"I don't know that they are here, either. They have been careful to keep their plans from me." Molly ignored this implication. "I hope you'll enjoy your Christmas, Judith," she said. "Perhaps something will turn up." "Something will have to turn up after next year," exclaimed Judith, "for I have made up my mind to one thing. I shall never work for a living." And she strode off through the pine woods with her chin in the air, as if she were defying all the powers in heaven to make her change this resolution. Molly shivered as she knelt to clip the holly. She seemed to see a picture of a tiny little Judith standing in the middle of a vast, endless plain raging and shaking her fists at--what? The empty air. She sighed. "I don't suppose I could ever make her understand that she'd be lots happier if she'd just let go and stop thinking that God has a grudge against her." CHAPTER XVII. A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE. At six o'clock that evening a mouse's tail brushed Molly's door. "Come in, little one," called Molly, recognizing Otoyo's tap. "My, how dressed up you are!" she cried as the little Japanese appeared in the doorway blushing and hesitating. "You like it? This is real American young lady's toilet. It came from a greatly big store in New York." Molly felt a real regret sometimes in correcting Otoyo's funny English. Was not the Brown family careful for many years to call bears "b'ars" just because the youngest brother said it when he was a little child? "But why did you wear your pink cashmere this evening, dear?" she asked. "Ah, but this is a holidee. In Japan we wear always best on holidee." "Then I must dress up, too, I suppose," remarked Molly, sighing, "and I had thought to let myself off easy to-night, Otoyo. But I couldn't appear before Mrs. Murphy in this old garment and you so resplendent. What shall I wear, chicken?" she asked, pinching Otoyo's cheek. "The dress of sky blue." "What, my last year's best?" laughed Molly. "My lady, you ask too much. I must preserve that for year after next best. But, seeing that you are doing honor to this happy occasion, Miss Sen, I'll wear it to please you." She soon attired herself in the blue crêpe de chine over which she and Nance had labored so industriously the winter before. The two girls strolled downstairs together and at the first landing Molly began sniffing the air. "'If my ole nose don't tell no lies, It 'pears like I smells custard pies,'" she remarked smiling. "It's meence," said Otoyo. Molly squeezed the little Japanese's plump waist. "Yes, I know it's 'meence,'" she said, "but custard pies stand for mince and turkey and baked macaroni and all sorts of good things. We'll soon find out what Mrs. Murphy's been up to." Pushing open the dining room door, she gave a start of surprise. The room was deserted and almost dark, and the long table was not even set for two.