh when they should pass out of
+this world. Then of one assent they ordained a fair and large tomb for
+their burial in the church they had made in the city; and in the feast
+of Christmas they did, solemnly, God's service.
+
+And in the feast of the Circumcision, Melchior, King of Araby, laid him
+down before all his people and without any disease yielded up his
+spirit, in the year of his age one hundred and sixteen. Then in the
+feast of Epiphany, five days thereafter, Balthazar, King of Godolie and
+Saba, died in the year of his age one hundred and twelve. And then
+Jaspar the third king, the sixth day after was taken into everlasting
+joy, and they were all buried in the same tomb that they had ordained;
+and the Star that appeared over the city before their death, abode
+always till their bodies were translated unto Cologne, as they of Ind
+tell.
+
+Now after much time had passed, Queen Helen, the mother of the glorious
+Emperor Constantine, began to think greatly of the bodies of these
+three Kings, and she arrayed her with certain people and went into the
+land of Ind. And she had much praise among the people because of the
+finding of Mary's smock and the cloths that Christ was wound in in his
+childhood; and seeing that she was worshipped of all people, the
+Patriarch Thomas and Prester John, took counsel of other lords and
+princes and gave her the bodies of King Melchior and King Balthazar. But
+the Nestorines had borne the body of the third king, King Jaspar, into
+the isle of Egrisoulla. And these Nestorines were the worst heretics of
+the world. For the most part they were black Ethiops, who painted Christ
+and His Mother Mary and the three Kings in their churches all in black,
+and the Devil all white, in despite of all other Christian men. But
+because Queen Helen wished not that the three Kings should be parted,
+she made many prayers and gave great gifts to the chief lords of the
+isle of Egrisoulla, and thus anon did she get the body of King Jaspar.
+
+And you shall understand that after she had found the bodies of all
+these three Kings, Queen Helen put them into one chest and arrayed it
+with great riches, and she brought them unto Constantinople with joy and
+reverence, and laid them in a church that is called St. Sophia; and this
+church King Constantine did make--and he alone, with a little child,
+set up all the pillars of marble.
+
+Now after the death of this worshipful King Constantine and Queen Helen
+aforesaid, there began a new persecution of heresy against the Christian
+faith, and of death against them that would maintain the law of Christ.
+The Greeks forsook the Church and chose a Patriarch for themselves, whom
+they yet obey until this day.
+
+Now in this persecution the bodies and the relics of the three holy
+Kings were put at no reverence, but utterly set at naught. For the
+Saracens and Turks at this time won with strong battle the lands of
+Greece and Armenia, and destroyed a great part of these lands.
+
+Then came an Emperor of Rome who was called Mauricius, and through the
+help of them of Milan he recovered all these lands again, and, as is
+said among men in that country, through counsel of this Emperor the
+bodies of the three Kings were carried unto Milan, and they were there
+laid with all solemnity and worship in a fair church which is called
+after St. Eustorgio, because he had asked the bodies from the Emperor,
+and being granted them had sent them unto Milan.
+
+Then afterward by process of time, it happed that the city of Milan
+began to rebel against the Emperor, who was called Frederick I., and
+this Emperor sent to the Archbishop of Cologne, who was called Rainald,
+for help. Then this Archbishop, through help of divers lords of the land
+of Milan, took the city of Milan and destroyed a great part thereof. And
+the chief men of the city took the bodies of the three Kings and hid
+them privily in the earth.
+
+Now among all others there was in Milan a lord named Asso, and the
+Emperor hated him more than all the rest of its people. So it happed
+that in the destruction of the city the Archbishop won Asso's palace
+through strong hand, and lived therein a great while, for Asso was taken
+and put into prison.
+
+Then, anon, Asso sent privily by his keepers to the Archbishop of
+Cologne and prayed him that he would come and speak with him, and it was
+granted that Asso should go to the Archbishop. And when he was come to
+him, he prayed him that, if he would get him grace of the Emperor and
+his love and the restoration of his lordship, he would give him the
+bodies of the three Kings.
+
+When the Archbishop heard this, he went to the Emperor and prayed for
+Lord Asso, and got him grace and love. And when this was done, Asso
+brought, secretly, the three bodies of the Kings to the Archbishop of
+Cologne.
+
+Then the Archbishop sent the bodies forth, by private means, a great
+way out of the city of Milan, whereupon he went to the Emperor anew and
+prayed him that he would grant him these three bodies, and the Emperor
+did so with good will. Then the Archbishop openly, with great solemnity
+and procession, brought the three holy Kings unto Cologne, and there put
+them in the fair church of St. Peter, worshipfully; and all the people
+of the country, with all the reverence they might, received these holy
+relics; and there they are kept and beholden of all manner of nations
+unto this day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus endeth the translation of these Three Worshipful Kings: Melchior,
+Balthazar, and Jaspar.
+
+
+
+
+_A French Yeoman's Legend._
+
+     "He laughed fit to make the plates rattle, his little brown eyes
+     twinkling all the while."
+
+     _Erckmann-Chatrian._
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE CHRISTMAS MASSES.
+
+
+I.
+
+"Two truffled turkeys, Garrigou?"
+
+"Yes, reverend Father, two magnificent turkeys stuffed with truffles.
+There's no mistake, for I helped to stuff them myself. The flesh almost
+cracked as they roasted, it was so tight--so----"
+
+"Holy Virgin! and I, who love truffles as----Hurry; give me my
+surplice, Garrigou. And what else besides the turkeys; what else did you
+see in the kitchen?"
+
+"Oh! all sorts of good things. Since noon we've done nothing but pluck
+pheasants, pewits, wood-hens, and heath-cocks. Feathers are scattered
+thick. Then from the pond they've brought eels and golden carp and
+trout, and----"
+
+"What size are the trout, Garrigou?"
+
+"Oh, as big as that! reverend Father. Enormous!"
+
+"Heavens, I seem to see them! Have you put the wine in the flasks?"
+
+"Yes, reverend Father, I've put the wine in the flasks. But what's a
+mouthful or two as you go to midnight Mass! You should see the
+dining-hall in the chateau, full of decanters that sparkle with wine of
+every color. And the silver dishes, above all the ornamented ones; the
+flowers; the candlesticks! I never saw anything to equal it. Monsieur
+the Marquis has invited all the nobility of the neighborhood. You will
+be at least forty at table, without counting either the bailiff or the
+notary. Ah! it will make you very happy to be there, reverend Father.
+Why, only to smell the delicious turkeys--the odor of truffles pursues
+me even yet. Muh!"
+
+"Come, come, Garrigou, you must guard against the sin of greediness, and
+especially on the night of the Nativity. Quickly, now, light the candles
+and sound the first bell for Mass; midnight is very near, and we must
+not be late."
+
+This conversation was held on Christmas night, in the year of grace
+sixteen hundred and sixteen, between the reverend Dom Balaguere,
+formerly prior of Barnabites, now chaplain in the service of the Sires
+de Trinquelague, and his clerk Garrigou; or at least what he supposed
+was his clerk Garrigou, because you will learn that the devil had that
+night taken on the round face and wavering traits of the young
+sacristan, the better to tempt the reverend Father to commit the
+dreadful sin of gluttony. Now, while the supposed Garrigou (hum! hum!)
+rung, with all his might, the bells of the seignorial chapel, the
+reverend Father put on his chasuble in the little sacristy of the
+chateau; and, his mind already becoming troubled by the gastronomic
+descriptions he had heard, he repeated to himself:
+
+"Roasted turkeys; golden carp; trout as large as that!"
+
+Outside, the night wind blew, scattering the music of the bells, and one
+by one lights began to appear in the shadows about the flanks of Mont
+Ventoux, upon the summit of which rose the ancient towers of
+Trinquelague. These lights were carried by the farmers on their way to
+attend midnight Mass at the chateau. They climbed the paths in groups of
+five or six, the father leading, lantern in hand, the women enveloped in
+their big brown mantles, where their infants nestled for shelter. In
+spite of the hour and the cold all these honest people marched
+cheerfully on, sustained by the thought that when they came out from the
+Mass they would find, as they did each year, tables spread for them
+below in the kitchens. Now and again on the rough ascent, the coach of
+some seigneur, preceded by torch-bearing porters, reflected in its
+glasses the cold moonlight; or, maybe, a mule trotted along shaking his
+bells, and in the light of the lanterns covered with frost, the farmers
+recognized their bailiff and saluted him as he passed:
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, Master Arnoton."
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."
+
+The night was clear, the stars were polished with cold, the wind stung,
+and a fine sleet, which glistened on the clothes without wetting them,
+kept faithfully the tradition of Christmases white with snow. Raised
+there aloft, the chateau appeared like the goal of all things, with its
+enormous mass of towers and gables, the belfry of its chapel mounting
+into the blue-black sky, and a crowd of small lights that winked, went
+and came, twinkled at all the windows, and seemed, on the sombre
+background of the building, like sparks running through the cinders of
+burnt paper. Once past the drawbridge and the postern, it was necessary,
+in order to gain the chapel, to traverse the first courtyard, full of
+coaches, of valets, of sedan-chairs, and bright with the flare of
+torches and the fires of the kitchens. There was the click of the
+turnspits, the crash of stewpans, the noises of glass and silver
+preparing for the dinner. From below, a warm vapor, which smelt of
+roasting meat and the strong herbs of curious sauces, whispered to the
+farmers, to the chaplain, to the bailiff--to all the world:
+
+"What a revel we are going to have after Mass!"
+
+
+II.
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din! Midnight Mass is about to begin. In the
+chapel of the chateau, a miniature cathedral with arches intercrossed
+and a wainscot of oak mounting as high as the walls, all the hangings
+have been arranged, all the candles lit.
+
+And what a host of people! And what toilettes! First, seated in the
+sculptured stall which surrounds the choir, behold the Sire de
+Trinquelague in a suit of salmon-colored taffeta; and next to him all
+the invited nobles. Facing these, on a prie-dieu trimmed with velvet, is
+the old dowager Marquise in her robe of fire-colored brocade, and the
+young Dame de Trinquelague, surmounted by a huge head-dress of lace,
+made in the latest fashion of the French court. Further down, dressed in
+black, with vast pointed perukes and shaven faces, are the bailiff,
+Thomas Arnoton, and the notary, Master Ambroy, two grave objects among
+the flowing silks and figured damasks. Then come the fat majordomos,
+the pages, the grooms, the attendants; dame Barbe, all her keys
+suspended at her side on a ring of thin silver. At the bottom of the
+hall, on the benches, are the Servants, the yeomen with their families;
+and lastly, beyond, all about the doors as they open and shut
+discretely, are the scullions, who steal in, between two sauces, to get
+a little of the Mass, carrying an odor of the revelry into the church,
+all in its gay attire and warm with so many burning candles.
+
+Is it a glimpse of their little white caps that distracts the celebrant
+of the Mass? Or, it may be the clangor made by Garrigou's bells, that
+pulsating sound which shakes the altar with an infernal vibration and
+seems to say all the time:
+
+"Hurry up, hurry up. We'll soon be done; we'll soon be at table!"
+
+The fact is, that each time it sounds--that peal of the devil--the
+chaplain forgets his Mass and thinks of nothing but the coming revel. He
+pictures to himself the uproar of the kitchens; the furnace heated like
+a blacksmith's forge; the vapor of opening trenchers, and in that vapor
+two magnificent turkeys, buttered, tender, bursting with truffles.
+
+Or, perhaps he saw pass the files of little pages bearing dishes
+enveloped in tempting steam, and, with them, entered the grand saloon
+already prepared for the feast. O deliciousness! behold the immense
+table all set and sparkling; the peacocks in their plumes; the pheasants
+with their open wings of reddish-brown; the ruby-colored flagons; the
+pyramids of fruit peeping from green branches; and those marvellous fish
+of which Garrigou told (ah! well, yes, Garrigou!) held aloft on a bed of
+fennel, the mother-of-pearl scales as bright as when they came from the
+water, with a bouquet of odorous herbs in their monster-like nostrils.
+So distinct is the vision of these marvels, that it seems to Dom
+Balaguere as if all the wonderful dishes are served before him on the
+embroideries of the altar-cloth; and two or three times, in place of
+_Dominus vobiscum_, he is surprised to find himself repeating the
+_Benedicite_. Saving these slight mistakes, the holy man does his office
+very conscientiously, without skipping a line, without omitting a
+genuflexion; and all goes well enough as far as the end of the first
+Mass; because, you know, on Christmas night the same celebrant must
+repeat three consecutive Masses.
+
+"One!" said the chaplain, with a sigh of relief; then, without losing a
+minute, he made a sign to his clerk--or the person he believed to be his
+clerk, and----
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din!
+
+The second Mass begins, and with it begins also the sin of Dom
+Balaguere.
+
+"Hurry, hurry, let's get done," cries the thin voice of Garrigou's bell,
+and this time the unlucky priest, abandoning himself to the demon of
+gluttony, rushes through the missal, devouring its pages with all the
+avidity of an overcharged appetite. Frantically he bows; arises; makes
+the signs of the cross, goes through the genuflexions, abbreviates all
+his gestures, the sooner to be finished. Scarcely does he extend his
+arms to the Gospel, or strike his breast where it is required. Between
+the clerk and him it is a race which shall jabber the faster. Verse and
+response hurry each other, tumble over each other. The words, hardly
+pronounced, because it takes too much time to open the mouth, become
+incomprehensible murmurs.
+
+  _Oremus ps--ps--ps--
+  Mea culpa--pa--pa--._
+
+Like hard-working vintagers pressing grapes in a vat, both wade through
+the Latin of the Mass, splashing it on all sides.
+
+"_Dom--scum!_" says Balaguere.
+
+"_Stutuo!_" responds Garrigou, and all the while the damnable chime
+sounds in their ears, like those little bells put on the post-horses to
+make them gallop more swiftly. Believe me, under such conditions a low
+Mass is vastly expedited!
+
+"Two!" said the chaplain, all out of breath; then without taking time to
+breathe, red, perspiring, he tumbled down the stairs of the altar.
+
+Drelindin din! Drelindin din! The third Mass begins.
+
+Only a step or so and then the dining-hall! but, alas, the nearer the
+revel approaches, the more the unfortunate Balaguere is seized with the
+very folly of impatience and greediness. His vision accentuates it; the
+golden carp, the roast turkeys are there. He may touch them--he may--Oh,
+Holy Virgin! the dishes steam; the wines send forth sweet odors; and
+shaking out its reckless song, the bell cries to him:
+
+"Hurry up, hurry up; still faster, still faster!"
+
+But how can he go any faster? He scarcely moves his lips, he pronounces
+fully not a single word. He tries to cheat the good God altogether of
+His Mass, and that is what brings his ruin. By temptation upon
+temptation, he begins to jump one verse, then two. Then the epistle is
+too long--he does not finish it; skims the Gospel, passes by the creed
+without even entering, skips the pater, salutes from afar the preface,
+and by bounds and jumps precipitates himself into eternal damnation,
+always following the infamous Garrigou (_vade retro, Satanas_), who
+seconds him with marvellous skill; tucks up his chasuble, turns the
+leaves two by two, disarranges the music-desk, reverses the flagons, and
+unceasingly rings the bell more and more vigorously, more and more
+quickly.
+
+You should have seen what a figure all the assistants cut. Obliged to
+follow, like mimics, a Mass of which they did not understand a word,
+some rose when others kneeled, or seated themselves when others stood,
+and all the actors in this singular office mixed themselves on the
+benches in numberless contrary attitudes.
+
+The star of Christmas, on its journey through the heavens yonder by the
+little manger, paled with astonishment at the confusion.
+
+"The Abbe's in a dreadful hurry: I can't follow him at all," said the
+aged dowager, shaking her head-dress with bewilderment. Master Arnoton,
+his great steel spectacles on his nose, searched in his prayer-book
+where the deuce the words could be. But, after all, that gallant host,
+which itself was thinking only of the feast, was far from being vexed
+because the Mass rode post; and when Balaguere, with beaming
+countenance, turned toward the assembly crying with all his might, _Ite
+missa est_, with a single voice they returned, _Deo gratias_, so
+joyously, so fervently, that one might have thought them already at
+table responding to the first toast of the night.
+
+
+III.
+
+Five minutes later the crowd of seigneurs was seated in the grand
+dining-hall, the chaplain in the midst of them. The chateau, illuminated
+from top to bottom, echoed with songs, cries, laughter, uproar, and the
+venerable Dom Balaguere planted his fork in the wing of a wood-hen,
+drowning the remorse of his sin under floods of wine of the Pope and the
+sweet juices of the meats.
+
+So much did he eat and drink, that the poor holy man died in the night
+of a terrible attack of sickness, without having even time to repent.
+Then near the morning he arrived in heaven with all the savor of the
+feast still about him and I leave you to imagine how he was received:
+
+"Retire from my sight, evil Christian!" said the Sovereign Judge, "thy
+fault is dark enough to efface a whole life of virtue. Ah, thou hast
+robbed me of a Mass to-night. Thou shalt pay me back three hundred in
+its place, and thou shalt not enter into Paradise unless thou shalt have
+celebrated in thy proper chapel these three hundred Christmas Masses in
+the presence of all those who have sinned by thy fault and with thee."
+
+This, then, is the true legend of Dom Balaguere as they tell it in the
+land of olives. To-day the chateau of Trinquelague is no more, but the
+chapel still stands erect on the summit of Mont Ventoux, in a grove of
+green oaks. The wind beats its disjointed portal; the grass creeps
+across its threshold; the birds have built in the angles of the altar
+and in the embrasures of the high windows, whence the colored panes have
+long ago vanished. But it appears that every year at Christmas, a
+supernatural light runs about these ruins, and that, in going to Mass or
+feast, the peasants see the chapel illuminated by invisible candles
+which burn brightly even through the wind and snow.
+
+You may laugh if you will, but a vine-dresser of the neighborhood named
+Garrigue, without doubt a descendant of Garrigou, has assured me that
+one Christmas night, finding himself a little so-so-ish, he became lost
+on the mountain beside Trinquelague, and behold what he saw! At eleven
+o'clock, nothing. All was silent, dark, lifeless. Suddenly, toward
+midnight, a chime sounded up above from a clock, an old, old chime
+which seemed six leagues away. Pretty soon, on the ascending road,
+Garrigue saw lights trembling in the uncertain shadows. Under the porch
+of the chapel somebody walked, somebody whispered:
+
+"Good-evening, Master Arnoton."
+
+"Good-evening, good-evening, my children."
+
+When the whole company was entered, my vine-dresser, who was exceedingly
+brave, approached stealthily, and peeping through the broken door saw a
+strange spectacle. All those who had passed him were ranged about the
+choir, in the ruined nave, as if the ancient benches still existed.
+Beautiful dames in brocade with coifs of lace; seigneurs bedizzened from
+top to toe; peasants in flowered jackets like those of our
+grandfathers,--everything with an ancient air, faded, dusty, worn-out.
+Now and then the night-birds, habitual dwellers in the chapel, awakened
+by all these lights, winged about the candles, whose flames mounted
+straight and vague as if they burnt behind gauze. And what amused
+Garrigue most was a certain personage with great steel spectacles, who
+shook at each instant his high black peruke, on which one of the birds
+had alighted and entangled itself, silently beating its wings.
+
+At the farthest end, a little old man of boyish size, on his knees in
+the midst of the choir, pulled desperately at the chimeless and silent
+bell; while a priest attired in ancient gold, went and came before the
+altar reciting orisons of which one heard not a single word. Surely,
+that was Dom Balaguere in the act of saying his third low Mass.
+
+
+
+
+_A Love-Passage from a Wandering Cossack._
+
+
+     "Dressed in his everlasting blue frock, he sat near the fire
+     playing cards."
+
+_Turgenieff._
+
+
+
+
+A RUSSIAN CHRISTMAS PARTY.
+
+
+Count Rostow's affairs were going from bad to worse. He was of a warm,
+generous nature, with unlimited faith in his servants, and hence was
+blind to the mismanagement and dishonesty which had sapped his fortune.
+The possessor of a handsome establishment at the Russian capital,
+Moscow, the owner of rich provincial estates, and the inheritor of a
+noble name and wealth, he was nevertheless on the verge of ruin. He had
+given up his appointment as _Marechal de la Noblesse_, which he had gone
+to his seat of Otradnoe to assume, because it entailed too many
+expenses; and yet there was no improvement in the state of his finances.
+
+Nicolas and Natacha, his son and daughter, often found their father and
+mother in anxious consultation, talking in low tones of the sale of
+their Moscow house or of their property in the neighborhood. Having thus
+retired into private life, the count now gave neither fetes nor
+entertainments. Life at Otradnoe was much less gay than in past years;
+still, the house and domain were as full of servants as ever, and
+twenty persons or more sat down to dinner daily. These were dependants,
+friends, and intimates, who were regarded almost as part of the family,
+or at any rate seemed unable to tear themselves away from it: among them
+a musician named Dimmler and his wife, Ioghel the dancing-master and his
+family, and old Mlle. Below, former governess of Natacha and Sonia, the
+count's niece and adopted child, and now the tutor of Petia, his younger
+son; besides others who found it simpler to live at the count's expense
+than at their own. Thus, though there were no more festivities, life was
+carried on almost as expensively as of old, and neither the master nor
+the mistress ever imagined any change possible. Nicolas, again, had
+added to the hunting establishment; there were still fifty horses in the
+stables, still fifteen drivers; handsome presents were given on all
+birthdays and fete days, which invariably wound up as of old with a
+grand dinner to all the neighborhood; the count still played whist or
+boston, invariably letting his cards be seen by his friends, who were
+always ready to make up his table, and relieve him without hesitation of
+the few hundred roubles which constituted their principal income. The
+old man marched on blindfold through the tangle of his pecuniary
+difficulties, trying to conceal them, and only succeeding in augmenting
+them; having neither the courage nor the patience to untie the knots one
+by one.
+
+The loving heart by his side foresaw their children's ruin, but she
+could not accuse her husband, who was, alas! too old for amendment; she
+could only seek some remedy for the disaster. From her woman's point of
+view there was but one: Nicolas's marriage, namely, with some rich
+heiress. She clung desperately to this last chance of salvation; but if
+her son should refuse the wife she should propose to him, every hope of
+reinstating their fortune would vanish. The young lady whom she had in
+view was the daughter of people of the highest respectability, whom the
+Rostows had known from her infancy: Julie Karaguine, who, by the death
+of her second brother, had suddenly come into great wealth.
+
+The countess herself wrote to Mme. Karaguine to ask her whether she
+could regard the match with favor, and received a most flattering
+answer. Indeed, Mme. Karaguine invited Nicolas to her house at Moscow,
+to give her daughter an opportunity of deciding for herself.
+
+Nicolas had often heard his mother say, with tears in her eyes, that her
+dearest wish was to see him married. The fulfilment of this wish would
+sweeten her remaining days, she would say, adding covert hints as to a
+charming girl who would exactly suit him. One day she took the
+opportunity of speaking plainly to him of Julie's charms and merits, and
+urged him to spend a short time in Moscow before Christmas. Nicolas, who
+had no difficulty in guessing what she was aiming at, persuaded her to
+be explicit on the matter, and she owned frankly that her hope was to
+see their sinking fortunes restored by his marriage with her dear Julie!
+
+"Then, mother, if I loved a penniless girl, you would desire me to
+sacrifice my feelings and my honor--to marry solely for money?"
+
+"Nay, nay; you have misunderstood me," she said, not knowing how to
+excuse her mercenary hopes. "I wish only for your happiness!" And then,
+conscious that this was not her sole aim, and that she was not perfectly
+honest, she burst into tears.
+
+"Do not cry, mamma; you have only to say that you really and truly
+desire it, and you know I would give my life to see you happy; that I
+would sacrifice everything, even my feelings."
+
+But this was not his mother's notion. She asked no sacrifice, she would
+have none; she would sooner have sacrificed herself, if it had been
+possible.
+
+"Say no more about it; you do not understand," she said, drying away her
+tears.
+
+"How could she think of such a marriage?" thought Nicolas. "Does she
+think that because Sonia is poor I do not love her? And yet I should be
+a thousand times happier with her than with a doll like Julie."
+
+He stayed in the country, and his mother did not revert to the subject.
+Still, as she saw the growing intimacy between Nicolas and Sonia, she
+could not help worrying Sonia about every little thing, and speaking to
+her with colder formality. Sometimes she reproached herself for these
+continual pin-pricks of annoyance, and was quite vexed with the poor
+girl for submitting to them with such wonderful humility and sweetness,
+for taking every opportunity of showing her devoted gratitude, and for
+loving Nicolas with a faithful and disinterested affection which
+commanded her admiration.
+
+Just about this time a letter came from Prince Andre, dated from Rome,
+whither he had gone to pass the year of probation demanded by his father
+as a condition to giving consent to his son's marriage with the Countess
+Natacha. It was the fourth the Prince had written since his departure.
+He ought long since to have been on his way home, he said, but the heat
+of the summer had caused the wound he had received at Austerlitz to
+reopen, and this compelled him to postpone his return till early in
+January.
