They crowded gaily into the dining-room, leaving the Very Young Man and Aura sitting alone by the fire. For some time they sat silent, listening to the laughter of the others trimming the tree. The Very Young Man looked at the girl beside him as she sat staring into the fire. She had taken off her heavy coat, and her figure seemed long and very slim in the clothes she was wearing now. She sat bending forward, with her hands clasped over her knees. The long line of her slender arm and shoulder, and the delicacy of her profile turned towards him, made the Very Young Man realize anew how fragile she was, and how beautiful. Her mass of hair was coiled in a great black pile on her head, with a big, loose knot low at the neck. The iridescence of her skin gleamed under the flaming red of her cheeks. Her lips, too, were red, with the smooth, rich red of coral. The Very Young Man thought with a shock of surprise that he had never noticed before that they were red; in the ring there had been no such color. In the room adjoining, his friends were proposing a toast over the Christmas punch bowl. The Chemist's voice floated in through the doorway. "To the Oroids--happiness to them." Then for an instant there was silence as they drank the toast. Aura met the Very Young Man's eyes and smiled a little wanly. "Happiness--to them! I wonder. We who are so happy to-night--I wonder, are they?" The Very Young Man leaned towards her. "You are happy, Aura?" The girl nodded, still staring wistfully into the fire. "I want you to be," the Very Young Man added simply, and fell silent. A blazing log in the fire twisted and rolled to one side; the crackling flames leaped higher, bathing the girl's drooping little figure in their golden light. The Very Young Man after a time found himself murmuring familiar lines of poetry. His memory leaped back. A boat sailing over a silent summer lake--underneath the stars--the warmth of a girl's soft little body touching his--her hair, twisted about his fingers--the thrill in his heart; he felt it now as his lips formed the words: "The stars would be your pearls upon a string, The world a ruby for your finger-ring, And you could have the sun and moon to wear, If I were king." "You remember, Aura, that night in the boat?" Again the girl nodded. "I shall learn to read it--some day," she said eagerly. "And all the others that you told me. I want to. They sing--so beautifully." A sleigh passed along the road outside; the jingle of its bells drifted in to them. The Very Young Man reached over and gently touched the girl's hand; her fingers closed over his with an answering pressure. His heart was beating fast. "Aura," he said earnestly. "I want to be King--for you--this first Christmas and always. I want to give you--all there is in this life, of happiness, that I can give--just for you." The girl met his gaze with eyes that were melting with tenderness. "I love you, Aura," he said softly.