"What is that over yonder, Lawrence?" asked the lady, laughing.

"Ah, a stocking for me! that is more than I expected. Well, now I'm satisfied that's a joke; and I shall find nothing in it but paper."

"I'll run and get mine, and then we'll look over our presents together," said Bertie, in great glee.

Winnie now came in bringing a doll almost as large as herself. It was made of kid, with a porcelain face, and had dresses which could be taken off or put on at pleasure. This was given her by Mrs. Dodge and the clothes by Nelly.

With a loud shout Bertie pulled out a small box in which was a gingerbread man riding on a donkey. "I know where that came from very quick," he said. "It smells just like Mrs. Taylor's gingerbread. Oh, isn't it funny?"

"It is a very striking resemblance of you and Whitefoot," remarked papa, trying to look grave, at which everybody laughed heartily.

Next came a small package tied with red cord, which contained--what do you imagine? Why, a nightcap, with cook's compliments.

It was found to be a perfect fit, and mamma told him it would keep his hair from being so snarled in the morning.

A pretty ball, just such as Bertie had caught a glimpse of under Nancy's ap.r.o.n was next brought to view, which so much delighted him that he dropped the stocking and began to toss it at once.

There was a gift from Miss Lerow of a beautiful pair of reins, knit of bright worsted and ornamented with little bells. But what pleased him perhaps more than everything else, was a jack-knife from Edward Torrey with the words, "To the forgiving boy," marked on the inside of the pasteboard box.

Old Mrs. Grant had not forgotten to add her gift, which was a pair of warm mittens, done up with a nice, knit comforter from Mary Jerrold Monsey.

Altogether it was a great success, and everybody felt very happy.

CHAPTER XI.

THE HEART AND HAND.

"Why don't you open your stocking, papa?" inquired Bertie, when he saw the gentleman about to leave his chamber.

"I'll leave that to mamma," he said laughing.

"But really, Lawrence," she answered, "you might see for yourself.

You'll regret it if you don't."

"Oh, of course, Cecilia, and spoil your joke!" He hesitated a moment but catching a glimpse of Bertie's anxious face, he turned back suddenly, and took down the stocking from the hook.

Putting his hand cautiously into the top, as if he were afraid of being bitten, at which the children shouted with laughter, he pulled forth a nicely rolled package, the outside of which he most carefully examined with his fingers.

"Very fine!" he exclaimed, with a quick glance at his wife. "It is a doughnut, I presume."

"Doughnuts are not to be despised when they are given to express affection," she answered, gravely.

"Well," he said, laying the package on his knees, "I'll see what else there is. I may find a solitary raisin enveloped in a pound or two of paper."

"Oh, papa, you're too funny!" shouted Bertie.

"Quick, Lawrence, the bell will ring for breakfast presently."

He drew cautiously from the stocking a small box, tied and sealed with wax.

"All very grand," he began, with a shrug of the shoulders, when his wife caught it from his hands.

"Open the other, first," she said.

He tore off the paper, and presently came to a note addressed to "Lawrence Curtis, Esq." in a beautifully neat hand. Opening it cautiously, he glanced at the bottom, and saw the names of his entire cla.s.s, when his countenance changed at once.

"Really," he said, "I had no idea of this," reading aloud, "'Will our dear teacher please accept the enclosed slippers as a trifling token of our grat.i.tude?'

"They are beautiful! very tasteful; exactly what I wanted! I must have them made up at once. Oh! here is the cash for that purpose! Well, my friends, I'm very grateful. Now I'm encouraged to try again," taking up the box, and quizzically glancing into the blushing face before him.

It contained a watch-chain of exquisite workmanship, manufactured of hair and gold, attached to which was an ornament in the shape of a heart, and a key in the form of a hand.

"My heart and my hand are all I have to give," she whispered, kissing his forehead, while a tear glistened in her eye. "The chain was made from the hair you cut from my head when I was so very sick."

He raised the precious token to his lips, exclaiming with great tenderness, "I shall wear it as long as I live. What would the world be to me, Cecilia, without your heart and hand?"

There was a service in the church at ten, and at noon all the really aged people in the parish had been invited to a dinner at Woodlawn.

"I want to have a regular house-warming," Mr. Curtis had said to his wife. "I want to warm it with the good will of all our villagers." So it was decided that the old people should come to dinner, the married persons and children to tea, and the young people of both s.e.xes in the evening.

I wish I could paint a picture of the happy faces that gathered around the festal board during that lovely Christmas Day. There was the good pastor and his family improving this pleasant occasion to speak a word here and there as it was needed among their flock. There were Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, leading Susy who had just returned from the hospital. There was Thomas Grant, his face red as a beet, gallanting a very sensible looking girl who was soon to become his wife. There were swarms of laddies and la.s.ses, kept in constant good humor by Albert Dodge, who had returned to Oxford for the occasion. There were groups of children headed by Bertie, playing all sorts of games, or gathering in a circle around the Squire, who told them funny stories.

"You have learned the secret of living," remarked the Pastor, when he came to take leave. "In promoting the happiness and welfare of those about us we ensure our own."

"That is the rule by which my wife is training our boy," answered the gentleman. "No other house-warming could have pleased us so well as this."

CHAPTER XII.

VIOLETS AND VIOLETTA.

When spring came, Bertie went one morning into his mamma's chamber with a bunch of the earliest violets.

The curtains were dropped before the large bay window, and though it was not cold a pleasant fire crackled in the open grate.

"Why, mamma, are you sick?" Bertie asked, running quickly to the side of the bed.

"Have you seen papa?" said mamma, smiling. "He went out to tell you I have a present for you."

"No, mamma, I didn't see him."

She turned down the sheet and showed him a tiny baby lying by her side, trying to suck its own little rosy finger.