+
+Natacha, though she was so much in love that her very passion for Prince
+Andre had made her day-dreams happy, had hitherto been open to all the
+bright influences of her young life; but now, after nearly four months
+of parting, she fell into a state of extreme melancholy, and gave way to
+it completely. She bewailed her hard fate, she bewailed the time that
+was slipping away and lost to her, while her heart ached with the dull
+craving to love and be loved. Nicolas, too, had nearly spent his leave
+from his regiment, and the anticipation of his departure added gloom to
+the saddened household.
+
+Christmas came; but, excepting the pompous high Mass and the other
+religious ceremonies, the endless string of neighbors and servants with
+the regular compliments of the season, and the new gowns which made
+their first appearance on the occasion, nothing more than usual happened
+on that day, or more extraordinary than twenty degrees of frost, with
+brilliant sunshine, a still atmosphere, and at night a glorious starry
+sky.
+
+After dinner, on the third day of Christmas-tide, when every one had
+settled into his own corner once more, ennui reigned supreme throughout
+the house. Nicolas, who had been paying a round of visits in the
+neighborhood, was fast asleep in the drawing-room. The old count had
+followed his example in his room. Sonia, seated at a table in the
+sitting-room, was copying a drawing. The countess was playing out a
+"patience," and Nastacia Ivanovna, the old buffoon, with his peevish
+face, sitting in a window with two old women, did not say a word.
+
+Natacha came into the room, and, after leaning over Sonia for a minute
+or two to examine her work, went over to her mother and stood still in
+front of her.
+
+The countess looked up. "Why are you wandering about like a soul in
+torment? What do you want?" she said.
+
+"Want! I want him!" replied Natacha, shortly, and her eyes glowed. "Now,
+here--at once!"
+
+Her mother gazed at her anxiously.
+
+"Do not look at me like that; you will make me cry."
+
+"Sit down here."
+
+"Mamma, I want him, I want him! Why must I die of weariness?" Her voice
+broke and tears started from her eyes. She hastily quitted the
+drawing-room and went to the housekeeper's room, where an old servant
+was scolding one of the girls who had just come in breathless from
+out-of-doors.
+
+"There is a time for all things," growled the old woman. "You have had
+time enough for play."
+
+"Oh, leave her in peace, Kondratievna," said Natacha. "Run away,
+Mavroucha--go."
+
+Pursuing her wandering, Natacha went into the hall; an old man-servant
+was playing cards with two of the boys. Her entrance stopped their game
+and they rose. "And what am I to say to these?" thought she.
+
+"Nikita, would you please go--what on earth can I ask for?--go and find
+me a cock; and you, Micha, a handful of corn."
+
+"A handful of corn?" said Micha, laughing.
+
+"Go, go at once," said the old man.
+
+"And you, Fedor, can you give me a piece of chalk?"
+
+Then she went on to the servants' hall and ordered the samovar to be got
+ready, though it was not yet tea-time; she wanted to try her power over
+Foka, the old butler, the most morose and disobliging of all the
+servants. He could not believe his ears, and asked her if she really
+meant it. "What next will our young lady want?" muttered Foka, affecting
+to be very cross.
+
+No one gave so many orders as Natacha, no one sent them on so many
+errands at once. As soon as a servant came in sight she seemed to invent
+some want or message; she could not help it. It seemed as though she
+wanted to try her power over them; to see whether, some fine day, one or
+another would not rebel against her tyranny; but, on the contrary, they
+always flew to obey her more readily than any one else.
+
+"And now what shall I do, where can I go?" thought she, as she slowly
+went along the corridor, where she presently met the buffoon.
+
+"Nastacia Ivanovna," said she, "if I ever have children, what will they
+be?"
+
+"You! Fleas and grasshoppers, you may depend upon it!"
+
+Natacha went on. "Good God! have mercy, have mercy!" she said to
+herself. "Wherever I go it is always, always the same. I am so weary;
+what shall I do?"
+
+Skipping lightly from step to step, she went to the upper story and
+dropped in on the Ioghels. Two governesses were sitting chatting with M.
+and Mme. Ioghel; dessert, consisting of dried fruit, was on the table,
+and they were eagerly discussing the cost of living at Moscow and
+Odessa. Natacha took a seat for a moment, listened with pensive
+attention, and then jumped up again. "The island of Madagascar!" she
+murmured, "Ma-da-gas-car!" and she separated the syllables. Then she
+left the room without answering Mme. Schoss, who was utterly mystified
+by her strange exclamation.
+
+She next met Petia and a companion, both very full of some fireworks
+which were to be let off that evening. "Petia!" she exclaimed, "carry me
+down-stairs!" And she sprang upon his back, throwing her arms round his
+neck; and, laughing and galloping, they thus scrambled along to the head
+of the stairs.
+
+"Thank you, that will do. Madagascar!" she repeated; and, jumping down,
+she ran down the flight.
+
+After thus inspecting her dominions, testing her power, and convincing
+herself that her subjects were docile, and that there was no novelty to
+be got out of them, Natacha settled herself in the darkest corner of the
+music-room with her guitar, striking the bass strings, and trying to
+make an accompaniment to an air from an opera that she and Prince Andre
+had once heard together at St. Petersburg. The uncertain chords which
+her unpractised fingers sketched out would have struck the least
+experienced ear as wanting in harmony and musical accuracy, while to her
+excited imagination they brought a whole train of memories. Leaning
+against the wall and half hidden by a cabinet, with her eyes fixed on a
+thread of light that came under the door from the rooms beyond, she
+listened in ecstasy and dreamed of the past.
+
+Sonia crossed the room with a glass in her hand. Natacha glanced round
+at her and again fixed her eyes on the streak of light. She had the
+strange feeling of having once before gone through the same
+experience--sat in the same place, surrounded by the same details, and
+watching Sonia pass carrying a tumbler. "Yes, it was exactly the same,"
+she thought.
+
+"Sonia, what is this tune?" she said, playing a few notes.
+
+"What, are you there?" said Sonia, startled. "I do not know," she said,
+coming closer to listen, "unless it is from 'La Tempete';" but she spoke
+doubtfully.
+
+"It was exactly so," thought Natacha. "She started as she came forward,
+smiling so gently; and I thought then, as I think now, that there is
+something in her which is quite lacking in me. No," she said aloud, "you
+are quite out; it is the chorus from the 'Porteur d'Eau'--listen," and
+she hummed the air. "Where are you going?"
+
+"For some fresh water to finish my drawing."
+
+"You are always busy and I never. Where is Nicolas?"
+
+"Asleep, I think."
+
+"Go and wake him, Sonia. Tell him to come and sing."
+
+Sonia went, and Natacha relapsed into dreaming and wondering how it had
+all happened. Not being able to solve the puzzle, she drifted into
+reminiscence once more. She could see him--_him_--and feel his
+impassioned eyes fixed on her face. "Oh, make haste back! I am so afraid
+he will not come yet! Besides, it is all very well, but I am growing
+old; I shall be quite different from what I am now! Who knows? Perhaps
+he will come to-day! Perhaps he is here already! Here in the
+drawing-room. Perhaps he came yesterday and I have forgotten."
+
+She rose, laid down the guitar, and went into the next room. All the
+household party were seated round the tea-table,--the professors, the
+governesses, the guests; the servants were waiting on one and
+another--but there was no Prince Andre.
+
+"Ah, here she is," said her father. "Come and sit down here." But
+Natacha stopped by her mother without heeding his bidding.
+
+"Oh, mamma, bring him to me, give him to me soon, very soon," she
+murmured, swallowing down a sob. Then she sat down and listened to the
+others. "Good God! always the same people! always the same thing! Papa
+holds his cup as he always does, and blows his tea to cool it as he did
+yesterday, and as he will to-morrow."
+
+She felt a sort of dull rebellion against them all; she hated them for
+always being the same.
+
+After tea Sonia, Natacha, and Nicolas huddled together in their
+favorite, snug corner of the drawing-room; that was where they talked
+freely to each other.
+
+"Do you ever feel," Natacha asked her brother, "as if there was nothing
+left to look forward to; as if you had had all your share of happiness,
+and were not so much weary as utterly dull?"
+
+"Of course I have. Very often I have seen my friends and fellow-officers
+in the highest spirits and been just as jolly myself, and suddenly have
+been struck so dull and dismal, have so hated life, that I have wondered
+whether we were not all to die at once. I remember one day, for
+instance, when I was with the regiment; the band was playing, and I had
+such a fit of melancholy that I never even thought of going to the
+promenade."
+
+"How well I understand that! I recollect once," Natacha went on, "once
+when I was a little girl, I was punished for having eaten some plums, I
+think. I had not done it, and you were all dancing, and I was left
+alone in the school-room. How I cried! cried because I was so sorry for
+myself, and so vexed with you all for making me so unhappy."
+
+"I remember; and I went to comfort you and did not know how; we were
+funny children then; I had a toy with bells that jingled, and I made you
+a present of it."
+
+"Do you remember," said Natacha, "long before that, when we were no
+bigger than my hand, my uncle called us into his room, where it was
+quite dark, and suddenly we saw----"
+
+"A negro!" interrupted Nicolas, smiling at her recollection. "To be
+sure. I can see him now; and to this day I wonder whether it was a dream
+or a reality, or mere fancy invented afterwards."
+
+"He had white teeth and stared at us with his black eyes."
+
+"Do you remember him, Sonia?"
+
+"Yes, yes--but very dimly."
+
+"But papa and mamma have always declared that no negro ever came to the
+house. And the eggs; do you remember the eggs we used to roll up at
+Easter; and one day how two little grinning old women came up through
+the floor and began to spin round the table?"
+
+"Of course. And how papa used to put on his fur coat and fire off his
+gun from the balcony. And don t you remember----?" And so they went on
+recalling, one after the other, not the bitter memories of old age, but
+the bright pictures of early childhood, which float and fade on a
+distant horizon of poetic vagueness, midway between reality and dreams.
+Sonia remembered being frightened once at the sight of Nicolas in his
+braided jacket, and her nurse promising her that she should some day
+have a frock trimmed from top to bottom.
+
+"And they told me you had been found in the garden under a cabbage,"
+said Natacha. "I dared not say it was not true, but it puzzled me
+tremendously."
+
+A door opened, and a woman put in her head, exclaiming, "Mademoiselle,
+mademoiselle, they have fetched the cock!"
+
+"I do not want it now; send it away again, Polia." said Natacha.
+
+Dimmler, who had meanwhile come into the room, went up to the harp,
+which stood in a corner, and in taking off the cover made the strings
+ring discordantly.
+
+"Edward Karlovitch, play my favorite nocturne--Field's," cried the
+countess, from the adjoining room.
+
+Dimmler struck a chord. "How quiet you young people are," he said,
+addressing them.
+
+"Yes, we are studying philosophy," said Natacha, and they went on
+talking of their dreams.
+
+Dimmler had no sooner begun his nocturne than Natacha, crossing the room
+on tiptoe, seized the wax-light that was burning on the table and
+carried it into the next room; then she stole back to her seat, it was
+now quite dark in the larger room, especially in their corner, but the
+silvery moonbeams came in at the wide windows and lay in broad sheets on
+the floor.
+
+"Do you know," whispered Natacha, while Dimmler, after playing the
+nocturne, let his fingers wander over the strings, uncertain what to
+play next, "when I go on remembering one thing beyond another, I go back
+so far, so far, that at last I remember things that happened before I
+was born, and----"
+
+"That is metempsychosis," interrupted Sonia, with a reminiscence of her
+early lessons. "The Egyptians believed that our souls had once inhabited
+the bodies of animals, and would return to animals again after our
+death."
+
+"I do not believe that," said Natacha, still in a low voice, though the
+music had ceased. "But I am quite sure that we were angels once,
+somewhere there beyond, or, perhaps, even here; and that is the reason
+we remember a previous existence."
+
+"May I join the party?" asked Dimmler, coming towards them.
+
+"If we were once angels, how is it that we have fallen lower?"
+
+"Lower? Who says that it is lower? Who knows what I was?" Natacha
+retorted with full conviction. "Since the soul is immortal, and I am to
+live forever in the future, I must have existed in the past, so I have
+eternity behind me, too."
+
+"Yes; but it is very difficult to conceive of that eternity," said
+Dimmler, whose ironical smile had died away.
+
+"Why?" asked Natacha. "After to-day comes to-morrow, and then the day
+after, and so on forever; yesterday has been, to-morrow will be----"
+
+"Natacha, now it is your turn; sing me something," said her mother.
+"What are you doing in that corner like a party of conspirators?"
+
+"I am not at all in the humor, mamma," said she; nevertheless she rose.
+Nicolas sat down to the piano; and standing, as usual, in the middle of
+the room, where the voice sounded best, she sang her mother's favorite
+ballad.
+
+Though she had said she was not in the humor, it was long since Natacha
+had sung so well as she did that evening, and long before she sang so
+well again. Her father, who was talking over business with Mitenka in
+his room, hurriedly gave him some final instructions as soon as he heard
+the first note, as a schoolboy scrambles through his tasks to get to his
+play; but as the steward did not go, he sat in silence, listening, while
+Mitenka, too, standing in his presence, listened with evident
+satisfaction. Nicolas did not take his eyes off his sister's face, and
+only breathed when she took breath. Sonia was under the spell of that
+exquisite voice and thinking of the gulf of difference that lay between
+her and her friend, full conscious that she could never exercise such
+fascination. The old countess had paused in her "patience,"--a sad, fond
+smile played on her lips, her eyes were full of tears, and she shook her
+head, remembering her own youth, looking forward to her daughter's
+future and reflecting on her strange prospects of marriage.
+
+Dimmler, sitting by her side, listened with rapture, his eyes half
+closed.
+
+"She really has a marvellous gift!" he exclaimed. "She has nothing to
+learn,--such power, such sweetness, such roundness!"
+
+"And how much I fear for her happiness!" replied the countess, who in
+her mother's heart could feel the flame that must some day be fatal to
+her child's peace.
+
+Natacha was still singing when Petia dashed noisily into the room to
+announce, in triumphant tones, that a party of mummers had come.
+
+"Idiot!" exclaimed Natacha, stopping short, and, dropping into a chair,
+she began to sob so violently that it was some time before she could
+recover herself. "It is nothing, mamma, really nothing at all," she
+declared, trying to smile. "Only Petia frightened me; nothing more." And
+her tears flowed afresh.
+
+All the servants had dressed up, some as bears, Turks, tavern-keepers,
+or fine ladies; others as mongrel monsters. Bringing with them the chill
+of the night outside, they did not at first venture any farther than the
+hall; by degrees, however, they took courage; pushing each other forward
+for self-protection, they all soon came into the music-room. Once there,
+their shyness thawed; they became expansively merry, and singing,
+dancing, and sports were soon the order of the day. The countess, after
+looking at them and identifying them all, went back into the
+sitting-room, leaving her husband, whose jovial face encouraged them to
+enjoy themselves.
+
+The young people had all vanished; but half an hour later an old
+marquise with patches appeared on the scene--none other than Nicolas;
+Petia as a Turk; a clown--Dimmler; a hussar--Natacha; and a
+Circassian--Sonia. Both the girls had blackened their eyebrows and
+given themselves mustaches with burned cork.
+
+After being received with well-feigned surprise, and recognized more or
+less quickly, the children, who were very proud of their costumes,
+unanimously declared that they must go and display them elsewhere.
+Nicolas, who was dying to take them all for a long drive _en troika_,[C]
+proposed that, as the roads were in splendid order, they should go, a
+party of ten, to the Little Uncle's.
+
+[C] A team of three horses harnessed abreast.
+
+"You will disturb the old man, and that will be all," said the countess.
+"Why, he has not even room for you all to get into the house! If you
+must go out, you had better go to the Melukows'."
+
+Mme. Melukow was a widow living in the neighborhood; her house, full of
+children of all ages, with tutors and governesses, was distant only four
+versts from Otradnoe.
+
+"A capital idea, my dear," cried the count, enchanted. "I will dress up
+in costume and go, too. I will wake them up, I warrant you!"
+
+But this did not at all meet his wife's views. Perfect madness! For him
+to go out with his gouty feet in such cold weather was sheer folly! The
+count gave way, and Mme. Schoss volunteered to chaperon the girls.
+Sonia's was by far the most successful disguise; her fierce eyebrows and
+mustache were wonderfully becoming, her pretty features gained
+expression, and she wore the dress of a man with unexpected swagger and
+smartness. Something in her inmost soul told her that this evening would
+seal her fate.
+
+[Illustration: Sonia]
+
+In a few minutes four sleighs with three horses abreast to each, their
+harness jingling with bells, drew up in a line before the steps, the
+runners creaking and crunching over the frozen snow. Natacha was the
+foremost, and the first to tune her spirits to the pitch of this
+carnival freak. This mirth, in fact, proved highly infectious, and
+reached its height of tumult and excitement when the party went down the
+steps and packed themselves into the sleighs, laughing and shouting to
+each other at the top of their voices. Two of the sleighs were drawn by
+light cart-horses, to the third the count's carriage horses were
+harnessed, and one of these was reputed a famous trotter from Orlow's
+stable; the fourth sleigh, with its rough-coated, black shaft-horse, was
+Nicolas's private property. In his marquise costume, over which he had
+thrown his hussar's cloak, fastened with a belt round the waist, he
+stood gathering up the reins. The moon was shining brightly, reflected
+in the plating of the harness and in the horses' anxious eyes as they
+turned their heads in uneasy amazement at the noisy group that clustered
+under the dark porch. Natacha, Sonia, and Mme. Schoss, with two women
+servants, got into Nicolas's sleigh; Dimmler and his wife, with Petia,
+into the count's; the rest of the mummers packed into the other sleighs.
+
+"Lead the way, Zakhare!" cried Nicolas, to his father's coachman,
+promising himself the pleasure of outstripping him presently; the
+count's sleigh swayed and strained, the runners, which the frost had
+already glued to the ground, creaked, the bells rang out, the horses
+closed up for a pull, and off they went over the glittering, hard snow,
+flinging it up right and left like spray of powdered sugar. Nicolas
+started next, and the others followed along the narrow way, with no less
+jingling and creaking. While they drove under the wall of the park the
+shadows of the tall, skeleton trees lay on the road, checkering the
+broad moonlight; but as soon as they had left it behind them, the wide
+and spotless plain spread on all sides, its whiteness broken by myriads
+of flashing sparks and spangles of reflected light. Suddenly a rut
+caused the foremost sleigh to jolt violently, and then the others in
+succession; they fell away a little, their intrusive clatter breaking
+the supreme and solemn silence of the night.
+
+"A hare's tracks!" exclaimed Natacha, and her voice pierced the frozen
+air like an arrow.
+
+"How light it is, Nicolas," said Sonia. Nicolas turned round to look at
+the pretty face with its black mustache, under the sable hood, looking
+at once so far away and so close in the moonshine. "It is not Sonia at
+all," he said, smiling.
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"
+
+"Nothing," said he, returning to his former position.
+
+When they got out on the high-road, beaten and ploughed by horses' hoofs
+and polished with the tracks of sleighs, his steeds began to pull and go
+at a great pace. The near horse, turning away his head, was galloping
+rather wildly, while the horse in the shafts pricked his ears and still
+seemed to doubt whether the moment for a dash had come. Zakhare's
+sleigh, lost in the distance, was no more than a black spot on the white
+snow, and as he drew farther away the ringing of the bells was fainter
+and fainter; only the shouts and songs of the maskers rang through the
+calm, clear night.
+
+"On you go, my beauties!" cried Nicolas, shaking the reins and raising
+his whip. The sleigh seemed to leap forward, but the sharp air that cut
+their faces and the flying pace of the two outer horses alone gave them
+any idea of the speed they were making. Nicolas glanced back at the
+other two drivers; they were shouting and urging their shaft-horses with
+cries and cracking of whips, so as not to be quite left behind;
+Nicolas's middle horse, swinging steadily along under the shaft-bow,
+kept up his regular pace, quite ready to go twice as fast the moment he
+should be called upon.
+
+They soon overtook the first troika, and after going down a slope they
+came upon a wide cross-road running by the side of a meadow.
+
+"Where are we, I wonder," thought Nicolas; "this must be the field and
+slope by the river. No--I do not know where we are! This is all new and
+unfamiliar to me! God only knows where we are! But no matter!" And
+smacking his whip with a will, he went straight ahead. Zakhare held in
+his beasts for an instant, and turned his face, all fringed with frost,
+to look at Nicolas, who came flying onward.
+
+"Steady there, sir!" cried the coachman, and leaning forward, with a
+click of his tongue he urged his horses in their turn to their utmost
+speed. For a few minutes the sleighs ran equal, but before long, in
+spite of all Zakhare could do, Nicolas gained on him and at last flew
+past him like a lightning flash; a cloud of fine snow, kicked up by the
+horses, came showering down on the rival sleigh; the women squeaked,
+and the two teams had a struggle for the precedence, their shadows
+crossing and mingling on the snow.
+
+Then Nicolas, moderating his speed, looked about him; before, behind,
+and on each side of him stretched the fairy scene; a plain strewn with
+stars and flooded with light.
+
+"To the left, Zakhare says. Why to the left?" thought he. "We were going
+to the Melukows'. But we are going where fate directs or as Heaven may
+guide us. It is all very strange and most delightful, is it not?" he
+said, turning to the others.
+
+"Oh! look at his eyelashes and beard; they are quite white!" exclaimed
+one of the sweet young men, with pencilled mustache and arched eyebrows.
+
+"That I believe is Natacha?" said Nicolas. "And that little
+Circassian--who is he? I do not know him, but I like his looks
+uncommonly! Are you not frozen?" Their answer was a shout of laughter.
+
+Dimmler was talking himself hoarse, and he must be saying very funny
+things, for the party in his sleigh were in fits of laughing.
+
+"Better and better," said Nicolas to himself; "now we are in an
+enchanted forest--the black shadows lie across a flooring of diamonds
+and mix with the sparkling of gems. That might be a fairy palace, out
+there, built of large blocks of marble and jewelled tiles? Did I not
+hear the howl of wild beasts in the distance? Supposing it were only
+Melukovka that I am coming to after all! On my word, it would be no less
+miraculous to have reached port after steering so completely at random!"
+
+It was, in fact, Melukovka, for he could see the house servants coming
+out on the balcony with lights, and then down to meet them, only too
+glad of this unexpected diversion.
+
+"Who is there?" a voice asked within.
+
+"The mummers from Count Rostow's; they are his teams," replied the
+servants.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pelagueia Danilovna Melukow, a stout and commanding personality, in
+spectacles and a flowing dressing-gown, was sitting in her drawing-room
+surrounded by her children, whom she was doing her best to amuse by
+modelling heads in wax and tracing the shadows they cast on the wall,
+when steps and voices were heard in the ante-room. Hussars, witches,
+clowns, and bears were rubbing their faces, which were scorched by the
+cold and covered with rime, or shaking the snow off their clothes. As
+soon as they had cast off their furs they rushed into the large
+drawing-room, which was hastily lighted up. Dimmler, the clown, and
+Nicolas, the marquise, performed a dance, while the others stood close
+along the wall, the children shouting and jumping about them with glee.
+
+"It is impossible to know who is who--can that really be Natacha? Look
+at her; does not she remind you of some one? Edward, before Karlovitch,
+how fine you are! and how beautifully you dance! Oh! and that splendid
+Circassian--why, it is Sonia! What a kind and delightful surprise; we
+were so desperately dull. Ha, ha! what a beautiful hussar! A real
+hussar, or a real monkey of a boy--which is he, I wonder? I cannot look
+at you without laughing." They all shouted and laughed and talked at
+once, at the top of their voices.
+
+Natacha, to whom the Melukows were devoted, soon vanished with them to
+their own room, where corks and various articles of men's clothing were
+brought to them, and clutched by bare arms through a half-open door. Ten
+minutes later all the young people of the house rejoined the company,
+equally unrecognizable. Pelagueia Danilovna, going and coming among them
+all, with her spectacles on her nose and a quiet smile, had seats
+arranged and a supper laid out for the visitors, masters and servants
+alike. She looked straight in the face of each in turn, recognizing no
+one of the motley crew--neither the Rostows, nor Dimmler, nor even her
+own children, nor any of the clothes they figured in.
+
+"That one, who is she?" she asked the governess, stopping a Kazan
+Tartar, who was, in fact, her own daughter. "One of the Rostows, is it
+not? And you, gallant hussar, what regiment do you belong to?" she went
+on, addressing Natacha. "Give some _pastila_ to this Turkish lady," she
+cried to the butler; "it is not forbidden by her religion, I believe."
+
+At the sight of some of the reckless dancing which the mummers performed
+under the shelter of their disguise, Pelagueia Danilovna could not help
+hiding her face in her handkerchief, while her huge person shook with
+uncontrollable laughter--the laugh of a kindly matron, frankly jovial
+and gay.
