Creeping to bed long after the first rooster had crowed Uncle Noah had
sought the kitchen again with the sunrise, his tired eyes opening
jubilantly upon a snapping cold Christmas morning radiant in gold and
white. Downstairs clusters of holly and mistletoe festooned doors and
windows, dotted the old-fashioned hanging lamps with spots of crimson,
and crowned the family portraits with royal diadems, and evergreen
wreaths hung in the windows--all the work of a wrinkled pair of
faithful brown hands toiling while the world slept. In the library a
blazing wood fire leaped and crackled, while in the dining-room the
table was spread for breakfast. Certain long-needed articles of china,
which had mysteriously disappeared from time to time since the autumn,
dotted a tablecloth free from holes (a new one subjected to a severe
laundry process during the night), and the napkins no longer resembled
Ku-Klux masks. A great bowl of purple orchids glowed at Mrs. Fairfax's
plate.
V
Fernlands
V
The Colonel greeted the Christmas festoons of holly in the library with
a stare of astonished approval.
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