"Ah, Jem," said Harry, shaking his head at her, and pretending to be very serious: "Ah, Jem, you little know how much unhappiness often follows the orange blossoms and satin."
"I don't know anything about that, either," was the cool rejoinder. "I only know they are prettier to look at."
"Everybody to his taste, say I, Jem," remarked Alec, solemnly; which bit of philosophy was promptly put into practice by Dolby, who evidently found it to his taste just then to spring upon Pokey while her young mistress was busy talking, and who received a sharp box on the ear for his pains. Of course such behavior necessitated the removal of poor Pokey in disgrace by Jem.
Before anybody was ready for it, the hour of separation had come. After a great deal of talking and a good many "good-byes," the Hazeleys were on the cars, being carried back to Brinton, and the unique reunion was over.
"What a queer Christmas party we have been to!" laughed Flora, when they were again at home. "But I enjoyed it."
"Yes," answered Harry. "So did I."
"And I," added his mother, "more than all. Just to think, what wonderful things God does bring about!"
"Yes," said Harry, reverently, "how well the words of Isaiah apply to us: 'I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.'"
THE END.
Transcriber's Note: