Dear little Nora is wrapped in sealskins and other skins, mauds and astrakhan rugs. She has a hot brick at her feet, and Pompey, the dog, is made to lie over them, so John McLaughlin No. 68 takes her in triumph to 99 Linwood Street. That was a Christmas to be remembered! And Christmas morning, after church, the Brothers of St. Patrick, which was the men's society, and the Sodality of St. Anne's, which was the women's, determined on a great Twelfth- night feast to celebrate Nora's return. It was to show "how these brethren love one another." They proposed to take the rink. People didn't use it for skating in winter as much as in summer. Nora was to receive, with John McLaughlin and his wife to assist. The other 74 John McLaughlins were to act as ushers. The Salvation Army came first, led by the lass who found Michael. Procession No. 2 was Mike and the teamsters who "don't take nothing for such as she." Third, in special horse-cars, which went through from Dorchester to Somerville by a vermilion edict from the West End Company, the eleven families of that No. 99. They stopped in Roxbury to pick up Ellen and the hostess of the Review Club. Fourth, all the patrolmen who had helped and all who tried to help, led by "cop" No. 47. Fifth, all the school children who had told the story and had made inquiries. Sixth, the man who made the Somerville Directory. Seventh and last, in two barouches, Harrington and the chiefs of staff at the general post-office. And the boys asked Father McElroy to make a speech to all just before the dancing began. And he said: "The lost sheep was never lost. She thought she was lost in the wilderness, but she was at home, for she was met by the Christmas greeting of the world into which the dear Lord was born!" NOTE.--It may interest the reader to know that the important part of this story is true. IDEALS CHAPTER I IN ACCOUNT I have a little circle of friends, among all my other friends quite distinct, though of them. They are four men and four women; the husbands more in love with their wives than on the days when they married them, and the wives with their husbands. These people live for the good of the world, to a fair extent, but much, very much, of their lives is passed together. Perhaps the happiest period they ever knew was when, in different subordinate capacities, they were all on the staff of the same magazine. Then they met daily at the office, lunched together perforce, and could make arrangements for the evening. But, to say true, things differ little with them now, though that magazine long since took wings and went to a better world. Their names are Felix and Fausta Carter, Frederic and Mary Ingham, George and Anna Haliburton, George and Julia Hackmatack. I get the children's names wrong to their faces-- except that in general their name is Legion, for they are many--so I will not attempt them here.