'
"Patty and I uttered a cry of delight, and we forthwith danced round
the old man, saying, 'How nice; Oh, how kind of you!' which I think
must have bewildered him, but he only smiled and nodded.
"'Come along,' said my father. 'Come, children. Come, Reuben. Come,
Kitty.'
"And he went into the parlour, and we all followed him.
"My godmother's picture of a Christmas-tree was very pretty; and the
flames of the candles were so naturally done in red and yellow that I
always wondered that they did not shine at night. But the picture was
nothing to the reality. We had been sitting almost in the dark, for, as
Kitty said, 'Firelight was quite enough to burn at meal-times.' And
when the parlour door was thrown open, and the tree, with lighted
tapers on all the branches, burst upon our view, the blaze was
dazzling, and threw such a glory round the little gifts, and the bags
of coloured muslin, with acid drops and pink rose drops and comfits
inside, as I shall never forget. We all got something; and Patty and I,
at any rate, believed that the things came from the stores of Old
Father Christmas. We were not undeceived even by his gratefully
accepting a bundle of old clothes which had been hastily put together
to form his present.
"We were all very happy; even Kitty, I think, though she kept her
sleeves rolled up, and seemed rather to grudge enjoying herself (a weak
point in some energetic characters).
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