+
+When they had danced all the national dances, ending with the
+_Horovody_, she placed every one, both masters and servants, in a large
+circle, holding a cord with a ring and a rouble, and for a while they
+played games. An hour after, when the finery was the worse for wear and
+heat and laughter had removed much of the charcoal, Pelagueia Danilovna
+could recognize them, compliment the girls on the success of their
+disguise, and thank the whole party for the amusement they had given
+her. Supper was served for the company in the drawing-room, and for the
+servants in the large dining-room.
+
+"You should try your fortune in the bathroom over there; that is enough
+to frighten you!" said an old maid who lived with the Melukows.
+
+"Why?" said the eldest girl.
+
+"Oh! you would never dare to do it; you must be very brave."
+
+"Well, I will go," said Sonia.
+
+"Tell us what happened to that young girl, you know," said the youngest
+Melukow.
+
+"Once a young girl went to the bath, taking with her a cock and two
+plates with knives and forks, which is what you must do; and she waited.
+Suddenly she heard horses' bells--some one was coming; he stopped, came
+up-stairs, and she saw an officer walk into the room; a real live
+officer--at least so he seemed--who sat down opposite to her where the
+second cover was laid."
+
+"Oh! how horrible!" exclaimed Natacha, wide-eyed. "And he spoke to
+her--really spoke?"
+
+"Yes, just as if he had really been a man. He begged and prayed her to
+listen to him, and all she had to do was to refuse him and hold out till
+the cock crowed; but she was too much frightened. She covered her face
+with her hands, and he clasped her in his arms; luckily some girls who
+were on the watch rushed in when she screamed."
+
+"Why do you terrify them with such nonsense?" said Pelagueia Danilovna.
+
+"But, mamma, you know you wanted to try your fortune too."
+
+"And if you try your fortune in a barn, what do you do?" asked Sonia.
+
+"That is quite simple. You must go to the barn--now, for instance--and
+listen. If you hear thrashing, it is for ill-luck; if you hear grain
+dropping, that is good."
+
+"Tell us, mother, what happened to you in the barn."
+
+"It is so long ago," said the mother, with a smile, "that I have quite
+forgotten; besides, not one of you is brave enough to try it."
+
+"Yes, I will go," said Sonia. "Let me go."
+
+"Go by all means if you are not afraid."
+
+"May I, Madame Schoss?" said Sonia to the governess.
+
+Now, whether playing games or sitting quietly and chatting, Nicolas had
+not left Sonia's side the whole evening; he felt as if he had seen her
+for the first time, and only just now appreciated all her merits.
+Bright, bewitchingly pretty in her quaint costume, and excited as she
+very rarely was, she had completely fascinated him.
+
+"What a simpleton I must have been!" thought he, responding in thought
+to those sparkling eyes and that triumphant smile which had revealed to
+him a little dimple at the tip of her mustache that he had never
+observed before.
+
+"I am afraid of nothing," she declared. She rose, asked her way,
+precisely, to the barn, and every detail as to what she was to expect,
+waiting there in total silence; then she threw a fur cloak over her
+shoulders, glanced at Nicolas, and went on.
+
+She went along the corridor and down the back-stairs; while Nicolas,
+saying that the heat of the room was too much for him, slipped out by
+the front entrance. It was as cold as ever, and the moon seemed to be
+shining even more brightly than before. The snow at her feet was strewn
+with stars, while their sisters overhead twinkled in the deep gloom of
+the sky, and she soon looked away from them, back to the gleaming earth
+in its radiant mantle of ermine.
+
+Nicolas hurried across the hall, turned the corner of the house, and
+went past the side door where Sonia was to come out. Half-way to the
+barn stacks of wood, in the full moonlight, threw their shadows on the
+path, and beyond, an alley of lime-trees traced a tangled pattern on
+the snow with the fine crossed lines of their leafless twigs. The beams
+of the house and its snow-laden roof looked as if they had been hewn out
+of a block of opal, with iridescent lights where the facets caught the
+silvery moonlight. Suddenly a bough fell crashing off a tree in the
+garden; then all was still again. Sonia's heart beat high with gladness;
+as if she were drinking in not common air, but some life-giving elixir
+of eternal youth and joy.
+
+"Straight on, if you please, miss, and on no account look behind you."
+
+"I am not afraid," said Sonia, her little shoes tapping the stone steps
+and then crunching the carpet of snow as she ran to meet Nicolas, who
+was within a couple of yards of her. And yet not the Nicolas of
+every-day life. What had transfigured him so completely? Was it his
+woman's costume with frizzed-out hair, or was it that radiant smile
+which he so rarely wore, and which at this moment illumined his face?
+
+"But Sonia is quite unlike herself, and yet she is herself," thought
+Nicolas on his side, looking down at the sweet little face in the
+moonlight. He slipped his arms under the fur cloak that wrapped her, and
+drew her to him, and he kissed her lips, which still tasted of the
+burned cork that had blackened her mustache.
+
+"Nicolas--Sonia," they whispered; and Sonia put her little hands round
+his face. Then, hand in hand, they ran to the barn and back, and each
+went in by the different doors they had come out of.
+
+Natacha, who had noted everything, managed so that she, Mme. Schoss, and
+Dimmler should return in one sleigh, while the maids went with Nicolas
+and Sonia in another. Nicolas was in no hurry to get home; he could not
+help looking at Sonia and trying to find under her disguise the true
+Sonia--his Sonia, from whom nothing now could ever part him. The magical
+effects of moonlight, the remembrance of that kiss on her sweet lips,
+the dizzy flight of the snow-clad ground under the horses' hoofs, the
+black sky, studded with diamonds, that bent over their heads, the icy
+air that seemed to give vigor to his lungs--all was enough to make him
+fancy that they were transported to a land of magic.
+
+"Sonia, are you not cold?"
+
+"No; and you?"
+
+Nicolas pulled up, and giving the reins to a man to drive, he ran back
+to the sleigh in which Natacha was sitting.
+
+"Listen," he said, in a whisper and in French; "I have made up my mind
+to tell Sonia."
+
+"And you have spoken to her?" exclaimed Natacha, radiant with joy.
+
+"Oh, Natacha, how queer that mustache makes you look! Are you glad?"
+
+"Glad! I am delighted. I did not say anything, you know, but I have been
+so vexed with you. She is a jewel, a heart of gold. I--I am often
+naughty, and I have no right to have all the happiness to myself now.
+Go, go back to her."
+
+"No. Wait one minute. Mercy, how funny you look!" he repeated, examining
+her closely and discovering in her face, too, an unwonted tenderness and
+emotion that struck him deeply. "Natacha, is there not some magic at the
+bottom of it all, heh?"
+
+"You have acted very wisely. Go."
+
+"If I had ever seen Natacha look as she does at this moment I should
+have asked her advice and have obeyed her, whatever she had bid me do;
+and all would have gone well. So you are glad?" he said, aloud. "I have
+done right?"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course you have! I was quite angry with mamma the other
+day about you two. Mamma would have it that Sonia was running after you.
+I will not allow any one to say--no, nor even to think--any evil of her,
+for she is sweetness and truth itself."
+
+"So much the better." Nicolas jumped down and in a few long strides
+overtook his own sleigh, where the little Circassian received him with
+a smile from under the fur hood; and the Circassian was Sonia, and Sonia
+beyond a doubt would be his beloved little wife!
+
+When they got home the two girls went into the countess's room and gave
+her an account of their expedition; then they went to bed. Without
+stopping to wipe off their mustaches they stood chattering as they
+undressed; they had so much to say of their happiness, their future
+prospects, the friendship between their husbands:
+
+"But, oh! when will it all be? I am so afraid it will never come to
+pass," said Natacha, as she went toward a table on which two
+looking-glasses stood.
+
+"Sit down," said Sonia, "and look in the glass; perhaps you will see
+something about it." Natacha lighted two pairs of candles and seated
+herself. "I certainly see a pair of mustaches," she said, laughing.
+
+"You should not laugh," said the maid, very gravely.
+
+Natacha settled herself to gaze without blinking into the mirror; she
+put on a solemn face and sat in silence for some time, wondering what
+she should see. Would a coffin rise before her, or would Prince Andre
+presently stand revealed against the confused background in the shining
+glass? Her eyes were weary and could hardly distinguish even the
+flickering light of the candles. But with the best will in the world
+she could see nothing; not a spot to suggest the image either of a
+coffin or of a human form. She rose.
+
+"Why do other people see things and I never see anything at all? Take my
+place, Sonia; you must look for yourself and for me, too. I am so
+frightened; if I could but know!"
+
+Sonia sat down and fixed her eyes on the mirror.
+
+"Sofia Alexandrovna will be sure to see something," whispered Douniacha;
+"but you always are laughing at such things." Sonia heard the remark and
+Natacha's whispered reply: "Yes, she is sure to see something; she did
+last year." Three minutes they waited in total silence. "She is sure to
+see something," Natacha repeated, trembling.
+
+Sonia started back, covered her face with one hand, and cried out:
+
+"Natacha!"
+
+"You saw something? What did you see?" And Natacha rushed forward to
+hold up the glass.
+
+But Sonia had seen nothing; her eyes were getting dim, and she was on
+the point of giving it up when Natacha's exclamation had stopped her;
+she did not want to disappoint them; but there is nothing so tiring as
+sitting motionless. She did not know why she had called out and hidden
+her face.
+
+"Did you see him?" asked Natacha.
+
+"Yes; stop a minute. I saw him," said Sonia, not quite sure whether
+"him" was to mean Nicolas or Prince Andre. "Why not make them believe
+that I saw something?" she thought. "A great many people have done so
+before, and no one can prove the contrary. Yes, I saw him," she
+repeated.
+
+"How? standing up or lying down?"
+
+"I saw him--at first there was nothing; then suddenly I saw him lying
+down."
+
+"Andre, lying down? Then he is ill!" And Natacha gazed horror-stricken
+at her companion.
+
+"Not at all; he seemed quite cheerful, on the contrary," said she,
+beginning to believe in her own inventions.
+
+"And then--Sonia, what then?"
+
+"Then I saw only confusion--red and blue."
+
+"And when will he come back, Sonia? When shall I see him again? O God! I
+am afraid for him--afraid of everything."
+
+And, without listening to Sonia's attempts at comfort, Natacha slipped
+into bed, and, long after the lights were out, she lay motionless but
+awake, her eyes fixed on the moonshine that came dimly through the
+frost-embroidered windows.
+
+
+
+
+_A Wayfarer's Fancy._
+
+
+     "A felicitous combination of the German, the Sclave, and the
+     Semite, with grand features, brown hair floating in artistic
+     fashion, and brown eyes in spectacles."
+
+_George Eliot._
+
+
+
+
+TWO CHRISTMASES.
+
+
+I.
+
+It was the time of the great war. Germany was desolated. Towns and
+villages were destroyed by flames. Order and law had given way to savage
+power; and from the walls of many a ruined house of God the wooden image
+of the Saviour looked down with a face of anguish on the horrors of the
+degenerate times.
+
+The terrified citizens of towns that were still untouched by war, hid
+themselves within their narrow walls, awaiting, in tremulous fear, the
+day on which their homes must also fall a prey to plundering soldiers.
+If any one were obliged to go beyond the boundaries, he would glance
+anxiously at the bushes on either side of the road; and when night came
+on, he would be forced to look with horror and sorrow at the reddened
+horizon, where a little village or lonely hamlet was burning to ashes.
+
+But who is it cowers there in the ditch by the highway? A dried-up
+little man with deathly-pale countenance, and clad in a black coat!
+Flee, Wanderer! let him not gaze at you with his piercing gray eyes!
+Beware! for that old man is the Plague-man!
+
+The heart of the Wanderer sinks within him. Horrified he rushes away,
+and thanks heaven when, in the gray of the morning, he sees again the
+towers of his native town. Enraptured by the sight of home he believes
+these towers with the dear, well-known faces can protect him; but the
+old cripple has been quicker than he. Before break of day he has knocked
+at the town-gate, and the gate-keeper, on opening it, has scarcely
+looked into his gray eyes before he sank down as though some one had
+felled him with an axe.
+
+Then the gray old man begins his terrible work. Like a bat he slips into
+all dwellings; no gate and no bolt is an obstacle to him. Right up into
+the lofts he climbs and opens the most secret chamber. That threshold he
+passes is doomed to the Black-death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It had happened thus to a little town in Franconia, where but a few
+houses remained untouched by the terrible plague. In this town there
+lived a poor, honest couple with their child, a boy of nearly three
+years. Their cottage lay on a small hill, and was divided from the road
+by a little garden. People ascribed it to this that the awful spirit
+for a long time had left their home untouched. But at last he seemed to
+have found his way to even this out-of-the-way place.
+
+A few days before Christmas the boy fell sick, and on Christmas morning
+he lay motionless in bed, so that the poor parents thought the plague
+had taken their child from them. The father wanted to bury the body at
+once, but the mother showed him the rosy cheeks of the dead child, and
+said that a death that looked so like sleep could do them no harm.
+Thereupon she went into the little garden and cut box-tree leaves from
+under the snow, and made a wreath for the dead darling. She placed the
+wreath on his curly head and moved his bed into the middle of the room,
+where she set candles burning around it, just as we do in quieter times
+for a dear departed one. Then she went into the wood, cut down a small
+Christmas-tree and placed it, all decorated with lights, nuts, and
+bright tinsel, next to the coffin, in order that the dead child might
+also have his Christmas pleasure.
+
+This was the only Christmas-tree that the poor stricken town lit up!
+People passing along the road looked with secret jealousy at the
+illuminated window, wondering how they could still rejoice in such
+bitter times. But no gladsome sounds from the window reached the
+street, where flake after flake was whirling down from the gray heavens,
+covering everything in its white cloak. And unceasingly, as flake after
+flake sank down to earth, so in the little chamber the tears of the poor
+woman rolled down her cheeks till the lights of the Christmas-tree
+burned low, the fire in the stove died away, and sleep closed the
+streaming eyes of the mother. Then all was quiet, very quiet, in the
+little chamber.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+But at the gates of Heaven it was very noisy that evening. Countless
+hosts were crowding up the broad stairway, young and old, rich and poor:
+a mixed and motley crowd. There the patrician elbowed the tailor who had
+made his coat; the general the lowest sutler; and a ragged beggar was
+even next to a king, who drew his purple closer around him in order not
+to be contaminated. All were pushing towards the great, light gate, and
+many a one, who on earth had only beaten and jostled others, received
+here in the crowd his own first jostling. At the gate stood a beautiful,
+tall angel, who sprinkled each one with water out of a golden vessel.
+The touch of this water obliterated at once all remembrance of the past.
+
+St. Peter, who considered the noise and bustle too much of a good thing,
+was of the opinion that mankind had none of the bother of dying, all
+the work falling on him; and he was accordingly grumbling to himself.
+Suddenly he saw a little fellow, clad only in a shirt, standing before
+him, shivering all over, and regarding him with innocent, childish eyes,
+as if asking whether he might enter. St. Peter, unwilling that such
+little folks should cause delay in business, said, roughly, "In with
+you!" The little frightened fellow rushed, thereupon, so quickly through
+the gate that the angel did not have time to sprinkle him with the
+waters of oblivion.
+
+Now, as children of two years have but short memories and very harmless
+pasts, the angel smilingly let him slip by. Once inside, little Hans was
+seized by a host of flying angels and whirled away to Paradise, which
+was more beautiful than the fairest garden on earth. Rare plants with
+big, magnificently colored blossoms filled the air with spicy odor. Here
+dwelt the tiny children who had left earth before they knew anything of
+it. Here they could dream on forever; and their breath swept softly over
+every bud. Large butterflies with silken wings were bathing in the clear
+ether, and floating entranced from bud to bud. The heavens glittered and
+lightened as though composed of millions of diamonds; yet the sun did
+not blind the eye, nor the warmth rise to summer heat. Eternal spring
+had banished from these regions battle and death, tempest and decay, and
+far away below in misty distance lay all the sorrows of tormented
+creation. Amongst the flowers wandered blissful forms, absorbed in the
+beauty of surrounding harmony.
+
+The boy curiously observed all this splendor, peered into the dewy buds
+of the flowers, examined the wings of his heavenly playmates, and was
+not a little rejoiced on observing that two wings had also grown on him,
+with which he could fly like a bird. "If neighbor Liesel could only see
+me!" thought Hans, and he felt quite proud at the thought. For,
+notwithstanding all the splendor about him, the picture of his parents'
+home presented itself constantly to his little mind. He had an excellent
+memory of the much despised earth, which soon with magnetic power drew
+all his thoughts towards it. At the sight of the wonderful flowers of
+Paradise, such as the earth never produces, he could think of nothing
+but the violets, and crocuses, and tulips which curled up in spring-time
+out of the black earth of his father's garden. The golden fruits on the
+trees reminded him of the gilded ones of the Christmas-tree, and seemed
+to him even brighter; and although the Paradise of heaven, with its
+eternal clearness, was a thousand times more beautiful than the
+changing air below, yet the little heart felt a dim yearning for the
+beloved earth, the griefs of which he had not yet learned to measure;
+and, amidst all this angelic beauty, he only felt an uncontrollable
+longing for the plain, human countenance of his mother. Then there came
+an end to his enjoyment. He began to cry, and, finally, to roar lustily.
+The other little angels gathered astonished around him, staring at the
+strange playmate who had dewdrops in his eyes and made such awful faces.
+Such a thing did not generally occur in heaven, where all were good and
+quiet. But just then St. James came along and, on seeing the crying
+angel, he spoke pleasantly to him, and finally took him up in his arms
+in order to comfort him. But a great surprise lay in store for the
+Saint; for it would have been easier for him to convert a thousand
+heathens than to quiet the little unruly fellow, who commenced kicking
+and wriggling, and made such a terrible outcry that the angels fluttered
+away in consternation. There stood the Saint with the child in his arms,
+and did not know what to do! At last he concluded to show the strange
+being to the Lord Himself, and went with the little one before His
+throne. Then the Lord Almighty smiled, and all the angels around His
+throne smiled, when they saw St. James, who certainly did not seem very
+well adapted for nursing children, and in whose arms little Hans,
+regardless of all surroundings, continued to roar unmercifully. But the
+merciful Lord opined that the greatest squallers often turned out the
+best men, and He ordered an angel to carry the little one back to dear
+earth.
+
+And this was done. With mighty strokes of his pinions the heavenly
+messenger floated back to earth, which came nearer and nearer with its
+mountains, lakes, and rivers, and with the old, lifeworn town, and from
+out the town rose up the gabled roof of the parents' home with a cap of
+snow upon it.
+
+The boy in the coffin opened his eyes, and with a cry of joy his mother
+pressed him to her heart. Among the boughs of the Christmas-tree there
+was a soft rustling and whispering.
+
+Methinks the tree remembered that winter is only a deep sleep, and was
+dreaming of spring.
+
+
+II.
+
+The years of misery and war were over. In the streets of the old town,
+where only a few years ago the roll of the drum resounded, and where the
+plague, in deathly silence, had spread its black wings, there, the stork
+on the town-hall heard, to his great satisfaction, merry shouts of
+children,--the ringing laugh of peace. A group of boys chased each
+other noisily over the market-place, playing at war. War! which had
+desolated so many of their homes. Oh! the fresh, merry laughter of
+childhood! how like unto ivy it climbeth over all ruins and findeth at
+last the sunshine!
+
+But there was one not amongst the noisy group, and that one was Hans.
+His parents perceived with anxiety that the little noisy child had grown
+into a silent, shy boy, who avoided the games of his comrades and
+dreamingly went his own way. For hours he sat in the garden on the bench
+near his mother's flowers, and gazed dreamingly at the busy bees and
+butterflies, or lay in the woods near by and stared up through the
+branches of the beech-trees at the blue sky.
+
+"What are you thinking of?" his mother would ask at times; then he would
+start up like one awakened from sleep, the thread of whose dreams are
+broken by awaking. "He is ill," the mother would think, anxiously. But
+folks would shake their heads suspiciously when, on speaking to the boy,
+they received no other answer than a shy, questioning look. "There is
+something wanting," said some, with an unmistakable gesture. "He is a
+fool," murmured others.
+
+Thus a boy fares who has peeped too early into Paradise. The children
+of his own age made fun of him, and poor Hans would have been quite
+forsaken if Liesel from next door had not taken his part. She was quite
+the opposite to him,--merry and high-spirited. Whilst he sat dreaming,
+she was romping about, singing and laughing. But the children kept
+together, and the parents thought they might some day be a pair. The
+boy's reserved nature vexed the father, and, being of the opinion that
+man's hand cannot learn too early to handle and knead the tough clay of
+existence, he apprenticed him to a potter, in the hope that time would
+change the character of his son. He was mistaken, however; the boy grew
+up a fine, handsome youth, but in character he remained the boy of
+former days. If he looked up from his work it was not in order to gaze,
+like other journeymen, after a young girl who maybe was tripping past;
+but to stare up at the sky, which shone so blue between the houses, or
+to follow with his eyes the great white clouds away,--who knows whither?
+In his free time he did not go like others to the market-place, but
+would mount the ramparts at the back of his parents' house and gaze into
+the valley below, where the river was bearing its silvery wavelets into
+the far distance. What might not be in the far distance? Far, far away
+yonder must be the place where the dream of his childhood was realized!
+How astonished, then, was his father, when one fine sunny spring morning
+his son stood before him, with knapsack and staff, in order to bid him
+farewell before setting out on his travels. Who would ever have thought
+he would want to travel! The father rejoiced in the belief that the son
+would seek work according to the custom of journeymen workmen, and gave
+him his blessing, and much good advice besides. But he hardly even heard
+the words and advice of his father; there was a singing in his ears and
+a mist before his eyes, so that he felt like one intoxicated. Yes, he
+was a fool! Nor did he see the tears his mother and Liesel were shedding
+at his departure: he only thought of that far-off land, of the dream of
+his childhood. What mattered to him their tears! He wanted only to
+travel to find his Eden. And he travelled. With each rising sun he arose
+and thought, "To-day you will find what you seek;" and when he laid
+himself down tired at night, he thought, "To-morrow I shall reach my
+goal;" and, happy in this thought, he would fall asleep. No mountain was
+too steep for him, no path too stony, no forest too dense; he thought of
+his Eden, and minded not the thorns that tore his flesh. Yes, he was a
+fool!
+
+Far behind him, forgotten, lay his home in the dim distance!
+
+No living creature could tell him where his Paradise lay! The birds of
+the forest went on with their song; the deer gazed at him astonished;
+the brooks babbled on monotonously and sought the way to the ocean.
+People he asked only laughed, and they looked back at the strange lad,
+shaking their heads.
+
+Quickly the time flew by; the spring faded, summer and autumn passed,
+and still he wandered on. His path, that once lay before him green and
+fair, was now covered with snow. He, however, heeded it not, and
+journeyed on. It must come at last, the long-sought goal! At last he
+reached a mighty snow-covered mountain range, so mighty that he said to
+himself, "Beyond this it must surely lie," and in glad hope passed
+forward. A whole day he ascended over snow and ice: his feet were sore
+and bruised, and he was shivering from the cold, and yet no hut was to
+be seen that might offer him shelter. The sun went down in crimson
+behind the ice-armored mountains, leaving behind a bitter coldness, so
+great that the stars in the heavens shivered with frost.
+
+Then it occurred to tired Hans that it was Christmas, and for the first
+time on his journey he thought for a long while of home, where the
+Christmas-tree was now lighting up the warm room, and the dear ones were
+assembling around it. But what mattered the Christmas-tree to him; he
+was seeking Paradise!
+
+Suddenly he saw on the roadside an old man. He was sitting on his
+bundle, and leaning his head on his hands. He must have been very old,
+for his face was furrowed like the bark of an oak, and his snowy beard
+hung nearly to the ground.
+
+Then tired Hans rejoiced, greeted him, and asked how far it might be to
+the nearest habitation of man.
+
+"To-day you can no longer reach it," replied the old man. "Whither are
+you journeying?"
+
+"I seek Paradise," answered Hans: "nearly a year have I wandered over
+the earth, and yet have not found it."
+
+Thereupon the old man arose, laid his hands upon Hans's shoulder, and
+said, "Turn back and go home! I have wandered for more than a thousand
+years on earth, and sought Paradise, and have not found it. Know, then,
+I am Ahasuerus, doomed to everlasting wandering as a penance. Wherever I
+go I am persecuted; where I knock the gate is locked; and nowhere have I
+a home. Stones are my bed, and my bundle is my pillow. Go, poor fool!
+return to the place of your birth. There, some day, they will dig a
+grave for you, wherein you may sleep peacefully. Go back to your home,
+where a Christmas-tree is lit up for you, and where you are loved, and
+leave to me all wandering and seeking: to me, the poor, old, accursed
+man!"
+
+Then Hans was very sad: he threw down his bundle, sat down in the snow,
+and wept bitterly. However, he was so tired from the long journey that
+he soon forgot all his misery, and fell into a deep slumber. The old man
+spread his cloak over him to protect him from the cold, and then
+listened to the deep-drawn breathing of precious sleep, that drowns all
+cares. The youth lying there could sleep, and die, and forget! but he
+himself must keep awake, and live, and wander!
