Then there were the gifts from the others to me. My step-mother gave me a lovely little narrow gold chain with a locket attached to it; and father, for the first time since I could remember, gave me a present simply as a present. It consisted of a row of very curious, sweet-scented beads, which were mounted now in gold, and could be worn either as a necklace or as a bracelet. "But you have had these for ages," I said. "Yes; but my wife thought that they could be set very prettily for you," he said. I was delighted, and thanked him heartily. I had often coveted those blue beads, for they were a wonderful greenish blue, and in some lights looked quite opalescent. The boys, too, gave me things very suitable and very useful. No one had forgotten me. Even Augusta gave me a pin-cushion stuck full of pins that I scratched myself with the first thing. That was very likely, for she had put them in so badly that several stuck out underneath, and I had inflicted a wound before I was aware of this fact. But the presents, after all, were nothing compared to the festive air which pervaded the place. We went to church, and we knelt before God's altar, and joined in the great and glorious Festival of Divine Love. After church we were all to go to the Aldyces' for dinner. This invitation had been vouchsafed to us on the occasion of my father's marriage, and Mrs Grant said that it was quite impossible not to accept it. "You will like Hermione," I said to Augusta. I thought she would. I thought Hermione's precise ways would rather please Augusta. The carriage, however, did not meet us at the church, for it was arranged that we were to go home first and have lunch at Hedgerow House, and then were to walk in a body the two miles which separated us from The Grange, Squire Aldyce's beautiful old residence. We went there in high spirits. Everything was joyful that day. Here more and more presents awaited us. Really it was marvellous. Alex managed to whisper to me, "Have you no eye for contrasts?" "Contrasts?" I asked, turning round and giving him a flashing glance. "Between this Christmas and last," he said. I felt annoyed. I had been trying so very hard to keep in the best of humours--to be good, if I, poor naughty Dumps, could really and truly be good--and now the spirit of naughtiness was once more awakened. Oh, of course, this was a glorious time, and I ought to be delighted; but the ache had returned to my heart, the longing to be in my own little room looking at my mother's miniature, the wish for the old desolation when she, as I said to myself, had been honoured and her memory respected.