Bertie Fellowes it was
all dreary and wretched--to the boy from India, who knew no other house
in England, no other thought came than that it was a blessing that he
had one companion left. "It is miserable," groaned poor Bertie as they
strolled into the great echoing school-room after a lonely tea, set at
one corner of the smallest of the three dining-tables; "just think if we
had been on our way home now--how different!"

"Just think if I had been left here by myself," said Shivers--and he
gave a shiver which fully justified his name.

"Yes--but----" began Bertie, then shamefacedly and with a blush, added,
"you know, when one wants to go home ever so badly, one never thinks
that some chaps haven't got a home to go to."

The evening went by--discipline was relapsed entirely and the two boys
went to bed in the top empty dormitory, and told stories to each other
for a long time before they went to sleep. That night Bertie Fellowes
dreamt of Madame Tussaud's and the great pantomime at Drury Lane, and
poor Shivers of a long creeper-covered bungalow far away in the shining
East, and they both cried a little under the bed-clothes. Yet each put a
brave face on their desolate circumstances to the other, and so another
day began.

[Illustration]

This was the day before Christmas Eve, that delightful day of
preparation for the greatest festival in all the year--the day when in
most households there are many little mysteries afoot, when parcels come
and go, and are smothered away so as to be ready when Santa Claus comes
his rounds; when some are busy decking the rooms with holly and
mistletoe; when the cook is busiest of all, and savoury smells rise from
the kitchen, telling of good things to be eaten on the morrow.

There were some preparations on foot at Minchin House, though there was
not the same bustle and noise as is to be found in a large family. And
quite early in the morning came the great hamper of which Mrs. Fellowes
had spoken in her letter to Bertie. Then just as the early dinner had
come to an end, and Miss Ware was telling the two boys that she would
take them round the town to look at the shops, there was a tremendous
peal at the bell of the front door, and a voice was heard asking for
Master Egerton. In a trice Shivers had sprung to his feet, his face
quite white, his hands trembling, and the next moment the door was
thrown open, and a tall handsome lady came in, to whom he flew with a
sobbing cry of "Aunt