+
+Upon the face of Hans a smile was playing; he was dreaming! Did he see
+the long-sought Paradise? He saw in his dream a house with snow-covered
+gable and little windows; a small house, closely encircled by other
+houses, a garden in front. In a room inside sat his parents round a
+cheerful fire. The spinning-wheel whizzed, and the cat purred in comfort
+in front of the fire. Softly there fell, now and again, a needle from
+the Christmas-tree. A resinous, pine-tree odor filled the room. From the
+next house a clear, maiden's voice was singing the old, old Christmas
+carol,--
+
+  "A rose has bloomed
+  From a tender root,
+  Our fathers have sung:
+  Out of Jesse it came."
+
+And the crackling of the fire, the whizzing of the spinning-wheel, and
+the maiden's song seemed to the dreamer fairer than a thousand Edens. An
+indescribable homesickness overcame him.
+
+When he awoke, the east was radiant with the blush of morning. He sprang
+up and seized his staff. Scales seemed to fall from his eyes. "Home,
+home!" a thousand voices seemed to echo within him.
+
+But up the mountains, outlined by the red of the morn, he saw the old
+man wandering on his comfortless path.
+
+
+
+
+_A Yarn Spun by a Yankee._
+
+
+     "A white-haired, thin-visaged, weather-worn old gentleman in a
+     blue, Quaker-cut coat."
+
+_Hawthorne._
+
+
+
+
+A TALE OF A TURKEY.
+
+
+I.
+
+The shutters of a little spur of warehouses which breaks out into
+mountainous stores and open valleys of streets around the corner, but
+which itself overlooks no fairer view than a narrow, muddy alley of a
+thoroughfare scarcely broad enough to admit two drays abreast, and, by
+actual measurement,--taken with persistent diligence by the adjacent
+office boys,--just two running-jumps from gutter to gutter; the shutters
+of this, in its own eyes, important little trade centre, were up, and a
+great clattering they had made in getting up on a clear, tingling night
+before Christmas, eighteen hundred and--no matter what.
+
+The porters had come out in their faded greatcoats, bandaged right and
+left in woolly mufflers, and more than usually clumsy in padded gloves,
+and had been bitten and tossed about by the wind with such unbecoming
+violence that even a porter felt it necessary to hurry and bustle.
+Taking the shutters by assault from the foe's embraces, they had
+thumped, and banged, and hammered, and scolded them into place, and, in
+undignified haste, had betaken themselves, steaming warm breath through
+their fingers, into their proper and respective places by the
+counting-house fire.
+
+The magic--so it seemed in its effects--tolling of a deep-toned bell in
+the neighborhood would not allow them to doze long in their warm nooks,
+but, like the jealous monster in the fairy-tale, kept its captives
+always going, going, going, for its sixth stroke had not died away
+before they began to appear again, this time with the addition of fur
+hats and little dinner-baskets, and with no perceptible noses--unless
+the existence of watery eyes above their mufflers argued the missing
+features to be in their proper places below--and with an accelerated
+gait--also an act of enchantment.
+
+William, of No. 6, bawled as loud as his worsted gag would permit across
+the street (so termed by a figure of rhetoric) to James, of No. 7:
+
+"Hello, Jim! Cold as blazes, ain't it?"
+
+James, of No. 7, assenting, Thomas, of No. 4, would like to know "How
+blazes can be cold, now?"
+
+William, of No. 6, would say "as thunder," if that would suit him any
+better; and as it appeared to do so they, with half a dozen others,
+breasted the wind and trudged out into the blustery streets beyond.
+
+The merchants, too, had locked their doors, and tried their knobs, and
+looked up at the faces of their stores as if to say, "Merry Christmas to
+you, and I wish you a pleasant day to-morrow!" but in reality to see
+that all was fast, and perchance to indulge in a comfortable survey of
+their snug little properties--and the complacent tread with which they
+followed the porters gives color to the suspicion--and draw from it
+momentum for the enjoyment of the morrow's holiday.
+
+The shutters, then, were up--stop, not all up! One, as you may see by
+the shaft of gas-light that has just fallen across the pavement near the
+top of the court, is still down.
+
+The little square window through which the light eddies on the bricks is
+supported on either side by a heavy door, and all three, the two doors
+and the window, are in turn crowned and anointed on the head, as it
+were, by a very bold sign containing very brazen--in every sense of the
+word--letters which announced pompously, like some servants of similar
+metallic qualities, the name of their master.
+
+Emanuel Griffin--the tongue uncontrollably adds Esquire--was the name,
+and there, if you had looked through the window, in a deep funnel of a
+room, at a desk near the fire, head behind the open leaves of a ledger,
+and feet beneath the warm recesses of the stove, sat its possessor.
+
+Outside the railing which formed a barrier between Emanuel Griffin,
+Esq., and the business world, and encompassed with a less elaborate
+railing, sat, on a high stool in a cold corner, the little,
+blackish-green (perhaps the color gas-light imparts to faded black)
+clerk of Emanuel Griffin, Esq. Whether David Dubbs, such was he called,
+derived the power of writing from his mouth; or whether the gentle
+excitation of moving his lips over toothless gums assisted thought; or
+whether, as some said, he chewed tobacco, a position which nobody ever
+held long, as nobody ever proved him to have expectorated during his
+whole life; his mouth--always closed--moved up and down, up and down,
+with the motion of his pen. Hair he had none, that is, none to speak of;
+there were some few isolated white locks behind his ears and at the back
+of his head, but he made no pretensions to have any, and openly
+acknowledged himself bald--and very candid of him it was to do so.
+
+Chroniclers have told us how, after fierce battles that have raged from
+dawn till nightfall, the moon has come calmly up from the horizon and
+shone peacefully and serenely over the field of strife and death. So
+arose a beneficent smile ever and anon over the wrinkled and careworn
+face of the old clerk; but still he wrote on, Faithful Dave! and if
+pleasant thoughts swept through him they avoided the business that
+occupied his hands and did not interrupt it.
+
+They had long sat in quietness, only broken by the noise of turning
+leaves and crackling coals,--but, in truth, if David Dubbs's eye, in its
+course to and from the clock, had not, like the world, worked silently
+on its axis, there must have been continual creaking--when a noise like
+the name of David emanated from the ledger, and following it--for it was
+near-sighted--the head of Emanuel Griffin, Esq., lifted itself to an
+erect posture and repeated in a less muffled tone, "David!"
+
+"Yes, sir," answered the old clerk, in a weak little voice, and climbing
+down to the floor from his perch.
+
+"You may lock up, David. Ten thousand and odd. Ten thousand's a good
+year, David; a very good year. Very--good--indeed! But go and lock up,"
+and then Mr. Griffin took a glance at the clock. "Half-past six! Why
+it's surprising how time does fly, and Christmas Eve, too. Well, well!
+But hurry up with the shutters, David, and we shan't be long----"
+
+Before Mr. Griffin had fully delivered himself of these remarks the
+little person of David Dubbs was out in the cold, was in and out among
+the screws on the door, had put up the shutters, and simultaneously with
+the last word stood in the half-opened door and, all unseen by his
+employer, waved his hand to some one at the corner of the court. He then
+walked as quickly as his little, bent legs--parabolic were they in
+outline, but, as this is not a geometric treatise, it is of no
+particular consequence--would permit him up the long aisle in the centre
+of the room, and sent off timid little echoes of his steps to ramble
+away among the bales of crockery--for it was crockery that Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., dealt in--and rattle among the piles of plates.
+
+Having reached again his little cage of an office, he took down from its
+accustomed peg an old, threadbare coat, and, with much exertion and
+outstretching of arms, finally got it on, turned up the collar, tied
+about his ears a not very robust scarf, and laid thereon, as the
+copestone of his apparel, a dingy high hat that had undergone, in point
+of nap, as many reverses as its wearer in point of fortune. Thus
+attired, he tipped his hat to his employer, all ready, like himself, to
+depart, and started out.
+
+Before he reached the door, a cry from Mr. Griffin arrested him, and he
+came hastily back; for, although it would have required a thumbscrew to
+have made him confess it, yet he had all day long looked forward to the
+time of parting, when he half expected Emanuel Griffin, Esq., contrary
+to his custom though it was, would offer him some little gift out of the
+increased profits of a business he had done no little to advance. But no
+such design had Mr. Griffin conceived, or if he had it was very soon
+suppressed as entirely unworthy of a man of purely business habits, and
+all he had to say was,--
+
+"I know, David, there is something I was to have told you to do. Mrs.
+Griffin impressed it on me this morning, but,"--here he stood thinking
+for a moment,--"no matter," he resumed. "I guess it was nothing very
+important, so good-by, David, and a--good-by!" He was going to say "and
+a merry Christmas;" but for a man of purely business habits to unbend so
+far and become cheerful--why, it's subversive of all business
+discipline, and so he thought to himself.
+
+David, doubly disappointed, turned and passed out, and his old eyes must
+have been extremely sensitive to the wind, for they ran with something
+very like tears that he wiped away with his glove as he muttered,--
+
+"So, no Christmas, after all. Poor girls! Poor girls!" Mr. Griffin was
+not long behind his faithful old clerk. He extinguished the lights with
+great care, and then, with the key in his hand, felt his way to the
+door, banged it after him, and locked it with the satisfaction of a
+miser over a casket of treasures. His journey home led him to the
+opposite end of the court from that which David had passed through, and
+he therefore did not overtake him.
+
+And if he had, would this hard, business-encrusted heart have been less
+cold than the bitter winds that assailed it? Would the sight which made
+David Dubbs forget the fierceness of night have penetrated the chilly
+place where it rested and warmed it in pitying activity? Would the
+tender impulses, which the unsifted morals of barter extinguish, as they
+extinguish much of the nobility in man, have enkindled anew and
+brightened this misery? Not if dollars would have done it; nay, not if
+even a word would have done it, would Emanuel Griffin have relaxed from
+the demeanor which purely business habits imposed upon him. He felt it
+due to his position in business society to maintain rigidly its maxims,
+the chief of which, "Do unto others as they would do unto you, if they
+could," he practised to the letter.
+
+
+II.
+
+Poor David Dubbs! Oh, the long time it seemed since boon companions had
+smitten him on the back and cried, "Bravo, Dave Dubbs! Bravo, old
+fellow!" to his little songs, or encouraged him by such exclamations as
+"Dave Dubbs can't be beat at a ballad!" Oh, the long, long time ago! But
+to proceed. As David Dubbs met the ambushed winds that leaped upon him
+at the corner of the court, he also met the person to whom he had waved
+his hand from the store-door. If you had looked for the stature of a man
+you would have been doubly mistaken,--first in sex, next in size. It was
+neither a man nor a woman. There, in a blustery doorway, shaking with
+cold, but ever on the alert, crouched a little girl. She wore a knitted
+hood, and out of it fell overflowing curls; but her poor, attenuated
+little body was ill-assorted with plenty of any kind, and the wealth of
+curls mocked the poverty of her clothes. A patched shawl affected to
+protect her poor little shoulders, and a calico dress flapped coldly
+about her legs. As David turned the corner she arose, and, for all her
+stiffness and shivering, exclaimed, cheerily, "A merry Christmas,
+father!" and reached to kiss him.
+
+He took her in his arms--she was very, very slight--and lifted her to
+his lips, and then, throwing one side of his own scanty coat about her
+and holding it there with an affectionate hug, he said, "Come, come,
+little daughter, it's too bleak for a little body like you to be out.
+It's cruel, cruel, but I dared not tell him it was so late. What does he
+know or care for my poor little faithful, Loving Scout?"
+
+"Your Scout couldn't miss Christmas Eve, father, if it was ever so
+cold."
+
+"And does she ever miss? No, no, she's a dutiful Scout, winter and
+summer, rain and shine, morning and night, and what should I ever do
+without her!"
+
+So, talking and fighting the wind by turns, they walked on, the bent and
+shuffling old man and his Little Scout, as he had named her and as they
+all affectionately called her, through dark streets where, ever and
+anon, a car or belated dray shivered by, as if the cold had touched even
+its insensibility, and made the tracks resound and the paving blocks
+rattle in the clear air; through deep cisterns of streets, between lofty
+stone banks--as stern almost as their governing boards, for, although
+boards are chiefly wooden, a supplication will quickly petrify them;
+through rows of illuminated stores like walls of Arabian Night visions,
+with traceries of frost on their windows richer in design than the gems
+within them; through clustering crowds that entered or left continually
+the swinging doors of saloons and hotels; past waiting carriages; past
+swearing men; past laughing ladies, and past beggars, wearier, and
+colder, and lonelier than themselves. So they travelled, scarcely
+heeding what they saw in their speed until, on the margin of all the
+din, by a turn through a dark street, they reached a darker alley, and,
+passing down it, at last stopped before their own homely door.
+
+The building had once been a warehouse,--David liked it the better for
+that, he said. "Why, all my life has been spent in trade, and, you see,
+I've sort a become attached to anything that smacks of it, though I've
+little reason to feel so, the Lord knows!" he would exclaim to his
+friends. Up above, over a long door in the top story--you can scarcely
+make it out in the uncertain light--jutted a weather-beaten crane, with
+a long disused pulley dangling at its point, cracked, and rusted, and
+abandoned, and no less cracked and abandoned, shot out from the second
+floor a moss-covered platform that had been intended for the reception
+of bales of stuffs that had never arrived. The mortar had, here and
+there, been wrenched from between the bricks by savage weather and age,
+and the doors, too, had shrunk before their united malignity. How such
+a house had drifted to such a locality is unaccountable, unless--as is
+often the case--some navigator of real estate had thought he descried a
+port, where was only a shoal that left his venture high and dry among
+newer and costlier craft.
+
+However, the nearest approach it had made in the last twenty years or
+so--so David said--to fulfilling its commercial place in the world was
+in opening its doors to a gentleman in the carpentering line. This
+gentleman, Mr. Jacob Tripple by name, occupied the ground floor, and all
+around it were scattered evidences, in the shape of window-frames, and
+wooden-horses, and props, and old lumber, of a thriving business. He,
+with all his men, had departed long ago and left the place dark, and
+still, and cold.
+
+It had lain in this stupor of silence for more than an hour, waiting
+against hope to be resuscitated by any stray echoes that should drop in
+from the neighboring hubbub and waken it up, when it caught among its
+bleak angles the cheery voice of David's Little Scout, and revived--as
+some old men do under the charm of gentle words--to a more respectable
+opinion of itself. So immediately it seemed refreshed, that if it were
+possible for such a decrepit--not to say inanimate--old structure as
+that even metaphorically to prick up its ears, it metaphorically did as
+the sound of Dolly's--her proper name--cheery welcome home echoed round
+it.
+
+"Here we are once more, father," she cried, breaking away from him to
+have the door open when he plodded up to it. "Once more, and a welcome
+home, and a merry Christmas to you!"
+
+"Always on duty, Little Scout! Always on duty!" he called after her.
+(The wind was keen and drew water to his eyes again, and again he
+brushed it away.) "Always on duty," he went on repeating, with a doleful
+effort at cheerfulness.
+
+She was up-stairs by that time, and, opening the door above, had called
+in, "Here's father!" then ran back to meet him, which she did at the
+door below.
+
+What these unusual proceedings meant, David Dubbs might have guessed or
+might have known traditionally, they being of an annual nature, but
+whether he did or not, or whether his ignorance was also traditional, he
+gave no sign, and walked feebly up-stairs, guided by the Little Scout,
+just as if it were not Christmas Eve at all.
+
+What the proceedings did mean was that a steaming pot of coffee at the
+given signal was lifted from its warm corner and tilted into a cup that
+held a conspicuous place at the head of a little white spread table. On
+its right hand sat, in the position of an honored and seldom present
+guest, a juicy-complexioned, but not corpulent beefsteak; opposite to
+it, inviting death by explosion, rested a bowl full of steaming potatoes
+in their native jackets, and the centre was fully occupied by a huge
+loaf with a large family of slices.
+
+Around this collation--aroused by the signal, for they had been idly
+waiting before--moved two pairs of hands with loving attention. The
+cloth was resmoothed, the knives and forks straightened, a brace of
+mealy potatoes was emptied on the two plates that awaited them, and at
+last a ruddy slice of beefsteak was deposited beside and oozed through
+them its savoriness. This last climax was reached just as the door
+opened, and the two pairs of hands speedily transferred themselves to
+the duty--no very arduous one--of helping David and Dolly out of their
+wraps.
+
+And then, with many caresses and kisses and cries of "Take this side,
+father, where the coals are bright!" or "Put your feet here and get them
+good and warm, poor Little Scout!" then, when thick flying questions and
+travellings to the one end of the room for things that were not wanted,
+and excursions to the other end of the room for things that were wanted;
+when the chairs were drawn up; when the grateful old man and his little
+daughter, with those tender hands over their mouths to stifle the
+gratitude they struggled to utter, were duly seated at the table, and
+when the kettle was singing its approval in the corner, then,
+only,--when all these preliminaries were gone through with,--did the
+possessors of the hands that devised them seat themselves on a low
+wooden settee opposite the table and enjoy the zest and delight they had
+ministered to.
+
+Good nature and tender hearts, pale faces and cheerful eyes, honest red
+hands and neatly bound-up hair have never been faithfully reproduced in
+a state of print and paper, much less in imagination, and, indeed, how
+can anything so buxom and comely, even if the plainest in dress, be
+expected to be? It is, therefore, needless to say that the twin
+daughters of David, namely, Molly and Polly Dubbs, being all that is
+here set down, should have been seen in all their kindliness to be truly
+known, and no other form of introduction would do them full justice.
+
+Molly was the counterpart of Polly in all respects save height. She was
+a very little taller than Polly, and a fortunate thing it had been for
+all concerned that she was so. Else, consider the vexation of the
+measles and other diseases essential to youth. Why, in their quandary
+which to begin on, they almost missed the twins altogether as it was.
+Consider the complexity of young lovers who should pour into the ears of
+Polly passionate adjectives intended solely to captivate the heart of
+Molly; and, most important of all, consider the conflict of choice which
+would have disquieted the soul of Mr. Jacob Tripple and at last driven
+him to the alternatives of suicide or bigamy.
+
+But all these dangers had been averted by the provisions of Nature, and
+the twins, who had supped, for economic reasons, earlier in the evening,
+sat beaming on while David and little Dolly heartily devoured the
+supper.
+
+David, looking up now for the first time, in the interval of a mouthful
+swallowed and a mouthful threatened, espied a bowery wreath of holly
+that hung around a picture of General Washington in the act of crossing
+a dark, green river Delaware in a court dress of red and breeches of
+yellow, surrounded on all sides by ice and officers in rainbow uniforms,
+and, as this was the only adornment of a rather bare room, it is no
+wonder it caught his eye.
+
+"Why, who's been a-brightening up the gen'ral so Christmas-like?" he
+exclaimed.
+
+"We did, father! Leastwise it was Polly's present," said Molly.
+
+"And who may be a-sending presents to Polly now?" asked David, with a
+twinkle in his eye that had seen better days but none kindlier. "It
+wasn't young Cuffy over at the baker's, nor Jake Tripple, now, was it?"
+
+He looked at Polly for an answer, whereat she stretched her arm along
+the back of the settee and let fall her hand on Molly's shoulder with a
+punch which was intended as punishment for the giggles her sister
+struggled to confine in her mouth with both hands; but which, in spite
+of her, bubbled over and attacked David, and then, with a blush, Polly
+muttered,--
+
+"It wasn't young Cuffy at all, and I hate his loafy, little face, and I
+hate----"
+
+"Not Jacob Tripple! No, no, not good Jake Tripple?" said David,
+reprovingly.
+
+"I didn't say that, father!" she exclaimed. "He's your good old friend,
+and how could I hate him? He came in just before leaving for the day,
+and asked for you--what, made him think you were home I can't tell, for
+it was long before your time--and asked for you, and left the wreath
+for--for--me."
+
+The hem of her long checkered apron then needed close scrutiny and
+folding for some unknown purpose, and this duty diverted her thoughts
+from the subject, but she turned to Dolly, who enjoyed this banter in
+her own quiet little way, which seldom rippled into a loud laugh, for
+her own quiet little face was too pale and too pinched to invite such
+freebooters. "Come, come, Little Scout," she said. "Is she warm now, and
+were the rations good, and did she meet Kriss Kingle on his cold journey
+(with a caress of her pale little cheeks) with heaps of warm dresses,
+and heaps of pretty dolls, and heaps of sweetmeats too big to carry
+himself, so he asked her to carry some home to help him! Did she? (with
+another caress.) And would our Little Scout be sorry if he didn't come
+himself to look after them and----"
+
+"Ah, that reminds me!" said David, quite audibly for him, and rising
+from the table with knife and fork still in hand.
+
+"What reminds you, father?" asked the twins, in chorus.
+
+"Why, coming home!" said David, not very intelligibly.
+
+"What coming home?" again from the chorus, in expectant attitude.
+
+"Why, Tom, I told you!" which he hadn't done at all, but as by this time
+he was deep in the cupboard, where his overcoat hung, and as his voice
+was a little more muffled than usual, it was useless to argue the point,
+so the chorus loudly exclaimed,--
+
+"Tom?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" from David, faintly and rather testily, as he had
+groped through his old coat, and had successively dropped the knife and
+fork, reeking with gravy, into the inside and outside pockets.
+
+"To be sure! Tom coming home and I clean forgot it, what with the cold
+and the surprises," he said again, emerging with the knife and fork in
+one hand and a letter in the other. "Here it is. He'll be home
+to-morrow, he says, God willin', and eat our turkey with us. Poor Tom,
+poor boy! He's been away so long he's forgot Griffin and hard times, or
+he wouldn't say that!"
+
+"Tom! Be home! and to-morrow?"--interruption of chorus as it reaches for
+the letter, opens and reads it aloud--Dolly being lifted in the sturdy
+arms of Molly to look over.
+
+David, meanwhile, overcome by the toothsomeness of beefsteak, falls to
+again, while the others dance a sort of fandango, and turn up the rag
+carpet, and rattle the dishes on the dresser, and lift Dolly high in the
+air to the improvised tune of "Tom's coming home! Tom's coming home!
+Tom's coming home to-morrow!"
+
+"It's another mouth to feed, but it's hard to wish the poor boy back to
+Californy again," huskily said David; then he exclaimed, as the noise
+increased, "Hey dey! Why, you'll spill the coffee next, and cave in the
+walls, too, in a minute, and then there'll be no home for Tom to come
+to!"
+
+This was good humoredly added as the final swing was given to the dance,
+which brought the twins holding Dolly aloft in their arms laughing and
+panting on the settee.
+
+"But tell us, father, is he coming home for good? He don't say so in the
+letter," asked Dolly, and all leaned forward to hear his answer.
+
+"Coming home for good?" mused David. "Yes, he's coming home for good, I
+hope; but I'm fearful he'll find little beside the good in his sisters'
+hearts."
+
+"Poor Tom," said Dolly, with far-away eyes, "he's had a weary life of it
+in the mines, I guess, poor fellow."
+
+"Yes, yes," said David, "and that's what makes it harder that we can't
+greet him with a good Christmas to-morrow. Well, well, it'll be a
+delight to see my poor boy again, hard times or no hard times, and we'll
+be as cheerful as we can be and are now, thanks to my good girls," and
+here he arose from the table, and, seating himself at the fire, opened a
+morning paper that he had found in the waste-basket in Mr. Griffin's
+counting-house (and very worthless it must have been to be found there!)
+in which, through the kind offices of a massive old pair of spectacles,
+he was soon absorbed.
+
+And now, while the Little Scout--in fulfilment of her established
+character--plays the spy on sundry crumbs that slink from notice under
+the table, and while the twins, too busy to talk, wash the dishes and
+dispose them in a glistening row along the dresser, and, while David
+opens the paper and plods up and down it, column by column, like a
+ploughman furrow by furrow up and down a field, and with almost as much
+toil; and while the ancient clock on the shelf over the stove and under
+the motley General Washington ticks loud enough to be heard above the
+clinking dishes and simmering kettle; and while the table, divested of
+its cloth and exhibiting a stained and blistered old back, is glad
+enough to avoid attention by being stowed away in the corner; while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity that come only at the call of good men,
+and good wives, and good sons, and good daughters, but resist the
+imperious beckonings of the wealthiest hands, and wing on over their
+roofs to lowlier, and scantier, and purer habitations--while the
+pleasant spirits of domesticity and kindliness throng invisibly into the
+room, and David Dubbs reads stray scraps from his paper to his
+daughters, grouped near the fire at his feet, we must softly withdraw
+and leave them to the care of coming Christmas dreams.
+
+
+III.
+
+Christmas morning had opened brightly with David Dubbs. The sun,
+preceded down the court by hustling winds that knocked at every
+citizen's door and demanded admittance for their oncoming master, had
+left at each house a gift of golden cheerfulness. The sky above was so
+blithe and blue that it smiled down at even so insignificant a crack as
+David Dubbs's court must have appeared to it; and the cold was a jolly
+and snappish cold.
