's knuckles, left the room, picking up his "pan" from the
hall table as he answered the summons.

At this moment the dear lady dropped her ball of yarn, and the Colonel
and I stooped down to recover it. This was a duty from which even Chad
was relieved when either of us was present. While we were both on our
knees groping around the legs of the sideboard, the door opened
softly, and a sweet, low voice said:

"Please, I'm Katy Klutchem, and I've come to the Christmas tree."

The Colonel twisted his head quickly.

A little girl of six or eight, her chubby cheeks aglow with the cold
of the winter twilight, a mass of brown curls escaping from her hat
framing a pretty face, stood looking at him--he was still on his
knees--with wide, wondering eyes. He had expected to welcome a young
woman of twenty, he told me afterwards, not a child. Aunt Nancy
inadvertently, perhaps, or because she supposed he knew, had omitted
any reference to her age. I, too, had fallen into the same error.

The dear lady without rising from her seat held out her two hands
joyously:

"Oh, you darling little thing! Come here until I take off your hat and
coat."

The Colonel had now risen to his feet, the ball of yarn in his hand,
his eyes still on the apparition. No child had ever stepped foot
inside the cosy quarters since his occupation. Katy returned his gaze
with that steadfast, searching look common to some children, summing
up by intuition the dangers and the man. Then, with her face breaking
into a smile at the Colonel, she started towards Aunt Nancy.

But the Colonel had come to his senses now.

"So you are not a grown-up lady at all," he cried, with a joyous note
in his voice, as he advanced towards her, "but just a dear little
girl."

"Why, did you think I was grown-up? I'm only seven. Oh, what a nice
room, and is the Christmas tree here?"

"It is not lighted yet, dearie," replied Aunt Nancy, her fingers busy
with the top button of the child's cloak, the eager, expectant face
twisted around as if she was looking for something. "It's over there
in the corner."

"Let me show it to you," said the Colonel, and he took her hand.
"Major, please bring one of the candles."

The child's eyes sought the Colonel's face. The first look she had
given him as she entered the room had settled all doubt in her mind;
children know at a glance whom they can trust.

"Please do," she answered simply, and her grasp closed over his. The
cloak and ha