ter when the Colonel stood up to carve the ducks: and the
benignant, patriarchal, bless-you-my-children smile that kept
irradiating the Virginian's visage as, knife in hand, he descanted on
the various edibles and drinkables that made his native County a rare
place to be born in; and Mr. Klutchem's quiet, absorbed manner, so
different from his boisterous outbreaks--a fact which astonished Fitz
most of all; and Katy's unrestrained laughter breaking in at all times
like a bird's, and Chad's beaming face and noiseless tread, taking the
dishes from Jim's hands as carefully as an antiquary would so many
curios, and placing them without a sound before his master--yes, all
these things indeed made a picture that could never be forgotten.

As to the quality and toothsomeness of the several and various
dishes--roast, broiled, and baked--that kept constantly arriving,
there was, there could be, but one opinion:

Nobody had ever seen such oysters; nobody had ever eaten such
terrapin! Nobody had ever tasted such ducks!--so Mr. Klutchem said,
and he ought to have known, for he had the run of the Clubs. Nobody
had crunched such celery nor had revelled in such sweet potatoes; nor
had anybody since the beginning of the world ever smacked their lips
over such a ham.

"One of our razor-backs, Mr. Klutchem," said the Colonel; "fed on
acorns, and so thin that he can jump through a palin' fence and never
lose a hair. When a pig down our way gets so fat that a darky can
catch him, we have no use for him"--and the Colonel laughed--a laugh
which was echoed in a suppressed grin by Chad, the witticism not being
intended for him.

Soon there stole over every one in the room that sense of peace and
contentment which always comes when one is at ease in an atmosphere
where love and kindness reign. The soft light of the candles, the low,
rich color of the simple room with its festoons of cedar and pine, the
aroma of the rare wine, and especially the spicy smell of the hemlock
warmed by the burning tapers--that rare, unmistakable smell which only
Christmas greens give out and which few of us know but once a year,
and often not then; all had their effect on host and guests. Katy
became so happy that she lost all fear of her father and prattled on
to Fitz and me (we had pinned to her frock the rose the Colonel had
bought for the "grown-up daughter," and she was wearing it just as
Aunt Nancy wore hers), and Aunt Nancy in her gentle voice talked
fina