"Oh, dear, why did father have to lose his money? "Twas easy enough last September to decide I wouldn"t take the expensive journey home these holidays, and for all of us to promise we wouldn"t give each other as much as a Christmas card. But now!" The two chill tears slipped over the edge of her eyelashes. "Well, I know how I"ll spend this whole day; I"ll come right up here after breakfast and cry and cry and cry!"
Somewhat fortified by this cheering resolve, Betty went to breakfast.
Whatever the material joys of that meal might be, it certainly was not "a feast of reason and a flow of soul." Betty, whose sense of humour never perished, even in such a frost, looked round the table at the eight grim-faced girls doomed to a Christmas in school, and quoted mischievously to herself: "On with the dance, let joy be unconfined."
Breakfast bolted, she lagged back to her room, stopping to stare out of the corridor windows.
She saw nothing of the snowy landscape, however. Instead, a picture, the gayest medley of many colours and figures, danced before her eyes: Christmas-trees thumping in through the door, mysterious bundles scurried into dark corners, little brothers and sisters flying about with festoons of mistletoe, scarlet ribbon and holly, everywhere sound and laughter and excitement. The motto of Betty"s family was: "Never do to-day what you can put off till to-morrow"; therefore the preparations of a fortnight were always crowded into a day.
The year before, Betty had rushed till her nerves were taut and her temper snapped, had shaken the twins, raged at the housemaid, and had gone to bed at midnight weeping with weariness. But in memory only the joy of the day remained.
"I think I could endure this jail of a school, and not getting one single present, but it breaks my heart not to give one least little thing to any one! Why, who ever heard of such a Christmas!"
"Won"t you hunt for that blue----"
"Broken my thread again!"
"Give me those scissors!"
Betty jumped out of her day-dream. She had wandered into "Cork" and the three O"Neills surrounded her, staring.
"I beg your pardon--I heard you--and it was so like home the day before Christmas----"
"Did you hear the heathen rage?" cried Katherine.
"Dolls for Aunt Anne"s mission," explained Constance.
"You"re so forehanded that all your presents went a week ago, I suppose," Eleanor swept clear a chair. "The clan O"Neill is never forehanded."
"You"d think I was from the number of thumbs I"ve grown this morning.
Oh, misery!" Eleanor jerked a snarl of thread out on the floor.
Betty had never cared for "Cork" but now the hot worried faces of its girls appealed to her.
"Let me help. I"m a regular silkworm."
The O"Neills a.s.sented with eagerness, and Betty began to sew in a capable, swift way that made the others stare and sigh with relief.
The dolls were many, the O"Neills slow. Betty worked till her feet twitched on the floor; yet she enjoyed the morning, for it held an entirely new sensation, that of helping some one else get ready for Christmas.
"Done!"
"We never should have finished if you hadn"t helped! Thank you, Betty Luther, very, _very_ much! You"re a duck! Let"s run to luncheon together, quick."
Somehow the big corridors did not seem half so bleak echoing to those warm O"Neill voices.
"This morning"s just spun by, but, oh, this long, dreary afternoon!"
sighed Betty, as she wandered into the library. "Oh, me, there goes Alice Johns with her arms loaded with presents to mail, and I can"t give a single soul anything!"
"Do you know where "Quotations for Occasions" has gone?" Betty turned to face pretty Rosamond Howitt, the only senior left behind.
"Gone to be rebound. I heard Miss Dyce say so."
"Oh, dear, I needed it so."
"Could I help? I know a lot of rhymes and tags of proverbs and things like that."
"Oh, if you would help me, I"d be so grateful! Won"t you come to my room? You see, I promised a friend in town, who is to have a Christmas dinner, and who"s been very kind to me, that I"d paint the place cards and write some quotation appropriate to each guest. I"m shamefully late over it, my own gifts took such a time; but the painting, at least, is done."
Rosamond led the way to her room, and there displayed the cards which she had painted.
"You can"t think of my helplessness! If it were a Greek verb now, or a lost and strayed angle--but poetry!"
Betty trotted back and forth between the room and the library, delved into books, and even evolved a verse which she audaciously tagged "old play," in imitation of Sir Walter Scott.
"I think they are really and truly very bright, and I know Mrs. Fernell will be delighted." Rosamond wrapped up the cards carefully. "I can"t begin to tell you how you"ve helped me. It was sweet in you to give me your whole afternoon."
The dinner-bell rang at that moment, and the two went down together.
"Come for a little run; I haven"t been out all day," whispered Rosamond, slipping her hand into Betty"s as they left the table.
A great round moon swung cold and bright over the pines by the lodge.
"Down the road a bit--just a little way--to the church," suggested Betty.
They stepped out into the silent country road.
"Why, the little mission is as gay as--as Christmas! I wonder why?"
Betty glanced at the bright windows of the small plain church. "Oh, some Christmas-eve doings," she answered.
Some one stepped quickly out from the church door.
"Oh, Miss Vernon, I am relieved! I had begun to fear you could not come."
The girls saw it was the tall old rector, his white hair shining silver bright in the moonbeams.
"We"re just two girls from the school, sir," said Rosamond.
"Dear, dear!" His voice was both impatient and distressed. "I hoped you were my organist. We are all ready for our Christmas-eve service, but we can do nothing without the music."
"I can play the organ a little," said Betty. "I"d be glad to help."
"You can? My dear child, how fortunate! But--do you know the service?"
"Yes, sir, it"s my church."
No vested choir stood ready to march triumphantly chanting into the choir stalls. Only a few boys and girls waited in the dim old choir loft, where Rosamond seated herself quietly.
Betty"s fingers trembled so at first that the music sounded dull and far away; but her courage crept back to her in the silence of the church, and the organ seemed to help her with a brave power of its own. In the dark church only the altar and a great gold star above it shone bright.