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diff --git a/42919.txt b/42919.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0d29b9a..0000000 --- a/42919.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1654 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Angel Unawares, by C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson - -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: Angel Unawares - A Story of Christmas Eve - -Author: C. N. Williamson - A. M. Williamson - -Release Date: June 12, 2013 [EBook #42919] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANGEL UNAWARES *** - - - - -Produced by Elaine Laizure from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries. - - - - - - - -Angel Unawares - - -A Story of Christmas Eve - - - -BY - - -C. N. and A. M. WILLIAMSON - - - -HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS - - -NEW YORK AND LONDON - - - - -Angel Unawares - - - -Copyright, 1916, by Harper & Brothers - -Printed in the United States of America - -Published October, 1916 - - - -ANGEL UNAWARES - - - -IF Angel Odell hadn't had a French nursery governess, and if that -French governess hadn't suddenly recognized her lost lover in a -wounded French sergeant on the sea-front, the Valois story would -have been a Christmas tragedy instead of--what it turned out to be. -This was strange, because neither the little American girl nor her -governess nor her governess's lover had ever heard of the Valois -family, nor had the Valois family heard of them. But most things -that happen are strange, if seen from every point of view. - -At first, when Mademoiselle Rose gave a little scream and rushed -away from her charge to a good-looking soldier with his arm in a -sling, Angel stood still, extremely interested. Her mother did not -know about the lost lover. One need not tell all one's heart -secrets to one's employer on being engaged at a Paris agency! But -Mademoiselle cried in the night sometimes and gazed at a -photograph, so Angel (whose bed was in the same room) had asked -questions safer to answer than leave unanswered. When she saw the -meeting she quickly put two and two together in her intelligent, -seven-year-old brain. - -"That's Claude," said the child to herself. "So he's alive, after -all. My goodness _me!_ what a nice Christmas present for -Mademoiselle! I'm glad it's after lunch instead of before, though, -for I _was_ hungry, and I expect she'll want to talk to him a long -time. I suppose she'll introduce him to me and we'll all three walk -up and down." - -Instead of walking, however, Mademoiselle and her Christmas present -sat down on one of the seats placed at regular intervals along the -Mentone sea front. Apparently Mademoiselle forgot Angel's -existence, and "Claude" had not observed it. The child stood -neglected until she was tired and very bored. Then, too polite to -interrupt (a succession of nursery governesses of several nations -had instructed her never to interrupt), she decided to go home. - -"Home" was a hotel; and Mrs. Odell, Angel, and Mademoiselle had -arrived only the day before from Paris, Mademoiselle had been in -Mentone before (that was one reason for engaging her), but Angel -and her mother never had. Angel's father was one of several -brilliant young men in the American Embassy, where he was well -content for himself, but found the idea of bombs on heads he loved -bad for his nerves; accordingly, wife and child had been sent to -safety in the south of France, somewhat against the former's will. -At the moment, Elinor Odell was getting off letters, meaning to go -out later and buy Christmas toys. So it happened that, just as -Angel was wondering which turn to take, Angel's mother was writing: -"Mademoiselle is young and pretty, but as trustworthy as if she -were a _hundred_. She never loses sight of the Angel-Imp for an -instant." - -The Angel-Imp in question wished that streets going inland from the -Promenade du Midi didn't look so much alike. They all seemed to -have rivers or gardens running up the middle, and pointed blue -mountains at the back, except the ones farther along, where the -shops were. Angel remembered a bridge. She thought the right turn -was near. Yes, that must be the street! You walked along that for a -while, and then you had to turn again. You passed villas with -gardens. - -By and by Angel forgot to look for landmarks; there were so many -things which amused her: children riding on donkeys led by brown -old women in funny hats like toadstools; a flock of very white -sheep with long, silky hair, being driven by a fur-coated boy into -an olive wood; bands of soldiers black as jet, wearing queer red -caps on their woolly heads. It was all so interesting and exciting -that when Angel remembered herself she was not quite sure she knew -where she was. - -This would have been rather frightening if the realization -hadn't come just outside the half-open gates of a garden lovely -as fairy-land. It had been winter in Paris. Here it was summer; -yet to-morrow was going to be Christmas. Angel could not understand. -The thing was like a dream, and held her fascinated. She was an -imaginative child, and it thrilled her to say to herself, "Maybe -this garden is fairyland!" Although, of course, the common-sense -side of her answered, "Pooh! You know very well, you silly, there's -no such place." - -Anyhow, the garden _looked_ like fairyland. It was exactly what -fairyland ought to be; and even mother (who was a grown-up, though -father often called her "child") said that no really nice person -would swear there weren't any fairies in the world. - -Hundreds and maybe thousands of orange and lemon trees made a -sparkling green roof for a carpet of purply-blue violets, white -carnations, and roses of every shade from palest coral pink to -deepest crimson. The flowers grew in the midst of young grass which -the sun, shining through tree-branches, lit with the vivid green of -emeralds. It shone also on the countless globes of the oranges and -lemons, making them glow like lighted lamps of pale topaz and -transparent red-gold among the dark-green leaves. - -"Fairy Christmas trees!" thought Angel Odell. And it seemed to her -that the invisible hand of an equally invisible fairy clutched her -dress and began to pull her through the open gateway. After all, -why should the gates be open if people were not expected to walk -into the garden? - -"I don't care. I _will_ go in, whether it's fairyland or not," -Angel decided. - -Nothing else seemed important except the garden and what might -happen to her there when she had once got past the gates. Not -Mademoiselle Rose, not her Claude, not going home to the hotel, and -not even seeing mother. - -Angel let the unseen hand guide her through the gates, and on the -other side the mysterious beauty of the garden was more thrilling -than ever, because it was all around her and under her feet and -over her head. The road looked as if no wagons ever went over it, -though it was wide enough for them to pass. It was golden-brown in -patches, but was overgrown with a film of green, almost like lace. -The orange-trees were planted so that they made long, straight -aisles shut in at the far end with a misty curtain of blue. Down -each aisle a narrow, gold-brown path ran between the flowers; and, -fascinated, the child from another land began slowly to follow one -of the ways. A vague fancy stole through her mind that the silence -and heavy perfume of lemon blossoms were, somehow, parts of each -other. It was as if she were about to find out a wonderful secret; -and, looking up through the green net to a sky of blue, shot with -rose, she wandered on with a sense of waiting. - -Not only did little paths run the length of those long, straight -aisles, but crossed from one aisle into another, until Angel lost -count, as from violets she visited roses, and from roses passed to -carnations and stocks. Beyond the arbor of orange- and lemon-trees -showered a golden rain of mimosas, and close by clustered