"Ho, ho!" laughed Kenneth, seeing it across the table; "another good chance lost! You know the penalty, Patty, if you're caught under the mistletoe. But of course if you eat mistletoe, the charm fails." "I'm willing it should," said Patty, as she took up her spoon. "I'm not pining for a rustic swain to kiss me 'neath the mistletoe bough." Patty looked very roguish and provoking as she said this, and Mr. Farrington said, gallantly: "Ah, no, perhaps not. But the swains are doing the pining, without doubt." Now Roger sat on the other side of Patty, and as his father finished speaking, he said, apparently apropos of nothing: "Mother, are these your Spode plates, or are they Cauldon ware?" "They're Spode, Roger; why do you want to know? Are you suddenly becoming interested in China?" "Yes," he replied; "are you sure, mother, these are Spode?" He lifted the handsome plate in front of him, and gazed intently at the mark on its under side, as he held it just above the level of his eyes. "Be careful, Roger, you'll spill your ice cream," admonished his father. "No, I won't, sir," he said, as he replaced his plate. "But I never saw Spode with this decoration before. Let me look at yours, Patty." He took up Patty's plate of ice cream, and lifting it quite high studied the stamp on that. Suddenly he moved it, until the dish of mistletoe ice cream was directly over Patty's head. "Fairly caught!" he cried; "under the mistletoe!" And before Patty caught the jest, Roger had kissed her pretty pink cheek, and then calmly restored her plate of ice cream to its place in front of her. "You villain!" she cried, glaring at him, and pretending to be greatly offended, but smiling in spite of herself at his clever ruse. "Good for you, my boy!" cried Mr. Farrington, clapping his hands. "I wish I had thought of that myself. But it's a game that won't work twice." "Indeed it won't!" said Patty, "I'll take care of that!" and she began to eat her mistletoe ice cream in proof of her words. "It never can happen again," said Kenneth, in sad tones, as he watched the "mistletoe" disappear. "But I'll not give up all hope. It's still Christmas Eve, and there are other mistletoes and other manners." "And other girls," said Patty, glancing mischievously at Elise. "Yes, there are four of us," said Louise, so innocently that they all laughed. "All right, Louise," said Kenneth, "you find a nice, big spray of mistletoe, after dinner, and wear it in that big topknot bow of yours, and I'll promise to kiss you on both cheeks." But Louise was too shy to respond to this repartee, and she dropped her eyes in confusion. "Now," said Mrs. Farrington, as she rose from the table, "we'll have our Christmas Waits sing carols, and then we'll have our tree."