four hundred dancers went round
and round till the draped flags on the pillars flapped and bellied to
the whirl of it.

About midnight half a dozen men who did not care for dancing came
over from the Club to play 'Waits,' and--that was a surprise the
stewards had arranged--before any one knew what had happened, the
band stopped, and hidden voices broke into 'Good King Wenceslaus,'
and William in the gallery hummed and beat time with her foot:

Mark my footsteps well, my page,
Tread thou in them boldly,
Thou shalt feel the winter's rage
Freeze thy blood less coldly!

'Oh, I hope they are going to give us another! Isn't it pretty,
coming out of the dark in that way? Look--look down. There's Mrs.
Gregory wiping her eyes!'

'It's like home, rather,' said Scott. 'I remember--

'H'sh! Listen!--dear.'And it began again:

When shepherds watched their flocks by night--

'A-h-h!' said William, drawing closer to Scott.

All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
'Fear not,' said he (for mighty dread.
Had seized their troubled mind);
'Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.'

This time it was William that wiped her eyes.

WEE WILLIE WINKIE

AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN

His full name was Percival William Williams, but he picked up the
other name in a nursery-book, and that was the end of the christened
titles. His mother's _ayah_ called him Willie-_Baba_, but as he never
paid the faintest attention to anything that the _ayah_ said, her
wisdom did not help matters.

His father was the Colonel of the 195th, and as soon as Wee Willie
Winkie was old enough to understand what Military Discipline meant,
Colonel Williams put him under it. There was no other way of managing
the child. When he was good for a week, he drew good-conduct pay; and
when he was bad, he was deprived of his good-conduct stripe.
Generally he was bad, for India offers many chances of going wrong to
little six-year-olds.

Children resent familiarity from strangers, and Wee Willie Winkie was
a very particular child. Once he accepted an acquaintance, he was
graciously pleased to thaw. He accepted Brandis, a subaltern of the
195th, on sight. Brandis was having tea at the Colonel's, and Wee
Willie Winkie entered strong in the possession of a good-conduct
badge won for not chasing the hens