a grove -of palms, with tall-trunked, date-laden giants rearing their crests -in the middle of the group, and in an outer ring, low-plumed dwarfs -whose feathered branches drooped to earth. - -Angel Odell associated palms with large pots in halls and -conservatories. She had not known until to-day that they could grow -out of doors. Staring at the grove in wonder, she caught sight of -something red which showed between the trailing fronds of a palm -like a green-domed tent. And mixed in with the something red was -something white that moved. Almost before she knew what she was -doing, Angel had stooped down and crept beneath the drapery of -rustling plumes. - -The "red thing" was an old knitted shawl, spread over a wooden -seat of the right height for a child; and the "white thing" was a -half-Persian kitten. It was sitting on the shawl, too earnestly -ironing its silver ruff with a pink tongue to feel the slightest -concern in the intrusion of a stranger. - -"Oh, you lovely catkin!" exclaimed Angel. Cautiously she subsided -on to the end of the wooden seat, and, slipping off her gray -mittens, began to smooth the fluffy back. On her thumb glittered a -large diamond in a ring of her mother's she had picked up on the -dressing-table and forgotten to take off. Seeing that the object of -her attentions did not openly object to them, and, indeed, appeared -hypnotized by the flashing stone, she transferred the white ball of -fur from the red shawl to her gray-corduroy lap. It was velvet -corduroy, and even more delightful to sit on than knitted wool. The -kitten submitted in a dignified, aloof manner to the child's -caresses, and Angel sat rigidly still, hardly daring to breathe -lest the haughty creature should take offense. - -It was just then that a woman suddenly appeared from, it seemed, -nowhere in particular. Angel's heart gave a jump. What if the -woman--just a mere woman, not a fairy at all--owned the garden, and -should scold the little stranger girl for coming in, sitting down, -and playing with her kitten? - -"Maybe if I don't move or make any noise she'll go away and won't -see me," the child thought. - -To her no grown-up person could be really young, but _for_ a -grown-up this woman looked youngish, about as young as mother. -Mother had been twenty-eight on her last birthday, and looked -almost like a little girl before she was dressed in the morning, -with clouds of dark hair falling around her small, white face and -shading her big, blue eyes. - -This woman had dark hair, too, but Angel could not see what color -her eyes were. She was looking down. Her eyelashes were long and -black, like mother's, yet she was not like mother in any other way. -Mother's face was rather round, and nearly always smiling and -happy. This woman's face, though pretty--yes, Angel thought it -pretty, and, like a picture of the Madonna Mademoiselle had--was -very grave and sad. That was strange, in this beautiful garden full -of flowers and sunshine; like a wrong note in music, if Angel -mischievously struck a key while mother was playing something gay -and sweet. Besides, the woman had on a dress that wasn't pretty at -all, or like the dresses mother wore. It was brown, and plain, -without any trimming, almost like a servant's dress. Angel wished -she would go away, but she didn't; she stooped down and began to do -two very queer things. Both were queer for a woman to do, and one -was dreadful. - -The first thing--the thing that was only queer--was to cover up a -bed of very delicate flowers, whose name Angel had never heard, -with gray stuff such as kitchen towels are made of, only much -thicker and rougher. The woman had been carrying a large bundle of -this in her arms, and in covering the bed she supported the gray -stuff on sticks higher than the flowers. - -The other queer thing she did, which was dreadful as well as queer, -was to cry. It seemed awful to Angel that a grown-up woman should -cry--cry in a beautiful garden, where she thought she was alone. -And on Christmas Eve! Angel felt quite sick. Her throat filled as -if she, too, were going to cry. It was all she could do not to give -the kitten a nervous squeeze. She was seized with a wild wish to -rush out and try to comfort the woman; but instinct even more than -childish shyness held her back. Angel knew that, if she had stolen -away to cry where she hoped not to be seen, she would hate to have -a strange person jump out and surprise her. Probably she would hate -it even more if she were a grown-up. - -The child hidden under the palm-tree and the woman outside were so -near to each other that the child could hear the woman give choking -sobs which it seemed as if she tried to swallow. Perhaps she didn't -try hard enough at first, for the sobs, instead of stopping, came -faster and harder, and Angel's large, horrified eyes saw tears run -down the woman's face and splash on to the flowers. Suddenly, -however, the gasping ceased. The woman let fall an end of the -bagging not yet draped over the sticks, and sprang to her feet with -the quick grace of a frightened fawn. Not that Angel definitely -thought of any such simile, but away in the back of her mind dimly -materialized the picture of a deer she had once seen rise up among -the tall grasses in a public park. - -The young woman fumbled in the pocket of her shabby brown dress and -found a handkerchief. She hurriedly dabbed her eyes, and rubbed her -cheeks hard, as if to make them so red that the redness of her -eyelids might not be noticed. - -"She must have heard some noise," thought Angel; and as the thought -formed she, too, heard what the woman had heard--the pat-pat of -footsteps coming lightly and quickly across grass. Then from under -the green-and-gold mimosas a man appeared--a tall, youngish man, -very thin and pale, carrying a thing which seemed a mysterious -object for a man to carry in his arms; but then, everything about -this fairy garden was mysterious and puzzling. - -Heavily leaning against the man's shoulder and hanging down over -his back was a pine-tree, small for a pine-tree, but large for a -person to carry. He came on with his head bent, and at first did -not see the woman, so--apparently--he was not in search of her. But -he limped as he walked, and the woman cried out sharply: - -"Oh, Paul, you've hurt yourself! You've had a fall!" - -He looked up, surprised. "Why, dear one, I didn't know you were -here," he said. "I did slip on a stone coming down the mountain. -But it's nothing. I've wrenched my ankle a little, that's all." - -"And you had that long, hard walk afterward!" the woman exclaimed. -"My poor Paul! You out of bed only three days ago. It's too cruel. -Everything goes against us." - -"Everything?" He caught her up and a look of alarm or anxiety -chased away the smile he had put on to reassure her. "Has bad news -come, then? But yes--you needn't answer. I know it has. I wish I -hadn't said you might open the avocat's letter! You've been crying, -Suze." - -The woman spoke English as if it were her own language, but -the man had an accent which showed that he was not born to it. -Even Angel--listening half against her will--noticed that, almost -unconsciously. But she had been forced to think a great deal about -"accent" in the last few months since she had come to live in Paris -and talk with a French governess. She had picked up French quickly, -as children do, but was always having the word "accent, accent!" -drummed into her head. - -"I couldn't help crying a little," said Suze. "I didn't mean to let -you know. I thought you'd be longer away." - -"You mustn't try to hide your feelings from me, dear," the man -said. "Troubles will be lighter if you let me bear them with you." - -"But you--you're always trying to cheer me up, no matter what's -happened," the woman reminded him, almost reproachfully. Angel -realized that they must be husband and wife. They were about the -right age for each other, she thought; and even a child could see -by the look in their eyes that they loved one another dearly. "You -pretend now that you're not hurt, but you are; you're suffering-- -your face shows it. Ah! the dear face, so white, so patient! I -hoped I should have good news for you when you came back. I hoped -that in spite of everything we might have a little peace, a little -happiness, just enough to last us over Christmas, if no more. But -what's the use of our hoping? Always comes another blow!" Her sobs -broke out again. Tears poured over her cheeks. - -The man stooped and laid the little pine-tree on the grass, letting -it down carefully, not to break the branches. Then he took his wife -in his arms and pressed her head against his shoulder. They looked -two pathetic figures in their plain, rather shabby clothes, -clinging together in the garden where everything save themselves -was singing with joy of life and beauty. - -"You mustn't give way like this, Suze," said the man, gently. -"Think of the children." - -"I know," she sobbed, "I hate myself for breaking down. I ought to -think of _you_ as well as the children, though you'd never tell me -to do that. You never think of yourself, except of what you can do -for me and them. This Christmas tree you've brought! Even if you'd -been well, it would have been a big adventure, toiling up into the -mountains, tired after a day's work in the garden; looking for the -right tree, sure to grow in the worst place to get at; cutting it -down with an ax that's no more than a toy, and then bringing the -thing home on your back! Why, it would be hard labor for a strong -man---" - -"Love gives strength," he soothed her, stroking her ruffled dark -hair; and Angel thought that she had never seen a man's hand so -thin. "I've done myself no harm, truly, dear one. I may not be very -strong yet, but I'm getting on. Last week you said you were -thankful, whatever happened, to have me out of bed---" - -"You oughtn't to have been out!" Suze broke in, rebelliously. "If -we weren't so poor---" - -"Never mind. It did me no real harm. I've had no relapse. And we've -got each other and the children. There are rich people who'd change -with us. Let's forget the bad news and the other troubles till -after Christmas---" - -"How _can_ we forget being hungry?" - -"By eating an orange!" The man tried to laugh. "We've got plenty of -those." - -"Just now we have. But if we're turned out?" - -"We must do as Adam and Eve did when they were turned out of Eden. -They found work, I suppose. So shall we. Though God knows it almost -kills me to think of what I've brought on you and the babies." - -"Don't say 'you'! You've never brought anything but happiness to us -or anybody." - -"I'm afraid--I've thought, sometimes--I had no right to marry you." - -"Why, life wouldn't have been life for me without you, Paul!" - -"Or for me without you, Suze." - -"And all we've gone through has only drawn us closer together. But -this last blow is different. It's too cruel! . . . That Judas of a -man, Siegel, making us believe he was our good friend and he doing -you a great kindness selling you this garden and the business so -cheap! Think, Paul, how he described it, only last August, just -after I found you in Antwerp when you were getting well after your -wound. Would one _believe_ a man could make up his mind to ruin -another who'd nearly given his life for his country? Plan and plan -to rob him of his savings, pretending all the time to open the -gates of Paradise---" - -"Well, in one way this _is_ Paradise," said Paul, lifting his eyes -to the sky which showered sunset roses through silver branches of -olives, gold branches of mimosas. - -"Paradise with the serpent of deceit in it!" cried Suze. "The Nice -lawyer says in his letter--_I'm_ not sorry you let me open it--that -Siegel drew up the deeds so cleverly it's almost impossible to -convict him of swindling. Monsieur Vignal thinks no business man -would lend money on the chance of what you might get back from your -deposit with Siegel if you sued him for false pretenses. And yet, -in the next sentence, Vignal advises you to stand up against Siegel -trying to turn you out because you can't and won't and oughtn't to -pay the rest. He says, 'hold on to the place if you possibly can, -and make Siegel attack you in the courts, so you can have a chance -of bringing out the real facts and perhaps proving that you're an -injured man.' He thinks if you could stop here instead of -submitting to be turned out, the courts would very likely decide -that you'd paid Siegel already as much as the business is worth, -and the place would be accounted ours. Isn't that a mockery, when -Monsieur Vignal knows as well as we do we haven't a penny to live -on--that the Riviera's empty these war days, that nobody buys our -plants, and you can't fill orders from over the Swiss or Italian -frontiers, even if you could get _half_ as many as Siegel's lying -books showed?" - -"Vignal means well," said the man. "It's good of him to advise me -without asking for pay." - -"No more than a Frenchman ought to do for a Belgian!" the woman -retorted. "The refugees who ask for charity get all the sympathy. -We, who ask only for work--" - -"We have received kindness, too. Don't let's doubt God's goodness -on the eve of Christmas--the day when He gave His only Son for us -all, my Suze! . . . 'Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' -Well, there's _no_ evil in this day--or to-morrow. There sha'n't -be. Let's trust; let's not stop hoping, for not to hope is death. -You go to the children, dearest, now, and I'll slip around the back -way with this tree, so they sha'n't see it till it's lighted and -decorated to-night---" - -"Lighted and decorated!" Suze echoed, with a laugh that came -trembling out of tears. - -"Yes," insisted Paul, "trust me. Your husband isn't an artist for -nothing! Come along. No more time for repining if the tree's to be -ready before the children's bedtime. I tell you, it will be a great -work!" - -"You're the most wonderful man in the world!" breathed Suze senior. -"And we _adore you_--our soldier who fights for us always. Oh, but -listen! There's Paulette calling me. I told the two I'd be back -before they finished their Christmas present for father. Guess what -it is--but no, it wouldn't be fair to the poor little things. -They're coming to look for me. If you go by the mimosa path you can -get away before they see you." - -Without a word, the man picked up the miniature pine-tree and, -shouldering it, limped off almost at a run. At the same instant the -woman went down on her knees and began once more to drape the gray -bagging over the flower-bed, as if nothing had happened to -interrupt her task. - -"Here I am, by the palm-grove. Come and help me cover the flowers!" -she cried, almost cheerily, in answer to a child shouting "Maman! -Maman!" - -At the silver sound of the little voice, the kitten in Angel Odel's -lap stiffened itself for a spring. Mechanically her hands tightened -on the ball of fluff, but it wriggled free, and, with a jump, -landed clear of the palm, on the grass beyond. Small as it was, the -little animal left the fronds rustling in its wake, and the woman -on her knees, looking up with a start, caught a glimpse of -something gray under the tree. Two pinafored children, emerging -from a side-path, caught the same glimpse, and as the younger -snatched up the kitten the elder took a step forward and parted the -long green plumes of the agitated palm. - -"Why, mother!" she exclaimed in French, "there's a strange child -under our tree, sitting on _our_ seat! Oh, but a beautiful child in -splendid clothes. Can she be real, or--oh, mother! Is she the -Christmas fairy father says God sends to bless those who love one -another?" - -Without answering, the woman got up from her knees. Flushed with -embarrassment, she peeped over her daughter's golden head. The -younger girl peeped, also, hanging shyly to her mother's dress. It -was a horrid moment for Angel Odell. - -The children were smaller than she--not more than six