+
+The twins and David's Little Scout were as merry as the Christmas chimes
+they lingered and listened to, and not the daintiest dinner that Mr.
+Cuffy (and that gentleman held the subject somewhat in mind, too, on
+Polly's account) could have delivered at their door would have added one
+jot of happiness to their abundance. David's poor old back bent under
+the stress of poverty that would permit him no indulgences for them--all
+the more dear on that day; but, used to loving self-denial, they never
+missed what they so little desired, and so far were they from giving it
+a thought, that if David had spoken out what he so wilfully turned over
+and over in his mind, that would have given them far more pain and
+anxiety. Mr. Tripple was early in his shop, presumptively to attend to
+some forgotten duties, but, as he did not pay very active attention to
+anything but carefully tying up a square box in white paper, and as he
+did pay very active attention to what went on up-stairs, at the same
+time exhibiting no hurry to get home to dinner, David, who had, towards
+noon, gone around the corner with Polly to make some little purchases of
+groceries before the stores closed, dropped in on his way back and
+invited Mr. Tripple up-stairs. Mr. Tripple at first firmly refused, and
+said, "Very much obliged, Dave, but couldn't think of it. Indeed not.
+They'd 'spect me at home, ye know, Dave." Whereupon Miss Polly added her
+entreaties, and said he needn't expect anything very much, but if he
+would walk up they would be very happy to have him. Mr. Tripple would
+have walked up--and, indeed, wanted very much to walk up--at first, but
+his extreme awkwardness, aggravated by holiday clothes of a tight cut
+and by a paper collar bent above his coat like a scimetar, and almost as
+sharp and glistening as that weapon, impelled him to do violence to his
+wishes in order to appear calm--under _her_ eyes--and to deceive them
+politely as to his real desire. But now, lured on by the siren voice of
+Polly, he consented to go up "a little while" (which meant all the
+afternoon), and taking the white box under his arm he locked the
+shop-door and followed them up the creaking stairs.
+
+Arrived in the room and relieved of hat and coat, Mr. Tripple bowed
+mysteriously to Dolly, and, intrusting her with the box, whispered,--"Go
+and hand that to sister Polly, little un." Polly, receiving it from her,
+exclaimed in surprise,--
+
+"For me, Mr. Tripple?"
+
+"Yes, miss," he replied, growing red and smiling broadly, "a little
+something for Christmas, that's all."
+
+Polly opened the box and extracted a pasteboard plane with some
+artificial shavings pasted upon it, which, when lifted apart, discovered
+a heap of sweetmeats. Dolly and Molly, looking on, exclaimed, "Why, Mr.
+Tripple, what a surprise!" and Polly blushingly added, "So very
+unexpected!"
+
+Mr. Tripple grew redder and nervously crossed his legs, saying, "I
+thought 'twould be kind a appropriate to the trade, you know, and so I
+just fetched it up, and----"
+
+Then Polly, seeing his embarrassment, called on David and the rest to
+come and help themselves, and there was good humor and laughing until
+the twins darted away to got dinner, which was soon prepared, for there
+was little enough to get, and all invited to sit up to the table.
+
+All were duly in their places, and David had, in accordance with
+Christmas custom, offered grace. Mr. Tripple and the girls were slowly
+raising their bowed heads, when a loud knock announced a visitor, and
+hastened the raising of heads to an unseemly hurry.
+
+"Tom!" all exclaimed.
+
+Molly hurried down-stairs, and the rest rushed to the stair-landing,
+where, in a moment, they received, not Tom, but a large, square basket
+that emitted a very fragrant smell of roasted fowl, in the arms of the
+returning Molly. Once in the room, the lid was off in a twinkling, and
+out came a sizable plate, enveloped in dainty, clean napkins, which,
+being removed in layers, exhibited, in all its brown deliciousness, a
+huge turkey, just done to a turn.
+
+The party gathered around in pleased wonder, and as Molly threw the
+napkins into the basket a card fell on the floor. She picked it up and,
+astonished, read, "Emanuel Griffin."
+
+"What!" said David, snatching it and reading it aloud to himself,
+"Emanuel Griffin. So it is, and no mistake!" and then he burst out,
+"Hurrah! hurrah for Griffin! I knew he couldn't forget us this year!"
+His poor old face was almost young again, and his voice,--why, it could
+actually be heard as he ran on: "Why, there never was such a year for
+the china trade, Tripple, and how could he forget me? Jacob Tripple,
+your hand! A kiss, Little Scout! Why, your old father's 'most young
+again, and his good girls shall dine like other good girls, after all!
+How very thoughtful of Griffin to send it in the nick of time, too.
+Come, sit up again before it gets cold, and I wish we had something as
+hot to drink Griffin's health in. Why, I believe I could sing a song
+again if we had something hot. I do, indeed!"
+
+So he ran on in his childish delight at the thought of being remembered,
+and at the far more grateful thought that his beloved daughters were to
+share the gift with him.
+
+When he had ceased, all turned to Molly and asked in one breath who had
+left it. When the clamor slackened, she replied, "Why, young Cuffy from
+the baker's, and all he said was, 'David Dubbs,--to be sent--card
+inside,' and then kissing his hand, and crying 'Love to her,' meaning I
+don't know who," with a smirk at Polly, "he jumped aboard his wagon and
+flew away down the court."
+
+Never was a turkey enjoyed so much, and never had a turkey better
+deserved it.
+
+Mr. Tripple grew bland and talkative under its juicy influence. He even
+winked at Polly occasionally, and one time actually chucked her under
+the chin. She sat next to him, remarking that if he had his way she
+should live forever on turkey and sugar-plums. David ventured to say
+that that course of diet would be pretty indigestive, whereupon Mr.
+Tripple fondly suggested, as he gazed into her eyes, "How would love do
+for a substitute, then?" implying that "his way" would supply that
+abstract edible in equally large doses.
+
+David dryly added "Starvation," and thereupon Polly covered her face
+with her hands, but left open a laughing eye at Molly, and Mr. Tripple
+looked boldly around the board as a man who had said a very bright thing
+indeed, after which survey he broke out into a not very comfortable
+laugh. All the rest laughed, too, then, and such good humor prevailed
+that nothing seemed amiss, and Mr. Tripple's inexperience was kindly
+overlooked.
+
+But now the turkey was fast becoming skeletonized, and the good company
+was fast becoming the reverse. The jollity was increasing and the
+serious intentions of Mr. Tripple were impending and ready to fall into
+open profession on the slightest encouragement. The Little Scout's
+pinched and pale face--sweet and uncomplaining, even through hunger and
+want--smiled gently and less sadly as it leaned in Molly's arms, and,
+looking up, she said,--
+
+"Poor father! How quiet you were last night when we were walking home.
+I knew you were thinking about to-day and the poor dinner. How kind it
+was of good Mr. Griffin. I'd like to thank him myself, father!"
+
+"And so you shall, Little Scout," said David, gayly, bending over and
+kissing her with boyish contempt of aged bones; "and so you shall, and I
+make no doubt he'll be glad to see you, too, Deary."
+
+The clock in a neighboring steeple, simultaneously with its ancient
+kinsman on the shelf, and followed by incoming echoes of a score of
+others, struck one; but the company little heeded that, and the
+conviviality was far from diminishing when another summons rattled the
+street door, and again all exclaimed "There's Tom!" and crowded to the
+landing as before.
+
+Polly this time tripped down and came back in a moment with only a
+letter, saying,--
+
+"A young man, father, with this letter for Mr. Griffin. It's addressed
+to his store, but he said it was important, and, knowing you lived here,
+he depended on you to deliver it at once."
+
+"Has he gone?" said David, grasping it.
+
+"Yes, father," replied Polly, "right off."
+
+Here was a pitiable state of affairs indeed. David Dubbs, aroused from
+the joyful celebration of his Christmas dinner and from the midst of
+this cosey party and sent off across the river to his master's house
+with a miserable letter and by a miserable young man (and if delivering
+letters when every other well-intentioned man is eating his turkey isn't
+miserable, why what is it?). Sent off on a graceless errand for nothing,
+perhaps. But his kind employer, who had done so much for his comfort and
+joy that very day, must not suffer by his neglect, and off he must post;
+that was imperative. Mr. Tripple offered his services when David had
+started down-stairs, and when there was no chance of his turning back,
+but David said, "No, no, Tripple; you just stay and keep the girls
+company till I get back, and that'll be enough for you to attend to.
+Good-by, girls. Good-by, Little Scout; if it wasn't so cold, she should
+go too." And off he trudged, as patient, and cheerful, and proud of his
+master's attention and of his mission, too, now he had fully set out, as
+many a younger and better dressed man would have been.
+
+
+IV.
+
+When Emanuel Griffin, Esq., leaving the dark little street wherein stood
+his warehouse and wherein very much of his life and very little of his
+money was spent--which latter fact had, however, no merely local
+application but was of a general nature--when, to resume, Emanuel
+Griffin, Esq., buttoning up his overcoat and, leaving the dark little
+street, turned the next corner among the mountainous stores and looked
+vexedly around for a car to bear him to his home across the river, and
+rattled his keys in his pocket, and nearly hummed a tune in his
+impatience, suddenly, as the car appeared like a new planet, and with
+the easy-going motions of a planet in its ascent had nearly reached
+him--suddenly a thought of something forgotten flashed through his mind,
+and the violence of its reaction turned him completely around and sent
+him in a precipitous hurry in the opposite direction, namely, in that
+which David Dubbs and his little daughter had pursued but a short time
+before.
+
+"Pshaw!" he muttered, and looked as if he would like to add something a
+great deal stronger. "That's what I forgot to tell David; but Mrs. G. 'll
+never forget it, nor forgive it, either, if I don't attend to it
+before I get home." So he turned up his collar, and rubbed his ears, and
+hurried on to keep warm.
+
+His destination proved to be a fancy bakery in the neighborhood of David
+Dubbs's house. The pavement in front of it at that hour and season,
+owing to holiday orders, was sending up warm steam from the oven
+beneath, and a fragrant and appetizing smell of hot bread and browning
+cakes pervaded the street. It was a large establishment of the kind, and
+besides its legitimate line of bread-baking, took charge of the cooking
+and preparing of dinners for ladies of limited domestic conveniences in
+fashionable life. Heedless of the delicious scents which had attracted
+several men with greedy eyes to linger at the window and devour in
+fancy--a process which left them hungrier than ever--the heaps of loaves
+and cakes on the counter within; heedless of the supplicating looks the
+men turned on him, and of the confidential attempts of one or two at a
+begging whisper (but his hurry was in nowise chargeable with that
+inattention); heedless of everything but finishing his errand and
+getting home, Mr. Griffin pushed through the crowd in the store, and,
+reaching the counter, beckoned to a light-haired, light-eyed, and
+red-cheeked youth, in a blue tie and black waistcoat that, through
+constant friction with loaves and flour-barrels, had become of a light
+pepper-and-salt pattern, and hurriedly said,--
+
+"I want a turkey, Cuffy, of about fifteen or twenty pounds, cooked and
+sent to my house by one o'clock to-morrow."
+
+"Can't do it, Mr. Griffin," said the young man, who knew him and had
+bowed as he came up.
+
+"Can't do what?" exclaimed Mr. Griffin, with surprise and dismay.
+
+"Can't send it out," returned the young man, firmly.
+
+"Oh!" said Mr. Griffin, relieved; "I thought you meant that you couldn't
+prepare it!"
+
+"No, sir," commenced the young man. "You see, sir, Mr. Griffin, it's so
+late in the day that all our teams is ordered fur to-morrow at that
+time, and so is our boys, but----"
+
+"Well, I'll soon fix that, Cuffy," said Mr. Griffin, opening his coat
+and taking out a card. "There, just pin that on the turkey when it is
+ready, and carry it over here to Dubbs's--David Dubbs is my clerk. He
+will understand the card, and bring the turkey out to my house. I
+shouldn't be so particular about it if Mrs. Griffin had not impressed it
+on me this morning. I almost forgot it, too."
+
+Then asking the price, and answering,--
+
+"That is very high, Cuffy;" to which that young man replied,--
+
+"I know it is, sir, Mr. Griffin, but then, you see, the demand is werry
+great, sir."
+
+Mr. Griffin paid the bill and hurried out, took a car at the next
+corner, and, after a long, cold ride, got home to allay the anxiety of
+Mrs. Griffin by assuring her that the turkey was ordered, and would be
+sent home promptly to-morrow by David Dubbs.
+
+Christmas morning was, among the Griffin household, which consisted of
+Mr. and Mrs. Griffin and a superannuated servant, a very busy morning
+indeed, for the reason that Mrs. Griffin had, according to annual
+custom, invited more guests to dine than she could conveniently provide
+for. Their house was a cottage in the suburbs, pretty enough in summer
+and no thanks to its mistress or the superannuated servant either, but
+to the unaided impulse of nature, which climbed, in the form of bowery
+vines, wherever a vine could find clinging room; but now, in the midst
+of winter, bright though the day was, the skeletons of so much green
+gayety looked bare, and inhospitable, and cold. The house was approached
+by a long path that started at the iron gate and led up to the porch. It
+was far from a large house, and looked inconvenient, and famished for
+paint, and it was no less inconvenient than it looked, a fact, indeed,
+which necessitated the purchase of a cooked turkey, for the oven was
+small, and the stove in the crazy little kitchen needed all the surface
+it could afford for the vegetables, oysters, and other viands which then
+only, throughout the year, it blazed and glowed under.
+
+The morning wore on and twelve o'clock arrived. The big table in the
+little dining-room was duly dressed and adorned with Mrs. Griffin's
+miscellaneous silver; and after a heated debate between that lady and
+the Superannuated, it was decided that when the company were all in the
+parlor the dining-room door should be left open, and at the bottom of
+the table, which now projected against the door, an additional chair for
+Mr. Griffin should be inserted. Mrs. Griffin said of course the company
+must squeeze in, but they understood all that, and were glad enough to
+get in by any means, to which Superannuated readily assented.
+
+One o'clock, and now the company were all arrived. Mrs. Griffin was duly
+excused by Mr. Griffin, who received them, on the plea of domestic
+duties. They were mostly in the parlor, which contained, beside them, a
+set of red velvet furniture and a shining piano, on legs which emulated
+the unsteadiness of Superannuated's own, and which, in huskiness of
+voice, also resembled that person; a portrait of Mr. Griffin in rigid
+broadcloth, and a companion portrait of Mrs. Griffin in low neck and
+volumes of lace; and last, a very pimply-looking carpet, which seemed to
+suffer from a severe rash.
+
+Mr. Griffin had occupied the space between the folding-doors as the
+company arrived and suavely--as suavely, by the way, as his wincing at
+the cost of it all would admit of--received, introduced, and seated
+them. The first arrival was a single gentleman, whom he saluted as Fred.
+He was short, and bald, and spasmodic,--so much so that his pantaloons
+were never straight, and his collar, through much moistening of its
+raspy edges, was soiled. After him, a lady and gentleman drove up to the
+gate in a carriage, and, alighting, the lady swept up the path, in a
+double sense, while her husband upbraided the driver for the muddy
+condition of the carriage, and then, loudly, "At ten, William!" To which
+William as loudly replied, "Can't do it, sir. Got another order; but
+I'll send you another man."
+
+The gentleman answered more quietly, with a careful look at the house,
+where Mr. Griffin awaited him on the porch,--
+
+"Very well, driver;" and also swept in, and was introduced to Fred as
+Mr. Abbert.
+
+Now came a pair who walked, and were addressed and handed around by the
+host as "My dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Dripps;" and then the volume of
+new-comers became quite abundant; so much so that a number of gentlemen
+with no apparent use for their hands were forced to lean about the hall
+and sit on the stairs, which they did up to the very top one. When the
+company had simmered down a good deal, and only a few very bold
+gentlemen ventured to launch remarks into the unanswering silence, and
+when everybody was wondering what everybody else was going to do next,
+and all were, as they reported the next day, "enjoying themselves
+immensely," there was a stir above stairs, a rustling of dresses, and
+then the gentlemen on the stairs, like a row of falling bricks, were
+driven down before the gracious smiles and bows of the transformed
+hostess.
+
+Tripping down after them and falling at last into the extended arms of
+her husband--rather unsteady under the weight--while the stiffly polite
+gentlemen formed a compact crowd out to the door. Mrs. Griffin was led,
+with no little difficulty, through the seated guests, bestowing bows,
+and smiles, and "Glad to see you, my dear Mr. Dripps," and "How well
+you're looking, my dear Mrs. Abbert," and "Welcome, gentlemen," (whereat
+a murmur ran through the crowd and all shook their heads and tried to
+turn round and bow, but utterly failed,) and "Oh! here's my old Fred,"
+and sundry other bewitching remarks that led the crowd of gentlemen to
+murmur again something like "Charming, be Gad!" and grow uneasy.
+
+But now the bell was rung by Superannuated, who had duly inserted the
+chair, and Mr. Abbert, receiving the hostess from the arm of her
+husband and in turn delivering his smiling wife to Mr. Griffin, led off
+the throng to dinner.
+
+When they arrived at the protruding table, by a preconcerted arrangement
+Mrs. Griffin handed Mr. Abbert to the one side and squeezed herself
+through the other--an action which was imitated by the rest of the
+company, who were finally seated close up to the door--all but Mr.
+Griffin, who was to occupy the extra chair, and, as he was already
+inside, and there was no other means of exit, he was obliged to pass
+through the kitchen and around the house. He soon appeared again through
+the front door and the dinner began.
+
+Mrs. Griffin, who had long before left Superannuated to finish while she
+perfected her toilet, now rang the bell and, on her appearance,
+whispered in her ear. Superannuated whispered in her mistress's ear.
+Mrs. Griffin thereupon uttered a little cry and looked at Mr. Griffin.
+Mr. Griffin, in consternation, cried, "My dear!" and attempted to
+squeeze between the chairs, but failed. Then he looked wildly about him,
+and at last ran through the front door. He soon reappeared at the side
+of his fainting wife, who revived enough to say,--
+
+"I shall never, never forgive you! Oh, the humiliation! the agony!" then
+fainted again.
+
+"What is it?" "What's the matter?" "She's fainted!" and confused screams
+of the ladies came from all sides. Mrs. Dripps passed along her salts
+bottle. Mrs. Abbert held Mrs. Griffin's head, and Fred applied water.
+Under the strong influence of these restoratives she soon revived, and
+whispered to her husband something which caused him also to start and
+look despairingly at her.
+
+She then said to him, loud enough for all to hear, "You must tell them
+it was your fault. Oh, the humiliation!" Here she burst out again, with
+her handkerchief to her eyes, and Mrs. Abbert soothingly said, "Oh,
+never mind him, my dear. I wouldn't mind him!" This was growing
+invidious, and all the gentlemen at the bottom of the table were looking
+scornfully at him.
+
+He therefore said, in a loud voice,--
+
+"The turkey has not arrived,--that is all."
+
+"That is all," whimpered Mrs. Griffin, mockingly. "That is all, he says;
+and isn't it enough, sir, to have all your domestic failings exposed to
+the world?"
+
+Mrs. Griffin alluded to cooking facilities, and grew very bitter, while
+"the world" simpered and exchanged looks.
+
+Mr. Griffin then, in desperation, explained the whole matter,--how he
+had left the card for David Dubbs, and paid for the turkey, and come
+unsuspectingly home. "As," he added, "I have done year after year,
+for----"
+
+Here Mrs. Griffin checked him with symptoms of another faint, and he
+stopped short.
+
+Mr. Abbert then said it was all that rascally clerk, and he ought to be
+discharged at once.
+
+"I know 'em," he added violently and with deeply implied wisdom, which,
+by the way, was the only species of wisdom he ever attained to. "I know
+'em, Griffin!"
+
+Mr. Fred was of a similar opinion, and even more violent in his
+denunciation of David, as he had set his heart on turkey, and the
+appetite died painfully within him.
+
+All the ladies and gentlemen were of various opinions, but all
+concentrated their rage on the poor, innocent little clerk, and panted
+for his clerkly death. In the midst of all this commotion the door-bell
+rang, and intensified it twofold, for nobody could get through to the
+door but by going around the house. This Superannuated finally did, and
+brought back with her the identical little clerk,--the poor, agitated,
+and bowing little clerk who had unconsciously aroused all the
+indignation and tumult, whom sundry gentlemen at the lower end of the
+table had threatened with severe punishment if they ever caught sight of
+him, and who, now catching sight of him, were more than usually silent.
+
+Mr. Griffin looked threateningly at him as, hat in hand, he walked up to
+him, presented a letter, and, in his faint voice, said,--
+
+"A letter for you, sir, left for me to deliver."
+
+He took it, and David continued tremulously to say,--
+
+"And how can I thank you, sir, and madam," turning to Mrs. Griffin, "for
+the bounteous gift----"
+
+"Gift?" exclaimed both in a breath; "what gift? Where is the turkey you
+brought? What gift? What gift?"
+
+"Why, a splendid turkey, with your card kindly----"
+
+This was received by the company with a volley of cries and calls, by a
+relapse on the part of Mrs. Griffin, and by the descent of Mr. Griffin's
+hand upon David's coat-collar, and finally by poor, frightened David's
+ejectment from the kitchen-door, harshly reproached by his employer as a
+thief and vagabond, and warned never to show his face in his store
+again.
+
+"Be off, now!" he cried after him, "you ungrateful, deceitful old
+villain!" and then he slammed the door, and joined the hungry guests, to
+whom he declaimed at some length on the thanklessness of the lower
+classes.
+
+Mrs. Griffin was quickly re-restored, this time to a state of injured
+perfection, and after the united apologies of herself and husband, and
+more abuse of poor, luckless David Dubbs, the company concluded with
+pretty bad grace to make the most of what had been prepared in the way
+of vegetables and side dishes, long ago cold. Mr. Griffin was mad,
+insulted, and hungry, and the contents of the letter he had received
+seemed to add very little warmth to the food, but a great deal to his
+anger, for he tore it up into very small pieces, as if it were David
+himself he was torturing, and, with a look the company did not consider
+very sociable, scattered it on the floor.
+
+
+V.
+
+The sky, as if presaging David Dubbs's misfortune, had grown overcast,
+and flung down spiteful little sallies of snow as he crossed the river
+on his way to Mr. Griffin's. The creaking of the bridge's huge timbers
+and the splitting ice below it made him shiver and pull his threadbare
+coat close about him and sacrifice his old hands to the wind to save his
+freezing ears. The same scarf bound them as the night before, but an icy
+gale like that which swept from the open river would have frozen through
+arctic furs. Notwithstanding all this, his spirits were lighter than
+usual. The scene he had left at home floated on before his eyes, and
+transfused itself with the black, sketchy trees against the sky and
+blent with the ragged barbs of smoke that depended from cottage
+chimneys. The wind had been boisterous enough, and would have torn it
+away on a cantering jaunt not many minutes ago, but, surcharged as it
+was now with blinding snow, it had its own liberty to look after, and
+paid little heed to anything else.
+
+The snow came on thicker and thicker, and had begun to whiten the
+streets by the time David reached Mr. Griffin's house, and now, as he
+stood shocked and bewildered in the garden again, it lay deep and
+dreadfully silent as far as the eye could reach. Had he heard truly? Had
+he, for the first time in a long, and honest, and reputable life, been
+called a thief? And by the man whom his heart had overflowed in
+gratitude to but a moment before! David Dubbs a thief! And what of? What
+had he stolen? Oh, it was cruel to his poor old heart! "And the girls so
+merry, even now," he thought. How; how could he go to them with these
+bitter tidings? To be deprived of even the poor means his pen had
+faithfully and honestly earned for them; to toil so long, so wearily for
+the meed of a thief, for the name of a thief! and he wept in his utter
+woe.
+
+His hat was still on his head, his coat was undone, his scarf had fallen
+back on his shoulders; his poor old eyes were wide apart again, now, and
+the wind tugged at his scanty hair, and the snow, no whiter than itself,
+sifted through it and drifted into the folds of his clothes. But,
+stunned, and tortured, and despairing though he was, the old clerk
+staggered on insensibly homeward. Back through the dreary trees; back
+through the drifted streets; back to the bridge, where he stopped by
+some fatal impulse and leaned near a bleak abutment that overlooked the
+river--gazing, gazing, gazing in a blank stare at the driving channel
+below. The thought, the lurking purpose was shadowed dimly on his
+distraught mind. The cold, rolling river once passed, the seething cakes
+of ice once passed, and it would soon be over, soon be over. Life had
+been a worthless gift to him. His youth had been falsely colored by the
+visions of childhood; his age had been falsely colored by the ambitions
+of youth. Nothing he had looked to in the distance ever had grown into
+reality. Why should he survive his good name! And he clutched the stones
+and raised himself up and quivered at the top of the stone wall.
+
+But now his hand relaxed, and his face, clouded and suffering before,
+fell into a calmer look of attention, almost a smile broke over it, and
+he gazed out against the sky as if transfixed.
+
+It was the vision that had, like the pillar of cloud by day and of fire
+by night, preceded and gladdened him on his way; the scene of his happy,
+unsuspecting girls; of the pale Little Scout--whose simple touch would
+then have instantly revived and soothed him, whose tender love was his
+comfort, his sanctuary from pursuing evils; the scene of his old home,
+far cosier, far more beloved, far more cheerful for all its homeliness,
+for all its poverty, than the more pretentious one of Emanuel Griffin;
+the scene of lowly pleasures it had cherished; of the bitter trials it
+had assuaged; and, finally, of the bright, laughing group he had left
+there, oh! so little prepared, so little conscious of the blight he
+would bring among them. This vision, these thoughts had flowed in upon
+his already disturbed mind, and had driven quite away all consciousness
+of where he was or how long he had stood in the bitter cold, when a
+policeman--overcoated, and furred, and frozen-bearded,--came by, and,
+suspecting things to be not altogether right, caught David by the
+sleeve, and adjusted his scarf and hat, saying,--
+
+"No loafing on the bridge, old man. Move on; move on, now!" at which
+David started, looked all around him, and then moved on as commanded.
+His back, always bent, and his gait, always decrepit and shuffling, were
+now pitiably so, and he had a long, long journey before him; but, thanks
+be to Him whose omnipotent care protects and watches over the poor in
+spirit, he had escaped a far longer one. On and on he went, not cold
+now, not thinking, not in haste; passing thick-coated travellers who
+ran, and clapped their hands, and swung their arms for warmth; passing
+gay companies in cabs that rolled over the snow as softly as footsteps
+on velvet. But he heeded nothing of all this, and staggered onward to
+his own poor home.
+
+A light was streaming out from the windows of the old warehouse,
+crossing the snow piled on the platform above and slanting on the heaps
+beneath. It was an inviting glimmer, a herald from within to all cold
+travellers without of the blessedness of home, and, as David approached
+the corner of the court, his eye was greeted cheerily by its "Welcome
+home!" and, indeed, it was the first thing he had distinctly seen since
+leaving the house of Mr. Griffin. But his heart failed him. How could he
+face his dear girls again and tell them of the destitution of to-morrow?
+Of the worse than poverty? Thus he thought, and lingered, and slunk
+away by turns, but the ray of home-born light allured him, impassively,
+into its midst, and as he stood over against the house, a poor, weak,
+old man, rambling in his mind, and heroically deciding rather to leave
+them in peace to-night, one more night, and return to them to-morrow, a
+window was thrown up, and Jacob Tripple, putting forth his head, looked
+up and down the court, and then directly in front of him, where David
+stood immovable in the light.
+
+"Why, there he is, now!" he cried. "What's gone amiss, David? What's
+kept you so long? Here he is! Here he is!" he exclaimed again and again,
+and, drawing in his head in much less time than the words could be said,
+Jacob Tripple, followed by the girls, was down-stairs, was--still
+followed by the girls--out in the snow, and had forcibly carried David
+up with them.
+
+They laid him on the settee, moaning and crying aloud against Emanuel
+Griffin, and repeating again and again that they were "Beggars, beggars,
+beggars!" and exclaiming, "My poor Little Scout! My poor girls! My
+poor----"
+
+"They shall not suffer, father!" said a new voice, the sound of which
+raised him up with wide-opened eyes and palsied hands at his head, and a
+long stare at the speaker--"It's Tom, father. Don't you know me?"
+repeated the voice.
+
+Know him! How should he know him? tall, and brawny, and whiskered, with
+pleasant blue eyes, and ruddy cheeks, and good nature streaming from his
+whole face! Him who, so many years ago,--a beardless youth--had run off
+to California after gold bubbles, and whom little good had been heard of
+when anything at all was heard of him. Know him? Of course he did not;
+but, as he sat down beside him on the settee and shook his old hand,
+David put his arms about his neck, and hung his head upon his bosom, and
+saw, in imagination, the thriftless boy of long ago whom he loved for
+all his waywardness.
+
+Tom's strong arms soon bore him to his old seat near the fire, and, for
+the first time, David's wandering eye noticed the bower of green holly
+and red-berried mistletoe that decked the room. General Washington was
+loaded with it. The old clock, actually striking in a cheerier voice the
+hour of nine, had its full share. The dresser hid in festoons of it.
+Even David's chair had its sprig. But what was that on the floor? An
+opened trunk, like a cloven pomegranate, displaying within rich trinkets
+that many a lady might covet?
+
+"Wha--what's it all mean, girls? Tell me, Little Scout," said David,
+catching her hand. "What happened to me? I thought I came home--home to
+tell you Griffin threw me out in the snow, and called me a thief, and
+how all of them scowled and cried out at me, and I thought----" then,
+looking at the tall man, he cried again,--
+
+"Tom, is it so? Is it so, my dear boy?"
+
+"Yes, father," said Tom, slowly, to calm him, "it is, happily, all so."
+
+Then his little daughter, who had stood by his side through it all,
+kissed him, and said,--
+
+"Come, father, look at the pretty presents Tom has brought us and you.
+See here's a beautiful new coat hanging on your peg for you, and Molly
+and Polly are as gay as any ladies," and she led him, tottering and
+feeble, to the loaded table--no longer ashamed of its defaced back
+beneath the pile of gifts it bore.
+
+Then Mr. Tripple, hand in hand with the unresisting Polly, and Molly,
+and Tom, an unbroken circuit of cheery faces that electrified David
+Dubbs into a wrinkled smile in spite of lingering grief, clustered
+around the table and exclaimed aloud with admiration at the gifts Tom
+had brought.
+
+But David, still overshadowed by the events of the afternoon, said, in a
+quivering voice,--
+
+"But to-morrow, children, to-morrow! I am discharged by Griffin; we
+shall starve to-morrow!"
+
+"Not while I'm about," laughed Tom. "Come, come, be calm, and I'll tell
+you all about it."
+
+And he did tell of the long years of hope and distress, of despair when
+unconsciously within reach of fortune; of its final realization and of
+its golden yield. "So here I am, father, and your old hand shall write
+no more for Emanuel Griffin."
+
+Then said Dolly, "You don't speak, father; you are surely not sorry?"
+
+Sorry! He was stifled with gratitude; he was transforming into his old
+self. The familiar tenderness of her voice opened the floodgates of his
+heart, and he burst into a louder "Hurrah" than over Griffin's turkey,
+and kissed them all around, Mr. Tripple included, and, indeed, the day
+had been so successfully employed on the part of that gentleman that his
+early entrance into the family was far from problematical--so of course
+David did perfectly right.
+
+Polly here broke in, "And, father, it was Tom who brought the note, and
+Tom who planned the surprise for you. What did it say, Tom? you can tell
+us now."
+
+He laughed quietly, and then said, as if he were reading impressively
+from the open sheet to Mr. Griffin himself, and making him writhe under
+his coolness,--
+
+     "Emanuel Griffin,
+
+     "Sir: The connection of my father, David Dubbs, Esq., with your
+     counting-house, will cease from this day forth.
+
+"Sir, your obedient servant,
+"Thomas Dubbs."
+
+
+
+
+_Told by an English Tourist._
+
+
+     "He seemed to be a kind of connecting link between the old times
+     and the new, and to be, withal, a little antiquated in the taste of
+     his accomplishments."
+
+_Irving._
+
+
+
+
+A STILL CHRISTMAS.
+
+
+It was Christmas eve in the year of our Lord 1653. The snow, which had
+fallen fitfully throughout the day, shrouded in white the sloping roofs
+and narrow London streets, and lay in little, sparkling heaps on every
+jutting cornice or narrow window-ledge where it could find a
+resting-place. But in the west the setting sun shone clearly, firing the
+steeples into sudden glory and gilding every tiny pane of glass that
+faced its dying splendor. The thoroughfares were strangely silent and
+deserted. The roving groups that had been wont at this season to fill
+them with boisterous merriment, the noise, the bustle, the good cheer of
+Christmas--all were lacking. No maskers roamed from street to street,
+jingling their bells, beating their mighty drums, and bidding the
+delighted crowd to make way for the Lord of Misrule. No shouts of "Noel!
+Noel!" rang through the frosty air. No children gathered round their
+neighbors' doors, singing quaint carols and forgotten glees, and bearing
+off rich guerdon in the shape of apples, nuts, and substantial
+Christmas buns. In place of the old-time gayety a dreary silence reigned
+through the deserted highways, and down the narrow footwalk, with even
+step and half-shut eyes, tramped the Puritan herald, ringing his bell
+and proclaiming ever and anon in measured tones, "No Christmas! No
+Christmas!"
+
+In sober and sad-hued garments was the herald arrayed, with leathern
+boots that defied the snow and a copious mantle enveloping his sturdy
+frame. Now and then he stopped to warn a couple of belated idlers that
+they would do well to separate and go quietly to their homes. Now and
+then a little child peeped at him timorously from a doorway, and,
+overawed by his sombre aspect and heavy frown, retreated rapidly to hide
+its fears in the safe shelter of its mother's gown. Men shook their
+heads as he went by, and muttered something that was not always
+complimentary to his presence; and women shrugged their shoulders and
+sighed, and thought, perchance, of other Christmases in the past, with
+Yule-logs burning on the hearth and stray kisses snatched beneath the
+mistletoe. From a latticed window a girl's face peered at him with such
+a light of laughing malice in the brown eyes that the Puritan, catching
+sight of their wicked gleam, paused a moment, as though to reprove the
+maiden for her forwardness, or to inquire what mischief was afoot under
+this humble roof. But the night was growing chill, and he had still far
+to go. It might not be worth while to waste words of counsel on one so
+evidently godless; and, with a heavier scowl than usual, he tramped on,
+swinging his bell with lusty force. "No Christmas! No Christmas!" echoed
+through the darkening streets, and, as he passed, the girl contracted
+her features into a grimace that would have done credit to the
+wide-mouthed gargoyle of a Gothic cathedral.
+
+"Cicely, Cicely!" cried a voice, at this juncture, from within, "close
+the shutters, do, and come and help me."
+
+Cicely, who had been inclined to stare out a little longer, shot the
+heavy oaken bolt into its socket, and, opening a door leading to the
+inner room, disclosed a scene whose ruddy cheerfulness shone all the
+brighter in contrast to the dreary streets outside. A mighty bunch of
+fagots blazed and crackled on the hearth, and above the carved
+chimney-place hung branches of holly, their scarlet, berries glowing
+deeply in the firelight. In one corner, half-veiled by a tapestry
+curtain, a waxen Bambino nestled in its little manger, while before it
+burned a small copper lamp. Wreaths of holly and ivy bedecked the
+doors, and, standing tip-toed on a tall wooden chair, a young girl was
+even now striving to fasten these securely with the aid of a very old
+and wrinkled woman, who seemed more competent to admire than to assist
+the undertaking.
+
+"Some bigger berries, pray, Catherine," she said, impatiently; "and,
+Cicely, if you feel you have loitered enough, hand me those two long ivy
+branches. They should droop gracefully--so! And now stand off a little
+way and tell me how it looks."
+
+The younger sister obeyed, and, stationing herself in the middle of the
+room, surveyed the whole effect with much approval. Annis, her fair face
+flushed with the exertion, balanced herself on her lofty perch and gazed
+complacently upon her handiwork; while even Mistress Vane, who had been
+seated quietly on a deep chair by the fireplace, roused herself as from
+a reverie, and looked half-wistfully around the cheerful room. "What
+bell was that I heard just now?" she asked.
+
+"The herald's, proclaiming a still Christmas," answered Cicely,
+promptly; "and he watched me as sourly as though he knew that we were
+plotting treason."
+
+"Cecil, Cecil!" remonstrated her mother, in alarm. "Surely you did
+nothing imprudent."
+
+"I?" returned Cicely, apparently oblivious as to what she had done. "I
+cast up the whites of my eyes, as though repeating psalms for mine own
+inward sustainment; and seeing me so piously disposed, he was fain to
+pass on to the correction of greater sinners."
+
+"That were well-nigh impossible," said her sister, laughing; but
+Mistress Vane only looked anxious and disturbed. The sense of insecurity
+to which Annis was indifferent, and which Cicely at fourteen found
+absolutely amusing, weighed heavily on the older woman, who had a better
+understanding of the danger, and who had suffered cruelly in the past.
+Husband and son had fallen for a lost cause, confiscation had devoured
+the larger portion of her once fair inheritance; and now, with her two
+young daughters, she found herself beset by perils, harassed by
+stringent laws, and at the mercy of any ill-wind fate might blow her.
+Cromwell's mighty arm held the fretful country in subjection, making the
+name of England great and terrible abroad, and silencing every whisper
+of disaffection at home. The Puritans, in their hour of triumph, stamped
+upon the land the impress of their strong and bitter individuality; and
+a morose asceticism, part real and part affected, crushed out of life
+all the innocent pleasure of living. With every man determined to be
+better than his neighbor, the competition in saintliness ran high. Under
+its vigorous stimulus the May-pole and the Yule-log were alike branded
+as heathenish observances, the Christmas-pie became a "pye of
+abomination," and all amusements, from the drama to bear-baiting, were
+censured with impartial severity. Feast-days were abolished, and even to
+display the emblems of the Nativity was held to be sedition. The
+Established Church, cowed and shorn of its splendor, was treated with
+surly contempt; the Catholics were altogether beyond the pale of
+charity. It was not a time calculated to promote festivity; yet, while
+the heralds proclaimed through the frosty streets that Christmas at last
+was dead, Annis Vane, with holly and ivy, with Yule-dough and
+Babie-cake, was making all things ready for its mysterious birth. And as
+she worked she sang softly under breath the refrain of a carol she had
+learned at her nurse's knee,--
+
+  "This endris night
+  I saw a sight,
+    A star as bright as day;
+  And ever among
+  A maiden sung
+    Lullay, by-by, lullay."
+
+"Is it not strange, mother," she said, breaking suddenly off, "that men
+should deem it a mark of holiness to cast derision on the birth-night
+of their Saviour?"
+
+"Let us be just even to our enemies," replied Mistress Vane, gently.
+"They think not to deride the Nativity, so much as to condemn the
+riotous fashion in which Christians were wont to keep the feast. There
+have been times, Annis, when the Lord of Misrule did more discredit to
+this holy season than does the Puritan to-day."
+
+Annis opened her blue eyes to their very utmost. This view of the matter
+was one she was hardly prepared to accept. "Why, dearest mother," she
+protested, "when should we venture to be happy, if not on Christmas-day?
+And how can we show ourselves too joyful for our salvation? And did not
+his most blessed majesty King Charles knight with his own royal hand a
+Lord of Misrule who held court in the Middle Temple?"
+
+Mistress Vane smiled at her daughter's vehemence. She knew more about
+these jovial monarchs and their courts than Annis did, and it may even
+be that his most blessed majesty's approval carried less weight to her
+experienced mind. But in these dark and chilly days a little enthusiasm
+was helpful in keeping one's heart warm, and she was far too wise a
+mother to disparage it. "Truly they made a brave show then upon
+Christmas-day," she admitted, "for the lord mayor and his corporation, a
+goodly company of gentlemen, rode in procession to the church of St.
+Thomas Acon, and thence to dine together with many pleasant ceremonies.
+And stoups of wine and huge venison pasties were despatched to the
+Temple for the stay and comfort of the mock-court, who made merry all
+day long. And the streets were crowded, far into the night, with maskers
+and revellers; and even the poor might for once forget their poverty,
+and were welcome to the brawn and plum-broth of their richer neighbors."
+
+"And now we have nothing of all this!" cried Cicely, with passionate
+regret. "Nothing to look at and nothing to hear save the cracked bell of
+a dingy herald, who does not even ride a hobby-horse like the merry
+heralds of old. In truth, Master Prynne hath made good his own words
+when he holds that Christmas should be rather a day of mourning than one
+of rejoicing."
+
+"Not so thought my godfather, kind Master Breton," said Annis,
+thoughtfully. "For he hath written that it is the duty of Christians to
+rejoice for the remembrance of Christ and for the maintenance of
+good-fellowship. 'I hold it,' he hath said, 'a memory of the Heaven's
+love and the world's peace, the mirth of the honest and the meeting of
+the friendly.'"
+
+Cicely's eyes danced with glee. "That were well remembered," she said,
+mockingly; "if, now, you can but tell us in turn what your godfather's
+nephew, Captain Rupert Breton, hath thought upon the matter."
+
+Annis flushed scarlet, and the quick tears welled into her eyes as she
+turned them reproachfully upon her sister. It was not easy for her to
+think of her absent lover and maintain the cheerful frame of mind she
+deemed appropriate to the season. The shores of France seemed very far
+away that night, and the long months that had elapsed since the defeat
+at Worcester stretched backward like a lifetime, as she recalled his
+last hurried farewell. He had ridden hard and risked much for those few
+words, and patiently and bravely she had waited ever since, hoping,
+praying, turning her face steadily to the brighter side, and keeping
+ever in mind the happy hour which should reunite them to each other.
+Now, in silence, she bound together the last green boughs and put all in
+order for the night. Old Catherine had long since gone off, yawning and
+blinking, to bed, and Cicely, half-asleep, nodded over the dying fire.
+Only her mother watched her, with eyes of loving scrutiny, and Annis
+smiled brightly as she kissed the careworn face. "I shall not cry
+myself to sleep to-night," she said, resolutely. "This is a time for
+gladness; for the star of Bethlehem is shining in the sky, and the birth
+of the Lord is at hand."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Bright glowed the Christmas-logs on the capacious hearth till every
+pointed leaf and scarlet holly-berry shone in the generous firelight.
+
+  "Whosoever against holly doth cry,
+  In a rope shall be hung full high."
+
+For, when the oak and ash trees babbled to the wind, and betrayed the
+Saviour's hiding-place, the holly, the ivy, and the pine kept the secret
+hidden in their silent hearts; and for this good deed they stand green
+and living under winter's icy breath, while their companions shiver
+naked in the blast. Not till the risen sun has danced on Easter morn
+shall the oak adorn a Christian household and prove itself forgiven. The
+Christmas-pie--the Christ-cradle, as the Saxons used to call it--had
+been baked in its oblong dish in memory of the manger at Bethlehem, with
+the star of the Magi cut deeply in the swelling crust. The Yule-dough,
+cunningly moulded into the likeness of a little babe, had been carefully
+laid by as a sovereign protector from the evils of fire, floods,
+carnage, and--so say some ancient writers--from the bite of rabid
+dogs. Annis Vane, decked out in the bravest array her altered fortunes
+would permit, knelt by the blazing hearth. Her ruff was of the finest
+lace, and a row of milk-white pearls clasped her slender throat. She
+shaded her face from the fire, and piled up shining cones of
+bright-brown nuts that seemed to tempt the flames.
+
+[Illustration: The Cavalier From France]
+
+"All we lack now is the mistletoe," she said, half-despondently. "It was
+no easy task to find the holly and bring it home unnoticed; but we
+cannot gather mistletoe near London, and there is none for sale
+throughout the city."
+
+"Of what use is the mistletoe," said the practical Cicely, "when we are
+but three women here alone? We can kiss each other as readily under a
+sprig of ivy, and we can fire our nuts without the help of man or lad,
+provided only we keep one in our minds. Of whom shall I think, Annis?"
+she queried, wrinkling up her pretty forehead in anxious perplexity over
+so disturbing a doubt.
+
+"You are far too young to think of men at all," answered Annis,
+reprovingly, and with all the conscious superiority of age. "Nor do you
+know enough as yet to make such pastime profitable."
+
+Cicely's brows drew together with a frown which plainly indicated the
+nature of the retort upon her lips, but a glance from her mother checked
+her. "The word uttered in vexation is better left unspoken," said
+Mistress Vane, with gentle authority. "And I am waiting here, not to
+listen to disputes, which in these stormy times have grown wearisome,
+but to hear the Christmas carol promised me to-night."
+
+Annis, with flushed cheeks, took down from the wall a little mandolin of
+Spanish workmanship, and, striking a few chords, began the carol, in
+which Cicely, after sacrificing some moments to ill-temper, concluded
+presently to join, her clear flute-notes rising high above her sister's
+weaker tones,--
+
+  "When Christ was born of Mary free,
+  In Bethlehem, in that fair citie,
+  Angels sungen with mirth and glee,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "Herdsmen beheld these angels bright
+  To them appeared with great light,
+  And said, God's Son is born this night,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "The King is comen to save kind,
+  Even in Scripture as we find;
+  Therefore this song have we in mind,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!
+
+  "Then, dear Lord, for thy great grace,
+  Grant us in bliss to see thy face,
+  Where we may sing to thee solace,
+            In Excelsis Gloria!"
+
+As the sounds died into silence there stood one in the icy streets and
+listened. No self-elected saint was he, scenting out treason to the
+Commonwealth, but a cavalier from France, with his love-locks shorn for
+sweet prudence's sake, and a mighty mantle enveloping him from head to
+foot. If Annis Vane had waited, and hoped, and built up her faith in the
+cheer of Christmas-night, the joy she coveted was very near at last.
+After lingering a few moments, as though on the chance of hearing more,
+the stranger advanced and knocked sharply at the heavily-barred door. It
+was opened in due season and with great caution by old Catherine, who
+evidently thought the hour ill-chosen for a new-comer, and mistrusted
+sorely the purpose of his visit. He allowed her scant time, however, to
+threaten or expostulate, but, putting her gently on one side, stepped to
+the inner room. There, pale with anxiety and terror, Mistress Vane
+leaned forward in her chair, while Cicely, half-frightened,
+half-defiant, grasped her mother's skirt. Before the fire stood Annis,
+her blue eyes shining like stars, a round, red spot burning feverishly
+in each cheek, her lace ruff rising and falling distressfully with the
+heaving bosom within. The mandolin had fallen from her hands; the ruddy
+firelight lit up her slight figure and fair, disordered curls. She stood
+thus for a moment, swaying breathless betwixt hope and fear, then, with
+a low, joyous cry, sprang forward into her lover's arms.
+
+Welcome now the good cheer of Christmas-night! Welcome the
+Christmas-pie, the pasty of venison, the pudding stuffed with plums, and
+the flagon of old wine. Love is a brave appetizer when backed by long
+fasting and a ten hours' ride, and Captain Breton brought all the vigor
+of youth and happiness and of a noble hunger to bear upon the viands.
+The glow of the cheerful room was infinitely comforting to the tired
+traveller; the sight of Annis's happy face put fresh hope and courage in
+his heart. He had much to tell of the gay court of France, and of the
+royal exile, who should one day, God willing, sit on his father's
+throne. Nor were there lacking adventures and dangers of his own to give
+flavor to the narrative, nor plans for the future, colored with all the
+happy confidence of youth. He had come home to win his bride, and to
+carry her away to brighter scenes until this soured and gloomy England
+should be merrie England once more. "He who would keep a light heart
+within London walls," said he, "must needs be very sure of heaven, as
+are Master Prynne and Master Philip Stubbes, or very much in love, as am
+I. It lacks but a covered cart and a bell in every street to make one
+feel the Black Death is upon us. If you can laugh in such an atmosphere
+of melancholy, Annis, what will you do in France?"
+
+"Mayhap if I laugh enough in sober London I shall grow too giddy and
+forward in foolish France," returned Annis, gayly; "unless----"
+
+"Unless what, dear heart?"
+
+"Unless while I am safe in Paris you are fighting the battles of the
+king in England. Then tears will come easier than laughter, as in truth
+they have done of late."
+
+"Wherever I may be, your prayers will prove my bulwark," said Captain
+Breton, confidently. "It would take more than a silver bullet to find
+its way to my heart while you are besieging heaven's doors in the
+tumultuous fashion that only women can attain. I bear a charmed life as
+long as you remember your petitions."
+
+Annis answered with a look, and Cicely, nestling by her mother's chair,
+watched her sister with wide, serious eyes. To the child standing on the
+threshold of womanhood the presence of love carries with it an
+intoxicating flavor of mystery. It is something that fills her alike
+with envy and a vague resentment, with wonder and an indefinable desire.
+Its commonest expression is a perverse antipathy to one of the lovers,
+with an irrational increase of affection for the other; and in this case
+Captain Breton came in for his full share of Cicely's smothered anger
+and disdain. He, meanwhile, in happy unconsciousness, chancing to meet
+the brown eyes lifted dreamily to his own, and noting the upward curve
+of the short, sweet lip, thought within himself that this elfish little
+Cicely was growing almost as pretty as her sister--a judgment which
+proves conclusively the blindness of love; for Annis, though fair and
+comely to look upon, came no nearer to her young sister's beauty than
+does the pink-tipped daisy to the half-opened rosebud uncurling slowly
+in the sun. At present, the girl, seeing that she was watched, turned
+away her head pettishly and eyed the leaping flames.
+
+"Annis said to-night there was but one thing lacking to her Christmas
+cheer," she remarked, after a pause, and with the too evident intention
+of saying something vexatious.
