able corner proved to be of the
younger boys and girls, and, though they were all eyes and ears for
himself and Roberta, he had a sufficient sense of being paired off with
the person he wanted to keep him contented. They ate and drank merrily
enough, and the food upon his plate seemed to Richard the best he had
ever tasted at an affair of the kind.

The evening was gone before he knew it. He could secure no more dances
with Roberta, but he had one with Ruth, during which he made up for his
silence with her sister by exchanging every comment possible during
their exhilarating occupation. He began it himself:

"It's a real sorrow to me, Miss Ruth, to be warned that this party is
nearly over."

"Is it, Mr. Kendrick? It would be to me if to-morrow weren't Christmas
Day. It's worth having this stop to get to that. You see, to-night we
hang up our stockings."

"Good heavens, Miss Ruth--where? Not in front of any one chimney?"

"No, each in our own room, at the foot of the bed. The things that won't
go into the stockings are on the breakfast-table."

"I'll think of you when I'm waking to my solitary dressing. I never hung
up my stocking in my life."

"You haven't!" Ruth's tone was all dismay. "But you must have had heaps
of Christmas presents?"

"Oh, yes, I've a friend or two who present me with all sorts of
interesting articles I seldom find a use for. And when I was a little
chap I remember they always had a tree for me."

"I don't care much for trees," Ruth confided. "I like them better in
shop windows than I do at home. But to hang up your stocking and then
find it all stuffed and knobby in the morning, with always something
perfectly delightful in the toe for the very last! Oh, I love it!"

"I wish I were a cousin of yours, so I could look after that toe present
myself," said Richard daringly.

"You do miss a lot of fun, not having a jolly family Christmas like
ours."

"I'm convinced of it. See here, Miss Ruth, there's something I want you
to do for me if you will. When you waken to-morrow morning send me--a
Christmas thought. Will you? I'll be looking for it."

Ruth drew back her head in order to look up into his face for an
instant. "A Christmas thought?" she repeated, surprised.

He nodded. "As if I were a brother, you know, far away at the other side
of the world--and lonely. I'll really be as far away from all your
merry-making as if I were at the other side of the world, you see--and
I'm not sure b