and four -years old at most--and they were, Angel saw at a glance, pretty as -life-size dolls, with their yellow curls, rose-red cheeks, and -pink pinafores. Their great blue eyes stared at her, not with anger, -but bewildered admiration. Even their mother did not look as if -she meant to scold or sweep the intruder angrily out of her -hiding-place. But, child as she was, Angel realized that she had -been doing a forbidden thing, a shameful thing. She had been -eavesdropping. She had seen the woman crying; she had heard her -talking over family secrets with her husband; she had come to know -what she had no right to know, and what those two had meant for -each other's hearts alone. Ever since she was old enough to learn -anything, she had been taught that "eavesdropping" was one of those -disgusting sins no honorable girl or boy could possibly commit. Her -father himself had said those very words; unforgettable words, -because father was Angel's hero. What would he think if he could -see her now? Somehow, she _must_ atone! - -"I--I didn't _mean_ to hide," she stammered. "I looked in--the gate -was open. I thought--maybe it was a fairy garden--" - -"Oh, mother, you see she _is_ a fairy," gasped Suze junior, the -elder of the children. - -"Perhaps," agreed Suze senior, doubtfully. And her eyes challenged -the stranger. "Who are you, really? Where do you come from?" - -"I--I _often_ play I'm a fairy." The culprit seized the straw -held out to her. "I--expect I _am_ one. I know the _me_ in the -looking-glass is, and sometimes I can't tell which is which -Mademoiselle plays _she_ can't, either. She says when I come in, -'Which is this, today, the angel or the fairy?' My name's Angela." - -"Oh mother!" breathed both children together, their eyes round with -awe. "An angel and a fairy." - -"And I'm lost," the wonderful visitor hurried on, heading off an -answer from mother. "I don't know where I live." - -"She doesn't know where she lives," murmured Suze and Paulette, in -chorus. "Then she can stay always and live with us, can't she?" - -"Perhaps she wouldn't want to do that," said Suze senior. "Perhaps -_she_ has a mother waiting for her somewhere." - -"But do fairies have mothers?" Paulette wanted to know. - -"Or angels?" added Suze. "I always thought they hadn't." - -"_I_ have," the visitor announced, hastily. "Some kinds of angels -do--the kind like me. My name's Angel Odell." - -"Well, I _never_ supposed angels had last names," Paulette -reflected, aloud. "I thought they were just called Gabriel or -something like that, and that they were generally boys." - -"Oh _no!_" Angel Odell announced, with decision. "Boys are _never_ -angels, anyhow, not in America where I live when I'm home." - -"She lives in America," the two children repeated to their mother. -"That's not fairyland or heaven, is it?" - -"Fairyland can be anywhere, your father says," Suze senior -answered. "But see, it's going to be twilight soon! I think we must -try to find out where Angel Odell lives, and take her home. She -says she's lost--so her mother will be anxious." - -"She thinks I'm with my governess," said Angel. - -"Oh, fairy angels have _governesses_," the elder sister mourned, -another illusion gone. "That's as bad as being a real child and -going to school." The two spoke English or French indiscriminately, -seeming hardly to know which language they used, but luckily Angel -understood French very well, thanks to Paris and Mademoiselle Rose. - -"I like my governess," she explained. "She's very pretty and she's -engaged to a soldier. That's why I'm lost. Because she met him by -the sea, instead of his being dead as she thought, so she forgot to -watch me. I was going home alone when I saw your garden gate open, -and it looked just like fairyland. If you please, I wish you would -find where I live. It's a--hotel, and it has a garden, too, but not -like this." - -Suze senior set her wits to work. She knew that, in those days of -war, not many hotels were open in Mentone. She questioned Angel, -and, learning that the hotel garden was high above the sea, with -glass screens to keep off the wind and a view where you saw the -town all piled together on the side of a hill with dark, tall trees -on top, she guessed the Bellevue. - -"We'll all three put on our hats and cloaks, and take you back to -your mother," she said, with the thought in her mind, perhaps, that -Paul would be glad of the children's absence while he did his part -of the tree-dressing. "Suze and Paulette will leave you the kitten -to play with, and you won't mind being alone here again for a few -minutes, while we get ready?" - -Even if Angel had minded, now that a blue veil of twilight was -dropping over the garden, she would have said "No," bravely, -to wipe off ever so little, if she could, of the stain of -eavesdropping. But suddenly, when the children's mother asked -that question, and she realized that she would have the place to -herself, the most wonderful idea came into her head, straight and -direct as a bee flies into an open flower. She happened at the -moment to be putting on her mittens preparatory to a start, when -a glint of her mother's diamond flashed up from her plump little -thumb to her eyes. The flash was an inspiration. When the -children and their mother were out of the way she would pull off -her hair-ribbon and tie the ring to the kitten's neck. Then, when -they had taken her home and come back, Suze and Paulette would find -the ring and think it the magic gift of a fairy, because (they would -say to each other) no ordinary little girl could have a gorgeous -diamond like that to give away. - -Oh, it was a splendid idea! Angel was sure her mother would approve -when she had thoroughly explained, for mother was rich. Angel had -often heard servants at home and in hotels, away over across the -sea in America, telling one another that Mrs. Odell's father was -Cyrus P. Holroyd, one of the big millionaires. Mother herself had -heaps and heaps of money, too much to please father; and grandpa-- -that very Cyrus P. Holroyd--was always sending presents of jewelry -and things. He sent beautiful presents to Angel, as well. Probably -she would find some from him when she went home, for when you -visited at grandpa's house in New York, it was the rule to begin -Christmas on Christmas Eve, and have still _more_ things on -Christmas morning, too, when you thought you had got all there -were. - -No sooner had Suze senior and her two children turned their backs -than Angel proceeded hurriedly to carry out her idea. The kitten, -unused to being personally decorated at Christmas or any other -time, resisted the ribbon with some determination. But Angel was -even more determined, and, as in war, size counted. Before the trio -returned, ready for their walk, the bow had been tied and the -victim had dashed angrily away. This vanishing act suited Angel -precisely, for the bright blue of the ribbon was conspicuous on the -white fur, even in twilight, and to have the fairy's legacy -discovered in the fairy's presence would have been premature. In -fact, it would have spoiled everything, and Angel encouraged the -animal's exit with a suppressed "Scat!" - -The first hotel they tried was the right one. Angel knew it by the -gate. But it was rather a long walk to get there, and Suze senior-- -who told Angel that she was "Madame Valois"--shyly refused the -little girl's insistent plea to "come in and meet mother." - -"I must take the children back to their supper," she explained. -"Already it's getting dark, and--it's Christmas Eve, you know. I -hope your mother won't have had time to worry. Tell her we brought -you home as soon as--as you were found." - -A faint fear that some gentle hint of reproach lurked in the kind -words (as she had hidden under the palm) stirred in Angel's mind, -making her wish all the more to benefit the Valois family, and so -justify her eavesdropping. She pictured, with joy, the sensational -discovery of the diamond ring, perhaps while the children were -receiving their presents from the Christmas tree. She did hope it -might happen then! So anxious was she to tell her mother the story -of the fairy garden that, after the good-bys, she bounded into the -hotel like a bomb. Her mother's suite was on the first floor, and -in her haste to get to it Angel would have dashed past a group in -the hall, had not the _concierge_ headed her off. - -"Here she is, Mademoiselle! Now everything is all right!" he -exclaimed, as joyously as though great news had come from the -front. And out from the group tottered Mademoiselle Rose, to -precipitate herself upon the child and drench her velvet hood with -a waterspout of tears. - -Angel had not been left in ignorance by her relatives that she was -a young person of some charm and importance, but never in her life -had she been so overwhelmed with adjectives, in any language. -Mademoiselle Rose, shedding tears which looked to Angel's -astonished gaze the size of pebbles, called her a lamb, a saint, an -adored cherub, and many other things which Angel determined to -bring up in future if ever she were scolded. It appeared that the -distracted governess, on waking from her dream of love with Claude, -had nearly fainted on finding Angel gone. She had left her soldier -on his crutches, to rush here and there, searching wildly for her -charge. She had described the child to every one she met, and asked -in vain for news of her. She had dashed into shops and houses, she -had been led to the _gendarmerie_ and had sobbed out her story of -loss, reluctantly pausing to see details industriously written -down; and at last she had run all the way to the hotel, hoping -against hope that the lost one had returned. - -Her state of mind, as described by herself, was tragic when she had -ransacked the rooms and asked questions of servants and visitors, -only to be assured that her charge had not come home. She blamed -herself entirely, not Angel in the least; therefore Angel felt -kindly toward Mademoiselle, and attempted to comfort her by saying -how glad she ought to be, anyhow, that Claude was alive. The young -Frenchwoman hysterically admitted this, and was in the act of -expressing also her thankfulness that Madame had not yet returned, -to suffer, when Madame herself walked in, followed by a -_commissionaire_ bearing many bundles. She looked rosy and -girlish, but at sight of Mademoiselle on her knees in the hall, -bathing Angel with tears, her bright color ebbed. - -"What _has_ happened?" she stammered, her big, dark eyes appealing -to _concierge_, governess, and all Angel's other satellites. - -It was the child who answered, before any one else could speak. -"Oh, mother!" she gasped, drawing in a long breath, "I haven't been -runned over by a moting-car, or bited by a mad dog, or drownded in -the sea, or anything bad, but only just lost for a _very_ little -while; and it was lovely, in a fairy garden. And I want to tell you -about it _quick_, because I gave them your ring what has one big -di'mond and little ones all the way 'round, tied to their white -kitten's neck." - -"Good gracious!" ejaculated Elinor Odell, as Angel paused at the -end of that long-drawn breath. "What _does_ she mean, Mademoiselle?" - -"I do not know yet, Madame," the governess apologized, getting to -her feet and wiping her eyes with the drier of two damp -handkerchiefs. "The blessed one has but just come in, when I was -about to go out once more and search. There has been no time to -hear, but, praise, le bon Dieu, she is at least safe and unhurt." - -"I will telephone the good news to the _gendarmerie_," murmured the -_concierge_. - -Elinor Odell adored her child, not knowing for certain which she -loved better than the other, if either--Dick, her husband, or his -daughter and hers. She was warm-hearted, and deep-hearted, too; but -circumstances had very early in her life of twenty-eight years -developed the practical side of her nature. She had learned how to -control herself and to control others. Also she was quick--perhaps -too quick--in forming conclusions. Had she not grown up as the only -child of a widowed millionaire, she might have been just the -beautiful, intelligent, emotional girl she looked, and nothing -more; but to her father she owed much besides money and position; -she owed many qualities. One of them was a slight surface hardness, -like a cooling crust over boiling lava. She realized instantly -that, no matter what the "Angel-Imp's" adventure had been, there -was no longer any need to worry about the child. She took in that -fact, and even as she mentally gave thanks for it she took in -something else also. Persons in a garden whither Angel had strayed -or been invited had apparently persuaded the innocent and impulsive -little girl to give away a valuable diamond ring. Prejudice -instantly built up within Elinor a barrier against some one -unknown. She didn't mean to reproach Angel, but she did mean to -catechize her, and she intended to get back her father's last -year's Christmas present. - -"All's well that ends well," she quoted, with the radiant smile -which had helped to give Elinor Holroyd the reputation of a beauty. -"Come, Angel, come Mademoiselle, let's go up to our own rooms and -tell one another everything." Then, when the governess and child -had been started off in advance, she paused for whispered -instructions concerning the bundles. They contained the Christmas -presents which she had gone out to buy for Angel, but, luckily, the -little girl was too excited to notice and wonder inconveniently. -She wasn't even thinking of the gifts from her grandfather in -America, which she confidently expected. - -"Now, my Angel-Imp, tell me all about it," began Elinor, when the -lights were switched on in the sitting-room. "Or will you wait -until we've taken off your hat and coat?" - -But the child was not in the mood to wait for an earthquake. She -began pouring forth her story, aided and supplemented, at first, by -Mademoiselle, who found it necessary to explain Claude. After -alternately blaming and defending her absent-mindedness, however, -the word passed from Rose to Angel, who was quick to seize the -advantage. She alone knew the whole story, so she alone could tell -how she had wanted to go home; how she hadn't liked to bother -Mademoiselle; how she had got lost, and how, just then, she had -found herself at the gate of the "fairy garden." - -"I truly _almost_ b'lieved it was," she announced, earnestly, -"because you said, 'who knows if there aren't fairies?' So they -must have gardens. Anyhow, the children are as pretty as fairies, -but I don't think they can be as happy, because their mother cried, -and their father's been wounded, and cheated, too, by a horrid man -who's going to take everything away from them, even the garden, and -the oranges--the last things they've got to eat. And they're -_dreadfully_ poor--oh, as poor as poor! That's what their mother -was crying about when she left the children in the house so they -wouldn't know. And when their father came home and found her -putting flowers to bed and crying on them, she cried more because -he was carrying such a heavy Christmas tree and had hurt his foot -getting it, and he was so pale and thin, she _couldn't_ stop when -he asked her. Besides, she'd had _such_ bad news in a letter while -he was gone! It was about the nasty man who took all their money -and was going to take back the garden, too. That was why I was sure -you'd want me to give them your di'mond ring that you hardly ever -wear. It's always lying around somewhere, mother, so when I found -it on my thumb--you see, I forgot to put it back on your table--I -thought it would be _just_ the thing, and a lovely surprise for -the children when they found it tied to the cat's neck with my -hair-ribbon. I 'spect they must be finding it now, because they -brought me here--they and their mother, while their father was putting -the dec'rations on the Christmas tree--and by this time maybe they're -home. Their name's