“Is there any strange news?” And then Mrs. Bloommaert’s rather stiff question: “Is anything wrong, Leonard?” Leonard turned to her at once. “No, indeed,” he answered. “I met the judge at the City Hall and he asked me to bring you this letter. I think he expects to be detained. He was just going on to an important committee. If there is any answer, I will carry it, if you wish me to do so.” And as Mrs. Bloommaert read the letter Sappha brought him some spiced wine, but he would not take it. He said “he was going back to complete some decorations, whose position required a very clear head and steady foot.” But he knew in his heart that it was no fear of danger made him refuse the proffered cup of good-will. It was jealousy that whispered to him: “The cup was not mingled for you. There was no thought of you in it. Others were expected and prepared for, and you were not even told.” Under the influence of such thoughts he was constrained and quite unlike himself, and an effectual destroyer of happiness. An uncomfortable silence, broken by bungling attempts to restore the natural mirth he had disturbed, were not happy efforts. He made himself an intruder, and then blamed every one else for the position he had taken voluntarily, through his own misconception. Sappha was painfully aware of the constraint, and she wished for once that Annette would open her generally ready stream of badinage. But Annette was busy advising, in a somewhat private detail, St. Ange concerning his part of the game of _Yule Klap_; and St. Ange, having received her instructions while Leonard was waiting, rose when Leonard did, and proposed to walk part of the way with him. “You will call this evening, will you not?” asked Sappha timidly, as they stood by a little table full of mysterious packages. “It will be impossible,” he answered. “Every part of the decorations are in my charge, and I have a great deal to attend to.” “To-morrow is Christmas Eve. You will be here for the _Yule Klap_?” “If I am wanted!” “Oh, Leonard! If you are wanted! If you are not present I shall not care for anything, or any one else.”