"I do wish she had come," she mused to herself. "I wonder why she did not? He looks miserable when he is not talking. I should like him to have a happy Christmas; he certainly has helped to give me one, and I expect I am only one of hundreds.... I remember last year how his mother grumbled at all his charities; I little thought then that he and I should be together for this Christmas! So everything is coming with a rush," Caroline mused on. "To-night I discover that I actually had a mother and a father, and now I have a guardian," and then she laughed outright, "and of course Cuthbert Baynhurst is my cousin! That sounds funny! How pleased he will be!" She reverted again to the subject of Camilla later on. "Will she come to-morrow? Oh, surely yes!... She _could_ not let Christmas go without seeing the children!" And on the morrow, when every one was at church, except Caroline and Baby, who certainly was not quite her usual brisk little self, Mrs. Lancing arrived. She went up at once to the nursery, flung off her furs, and sat down and took her Baby in her arms. "She is not really ill, is she?" she queried anxiously. "Oh, she is ever so much better this morning," said Caroline. "You see, it has been so damp the last few days, and yesterday the wind was very keen." "And she always gets cold in the nasty wind, don't you Boodles, my precious?" The mother hugged the little figure in her arms, then stretched out her hand to Caroline. "A happy Christmas!" she said, and then in the same breath, "how well you look, and how nice! And oh, what a wonderful lot of toys! Why, Babsy, Santa Claus must have nearly broken his back bringing all these things." With the child nestling in her arms, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "I've got a most awful headache," she said wearily. "We were up till any hour this morning.... Have you some strong smelling-salts, Caroline? Chris Bardolph brought me over here in the motor." She sniffed the salts, and lay aback with closed eyes for awhile. Then she said, "I thought the air would do me good, but I feel quite cracked up. Where is everybody?" she asked the next moment languidly; and she smiled when she heard that the whole party had migrated to church. "Has he gone?" she asked, and then she answered the question herself; "but of course. I am sure he must sing hymns most beautifully." "I don't think Mr. Haverford went with the others," Caroline said; "he said he would take Betty and the maid who has gone with her to mass." "But he is not a Catholic," Mrs. Lancing observed quickly; "there is another duty for me! I shall have to try and make a convert of him. Oh dear, my head!... It feels as if it would come in two! Babsy darling, mummy must go down and rest in her own room...." But Babsy clung to her mother, refusing to be separated, and of course got her way. Left to herself, Caroline Graniger stood and looked out of the window thoughtfully. A shadow had gathered on her face.