Little Miss Moth

by Amy Le Feuvre

"What is inside your little box, Aunt Alice?" asked Hope presently.

Aunt Alice looked at the Pirate and laughed.

"I will show you after dinner," she said, "not now."

They had a light tea round the fire, and, later on, the children all went upstairs and put on their best party dresses in honour for the occasion.

Dinner, of course, was a great success.

Sir George had sent Granny a huge turkey, there were mince-pies and plum pudding, and apples and nuts and oranges, and a big box of crackers, which was a present from Lady Melville.

And they were all very merry, for the Pirate told them funny stories; some were true, some did not sound as if they were, but they made everybody laugh. And as the Pirate said, this Christmas must be the very jolliest of all, for Peace was amongst them once more.

And then when dinner was over, they all gathered in a circle round the blazing fire, and the little girls besought the Pirate once more for a story. At first he refused, and then he suddenly sat up, and said he would tell them one.

"It was Christmas Eve," he began, "and very dark and cold. A carriage was lumbering up a long drive towards a big gloomy house. Inside was a young man. We will call him Rufus. He did not look happy. He was tired with a very long journey. A few days before he had been busy and happy, for he was doing some hard work, and was told he was doing it very satisfactorily; but suddenly he was told the work was finished, and that he was needed no more. He was glad to come back to his home, and yet he was sorry, for there was nobody to greet him. The only one who had really belonged to him had passed away.

"And when the carriage stopped at the door, Rufus gave a big sigh and walked into the dim, gloomy hall, nodded to the servants, and then went into the library, where he always used to sit and smoke. There was a big fire to welcome him, and a small white terrier. He sat down by it and took the terrier into his arms, and then he kept very still until he began to see pictures in the fire. He saw himself coming into the big house, but flying to meet him was a lady with a beautiful face, and two or three dancing sprites behind her. In the background was another face of an older lady, almost heavenly in its welcoming radiance, and he felt his heart get warm, as warm as his body was getting from the blazing fire. He sprang to his feet and walked up and down the room.