eels drew up before the door, and in they came, one party
after another, having driven across country in the cold and the dark for
five, for six, and in one instance for ten long miles, but arriving
fresh and radiant for all that, and brimming over with good humour.
Mademoiselle thought that she had not seen such a merry assembly since
leaving her own dear land, or heard such a babel of tongues. Everyone
seemed to know everyone else, and to be on terms of closest intimacy and
affection; everyone talked at once and exclaimed with rapture and
admiration at the preparations for the entertainment. It was easy to
amuse such a company, and dancing and games were carried on with gusto
in the long drawing-room, which had been prepared for the occasion, and
looked comparatively festive with great fires burning in the fireplaces
at either end.

Soon after eleven o'clock the different members of the O'Shaughnessy
family began to slip out of the room, but almost before their absence
was noted, the Major was ringing a bell to attract attention and
marshalling the company to the far end of the room. At the same signal
two servants entered the room, turned out the lamps, and drew aside the
curtains from the mullioned windows, through which the grounds could be
seen, lying white and still in the moonlight. There was a rustle of
expectation among the guests, for evidently something was about to
happen, something appropriate to the day and the hour, yet what it could
be no one had the ghost of an idea. That was the best of those dear
O'Shaughnessys, a smiling lady confided to Geoffrey Hilliard--no one
could tell what they would be up to next! They were different from
everybody else, and their ways were so much more amusing and charming
than the ordinary stereotyped usages of society.

Hilliard agreed with fervour, and found an additional proof of the
assertion as, one by one, a picturesque band of carollers entered the
room by the farthest door and took up their position in a semicircle
facing the audience. They were uniformly robed in black, with cowl-like
hoods hanging loosely round the face, and each bore a stick, on the end
of which waved a brilliant Japanese lantern. The lights lit up the
features of the singers, and seldom indeed had "the beautiful
O'Shaughnessys" appeared to greater advantage than at this moment.
Jack's handsome features and commanding stature made him appear a type
of young manhood, Miles for once forgot