gh the assembly, and showed that the onlookers were at no
loss to understand the character which he was intended to represent.
"The Old Year," murmured one voice after another.

Then a solemn hush fell over all as the clock ticked out the last
minutes, and through the opened door came a blast of icy air and a few
flakes of snow, blown inwards by the wind. Only another minute, and
then there it came--the slow, solemn chiming of the clock on the tower.
One, two, three. Good-bye, Old Year! What if you have brought troubles
in your wake, you have brought blessings too, and sunny summer hours!
Four, five, six--Dear old friend, we are sorrier to part with thee than
we knew! We have not appreciated thee enough, made enough of thy
opportunities. If we have ever reproached thee, thou hast cause to
reproach us now. Seven, eight, nine. Going so soon? We were used to
thee, and had been long companions, and of the new and untried there is
always a dread. Good-bye, Old Year! Take with thee our blessings and
our thanks, our sorrowful regrets for all wherein we have been amiss.
Ten, eleven, _twelve_.

It is here! The New Year has come, and to greet its arrival such a
clashing of bells, such an outburst of strange and jangling sounds as
fairly deafened the listening ears. Molly, grinning from ear to ear,
was running the broom-handle up and down the row of bells outside the
servants' hall. Mike was belabouring the gong as if his life depended
on his exertions. The stable-boy was blowing shrilly through a tin
whistle, and the fat old cook was dashing trays of empty mustard-tins on
the stone floor, and going off into peals of laughter between each
movement.

Perhaps it was owing to the stunning effect of this sudden noise that
what had happened at the doorway seemed to have something of the
quickness of magic to the astonished onlookers, but a good deal of the
credit was still due to the castors, on which the screens had been
mounted, to an ingenious arrangement of strings, and to many and careful
rehearsals. Certain it is that, whereas at one moment the figure of the
Old Year was visible to all, at the next he had disappeared, and the
sound of that last long chime had hardly died away before another figure
stood in his place. No need to ask the name of the visitor. It was
once more patent to the most obtuse beholder. A small, girlish figure
with dark locks falling loosely over the shoulders, with a straight
white gown