'I am thinking,' said Mrs. Coles, in a half whisper and with a smile, 'how Dane's principles will harmonize, by and by, with Hazel's practice. Will he hold himself responsible, Prim, do you suppose?—or will he console himself with the reflection that he cannot help it? Though if Dane Rollo does _that_, it will be the first time in his life. What are his notions about dress, now-a-days, Miss Kennedy? has he revealed them to you yet? I don't see any change in his own.' 'I think I know more of my own notions,' said the girl. 'Dr. Maryland, you have taken the very hardest chair in the room! This is the one you ought to have, by me.' 'You have a pretty house, my dear,' said the old doctor as he obediently made the change. 'I never saw it look prettier than it does to-night. A handsome old house! I hope Dane won't want to make any changes here. If he does, don't let him, my dear.' 'He won't,' said Prim. 'What an idea, papa! Dane has some sense.' 'When anybody gets in the spirit of change, though,' said Prudentia,—'you never know how far it will go. He may think one end of the house suitable for a hospital; or build an addition for a refuge.' 'Prue, you do talk nonsense,' said her sister. 'Hazel wouldn't like that; and Dane wouldn't like what she wouldn't like.' 'Wouldn't he?' Mrs. Coles responded, with a little, most disagreeable laugh. 'Hazel will be able to regulate all that,' said Dr. Maryland. 'I don't think Dane would do what she would disapprove of. Ha, here they are!' The jingle of the sleigh bells was heard passing the windows; and for a minute all the party were silent. And the Christmas wind moaned in the chimney, as much as to say, 'I have seen many a Christmas here; you are all new comers, compared to me.' And Wych Hazel sat trying to manage herself, with her heart on the jump. She had been breathless and speechless during the late pleasant little discussion of her affairs, but now for the moment even Mrs. Coles was forgotten. The next thing was a message from Mrs. Bywank; could Miss Wych step to the housekeeper's room for a moment? And in the housekeeper's room Hazel found only one person, and that one was not Mrs. Bywank. He met her eagerly, and at the same time with the manner of reverential tenderness she was accustomed to have from him lately; as if he remembered how alone she was, and that he must be mother and lover and all in one. And she did her best to give him a smile; but he got it most in the low-toned intonation, after all, with which she answered his question, how she was? 'You did not get the Christmas gift I had intended for you,' he went on; and if his eye had a sparkle of joy in it, his face and manner were as grave and quiet as consideration for her could have suggested. 'I have been disappointed, much to my mortification. The carriage has not come. I had ordered a pony chaise to be here, which I thought you would like. The pony is on the stable.'