"Well, I should smile," replied Bill, surveying the bountiful supplies before him.
"An' you'll tell that little gal first thing, won't you?" said Gerty.
"Won't I!" returned Bill, too happy for more speech.
The doctor paced the floor a long time that night. He thought of many things; of the dreary dwellings he had that day seen; of the sorrowing poor; of the little it had taken to make a few hearts glad, and most of all he thought of little Elinor Temple and her mother. He remembered a Christmas Eve which had promised him a great joy, but which had brought him a great sorrow—the sorrow which he had kept locked in his heart for fifteen long years. Not once had he faltered in his faith in the girl who had turned from the young physician, just starting on his career, and had married rollicking Captain Temple. Dr. Brewster smiled sadly as he remembered how Mrs. Temple had said but the day before: "We sometimes make errors of judgment, but if we err from a mistaken motive of unselfishness, we suffer just the same." And that had told the whole story. It was the only justification she had ever attempted, the only reference to what he knew she must have endured; but he had inadvertently heard many things during these past weeks. He had re-read, with fresh delight, an old chapter in his life. He had opened his heart to the love of an innocent child, and the door being open, what else fair and beautiful might not find admittance.
There was a rare exultation in the doctor's smile, as the bells rang in the midnight hour, and declared the promise of peace and good will.
On Christmas morning around Kittyboy's neck was fastened, by the doctor's own hand, a bright red ribbon. Then he was placed in a basket and deposited upon the cushions of the doctor's carriage.
With the basket in his hand, Dr. Brewster entered Mrs. Temple's cozy sitting-room, where a hearty welcome awaited him.
"Elinor has such a host of pretty things," said the child's mother, "and yet she seems a little disappointed. She tells me there are two gifts she specially wanted, which Santa Claus did not bring her, but she will not tell me what they are."
"I think I know," returned the doctor, smiling. "Come here, Dot, Santa Claus asked me to bring your gifts to you, because he could not trust any one else, and he knew I'd take better care of them than some others."