Valois--Suzanne and Paulette Valois, and their -mother's Suzanne, too, or Susan, because _she's_ English and -they're Belgian. And don't you think if grandpa sent me any -presents I can give some to them? There's a whole pile of letters -on the table. Maybe there's one from grandpa to say--" - -"Stop--stop!" cried Elinor, catching the child before she could -spring on the latest arrivals from the post. "It seems to me that -you've been in rather too much of a hurry already, with your -Christmas presents to the Valois family, though I know you meant -for the best, darling. Now, the next thing to do is to explain how -Father and Mother Valois happened to talk so much about their -troubles before a stranger they'd never seen before---" - -"Oh, they didn't see me then. I thought I telled you that!" broke -in the child. "I eavesdropped, under a tree with branches most to -the ground. I went in to play with the _fluffiest_ white kitten, -and it was while I was there they talked." - -"How do you know they didn't see you?" inquired Elinor, judicially. - -"Because if they had they wouldn't have talked, with me listening," -Angel carefully made clear to the slow comprehension of a grown-up. - -"I'm not so sure," murmured the grownup. She did not speak the -words aloud, because she wished her Angel-Imp to go on believing, -as long as she might, that human nature was all good. It occurred -to her that a tree must have abnormally thick branches, if a child -in a pearl-gray velvet hood and coat trimmed with glistening -chinchilla were to remain invisible throughout a long and intimate -conversation. It occurred to her, also, that the velvet and -chinchilla simply shouted "Money!" People were extraordinarily -subtle, sometimes, when they had an object to gain, as she had -learned in her girlhood through sad experience. She, too, had had -faith in everybody when she was Angel's age, and even years older, -but her father had thought it best that for self-protection she -should be enlightened early. She did not quite believe in Angel's -fairies of the fairy garden. The story, even as the child told it, -had discrepancies. - -"I fancy, darling," Elinor suggested, "that your new friends can't -be so dreadfully poor as they made you think. You see, if they -were, they'd have no money to spend on a Christmas tree--" - -"It was growing on a mountain," Angel defended her friends. - -"Perhaps, but it wasn't growing all ready decorated. You said that -the father--what's his name--Valois?--stayed at home to decorate -the tree while the rest of the family brought you home--and told -you all about themselves, their name and everything, I suppose, so -you might know where to find them again and take me to see them, -perhaps. It was good of them to bring you, of course, and I'm -grateful. _I_ should have cried, like Madame Valois, if I'd come -back while you were lost. But, all the same, dear--" - -She stopped short, because she did not wish the child--so young, so -sweet, so warmhearted--to be disillusioned. The thought in her -mind, however, was that Monsieur Valois and his English wife might -not have been so eager to tell their name had they learned in time -about the diamond ring. They might not have made it so easy to find -them in their fairy garden as it was now! But even though their -name was known, it would be difficult to get back the ring, unless -she--Elinor Odell--chose to take strenuous measures. It would be so -simple for these people to say, when inquiries were made about the -ring, and a sum of money offered in its place, that they had never -seen it; that some one outside must have noticed the glittering -thing tied to the cat's neck, and stolen it. That, she thought, was -almost certain to be the excuse they would make; and her heart, -which could be warm and generous as Angel's, hardened toward the -people of the garden. - -"I suppose, unless I want a horrid fuss, I shall have to give up -the ring for lost, or else offer nearly the full value as a bribe," -she said to herself. - -Nevertheless, she rang, and bade a waiter ask the manager of the -hotel to step to her sitting-room for a moment. Meanwhile, until he -should come, she glanced at the letters. There were many, and among -them was one addressed to "Miss Angela Odell. To be opened by -herself," in Cyrus Holroyd's handwriting. But before it could be -passed to its owner a knock announced the manager of the hotel. - -He was delighted to hear that the missing little one was safe, and -listened politely to Mrs. Odell's questions concerning the Valois -family. At first the name suggested nothing, but when he learned -that the man was "a gardener, or horticulturist, or something," he -remembered. Ah yes, to be sure! There was such a person, a Belgian -refugee, but with money, it would appear, for he had bought -property from a Swiss who had lived for some years in Mentone. Not -a property of great value, no. And it was said that the Swiss-- -Siegel his name was--had let his business decline. After selling it -he had gone away at once. No one knew much about Valois except that -he had an English Wife, a good-looking young woman, who had visited -all the hotels earlier in the season, trying to get work as a -teacher of her own language, or as a seamstress. That would look as -if Valois had found the business profit disappointing. But then, -there was nothing for any one in these days. The only thing to do -was to hold on. - -Yes, the only thing to do was to hold on. But it took money to hold -on. Mrs. Odell was ready to admit that the Valois family might be -unfortunate, yet she was all the more sure she would never see her -diamond ring again. Neither would she see the Valoises, husband or -wife, unless she went, or sent--- - -"A young man who wishes to speak for a moment with Madame," -announced a waiter at the door, and presented a bit of pasteboard. -It was a business card, on which was printed--not engraved--in -large, plain letters, "Paul Valois, Horticulturist." - -So, after all, he had come! But, no doubt, only to try and get -money. - -"Mademoiselle, will you go with Angel to her room and take off her -hat and coat?" Elinor hastily cleared the field for action. - -"Oh, here's a letter from her grandfather, in New York. You may -read it to her. And presently I will call her in to tell me what he -says." - -The tall French girl whisked away the small American child. The -door was shut between the two rooms, and at the outer one, leading -into the corridor, a tap sounded. - -"Come in!" cried Elinor, clothing herself with dignity. But it was -not Paul Valois, horticulturist, who entered. It was Mrs. Odell's -own Irish-American maid, with an immense parcel. - -"It comes from Paris, and it's for little Miss Angel," she said, -leaving the door open. "Oh, Madame, it's sure to be that wonderful -doll we talked of." - -Then, just in time to catch these words--appropriate words for -Christmas Eve--a tall, thin young man appeared on the threshold. -His hat was in his hand, and the scar of a wound still showed red -on his forehead. Though the night was cold, and Elinor Odell had -been glad of her sables, he wore no overcoat. His clothes looked -more suitable for summer than for winter, even in the south of -France, and she wondered if it were a trick to catch her sympathy. -She could not help thinking that he had a good, brave face, not the -face of a trickster; but she deliberately put herself in the -judgment seat. It would take more than a pair of fine eyes and a -broad forehead with a soldier's scar, to charm her out of it! - -"Good evening," she greeted him pleasantly, in French. "It was you, -I think, who kindly sent your wife here with my little lost girl -this evening. I'm glad to be able to thank you both for what you -did." Designedly she let the man have a "lead," and waited -curiously to see what use he would make of it. - -He did not keep her long in suspense. "Oh, Madame, we did nothing -at all," he replied, giving his case away unexpectedly. "My -children thought your little girl must be a fairy. You see, my wife -tells them wonderful stories. She comes from a county in England -where they still believe in the 'wee folk'--Devonshire. Perhaps -you've been there? It was a great joy to them to have the visit, -and the walk was a pleasure. We are all glad if you have been -spared anxiety; but I fear you must have been anxious about another -loss. It is for that reason I have hurried here, on a bicycle -borrowed from our nearest neighbor. The little lady amused herself -tying a ribbon and a beautiful ring to the neck of my children's -pet, a white kitten given by that same neighbor who lent the -bicycle. Then she must have forgotten to take it off. It was only a -few minutes ago that my Paulette found the ring, when she came -home. I have brought it to you." - -"How good of you to take so much trouble!" exclaimed Elinor. But -something inside her whispered, "He thought it would be safer to -claim the regard than to keep the diamond." - -The Belgian took from his pocket a clean handkerchief with a knot -tied in the corner, and from the knot produced the ring. - -"La voila, Madame," he said, simply, as he laid the shining thing -on the letter-strewn table. "And now I will not disturb you longer. -Permit me to wish for you and the little fairy who visited us a -happy Christmas." - -So he was leaving the reward to her generosity! Wasn't that rather -clever of him? - -"Thank you for the wishes as well as for bringing back my ring," -said Elinor. "And--you must, of course, allow me to recompense your -kindness. A souvenir of it, and of my daughter, for your children's -Christmas---" - -As she spoke, she took from her gold-chain bag a fat bundle of -notes and quickly selected one for five hundred francs. The ring -was worth this sum many times over, but it seemed to her that a -hundred dollars was not an ungenerous present. If the man were -really poor--and honest--he ought to be well satisfied. She watched -his face as, with a smile, she held out the French note. - -He flushed so deeply that the scar on his forehead turned purple. - -"It isn't as much as he expected!" thought Elinor. She waited, -however, for him to speak. - -"Oh, Madame, I thank you!" he stammered. "But I could not possibly -accept a reward. I am only too glad to have found the ring." - -He seemed actually to be going, to be hurrying away in order to -escape persuasion; yet Elinor, in her experience, realized that the -move might be meant only to draw her on. She was almost sure that -the man would pause at the door, but rather than see him thus -humiliated (because she couldn't help liking his face) she -persisted. "You surely must take the money, or I shall be hurt." - -The face, which she liked, grew a shade redder, and then became -suddenly paler than before. "Please do not say that, Madame," he -pleaded, "because it would be--it would be a thing I _could_ not -do, to take money for returning to a lady her lost property. It -would make me worse than a beggar." - -A little, tingling thrill shot through Elinor's veins. She felt -ashamed, for this outburst was genuine. Not even a cynic could -mistake it, and she hated herself because she was a cynic. Still, -she would not give up her point--less than ever would she give it -up; for now she began earnestly to want the man to have her money. - -"You shouldn't feel like that," she argued. "You didn't ask me for -anything. I give of my own free will. You see, I wish to be even -with you. You've done me a kindness. Let me repay it." - -It seemed to her that Paul Valois looked at her almost pityingly. -"Madame," he said, "will you not grant a man the happiness of -giving, not of selling, the one thing in his power, on the eve of -Christmas? It has made me happy that through us, in a way, you have -been saved from pain at this time when the world should be glad. To -pay me for that joy would kill it." - -Elinor blushed. "But--but--my little girl tells me--" She stumbled -on, awkwardly, and abashed by her awkwardness. "I think by accident -she overheard that--that--you had some trouble. Do you think you're -right to refuse? Wouldn't your wife feel--" - -"She would feel as I do. I can always be sure of her." Paul Valois -lifted his head with a radiant look; and Elinor Odell, gazing at -him, fascinated, suddenly realized something Christ-like in his -type. With that light in his eyes he might have stood as a model to -an artist for a portrait of Christ. Elinor wondered how she had -dared to offer such a man money. She felt humble before him, and -asked herself how, since he would accept no payment, she could -atone for the mean way in which she had misjudged him. - -"We didn't know that the fairy heard what we said to each other," -he went on. "My children call the palm under which she sat their -'summer-house,' because the long fronds fall down and touch the -ground. It is like a green tent. But I am sorry if she felt sad for -us. Tell her she must not be sad. We have each other, and that is -everything. Some way will open. Meanwhile, it is Christmas! Now, -Madame, you understand, I have left my children's tree unfinished. -I must make haste. Adieu. Bonne Nole." - -Before she could speak again, he was gone. - -Five hundred francs! How mean the notes looked, how paltry seemed -the spirit in which she had offered it, grudging and judging, and -thinking herself generous! - -Springing up on the impulse, she flung open the door between the -sitting-room and Angela's bedroom. "Your man from the fairy garden -has been here," she said in a strained, nervous way. "He has -brought back the ring you tied to the kitten's neck." - -"Oh, isn't that too bad!" exclaimed Angel, looking up from her -grandfather's letter, which she had held in her own hands for -Mademoiselle to read aloud. "Didn't you beg him please to keep it -for the children?" - -"No, I didn't do that, but--" she hesitated--"I tried to make him -take some money instead." - -Angel opened her eyes very wide. "I s'pose he wouldn't take it, -Mummy." - -"Why do you 's'pose' that?" Elinor wanted to know. - -"O-oh--just because. He isn't--he isn't _that_ kind of a man. Don't -you remember, Mummy, you say that often to me, when I ask you in -the street to give money to some one who looks poor?" - -Elinor hung her head like a child. Angel knew more about character -by instinct, it seemed, than she had learned through her years of -experience! But then, it occurred to her, perhaps, after all, she -had not gone about learning her lessons in the right way. Maybe it -was just as wise, if not wiser, to believe people _might_ be good -until you found out that they were bad, instead of beginning the -other way around! - -"What would you have done in my place?" she asked Angel. - -The child was silent for a moment. "If he wouldn't keep the ring, -why, I s'pose I should have thought and thought of some other way -to make him and big Suze and little Suze and Paulette--and the -kitten--all happy for Christmas!" she exclaimed, on an inspiration. -"Oh, mother, we _must_ do something. I shall have a horrid -Christmas if we can't. And that would be a shame because grandpa's -sent me a--a--_what_ did you call it, Mademoiselle?" - -"A check," said Rose, starting out of a brown study about _her_ -Christmas, and how she was to spend a part of it with Claude. - -"Yes, a big check. Mummy, how much money did you want to give the -children's father?" - -"A hundred dollars," Elinor replied. - -"Is that much?" - -"It must have seemed so to him." - -"Well, it doesn't to me. Grandpa's sent me five hundred to buy -myself just what I like, to make my Christmas happy." - -"And what would you like?" asked Elinor, thinking that the child's -mind had slid away from the Valois family. - -"I'd like to make the people in the fairy garden happy." - -"But, a check's the same as money," her mother explained. "You just -said yourself he isn't the kind of man--" - -"Oh, but I wouldn't give _him_ the check," Angel cut in, -importantly. "I--I'd lend it to