the pearls among her dark curls.

'You have given us the most beautiful Christmas present in the world,
Cousin Crayshaw,' she said, holding out her hands to him. And Mr.
Crayshaw, with a sudden impulse, kissed her forehead as he had kissed
Godfrey's.

'They were yours already, not mine, my dear,' he said, and then he
added:

'You are very like your mother, Angelica, very like indeed.'

I don't think there could have been a merrier party than that Christmas
dinner party at Oakfield Place.

Captain Maitland held the same opinion as a wise man who once said that
'it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at
Christmas time, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.' And the
captain had the power of not only being quite childishly happy himself,
but of making those about him feel the same. The room was all bright
with holly, and when pretty Patty had brought in the Christmas goose,
and the captain had handed Angelica with courtly politeness to her
place on his right hand, he set himself to keep the whole party
laughing, and succeeded very well. For he told stories about
Christmases at sea, and days when he was a boy at Oakfield Place, and
got into scrapes and out again like other boys who had not grown up
into heroes. And then he positively asked Mr. Crayshaw if he hadn't
some stories of scrapes to tell, now that they were all making
confessions. And before Betty's eyes had got back to their natural
size, after her amazement at the idea of Cousin Crayshaw in a scrape,
that gentleman was answering, with a sort of little cackle which really
was almost a laugh, that he did remember once being out after time on a
half-holiday, and finding the school-gate shut and climbing over it,
and that his coat caught on the top and he hung there till it tore.
And at the thought of Cousin Crayshaw hanging on a nail, Betty at any
rate hid her face and laughed till she cried, and I believe Angel
wasn't far behind her, and, most wonderful of all, Cousin Crayshaw
didn't mind a bit. And when dinner was over, and they had drunk to
'Present Company' and 'Absent Friends,' and Mr. Crayshaw had proposed
'The Navy' in quite a fine speech, and Captain Maitland had proposed
'The Law' in a still finer one, then Patty came in with a twinkle in
her eyes and moved away the table and pushed the chairs against the
walls. And then the captain remarked that it was a cold night, and
wouldn't it be a good thing if they were to wa