At bedtime the two girls undressed before Hilary’s fire. Cathalina thought that Hilary might be lonely on Christmas Eve, so she dismissed Etta and they chatted by themselves. “Isn’t Christmas the most beautiful time? Will you go to church tomorrow?” “Yes; Father and Mother always go. O, I want you to hear a wonderful Christmas service, chimes and everything!” “How cold and still it is tonight!” “If you can call a city still. Of course it really is not noisy out here, and anyway when you get used to a city you don’t hear things any more than the ticking of our little alarm clock.” “You only need to mention alarm clock to prove it. Do you remember how I can sleep through all the din?” Both girls laughed at the memories of certain early morning hours. “But you don’t know how queer I feel sometimes, Cathalina, as if this is a story and nothing is real.” “It seems real enough to me. Haven’t I the dearest father and mother and brother?” “Having some of my own I could not say ‘dearest,’ but they are just wonderful. And why didn’t you tell me, Cathalina, that you lived like this?” “Well, Hilary, of course, I’m used to my dear home and would not have thought much about it if Mother and Father had not warned me. They said if I wanted to be happy and have the girls feel free with me and maybe love me a little, I must do as the rest do and not ever hint about having a maid or anything. Then they said, as usual, that it is what you are and not what you have that counts and they were anxious to see if I could get along without being waited on and amount to something myself.” At Hilary’s wondering look she continued: “Of course they were too kind to put it just that way, but I really thought that they must be disgusted with me,—and how I cried, all to myself! But I made up my mind to it and thought at first that I’d show everybody I could stay and work hard at my lessons! Then I liked Greycliff and the girls so well that I forgot all about the beginning or why I went there. I’ve just been understanding since I came back home how worried they must have been about me.” “I suppose you felt almost as queer at Greycliff as I do here. Still, it’s a big place there and they have servants too. I don’t know how this immense house would have looked to me if I had not been to Greycliff first.” Cathalina laughed. “But this is a _home_. It _is_ a big old thing, but I love it. You ought to see some of the other places here. Ours would not seem so much for size, then. But come on, Hilary-Dillary, we’re going to hang up our stockings just like kiddies tonight,—in the den next to my room. Phil promises to do it too, just for fun, as we used to. Did you see Mother buying that horn and jumping-jack?” “Yes; I thought it was for some little chap in the family.” “It was for her little kiddie-boy.” * * * * * Christmas morning was shining with the combined radiance of sun and snow.