him. No, I mean I'd lend him all -he'd paid the nasty man who really owned the garden. And then I'd -buy the garden from the nasty man myself if I had enough left, or -if I hadn't I'd ask you to. And when the garden was ours, the -children's father could have it _rented_ to him, couldn't he? -Wouldn't that be a good idea?" - -"A splendid idea," said Elinor, "But what do you know about rents -and such things?" - -"I heard grown-up Suze talk about them to Paul," explained Angel, -calmly. - -"What a head she has! Is it not so, Madame!" cried Rose, working up -to the favor she meant to beg for to-morrow. - -"Grandpa is always saying I have a great business head," Angel -remarked, with extreme self-satisfaction. "And, Mummy, if you think -it's a splendid idea, can't we go out now and 'range it all with -Paul and Suze? I should love to. It's the _only_ thing I'd like to -make my Christmas happy with grandpa's money. If we went in a -carriage and made the horses run fast maybe we could see the -Christmas tree." - -Again the small, hard voice whispered in Elinor's ear. "Yes, you -could see the Christmas tree, which Paul Valois is rich enough to -decorate. Then you will know for _certain_ if he rings true." - -She did already know "for certain"; the best side of her reminded -the other side. But Angel was clamoring, spoiled-child fashion, for -her to say "yes," so she said it. Conscience and inclination and -the child's pleading forced it from her, and the rest followed like -a whirlwind. Angel seized her lately discarded hat and coat. -Mademoiselle rang for a servant to call a cab. Elinor hurried off -to get ready. And in less than ten minutes they were on their way -to the fairy garden, without having so much as opened father's -present from Paris. - -Many months, perhaps even years, had passed since carriage-wheels -rolled over the grass-grown road that led in from the big, rusty -iron gates. Horses' hoofs under their windows made so strange a -sound in the ears of the Valois family that they stopped singing -the beautiful hymn of Noel they had begun round the Christmas tree. -They stood still, listening in great surprise; and though the room -was lit only by one kitchen lamp and a tallow candle (not counting -the lights on the tree) Elinor Odell in the act of descending from -her cab could see through an uncurtained window the man, the woman, -and their two children, hand in hand, making a ring round the -dark-green pyramid of pine-branches. - -She and Angel had come alone. Mademoiselle Rose was staying at home -to write Claude that Madame Odell had given her Christmas free--the -charming, kind lady! Now "the charming, kind lady" and her little -girl knocked almost timidly at the front door of the red-roofed -white cottage--a queer, low-browed cottage built for peasants, in -the old days when Mentone belonged to the Prince of Monaco. In a -minute the door opened. Paul had answered the knock, carrying the -lamp, and, lighted in that theatrical way from below, his face -looked more than ever like the face in a picture. Happiness had -been washed from it by the pallor of dismay for an instant, Suze -having suggested the advent of Siegel; but even in the midst of his -amazement he smiled a welcome for Elinor and Angel. - -"This is an unexpected pleasure, Madame," he said, with the -graciousness of a banished prince. "Yet it is a real pleasure. Have -you brought the fairy to see our Christmas tree?" - -"Yes," answered Elinor. "She wanted to come. And--to propose a -plan. It's all hers. May we really see the Christmas tree?" - -"Indeed we shall be glad," said Paul, and, making no excuses for -the poorness of his show, he ushered the beautifully dressed woman -and her child into the room. - -It was a small, plain room, with white-washed walls and little -furniture; but he or his wife had made it charming with trails of -ivy and wreaths of mistletoe and holly. The kitchen lamp had a -shade of red chiffon fashioned from some old hat trimming of -Susan's. The tree (center of the picture for which all else was a -frame) stood bravely up in a green-painted tub packed with earth. -Over the brown sandy surface Paul had laid velvety bits of moss and -ferns from the mountainside. Odds and ends of tallow candle saved -from time to time had their ugliness hidden in orange-red globes of -mandarins, cleverly emptied of their pulp, and hung from the -branches by handles of thin wire. Through the semi-transparent -skins the light filtered with a soft, warm glow. Susan had threaded -red berries and scarlet geraniums from the garden into long chains, -which Paul had looped intricately over the tree. He had collected -silver paper from tobacco-smoking friends, and cut out stars and -crescents to sprinkle here and there. Tufts of cotton stolen from -an old quilt gave an effect of scattered snowflakes, and a -quantity of powdered isinglass which had once formed a stove window -glittered on the green pine-needles like diamonds. As for presents, -Santa Claus seemed to have thought that with so beautiful a -tree they would scarcely be needed. He had provided two dolls, -brightly painted and cut out of cardboard. They were dressed in -accordion-pleated, pink tissue-paper and had hats to match. One -hung on the right side of the tree, and one on the left, and midway -between each a gingerbread elephant was suspended. - -There were the "decorations" which Elinor had sagely told herself -no poor man could afford. - -"Oh, mother!" gasped Angel, "did you ever, ever see such a -_lov-elly_ Christmas tree in all your life?" - -Elinor's eyes saw the mandarin lanterns shine through tears. "Never -one so sweet," she said. And sensitive Susan Valois knew that she -was not "making fun." - -The woman of experience found herself stammering like a school-girl -as she tried to explain Angel's plan without hurting the dear -creatures' feelings. But the child, with no such fear in her heart, -made it quite clear, without embarrassment. "You see," she said, -"the fairy garden will belong to all of us together. And I shall be -like a grown-up person because you will have to pay me the rent, -the way people do to grandpa's agent, such a _nice_ man with a bald -head and a wart on his nose. Perhaps if you take care of the garden -well, and plant lots of flowers, we shall all get rich from it like -grandpa is. You _will_ say yes, won't you? And it'll be the very -happiest night of my life." - -"Of mine, too," vowed Elinor, and meant it. So what could Paul and -Suze do but say "yes," and add that it was the happiest night of -their lives also. - -"Then it's settled, isn't it, mother?" breathed Angel. "Is that -all, or have I forgotten anything?" - -Elinor bent over her, on a sudden impulse. "Father has sent you a -wonderful doll from Paris, dear," she whispered. "I haven't opened -the box, but I know what's in it, for a letter came in the post: a -doll that talks and walks and has real hair and eyelashes. So, -would you like to spare a family of dolls I bought for you before I -had the letter? Would you like to spare them to these little -girls?" - -"I know what I forgot!" exclaimed Angel. "I forgot to tell Paulette -and Suze that Santa Clause left something with me for them. I -'spect he hadn't time to come back himself. He has so much to do -for all the children 'most everywhere in the world, whose fathers -are in the war. I shouldn't wonder if what he left is dolls--lots -of dolls. Maybe quite big dolls." - -Paulette rushed to her mother and whispered, as Angel's mother had -whispered. - -"She says, now she _knows_ your little girl is a fairy," Susan -explained aloud. - -"I think," said Elinor, "this house is full of fairies to-night. -And they've brought me a better Christmas present than was ever -brought by Santa Claus--a present of something I lost a long time -ago: a warm spot that had fallen out of my heart." - - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Angel Unawares, by -C. N. Williamson and A. M. 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