face. There were
anger and fun and amazement, chasing each other in quick succession,
her hands beating time to each feeling, as an instrument utters its
music to the touch.

To the amazement of all, it ended in the Fraeulein shrieking out,--

"Lilly White! You be a--what you call um der thor, narr, dummkopf,
fool, idiotte; you know German, nicht! nicht, you idiotte!"

In these hard words the little German teacher's anger wholly vanished;
pulling down the placard, she tore it in bits, gathered them up in her
small white apron, made a sweeping courtesy, and trotted away.

As soon as she was fairly out of hearing, the girls began to busy
themselves about their Christmas work. Lilly White's room was full of
things to be made into pretty gifts for the tree, of which the
Fraeulein's share was by far the largest.

There is a wonderful degree of thoughtfulness among a company of
girls. Not one there but knew of Marion's circumstances, and how
impossible it would be for her, out of her slender purse, to meet the
demands of the occasion. If Gladys Philbrick had generously helped her
to prepare the pretty gifts which were on their way to her far-away
home, so these girls as generously planned that in the Fraeulein's
festival she should not find herself in the embarrassing position of
being the one who should receive, without making a return.

It was beautiful to see the delicacy with which they managed the
whole, so that Marion hardly felt how much they gave, and how
pleasantly she received.

On Christmas morning the whole house was early astir. All up and down
the corridors, long before the dim light penetrated into them,
white-robed figures flitted noiselessly from door to door. "Merry
Christmas! Merry Christmas!" was whispered inside, until a ghost-like
procession of some twenty girls headed for the Fraeulein's room.

This was at the end of the second corridor, and as they approached it
not a sound was to be heard from within but the satisfactory one of
long and loud snores.

It had been agreed on the previous night that not a door should be
locked on the inside, and Helen Stratton, "the cute girl," who could
do anything she tried to do, was chosen to open this door. This she
did so noiselessly, that the whole twenty girls entered the room and
surrounded the Fraeulein's bed without so much as interrupting a single
snore. Then all at once a merry chorus broke out with,--

"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas, Fraeulein