+
+"And that was I!" interposed the cavalier, with the ready assurance of a
+lover.
+
+"It was not you at all," returned Cicely, "but the mistletoe. We
+gathered the other greens ourselves, but there was no mistletoe to be
+found within or without the gates of London."
+
+"By a happy chance we can proceed as though we had it," said Captain
+Breton, contentedly, while Annis crimsoned like a rose. "It is a welcome
+little plant, and carries a merry message; but if it be banished in
+these saintly days, we obstinate sinners must kiss without its
+sanction."
+
+"But the maid who is not kissed on Christmas-night beneath the mistletoe
+will never be a wife during the coming year," persisted Cicely, who had
+laid down her line of attack and was not to be driven therefrom.
+
+"Now, will you wager your ring or your new ear-drop on that, little
+sister?" said the captain, laughing at the threat. "Or have you a
+trinket that you value less to risk in such a cause?"
+
+Cicely, deeply affronted, puckered up her brow and drew closer to her
+mother; but Annis, far too happy to be vexed, leaned over and kissed the
+pouting lips. With her, joy meant thanksgiving, and her heart was
+singing--singing the song of the angel of Judea: "In Excelsis Gloria!"
+
+
+
+
+_A Norseman's Saga._
+
+
+     "As he sat there with a sou'wester down over his ears, in a long
+     pilot coat, his figure appeared to assume quite supernatural
+     proportions, and you might almost imagine that you had one of the
+     old Vikings before you."
+
+_Asbjoernsen._
+
+
+
+
+THROND.
+
+
+There was once a man named Alf, who had raised great expectations among
+his fellow-parishioners because he excelled most of them both in the
+work he accomplished and in the advice he gave. Now, when this man was
+thirty years old, he went to live up the mountain, and cleared a piece
+of land for farming, about fourteen miles from any settlement. Many
+people wondered how he could endure thus depending on himself for
+companionship, but they were still more astonished when, a few years
+later, a young girl from the valley, and one, too, who had been the
+gayest of the gay at all the social gatherings and dances of the parish,
+was willing to share his solitude.
+
+This couple were called "the people in the wood," and the man was known
+by the name of "Alf in the wood." People viewed him with inquisitive
+eyes when they met him at church or at work, because they did not
+understand him; but neither did he take the trouble to give them any
+explanation of his conduct. His wife was only seen in the parish twice,
+and on one of these occasions it was to present a child for baptism.
+
+This child was a son, and he was called Thrond. When he grew larger his
+parents often talked about needing help, and, as they could not afford
+to take a full-grown servant, they hired what they called "a half:" they
+brought into their house a girl of fourteen, who took care of the boy
+while the father and mother were busy in the field.
+
+This girl was not the brightest person in the world, and the boy soon
+observed that his mother's words were easy to comprehend, but that it
+was hard to get at the meaning of what Ragnhild said. He never talked
+much with his father, and he was rather afraid of him, for the house had
+to be kept very quiet when he was home. One Christmas Eve--they were
+burning two candles on the table, and the father was drinking from a
+white flask--the father took the boy up in his arms and set him on his
+lap, looked him sternly in the eyes, and exclaimed,--
+
+"Ugh, boy!" Then he added more gently,--"Why, you are not so much
+afraid. Would you have the courage to listen to a story?"
+
+The boy made no reply, but he looked full in his father's face. His
+father then told him about a man from Vaage, whose name was Blessom.
+This man was in Copenhagen for the purpose of getting the king's verdict
+in a law-suit he was engaged in, and he was detained so long that
+Christmas eve overtook him there. Blessom was greatly annoyed at this,
+and, as he was sauntering about the streets fancying himself at home, he
+saw a very large man, in a white, short coat, walking in front of him.
+
+"How fast you are walking!" said Blessom.
+
+"I have a long distance to go in order to get home this evening,"
+replied the man.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"To Vaage," answered the man, and walked on.
+
+"Why, that is very nice," said Blessom, "for that is where I am going,
+too."
+
+"Well, then, you may ride with me, if you will stand on the runners of
+my sledge," answered the man, and turned into a side street where his
+horse was standing.
+
+He mounted his seat and looked over his shoulder at Blessom, who was
+just getting on the runners.
+
+"You had better hold fast," said the stranger.
+
+Blessom did as he was told, and it was well he did, for their journey
+was evidently not by land.
+
+"It seems to me that you are driving on the water," cried Blessom.
+
+"I am," said the man, and the spray whirled about them.
+
+But after a while it seemed to Blessom their course no longer lay on the
+water.
+
+"It seems to me we are moving through the air," said he.
+
+"Yes, so we are," replied the stranger.
+
+But when they had gone still farther, Blessom thought he recognized the
+parish they were driving through.
+
+"Is not this Vaage?" cried he.
+
+"Yes, now we are there," replied the stranger, and it seemed to Blessom
+that they had gone pretty fast.
+
+"Thank you for the good ride," said he.
+
+"Thanks to yourself," replied the man, and added, as he whipped up his
+horse, "Now you had better not look after me."
+
+"No, indeed," thought Blessom, and started over the hills for home.
+
+But just then so loud and terrible a crash was heard behind him that it
+seemed as if the whole mountain must be tumbling down, and a bright
+light was shed over the surrounding landscape; he looked round and
+beheld the stranger in the white coat driving through the crackling
+flames into the open mountain, which was yawning wide to receive him,
+like some huge gate. Blessom felt somewhat strange in regard to his
+travelling companion; and thought he would look in another direction;
+but as he had turned his head so it remained, and never more could
+Blossom get it straight again.
+
+The boy had never heard anything to equal this in all his life. He dared
+not ask his father for more, but early the next morning he asked his
+mother if she knew any stories. Yes, of course she did; but hers were
+chiefly about princesses who were in captivity for seven years, until
+the right prince came along. The boy believed that everything he heard
+or read about took place close around him.
+
+He was about eight years old when the first stranger entered their door
+one winter evening. He had black hair, and this was something Thrond had
+never seen before. The stranger saluted them with a short
+"Good-evening!" and came forward. Thrond grew frightened and sat down on
+a cricket by the hearth. The mother asked the man to take a seat on the
+bench along the wall; he did so, and then the mother could examine his
+face more closely.
+
+"Dear me! is not this Knud the fiddler?" cried she.
+
+"Yes, to be sure it is. It has been a long time since I played at your
+wedding."
+
+"Oh, yes; it is quite a while now. Have you been on a long journey?"
+
+"I have been playing for Christmas on the other side of the mountain.
+But half-way down the slope I began to feel very badly, and I was
+obliged to come in here to rest."
+
+The mother brought forward food for him; he sat down to the table, but
+did not say "in the name of Jesus," as the boy had been accustomed to
+hear. When he had finished eating, he got up from the table, and said,--
+
+"Now I feel very comfortable; let me rest a little while."
+
+And he was allowed to rest on Thrond's bed.
+
+For Thrond a bed was made on the floor. As the boy lay there, he felt
+cold on the side that was turned away from the fire, and that was the
+left side. He discovered that it was because this side was exposed to
+the chill night air; for he was lying out in the wood. How came he in
+the wood? He got up and looked about him, and saw that there was fire
+burning a long distance off, and that he was actually alone in the wood.
+He longed to go home to the fire; but could not stir from the spot. Then
+a great fear overcame him; for wild beasts might be roaming about,
+trolls and ghosts might appear to him; he must get home to the fire; but
+he could not stir from the spot. Then his terror grew, he strove with
+all his might to gain self-control, and was at last able to cry,
+"Mother," and then he awoke.
+
+"Dear child, you have had bad dreams," said she, and took him up.
+
+A shudder ran through him, and he glanced round. The stranger was gone,
+and he dared not inquire after him.
+
+His mother appeared in her black dress, and started for the parish. She
+came home with two new strangers, who also had black hair and who wore
+flat caps. They did not say "in the name of Jesus," when they ate, and
+they talked in low tones with the father. Afterwards the latter and they
+went into the barn, and came out again with a large box, which the men
+carried between them. They placed it on a sled, and said farewell. Then
+the mother said,--
+
+"Wait a little, and take with you the smaller box he brought here with
+him."
+
+And she went in to get it. But one of the men said,--
+
+"_He_ can have that," and he pointed at Thrond.
+
+"Use it as well as _he_ who is now lying _here_," added the other
+stranger, pointing at the large box.
+
+Then they both laughed and went on. Thrond looked at the little box
+which thus came into his possession.
+
+"What is there in it?" asked he.
+
+"Carry it in and find out," said the mother.
+
+He did as he was told, but his mother helped him open it. Then a great
+joy lighted up his face, for he saw something very light and fine lying
+there.
+
+"Take it up," said his mother.
+
+He put just one finger down on it, but quickly drew it back again in
+great alarm.
+
+"It cries," said he.
+
+"Have courage," said his mother, and he grasped it with his whole hand
+and drew it forth from the box.
+
+He weighed it and turned it round, he laughed and felt of it.
+
+"Dear me! what is it?" asked he, for it was as light as a toy.
+
+"It is a fiddle."
+
+This was the way that Thrond Alfson got his first violin.
+
+The father could play a little, and he taught the boy how to handle the
+instrument; the mother could sing the tunes she remembered from her
+dancing days, and these the boy learned, but soon began to make new ones
+for himself. He played all the time he was not at his books; he played
+until his father once told him he was fading away before his eyes. All
+the boy had read and heard until that time was put into the fiddle. The
+tender, delicate string was his mother; the one that lay close beside
+it, and always accompanied his mother, was Ragnhild. The coarse string,
+which he seldom ventured to play on, was his father. But of the last
+solemn string he was half afraid, and he gave no name to it. When he
+played a wrong note on the E string, it was the cat; but when he took a
+wrong note on his father's string, it was the ox. The bow was Blessom,
+who drove from Copenhagen to Vaage in one night. And every tune he
+played represented something. The one containing the long solemn tones
+was his mother in her black dress. The one that jerked and skipped was
+like Moses, who stuttered and smote the rock with his staff. The one
+that had to be played quietly, with the bow moving lightly over the
+strings, was the hulder in yonder fog, calling together her cattle,
+where no one but herself could see.
+
+But the music wafted him onward over the mountains, and a great yearning
+took possession of his soul. One day, when his father told about a
+little boy who had been playing at the fair and who had earned a great
+deal of money, Thrond waited for his mother in the kitchen and asked her
+softly if he could not go to the fair and play for people.
+
+"Whoever heard of such a thing!" said his mother; but she immediately
+spoke to his father about it.
+
+"He will get out into the world soon enough," answered the father; and
+he spoke in such a way that the mother did not ask again.
+
+Shortly after this, the father and mother were talking at table about
+some new settlers who had recently moved up on the mountain and were
+about to be married. They had no fiddler for the wedding, the father
+said.
+
+"Could not I be the fiddler?" whispered the boy, when he was alone in
+the kitchen once more with his mother.
+
+"What, a little boy like you?" said she; but she went out to the barn
+where his father was and told him about it.
+
+"He has never been in the parish," she added; "he has never seen a
+church."
+
+"I should not think you would ask about such things," said Alf; but
+neither did he say anything more, and so the mother thought she had
+permission. Consequently she went over to the new settlers and offered
+the boy's services.
+
+"The way he plays," said she, "no little boy has ever played before;"
+and the boy was to be allowed to come.
+
+What joy there was at home! Thrond played from morning until evening and
+practised new tunes; at night he dreamed about them: they bore him far
+over the hills, away to foreign lands, as though he were afloat on
+sailing clouds. His mother made a new suit of clothes for him; but his
+father would not take part in what was going on.
+
+The last night he did not sleep, but thought out a new tune about the
+church which he had never seen. He was up early in the morning, and so
+was his mother, in order to get him his breakfast, but he could not eat.
+He put on his new clothes and took his fiddle in his hand, and it seemed
+to him as though a bright light were glowing before his eyes. His mother
+accompanied him out on the flag-stone, and stood watching him as he
+ascended the slopes; it was the first time he had left home.
+
+His father got quietly out of bed, and walked to the window; he stood
+there, following the boy with his eyes until he heard the mother out on
+the flag-stone, then he went back to bed and was lying down when she
+came in.
+
+She kept stirring about him, as if she wanted to relieve her mind of
+something. And finally it came out,--
+
+"I really think I must walk down to the church and see how things are
+going."
+
+He made no reply, and therefore she considered the matter settled,
+dressed herself, and started.
+
+It was a glorious, sunny day, the boy walked rapidly onward, he listened
+to the song of the birds and saw the sun glittering among the foliage,
+while he proceeded on his way, with his fiddle under his arm. And when
+he reached the bride's house, he was still so occupied with his own
+thoughts, that he observed neither the bridal splendor nor the
+procession; he merely asked if they were about to start, and learned
+that they were. He walked on in advance with his fiddle, and he played
+the whole morning into it, and the tones he produced resounded through
+the trees.
+
+"Will we soon see the church?" he asked over his shoulder.
+
+For a long time he received only "No" for an answer, but at last some
+one said,--
+
+"As soon as you reach that crag yonder, you will see it."
+
+He threw his newest tune into the fiddle, the bow danced on the strings,
+and he kept his eyes fixed intently before him. There lay the parish
+right in front of him!
+
+The first thing he saw was a little light mist, curling like smoke on
+the opposite mountain side. His eyes wandered over the green meadow and
+the large houses, with windows which glistened beneath the scorching
+rays of the sun, like the glacier on a winter's day. The houses kept
+increasing in size, the windows in number, and here on one side of him
+lay the enormous red house, in front of which horses were tied; little
+children were playing on a hill, dogs were sitting watching them. But
+everywhere there penetrated a long, heavy tone, that shook him from head
+to foot, and everything he saw seemed to vibrate with that tone. Then
+suddenly he saw a large, straight house, with a tall, glittering staff
+reaching up to the skies. And below, a hundred windows blazed, so that
+the house seemed to be enveloped in flames. This must be the church, the
+boy thought, and the music must come from it! Round about stood a vast
+multitude of people, and they all looked alike! He put them forthwith
+into relations with the church, and thus acquired a respect mingled with
+awe for the smallest child he saw.
+
+"Now I must play," thought Thrond, and tried to do so.
+
+But what was this? The fiddle had no longer any sound in it. There must
+be some defect in the strings; he examined, but could find none.
+
+"Then it must be because I do not press on hard enough," and he drew his
+bow with a firmer hand; but the fiddle seemed as if it were cracked.
+
+He changed the tune that was meant to represent the church into
+another, but with equally bad results; no music was produced, only
+squeaking and wailing. He felt the cold sweat start out over his face;
+he thought of all these wise people who were standing here and perhaps
+laughing him to scorn, this boy who at home could play so beautifully,
+but who here failed to bring out a single tone!
+
+"Thank God that mother is not here to see my shame!" said he softly to
+himself, as he played among the people; but lo! there she stood, in her
+black dress, and she shrank farther and farther away.
+
+At that moment he beheld far up on the spire the black-haired man who
+had given him the fiddle. "Give it back to me," he now shouted,
+laughing, and stretching out his arms, and the spire went up and down
+with him, up and down. But the boy took the fiddle under one arm,
+screaming, "You shall not have it!" and, turning, ran away from the
+people, beyond the houses, onward through meadow and field, until his
+strength forsook him, and then sank to the ground.
+
+There he lay for a long time, with his face toward the earth, and when
+finally he looked round he saw and heard only God's infinite blue sky
+that floated above him, with its everlasting sough. This was so terrible
+to him that he had to turn his face to the ground again. When he raised
+his head once more his eyes fell on his fiddle, which lay at his side.
+
+"This is all your fault!" shouted the boy, and seized the instrument
+with the intention of dashing it to pieces, but hesitated as he looked
+at it.
+
+"We have had many a happy hour together," said he, then paused.
+Presently he said, "The strings must be severed, for they are
+worthless." And he took out a knife and cut. "Oh!" cried the E string,
+in a short, pained tone. The boy cut. "Oh!" wailed the next, but the boy
+cut. "Oh!" said the third, mournfully; and he paused at the fourth. A
+sharp pain seized him; that fourth string, to which he never dared give
+a name, he did not cut. Now a feeling came over him that it was not the
+fault of the strings that he was unable to play, and just then he saw
+his mother walking slowly up the slope toward where he was lying, that
+she might take him home with her. A greater fright than ever overcame
+him; he held the fiddle by the severed strings, sprang to his feet, and
+shouted down to her,--
+
+"No, mother! I will not go home again until I can play what I have seen
+to-day."
+
+
+
+
+_Contributed by An Oriental Traveller._
+
+     "A great, long devil of a Spahi in his red burnous."
+
+_Daudet._
+
+
+
+
+CHRISTMAS IN THE DESERT.
+
+
+I.
+
+It seemed all too good to be true: the rest from labor, the swift flight
+across southern seas, the landing, amid strange, dark faces on a
+burnished shore, the slow, delicious journey through tamarisk groves and
+palm forests, and the halt in the Desert that came at last.
+
+I had been doing for the last twelve months what young artists and
+authors are constantly doing, to their own ruin and the justifiable
+ill-humor of critics, namely, working against the grain. A sweet,
+generous, and beautiful Patroness, seeing me on the high road to brain
+fever or hopeless mediocrity, stepped forward in time, and sent me to
+the Desert. If ever I achieve anything excellent, it will be owing to
+that lady, the Vittoria Colonna of her humble Michael Angelo. My little
+sister Mary came with me, and, when I tell you that she was a teacher in
+a school, you will easily understand what an intoxicating thing it was
+for her to see a new world every day, and have nothing to do from
+morning, till night. The poor child could hardly believe in an existence
+without Czerny's scales being played on three or four pianos at once,
+and a barrel organ and brass band in the street. "Oh, Tom!" she would
+say to me, a dozen times a day, "I've got C scale and 'Wait for the
+Wagon' on my brain, and can't get rid of them;" so that I verily believe
+to my beautiful Vittoria Colonna Mary's present well-being is due as
+much as my own.
+
+We halted at a little military station on the borders of the Great
+Sahara, about a week before Christmas-day. The weather was perfect, and
+not too warm. A delicious, mellow atmosphere enveloped palm, and plain,
+and mosque; the air, blown across thousands and thousands of acres of
+wild thyme and rosemary, refreshed us like wine: we seemed to have new
+souls and new bodies given us, and were as free from care as the
+swallows flying overhead. Travellers never came to Teschoun, as this
+little oasis is called; but we had placed ourselves under the guidance
+of an enterprising Frenchman, who transacted all sorts of business on
+the road between Mascara and Fig-gig, the last French post in the
+Desert. His name was Dominique, and I shall always look upon him as the
+most remarkable man I ever knew. He was as witty as Sydney Smith, as
+clever at expediences as Robinson Crusoe, as shrewd a politician as
+Machiavelli, as apt at languages as Mezzofanti, and as brave as
+Garibaldi. Being a bachelor, Dominique was none the less ready to
+receive us, and, with the help of an old Corsican named Napoleon, made
+us very comfortable. When Dominique was carrying His Imperial Majesty's
+mails to some remote stations southward, or had gone to an Arab fair to
+buy cattle, Napoleon catered for us and cooked for us, and did both
+admirably. Both master and servant spiced their dishes plentifully with
+that mother-wit, never seen in such perfection as in crude colonies
+where people without it would fare so ill.
+
+"What are we to do for society for poor mademoiselle?" asked Dominique,
+as he served our first dinner. "Monsieur can amuse himself with the
+officers of the garrison, but there are no ladies here."
+
+"When my brother is out, I shall stay at home and talk to Napoleon,"
+Mary said, with a mock assumption of dignity. "I don't want to be
+amused, Monsieur Dominique."
+
+"Mon Dieu, mademoiselle! the officers of the garrison will fall in love
+with you, and that ought to amuse you better than talking to Napoleon,"
+Dominique answered. "It's a very dull life they lead here, these poor
+officers; and if it weren't for hunting gazelles and hyenas, and
+playing the deuce with the Arabs, they'd die of ennui; but a pretty
+young lady like you will turn their heads soon enough."
+
+Mary blushed, and tried to turn the conversation.
+
+"What do they do with themselves all day long?" she asked.
+
+"I'll tell you that quickly enough, mademoiselle. M. le Commandant has
+to see that the Cadi gets what he can out of the Sheiks, and the Sheiks
+get what they can out of the tribes, and that the tribes hold their
+tongue. That is what the Commandant has to do, young lady, and he does
+it pretty well. M. le Capitaine has an easier time of it, except when
+there is an insurrection, and then he makes a raid against the Arabs,
+and after keeping his men out of their way very cleverly, sticks up the
+French flag somewhere in the Desert and comes home. M. le Lieutenant
+does odd jobs for the Commandant and the Capitaine, and plays the flute;
+but we have got M. le General down here for a few days, and he is
+setting everybody to work. I dare say the end of it will be an
+expedition into the Desert. You may look, monsieur. I'm not talking at
+random, I assure you; generals love war as umbrella-makers love bad
+weather; and it is easier to make people fight than it is to make it
+rain."
+
+"I think French officers must be a wicked set; I hope none of them will
+come near us," Mary said. "The poor Arabs! how my heart bleeds for
+them."
+
+"Tiens! mademoiselle, there is no reason for your heart to bleed. Big
+flies live on little ones all the world over; and if the French eat up
+the Arabs, the Arabs eat up each other. The officers are very nice,
+harmless gentlemen, I assure you; and as to the Commandant, though he
+thinks fighting the best fun in the world, he wouldn't hurt a fly. To
+see him pet his little gazelle would make you cry. She's the only lady
+in the place, and I believe, if she died, it would break his heart. But
+people must have something to be fond of. My old Napoleon, yonder, has
+taken a fancy to a cat, and when the cat dies, Napoleon will be as lost
+as his namesake the Emperor was at St. Helena. Listen a moment; that's
+the Lieutenant practising on his flute: he has a little lodging next
+door."
+
+The Lieutenant played very prettily, and Mary seemed to like his playing
+much better than Dominique's stories. As her room adjoined the
+Lieutenant's, she seemed likely to have the full benefit of his musical
+capacities; but I do not think she lay awake to be serenaded that night.
+We were fairly intoxicated with the sweet air of the Desert we had been
+breathing all day, and went to bed at eight o'clock, too tired and happy
+to dream.
+
+Next morning Dominique informed us that he had himself delivered our
+letter of introduction to M. le Commandant, who promised to wait upon us
+in the course of the day. Not knowing at what hour we might expect him,
+we set to work immediately after breakfast to prepare my room for the
+reception of so distinguished a visitor. I helped Mary as well as I was
+able, and, when nothing remained to do but the dusting, retired into a
+recess to trim my beard.
+
+An Englishwoman is never so well dressed as when she emerges from her
+bedroom at early morning; and I must say that Mary looked the daintiest
+little housewife possible to conceive as she went about dusting and
+polishing in a pink cambric dress and tiny black apron. But, neat as she
+was, and neat as my beard and the room were in a fair way of becoming,
+we were overwhelmed with surprise and confusion at what followed, for
+quite suddenly the door was thrown open; there was a military tramp and
+a rattling of a sword outside, and Dominique exclaimed, in a voice of
+thunder, "M. le Commandant!"
+
+Impassible self-possession is a beautiful quality, and while Mary and I
+stood blushing and aghast, like school children caught at stealing
+cherries, M. le Commandant had made a courteous speech, welcoming us to
+Teschoun. Then we all sat down, and M. le Commandant talked to us. He
+was a sunburnt, soldierly man about fifty-five, with a rough manner but
+a kind smile, and we felt at home with him in a moment.
+
+"I presume that monsieur wishes to see as much of the country as
+possible," he said; "and I shall be enchanted to place at monsieur's
+disposal horses, and my servant and a spahi as guides. But what will
+mademoiselle do while her brother is away? I must send her my little
+gazelle to play with her."
+
+"My sister will like to go with me where it is practicable," I said.
+
+The Commandant opened his eyes, and looked at Mary much as one looks
+upon a pretty little duckling or a year-old baby.
+
+"Monsieur is evidently jesting," he answered. "Mademoiselle would be too
+fatigued to undertake such journeys."
+
+"I don't think so," Mary said. "I have no fear, monsieur, and I like to
+be with my brother."
+
+"Ah, what courage you English ladies have! Well, mademoiselle, we will
+find you a quiet horse, and make everything as pleasant as possible."
+And after inviting us to dine with him one evening, and bidding us to
+make use of him in every possible way, he took leave of us.
+
+"How nice he is!" cried Mary, as soon as the door was closed; "if all
+French officers were like this one, Tom, I think we shall not care how
+long we stay in the Desert----"
+
+"Your heart has very quickly ceased to bleed for the poor Arabs, I see."
+
+"But how can we be sure that Dominique's stories are all true? No, Tom;
+I won't believe any harm of this kind-looking Commandant. I only wish he
+had not come till the room was tidied and I had got on a muslin frock,
+but, as we are sure of having no more visitors, I'll finish your room
+and then unpack."
