went round the last circle, leaving another line of sparks among
the hemlock boughs.

Jack thought the same, and had just got the frown smoothed out of his
forehead, when Frank brought a fresh log, and a glorious blaze sprung
up, filling every corner of the room, and dancing over the figures in
the long chairs till they had to brighten whether they liked it or not.
Presently the bell began to ring and gay voices to sound below: then
Jill smiled in spite of herself as Molly Loo's usual cry of "Oh, dear,
where _is_ that child?" reached her, and Jack could not help keeping
time to the march Ed played, while Frank and Gus marshalled the
procession.

"Ready!" cried Mrs. Minot, at last, and up came the troop of eager lads
and lasses, brave in holiday suits, with faces to match. A unanimous "O,
o, o!" burst from twenty tongues, as the full splendor of the tree, the
room, and its inmates, dawned upon them; for not only did the pretty
Christ-child hover above, but Santa Claus himself stood below, fur-clad,
white-bearded, and powdered with snow from the dredging-box.

Ralph was a good actor, and, when the first raptures were over he
distributed the presents with such droll speeches, jokes, and gambols,
that the room rang with merriment, and passers-by paused to listen, sure
that here, at least, Christmas was merry. It would be impossible to
tell about all the gifts or the joy of the receivers, but every one
was satisfied, and the king and queen of the revels so overwhelmed with
little tokens of good-will, that their beds looked like booths at a
fair. Jack beamed over the handsome postage-stamp book which had long
been the desire of his heart, and Jill felt like a millionaire, with a
silver fruit-knife, a pretty work-basket, and oh!--coals of fire on her
head!--a ring from Jack.

A simple little thing enough, with one tiny turquoise forget-me-not, but
something like a dew-drop fell on it when no one was looking, and she
longed to say, "I'm sorry I was cross; forgive me, Jack." But it could
not be done then, so she turned to admire Merry's bed-shoes, the pots of
pansies, hyacinths, and geranium which Gus and his sisters sent for her
window garden, Molly's queer Christmas pie, and the zither Ed promised
to teach her how to play upon.

The tree was soon stripped, and pop-corns strewed the floor as the
children stood about picking them off the red threads when candy gave
out, with an occasional cranberry by way of relish. Boo in