"'I will! I will!' he cried. 'I won't put it off any longer!'"
"What was he going to do?" enquired Charity breathlessly.
"You'll hear. Soon afterwards he went into another room, where he had to eat his Christmas Eve dinner all by himself. But he did not feel lonely any more. He pictured the faces he had seen in the fire round his table. Then he went upstairs after he had dined, and wandered into a great many empty rooms, and planned how he could make them more comfortable. And he went into one particular room, and unlocked a safe in the wall, and took out of it an old-fashioned silver casket; there were precious stones and jewels inside it. He took out one particular jewel, and wrapped it up, and put it in his pocket next his heart, to keep it warm. And then he went downstairs into the hall again, and buttoned himself into his great coat, and jammed on his old felt hat, and away he went down the drive with great swinging strides. His chest was thrown out, and his head well up in the air, for he was determined to be brave. He was going out to meet someone, and he did not know whether he would return to his house that night a conqueror, or a vanquished and despairing man."
"Oh! Was he going to fight an enemy?" asked Hope.
She was hushed up at once by her sisters.
"It's getting most awfully exciting," murmured Charity.
The Pirate went on without noticing these interruptions.
"And then suddenly, when he had got out on the dry, high road, his spirits sank all at once. He remembered how full of hope he had been once before, just before he left for a foreign land; and how he had determined to come off conqueror, but how absolutely he was humbled to the dust; how the desire of his heart was not granted to him. Of course he had said he would win sooner or later, because it was only that horrid big word, 'circumstances' against him. And then he heard a little robin chirping in the hedge, and he bucked up again and went on.
"At last he came to his destination.
"A little, quiet, dark house, with just one light shining out, but that light gave him a cheerful wink, and he got in at the gate and up to the door, and suddenly before he could knock, it was flung open and the one he sought came out."