ne is quite large, you see, and there
are six others in a circle around it."

"I should think you'd feel very rich," remarked Lulu; "I'd go fairly
wild with delight if I had such an one given me."

"Well then, why not give your father a hint that you'd like such a
Christmas gift from him?" asked Sydney.

"I'm afraid it would cost too much," said Lulu, "and I wouldn't want
papa to spend more on me than he could well afford."

"Why, he could afford it well enough!" exclaimed Maud. "Your father is
very rich--worth his millions, I heard Cousin Horace say not long ago;
and he knows of course."

Lulu looked much surprised. "Papa never talks of how much money he has,"
she said, "and I never supposed it was more than about enough to keep us
comfortable; but millions means a great deal doesn't it?"

"I should say so indeed! more than your mind or mine can grasp the idea
of."

Lulu's eyes sparkled. "I'm ever so glad for papa!" she said; "he's just
the right person to have a great deal of money, for he will be sure to
make the very best use of it."

"And for a part of it, that will be diamonds for you, won't it?" laughed
Maud.

"I hope the captain will think so by the time she's grown up," remarked
Rosie, with a pleasant look at Lulu; "or sooner if they come to be
thought suitable for girls of her age."

"That's nice in you Rosie," Lulu said, flushing with pleasure, "and I
hope you will get your pearls this Christmas."

"I join in both wishes," said Evelyn Leland, "and hope everyone of you
will receive a Christmas gift quite to her mind: but, oh girls, don't
you think it would be nice to give a good time to the poor people about
us?"

"What poor people?" asked Sydney.

"I mean both the whites and the blacks," explained Evelyn. "There are
those Jones children that live not far from Woodburn, for instance:
their mother's dead and the father gets drunk and beats and abuses them,
and altogether I'm sure they are very, very forlorn."

"Oh yes," cried Lulu, "it would be just splendid to give them a good
time!--nice things to eat and to wear, and toys too. I'll talk to papa
about it, and he'll tell us what to give them and how to give it."

"And there are a number of other families in the neighborhood probably
quite as poor and forlorn," said Lora Howard. "Oh I think it would be
delightful to get them all together somewhere and surprise them with a
Christmas tree loaded with nice things! Lets do it, girls. We all have