When Christmas time drew near, Miss Hester one day, while Maggie was at school, opened some long-closed drawers in her desk to see if she could find something to give Maggie on that day, for she had not forgotten her own youthful days when Christmas was the event of the year. Among the long-forgotten treasures of the past, she came upon a little locket given her when she was about Maggie's age, by her only brother, who had gone to the war and been killed in battle, severing the last link that bound the solitary girl to the world. Since that, she had lived alone and shrank from all society. "Poor Eddy!" she said, taking the trinket up in her hands, "how different would have been my life if you had lived! But it's no use keeping these relics of the past; they would much better make some one happy in the present. I think Maggie will like this." With a sigh she turned over the contents of the drawer, every item of which was associated with her happier days, till she found a fine gold chain which had held the locket around her neck. This she laid aside with the locket, closed and locked the drawer. When the great day arrived, Maggie, who had not dreamed of a present, was surprised and delighted to receive it. The locket was very pretty, of gold, with a letter B in black enamel on it. Miss Hester hung it around her neck, and was as pleased as Maggie herself to see how pretty it looked. "I wonder if it will open," said Maggie to herself a little later, when she had taken it off to examine more closely; "I'll try it," and she worked over it a long time but without success. That was a very busy day in the cottage; that evening was to be a great school exhibition to which all the village was invited. Maggie, who was a bright scholar, had to speak a piece, and Miss Hester had made her a pretty white dress out of an old one of her own. Maggie never felt so fine in her life as when, her hair smoothly braided by Miss Hester, and tied with a bright ribbon from her old stores, she had put on the white dress, and hung around her neck the cherished locket. For the first time in her life, she was dressed like other girls, and it was with a very happy heart that she kissed Miss Hester and went to the schoolhouse, regretting only that Miss Hester could not be persuaded to go with her. After the exercises of the evening were over, a social hour followed, in which ice cream and cake were served, and every one walked around the room to talk with their friends; and now came the surprise of the evening--the most wonderful event in Maggie's life. Among the familiar villagers, she had noticed a quiet, pleasant-faced man who seemed to be a stranger,--at least she had never seen him before. He had come with the family from the little hotel, and no doubt at their invitation.