"

"I thought I'd never get you away from No. 3," was the answer.

"They were very much interested,--and I wanted to make them all
understand--it was important that they should all understand--"

"And there are different ways of understanin'," added Mrs. Marx; "and
there are a good many of 'em--the Hicks's, I mean; and so, when we
thought we'd got it all right with one, we found somebody else was in a
fog; and then _he_ had to be fetched out."

"But we are all in a fog," said Madge, laughing. "What are you coming
to? and what are we to understand?"

"We have a little plan," said Mrs. Seelye.

"It'll be a big one, before we get through with it," added her
coadjutor. "Nobody'll be frightened here if you call it a big one to
start with, Mrs. Seelye. I like to look things in the face."

"So do we," said Mrs. Armadale, with a kind of grim humour,--"if you
will give us a chance."

"Well, it's about the children," said Mrs. Seelye.

"Christmas--" added Mrs. Marx.

"Be quiet, Anne," said her mother. "Go on, Mrs. Seelye. Whose children?"

"I might say, they are all Mr. Seelye's children," said the little
lady, laughing; "and so they are in a way, as they are all belonging to
his church. He feels he is responsible for the care of 'em, and he
_don't_ want to lose 'em. And that's what it's all about, and how the
plan came up."

"How's he goin' to lose 'em?" Mrs. Armadale asked, beginning now to
knit again.

"Well, you see the other church is makin' great efforts; and they're
goin' to have a tree."

"What sort of a tree? and what do they want a tree for?"

"Why, a fir tree!"--and, "Why, a Christmas tree!" cried the two ladies
who advocated the "plan," both in a breath.

"Mother don't know about that," Mrs. Marx went on. "It's a new fashion,
mother,--come up since your day. They have a green tree, planted in a
tub, and hung with all sorts of things to make it look pretty; little
candles especially; and at night they light it up; and the children are
tickled to death with it."

"In-doors?"

"Why, of course in-doors. Couldn't be out-of-doors, in the snow."

"I didn't know," said the old lady; "I don't understand the new
fashions. I should think they would burn up the house, if it's
in-doors."

"O no, no danger," explained Mrs. Seelye. "They make them wonderfully
pretty, with the branches all hung full with glass balls, and candles,
and ribbands, and gilt toys, and papers of sugar plums--cornucopia, you