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ed to doing it--he surrendered himself without a protest. When presently she gave him a drink of milk and a biscuit to munch, he regaled himself peaceably, with the air of feeling quite at home. When he had finished his lunch he played with a collie puppy. "I'll do my best for him, sir, and I'll not let these young ladies spoil him if I can help it," said Mrs Kelsey, with a smile at Mary Pennycuick. Terms had been arranged, and everything settled. "I hope you will be able to keep him from being any bother to them," said Guthrie earnestly. "Bother!" crowed Mary, whose intention was to visit the child daily. "We'll see to that, Mr Carey--never fear." Mrs Kelsey suggested beginning her duties, with the aid of the little nurse, at once; but Mary would not hear of parting the boy from his father while they could be together. So he was carried back to Redford, to be the plaything of the housekeeper's room for the rest of the day. "MY baby," Mary began to call him. She had to preside at the great dinner, but was not visible to her family for hours before and after. It was a better Christmas to Guthrie Carey in the end than in the beginning. Deb came back from church chastened in spirit, to make up to him for her unkindness, on the score of which her warm heart had reproached her. She made him play billiards with her after tea, while Claud was resting after his labours; she chaffed him deliciously on his errors in the game. She forgot to ask after his baby; but she asked whether it would not be possible to get his leave extended. When he said "No"--he had had more than his share already--she commended him for his sense of duty, and in her seriousness was more enchanting than in her fun. "But I do wish we could have kept you longer," she flattered him, in her sweet way. "However, we shall have a hostage for your return." Several new people came to dinner, including Mr Goldsworthy and Ruby--the latter sent at once, by Deb's command, to keep little Carey company. Spacious Redford was taxed to the utmost to accommodate its guests, and never was better Christmas cheer provided in the old hall of English Redford than its son in exile dispensed under his Australian roof. When every leaf was put into the dining-table, it was so long that Mary at one end was beyond speaking distance of her father at the other, and those at the sides could scarce use their elbows as they ate. The banquet was prodigious, with speeches t
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