+
+We were fairly at our work again, when another military step sounded,
+and another sword rattled in the passage outside. This time Dominique's
+arm swung back the door with less pomposity, and Dominique's voice was a
+trifle less emphatic as he ushered in "M. le Capitaine."
+
+Again Mary and I scuttled about like young rabbits, and then stood
+still, staring shyly, and again our embarrassment was met by the calmest
+nonchalance. The second figure was a man of much more presence than the
+Commandant. He had the polished, graceful ease of a man of the world,
+and, though quite as good-natured as the Commandant, his good-nature
+pleased us less, because it was less spontaneous.
+
+"I hope you will stay some time at Teschoun," he said, looking at Mary.
+"The ennui of our lives here is terrible. Think of it, mademoiselle; we
+have no theatre, no music, no society, and no domestic life. To find a
+lady here is like the miraculous advent of an angel." Mary blushed, and
+had no courage to make the sprightly answers she had made the
+Commandant.
+
+The fine air and grand compliments of the Capitaine overcame the little
+thing, but she looked distractingly pretty as she sat opposite to him,
+smiling and blushing when he addressed her, and only saying, "Oui,
+monsieur," or "Non, monsieur," or at most, "Vraiment, monsieur."
+
+"Does mademoiselle ride?" asked the gallant Capitaine.
+
+"Oui, monsieur."
+
+"Then mademoiselle shall ride my little barb; there is hardly such a
+horse anywhere, mademoiselle, so docile, so sweet-tempered, and so
+sure-footed. It is not every lady I would trust with my little horse;
+but I know how an Englishwoman can sit in the saddle, and I am proud to
+offer it to mademoiselle."
+
+"Je vous remercie bien, monsieur."
+
+Then the Capitaine talked of Christmas-day.
+
+"We will have a little fete-champetre in mademoiselle's honor," he said;
+"we will go to the great water-falls of Boisel-Kebir and breakfast there.
+I will invite my Commandant and all the officers of the garrison.
+Monsieur can make a sketch and mademoiselle can gather flowers."
+
+We expressed ourselves delighted at the proposal, and, after promising
+to send Mary ostrich eggs and jackal skins to take to England, the
+Capitaine left us.
+
+"I don't like the Capitaine as well as the Commandant," Mary said; "but
+how kind they all are to us! It is as if we were princes on a journey of
+triumph. Oh, Tom! what days to remember are these!"
+
+"I think your head will be fairly turned, what with the Commandant's
+dinners and the Capitaine's fetes-champetres," I said; "and if the
+Lieutenant----"
+
+"M. le Lieutenant!" announced Dominique, opening the door calmly, as if
+nothing was the matter.
+
+We had been twice so shocked and surprised that we had no more
+embarrassment to expend on the Lieutenant. Indeed, he was rather shy
+himself, which was the very thing to reassure a warm-hearted,
+sympathetic little creature like my sister, and they began to talk
+together without any effort.
+
+He was young and handsome, with a very frank, pleasant expression.
+
+"I am afraid that it is useless for me to offer my poor services," he
+said, very modestly, "my superior officers having forestalled me; but it
+will make me very happy to do anything for you. If mademoiselle would
+like any stuffed birds, or dried flowers and plants, it will give me
+pleasure to procure them for her; and perhaps monsieur would like me to
+show him some wonderful things to paint. I draw a little myself, and
+know where the finest points of view are to be found."
+
+We thanked him heartily, and accepted all that he offered us. As it was
+now time for our second breakfast, or, more properly speaking, lunch, we
+pressed him to partake of it with us, which he did. We should not have
+ventured upon inviting the Commandant, much less the Capitaine, so
+unceremoniously, but the Lieutenant's diffident manner had set us quite
+at our ease.
+
+"I have a very humble apartment," he said; "but if monsieur and
+mademoiselle will visit me, I will do the honors of it with pride and
+pleasure. I can at least offer them a little music."
+
+"Yes, I know that you play," Mary said, smiling; "our rooms join, and I
+heard you playing before I went to sleep last night."
+
+"Oh, mademoiselle! I shall never forgive myself if I disturbed you."
+
+"No, indeed, you did not, monsieur. Much as I liked the music, I was too
+tired to listen to it, and went to sleep all the same."
+
+Then they both laughed gleefully, like children, and the Lieutenant
+promised to play to her and send her to sleep every night.
+
+After breakfast he accompanied us on a tour of inspection. We soon saw
+all that there was to see of Teschoun, namely, a little line of bazaars
+kept by Jews and negroes, a little boulevard of a year's growth, two
+imposing-looking gates,--one looking towards Morocco, one towards the
+Sahara,--a straggling camp, and a wall of circumvallation. There were
+gardens in embryo here and there, but no trees of any size, and not till
+you had got fairly away from Teschoun could you perceive that its aspect
+was striking or imposing. Then, looking back from the craggy heights
+that surrounded it, the white line of the camp and the belt of verdure
+encircling it like a ribbon, struck the eye as a pleasant contrast to
+the warm, yellow atmosphere of earth and sky. The warmth and the
+yellowness were delicious. A fresh, sweet breeze blew across our faces
+from the Desert. We sat down and drew it in with long, devouring
+breaths.
+
+A hundred yards behind us, his bright-brown body sharply outlined
+against the pale, amber-colored sky, stood a little Bedouin smiling down
+upon us. It was a perfect personification of Eastern life, and I made a
+sketch, while the Lieutenant told Mary of his hard campaign southward,
+and his joy at catching the first glimpse of Teschoun from the distance.
+
+When we returned home we found that the Commandant's servant had left a
+bunch of roses for Mary, with his master's compliments; that the
+Capitaine's servant had been sent round with his master's horse for her
+to try, and that the General had sent word by his aide-de-camp that he
+would himself have the pleasure of calling upon us that evening.
+
+Mary and I felt utterly overwhelmed by such goodness and condescension.
+A real starred, laced General was about to call on us! We could hardly
+believe that we were our identical, insignificant selves, who, but for
+you, oh! most sweet and honored Patroness, would have sunk under the
+burden of toil imposed upon us. But how all was changed! The poor,
+unknown artist was treated as if he had been Sir Peter Paul Rubens; the
+humble little school teacher was feted and flattered like the wife of a
+conquering commander-in-chief.
+
+We had invited the young Lieutenant to drink tea with us at eight
+o'clock, and were enjoying a little music after a very sociable fashion,
+when a noisy excitement seemed to shake the house like a shock of an
+earthquake, and M. le General was announced in Dominique's most
+impressive manner.
+
+M. le General was by no means an awful-looking person; and, indeed, we
+had so expended our surprise already, that we had no more at command.
+
+He was an excessively stout, merry person, middle-aged, of a beautiful
+complexion, and a capacity to wink that would have vulgarized any one
+else but a general. He made himself very pleasant, accepted a cup of
+tea, praised Mary's French, said that he intended to dine with us at the
+Commandant's to-morrow, and told us some laughable stories about the
+Arabs. I noticed that the Lieutenant seemed quite overawed by the
+presence of the General, and sat flute in hand, like a statue. Mary
+tried to put him at his ease, but to no purpose. It did not mend matters
+when the General began first to twit him about his musical
+accomplishments, and then to catechise him on military matters.
+
+"You were in that affair of '59, in Kabylia, weren't you?" he asked,
+in that quick, positive, military tone to which we with difficulty get
+accustomed.
+
+[Illustration: My Little Sister Mary]
+
+"Oui, mon General."
+
+"It was a badly managed thing, I believe. The Kabyles got the better of
+you more than once, didn't they?"
+
+"I believe so, mon General."
+
+"Bah!" cried the General, turning to me. "You see what these young
+officers know of their trade. I have no doubt that Monsieur le
+Lieutenant's musical education is much more advanced, and to serenade
+mademoiselle suits him much better than to make war against the enemies
+of his country."
+
+And, at the mention of the enemies of his country, the General indulged
+in a wink. When he was ready to go, he sent the Lieutenant to order his
+horse, much as if he had been a little boy of ten years old; and on
+taking leave added half a dozen commissions in the same peremptory tone.
+The poor Lieutenant listened very submissively, but no sooner had the
+General dashed down the street, followed by his servant, equally well
+mounted, than he grew gay and easy again.
+
+As soon as we were alone, Mary brought out her slender supply of gala
+dresses, and we discussed the important subject of her toilet of the
+next evening.
+
+"It seems to me," I said, "that if you dress for the Lieutenant, you
+will displease the Capitaine; if you dress for the Capitaine, you will
+displease the Commandant; and if you dress for the Commandant, you will
+displease the General."
+
+Mary gathered up her fineries in alarm. "Don't you think I had better
+stay away from the dinner altogether, Tom?"
+
+"By no means," I said; "settle the matter by dressing to please me."
+
+Which she accordingly did, and the result was a semi-moresque, dainty,
+and glowing bit of costume quite in keeping with the time and place.
+
+
+II.
+
+Precisely at seven o'clock we presented ourselves at the Commandant's,
+Mary looking very pretty in her transparent white dress, brilliant sack
+of Tunis silk, and necklets and bracelets of coral and palm-seeds. The
+little thing had such loving, dark eyes, such a soft bloom on her
+cheeks, and such a sweet mouth, that I could hardly blame the General
+for wishing to have her sit beside him at dinner. The Commandant, being
+a little shy, would have given up all his privileges as host, but the
+General insisted upon the Commandant leading her in, and she sat
+between the two. It was very mortifying for the Capitaine and the
+Lieutenant; the former made an effort to be complimentary and
+entertaining across the table, but the latter looked quite crestfallen,
+and hardly raised his eyes from his plate. When we retired to the
+drawing-room, matters went a little better. The tame gazelle was brought
+in for Mademoiselle Marie to see; and while the General and the
+Commandant had a long discussion on military affairs, the rest of us
+sported with the pretty creature and made pleasant plans for the morrow.
+Then an amusing game of cards was set on foot, over which we were
+growing very merry, when up came the General and the Commandant.
+
+"Eh, bien!" said the General, slyly nudging the Capitaine. "We have not
+been so engrossed, but we heard one or two pleasant things talked of.
+Upon my word, Capitaine, I am half disposed not to go to Mascara till
+after your picnic to the water-falls."
+
+"You will do my poor little fete great honor, mon General," answered the
+Capitaine, adding, naively, "but I think that the wild geese flying
+northwards means rain."
+
+"Not a bit of it. We shall have no rain until a fortnight after
+Christmas. Mademoiselle Marie, I shall do myself the honor of offering
+you one of my horses to ride."
+
+"Mademoiselle has already condescended to accept mine," the Capitaine
+put in, with stiffness.
+
+"Mademoiselle Marie, this gentleman has no horse fit to carry a lady.
+The brute he offers you has no more mouth than an elephant. Keep on the
+safe side and ride mine, which is a lamb, I assure you, mademoiselle,--a
+lamb."
+
+The General spoke in jest, but the Capitaine was very near losing his
+temper. Mary being thus appealed to, thought to extricate herself from
+the difficulty by declaring herself half afraid to ride either horse,
+being an inexperienced horsewoman. But both the gentlemen had mules, and
+both the gentlemen's mules were the best. Poor Mary colored, and looked
+at me in despair.
+
+"I think," I said, "the safest plan will be for my sister to try the
+horses, and see which suits her the best."
+
+Then the different routes to the water-falls were discussed, and the
+different Douars or Arab villages where it would be best to have a
+Diffa, or feast, provided,--Mary's judgment being asked in every
+instance. All this time the Lieutenant had turned over the leaves of a
+newspaper very meekly, and the Commandant had caressed his tame
+gazelle. As soon as she could politely free herself, Mary went up to
+him.
+
+"How pretty, and playful, and fond it is!" she said, stooping down to
+stroke the little creature. The grave face of the Commandant brightened.
+
+"Yes; it would be very _triste_ here without the little thing."
+
+"Do you never go to France, monsieur?"
+
+"I shall perhaps go in two years' time; but you see, mademoiselle, that
+is a long time to look forward to; and if my mother should not be
+living, I might as well stay here."
+
+"Do you like fighting the Arabs in the Desert, then, monsieur?"
+
+"Mademoiselle, when one takes up the profession of arms, fighting and
+exile are _choses entendues_. I often sigh for a settled, domestic life;
+but I might have been worse off. I might have gone to Mexico, for
+instance."
+
+The Commandant's manner was so simple, so manly, and so tinged with
+sadness, that I think any woman would have sympathized with him as much
+as my little sister Mary did. She, poor child, having lived all her life
+in a school-room, was quite ready to make a hero of any man that smiled
+kindly upon her; and here were four heroes, in handsome uniforms, all
+smiling upon her at once! There was the sweet sense of youth drawing
+her to the Lieutenant; but I think the Commandant stood next in her
+favor, and she could not for a moment forget the courteous kindness of
+the other two.
+
+"It must all be a dream, Tom," she said, as she gave me her good-night
+kiss; "but, oh! if it is a dream, don't let me wake yet."
+
+We dreamed some wonderful things in the next few days. Dominique made us
+get up, one morning, very early, and drove us in his little wooden gig
+to an Arab encampment miles away in the Desert. It was dawn when we
+started, and large, pale stars were shining in a violet sky; then, like
+a gorgeous butterfly emerging from a dusky chrysalis, came the Eastern
+day, and we felt as if living in a world warmed by a hundred suns. The
+warm, intoxicating light took possession of our senses, and so sweet, so
+rarefied, so indescribably delicious was the air, that it seemed to give
+wings to our dull bodies. Every now and then we were overtaken by clouds
+of locusts, their little wings glistening like diamonds against the soft
+sky, or flocks of starlings darkened the air, or a serried line of wild
+geese passed majestically overhead. Then we came to the tents, and at
+our approach a dozen dogs rushed out to snap and snarl, and a hundred
+little naked children scampered and scuttled across the way. A stately
+Bedouin made us welcome, and, while Dominique transacted business with
+him, his women gathered around us, chattering and grinning like
+children. Then we were feasted upon cous-cous-sou and figs, and took
+leave, after many "salamaleks."
+
+Another day we went out hunting gazelles, bivouacking along a riverside,
+and feasting, Arab fashion, off a sheep roasted whole. Dominique had
+found a pretty little French girl, daughter of a travelling farrier, to
+act as Mary's handmaid; and she now felt less isolated among so many
+men, and less shy, too. The poor child stood a fair chance of being
+spoiled, what with suddenly finding herself transformed from a
+school-room Cinderella to a fairy-tale princess, and having four lovers,
+all heroes, at once. For it was impossible to deny that the General, the
+Commandant, the Capitaine, and the Lieutenant all behaved like lovers,
+presenting her with jackal skins, ostrich plumes and eggs, rare birds,
+and other treasures of the Sahara. The General went so far as to give
+her a little negro boy about ten years old, though this gift we had
+accepted only temporarily, not quite knowing what to do with him when we
+left Teschoun.
+
+Christmas-day came at last. Mary had artfully evaded the delicate point
+about horses by declaring herself afraid of every one's beast but
+Dominique's; accordingly, mounted on Dominique's ugly hack, she led the
+way with the General, her long, bright hair flowing in curls over her
+shoulders, her cheeks glowing with excitement. The pleasure and
+picturesqueness of the last few days--for Mary had an artistic
+perception of beauty--had brought out a new side to her character; and
+she quite surprised me, from time to time, with her saucy humor and
+quick repartee.
+
+We made a brilliant cavalcade, what with the uniforms of the officers,
+and the richly embroidered saddles and bright-red burnouses of our
+attendant spahis. After riding some miles across a monotonous tract of
+stony desert, we came to a majestic sierra of crag, down which fell a
+dozen water-falls, narrow and bright as sword-blades. A thin little
+stream threaded the ravine, and on its banks grew clumps of the
+tamarisk, the oleander, and the thuya, making an oasis grateful to the
+eyes. Here we sat down and ate our Christmas breakfast, with stray
+thoughts of village bells chiming at home, and school children lustily
+singing their Christmas hymns.
+
+Our host, the Capitaine, had provided a sumptuous feast of Desert
+fare,--roast quails and plovers, cous-cous-sou, figs, dates, and
+bananas, with the addition of champagne; and we were very merry.
+
+"Mademoiselle," said the Capitaine, "think what our next Christmas will
+be if you are not here. Persuade monsieur, your brother, to purchase
+some land between Mascara and Teschoun, so that we shall not lose you
+altogether."
+
+The General nudged the Commandant.
+
+"You see what our friend the Capitaine is dreaming of! Mon Capitaine,
+your escadron is sure to be sent into the interior this spring; put all
+romances out of your head, my dear fellow, and do not entice monsieur
+into the committal of follies."
+
+"I am not the only one to entertain romances," said the Capitaine,
+coolly. "You, mon General, did us all the honor to spend Christmas at
+Teschoun. We can but attribute such a condescension to the gracious
+influence of mademoiselle."
+
+"Look well after the Commandant when I am gone, gentlemen," continued
+the General, looking round with a smile. "Matters are gone so far
+already that he loses his temper if a fellow-officer but jests with him.
+What a terrible slur it would be upon the glorious annals of
+French-African conquest, if such a brave officer should show himself
+fonder of stuffing birds for an English demoiselle than running swords
+through ungrateful Arabs!" and the General looked round with a very
+comical expression of mock horror.
+
+"Mademoiselle has indiscriminately accepted our tokens of homage," the
+Commandant said, maliciously.
+
+"But it yet remains to be seen whose offering has been most acceptable
+to her," went on the General, adding, _au grand serieux_, "we won't
+resort to duels unless absolutely necessary."
+
+This sort of banter lasted so long that poor Mary's cheeks burned with
+mixed vanity and mortification, and she made an excuse to leave us.
+
+"And what does our Lieutenant advise monsieur to do?" asked the
+General,--"to settle here, or to follow his escadron to the Desert?"
+Whereupon the poor Lieutenant colored, and said nothing.
+
+What an experience it was, that Christmas-day in the Desert! The noonday
+sun seemed to dissolve in the warm atmosphere, and, instead of a single
+orb shining overhead, large and golden, we had melted suns innumerable
+about us, and almost lost the sense of corporeity in their charmed
+medium.
+
+When the short bright day waned, and the large stars were coming out one
+by one, we found ourselves near home; and when the heavens had turned to
+bluish-black, and the stars to splendid silvery moons, we passed under
+the gate of Teschoun, and saw our shadows, darker and deeper than real
+things, fall across the white walls of mosque and fortress. For shadow
+and substance lost their identity in the Desert and one is always on the
+point of mistaking the one for the other: if anything, shadow is the
+more real of the two.
+
+So absorbed was I in the suggestions of this mysterious beauty, that I
+had forgotten all about my sister's lovers till we were fairly in our
+little sitting-room. Then Mary began to sigh and blush, and to hint that
+she thought we had better leave Teschoun very soon.
+
+"You see, Tom, dear," she said, with tears in her eyes, "the General
+says he adores me, and the Commandant says he never loved any one in the
+world until he saw me, and the Capitaine says that if I go away he will
+blow his brains out, and what am I to do?"
+
+"And the Lieutenant,--what did he say?"
+
+"He says nothing," said Mary, looking down; "and,"--here came a
+sob,--"and I like him best of all!"
+
+"But, if he does not declare the same liking for you, we must leave him
+out of the question, and choose between the other three, I suppose."
+
+"He does not speak because he is too modest: I'm sure he likes me," Mary
+added, still ready to cry.
+
+"His state of feeling does not help us much, unless expressed," I
+replied. "Meantime, what am I to say to the General, the Commandant,
+and the Capitaine, if they ask to marry you?"
+
+The little thing plucked at the folds of her riding-skirt in the
+greatest perplexity.
+
+"I like the General and I like the Commandant, and I ought not to
+dislike the Capitaine; but I cannot marry one without offending the
+others; and, if I were to marry out here in the Desert, Tom, would you
+stay, too?"
+
+We had been living in such utter fairy-land lately, that I felt as if it
+were quite possible for me to marry some brown-skinned, soft-eyed
+Rebecca, and turn Mahometan. But, in any case, could I desire for my
+sister a happier fate than to marry one of these brave gentlemen, and
+live in the sunny South all the rest of her days? She would be rescued
+from a life of toil and friendlessness, and have another protector
+besides her Bohemian of a brother.
+
+"My dear child," I said, "it would be impossible for me to say that our
+lives should be spent together; but you may be quite sure that nothing
+would utterly divide them. The chief point is, of all your lovers, whom
+do you love?"
+
+To this question I could elicit no positive reply. Mary, in fact, was
+half in love with the General and the Commandant, and wholly in love
+with the Lieutenant, and was quite incapable of deciding her own fate.
+
+"You must not laugh at me," she said, simply, as we bade each other
+good-night; "it is so new to me to have lovers, and so delightful, that
+I wish I could go on forever being happy, and making them happy, without
+marrying either." Then she blushed and ran off to bed.
+
+The next morning we were taking our early coffee, when we heard the
+clatter of horses' feet, and, looking out, saw one of the General's
+splendid, brown-skinned, red-cloaked spahis dashing into the town at a
+furious rate. He pulled up at Dominique's door, and, letting his little
+barb prance and rear at will, looked towards us, showing his white teeth
+and waving a letter in one hand.
+
+I left my breakfast and ran down to him. We exchanged "salamaleks," and
+then he put the letter in my hand, adding, in broken French, "Le
+General,--envoyer cela,--va faire le guerre,--la-bas." Then he put spurs
+to his horse's flanks, and dashed away as fast as he had come.
+
+I broke the seal of the General's letter, which ran as follows:
+
+     "Monsieur,--This morning at daybreak I received telegraphic
+     information that a serious rising has taken place among the tribes
+     southward of Fig-gig, and I have resolved to march upon them
+     without delay. Judge, monsieur, how more than sorry I am to be
+     forced to quit the society of your charming sister and yourself
+     without making my adieux; but a soldier's duty forces him from the
+     consummation of his fondest desires, when such a consummation seems
+     close at hand, and I go, if not with joy, at least without
+     soldierly reluctance. I shall never forget, monsieur, this episode,
+     an oasis in the desert of my military life; and, while wishing for
+     mademoiselle and yourself all possible prosperity, I hope you will
+     remember Teschoun and the poor exiled officers there, who will
+     never think of you both without regret.
+
+     "I feel it right, under the grave circumstances of the revolt, to
+     advise your speedy return to Mascara, and will order a trusty
+     escort to be in readiness for you when you shall require it.
+
+     "Meantime, receive, monsieur, the expression of my utmost esteem.
+
+"De Marion."
+
+We were both of us talking over the astounding contents of the General's
+letter, when Napoleon came in, full of news. The insurgents numbered
+thousands, and there were skirmishing parties close to Teschoun.
+Teschoun would be most likely besieged, as it had been more than once,
+etc., etc. As the day wore on, the excitement increased. Little groups
+of French or Jewish shopkeepers collected together and talked gravely,
+Arabs walked about in stately fashion, smiling superciliously. In the
+French camp it was the old story on a lesser scale:
+
+  "And there was mounting in hot haste; the steed,
+    The mustering squadron, and the clattering car
+  Went pouring forward with impetuous speed."
+
+And so great was the need for hurry that we doubted whether we should
+see either of our gallant hosts again. Late in the afternoon, however,
+the Capitaine paid us a formal, sentimental visit, and after him came
+the Commandant, who stood up before us, square and stiff, and stammered
+out a word or two with tears in his kind eyes. Mary held out her little
+hand; but he seemed overcome with shyness or sadness, or both, and
+rushed away without having taken it.
+
+Last of all, when we had quite given him up, came the poor Lieutenant:
+he had been busy on a hundred errands for his superior officers, and had
+only five minutes to spare. We can never do anything with a few last
+moments, and Mary and the Lieutenant had not a word to say to each
+other, though I could see well enough what both would fain have said.
+
+So I quietly left them under the pretext of fetching a cigar, and when I
+returned, at the close of the fifth minute, all that was necessary had
+been said. We then embraced each other after the hearty French fashion.
+Mary and the Lieutenant exchanged rings, and he went off to fight the
+disaffected Arabs as happy as a king!
+
+It was a fine sight to see the troops march out of Teschoun. Color is
+really color in the South, and the lines of blue zouaves and crimson
+spahis against the mellow afternoon sky were vivid and picturesque
+beyond description.
+
+On they went, arms flashing, drums beating, colors flying, till the last
+column had turned the hill, and then evening came on all at once, and we
+felt a dreary sense of disenchantment creeping over us. It was as if we
+had been dreaming during the last few weeks, and now we were waked,
+indeed! Dominique recalled us to ourselves with a cynical smile.
+
+"Bah!" he cries, "it's all play; let 'em pretend to put down
+insurrection as often as they please. It is good for trade and
+promotion, and the Arabs know how to defend themselves."
+
+But events falsified this sarcasm of Monsieur Dominique's, for the
+insurrection proved serious, and it was months before we heard of our
+Lieutenant. When we did hear, the news was good; and the news of him and
+of his English wife--dowered by our Vittoria Colonna--has been good ever
+since.
+
+
+END OF BOOK I.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I, by Various
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