Cesare Olfva, Naples.--Shall be
with you on the 24th inst. Train arrives at 6:30 P.M. Will come to you
as you desire without fail."

CHAPTER XXII.

Christmas Eve! The day had been extra chilly, with frequent showers of
stinging rain, but toward five o'clock in the afternoon the weather
cleared. The clouds, which had been of a dull uniform gray, began to
break asunder and disclose little shining rifts of pale blue and bright
gold; the sea looked like a wide satin ribbon shaken out and shimmering
with opaline tints. Flower girls trooped forth making the air musical
with their mellow cries of "Fiori! chi vuol fiori" and holding up their
tempting wares--not bunches of holly and mistletoe such as are known in
England, but roses, lilies, jonquils, and sweet daffodils. The shops
were brilliant with bouquets and baskets of fruits and flowers; a
glittering show of etrennes, or gifts to suit all ages and conditions,
were set forth in tempting array, from a box of bonbons costing one
franc to a jeweled tiara worth a million, while in many of the windows
were displayed models of the "Bethlehem," with babe Jesus lying in his
manger, for the benefit of the round-eyed children--who, after staring
fondly at His waxen image for some time, would run off hand in hand to
the nearest church where the usual Christmas creche was arranged, and
there kneeling down, would begin to implore their "dear little Jesus,"
their "own little brother," not to forget them, with a simplicity of
belief that was as touching as it was unaffected.

I am told that in England the principle sight on Christmas-eve are the
shops of the butchers and poulterers hung with the dead carcases of
animals newly slaughtered, in whose mouths are thrust bunches of
prickly holly, at which agreeable spectacle the passers-by gape with
gluttonous approval. Surely there is nothing graceful about such a
commemoration of the birth of Christ as this? nothing picturesque,
nothing poetic?--nothing even orthodox, for Christ was born in the
East, and the Orientals are very small eaters, and are particularly
sparing in the use of meat. One wonders what such an unusual display of
vulgar victuals has to do with the coming of the Saviour, who arrived
among us in such poor estate that even a decent roof was denied to Him.
Perhaps, though, the English people read their gospels in a way of
their own, and understood that the wise men of the East, who are
supposed to have brought the D