"Till the day before Christmas."
"I hope he will call here. I'd like to see him," she said, as she gave Melchisedek a final polish and set him down on the floor. "Oh, Allyn, I am so glad I am to have one jolly Christmas here. Papa and I have been by ourselves lately, and it will be great fun to have a whole large family to play with."
That very day, she had started her Christmas gift on its way to her father and, that same evening, she sat alone over the library fire, so absorbed in planning her gifts for the McAlisters that she paid no heed when Theodora and Billy came into the next room. She felt very comfortable as she sat there, very content with what fate offered her. Early in the new year, her father was to sail for home, and she was to join him in New York again. Meanwhile, she was to spend the holidays here, and, as she glanced about the cozy, luxurious room, lighted only with the flickering fire, she realized how dear to her this adopted home had become. Next to their own beautiful house in New York, this was the dearest spot in the world to her, and there would be some regret mingled with her happiness in her return to the city once more. In the meantime, she did wish she knew what Allyn wanted for Christmas, good old Allyn whose squabbles with her were largely in the past.
Suddenly she roused herself.
"Do you think it is necessary to tell her?" Theodora was asking.
"She will see it," Billy answered.
"No; she never half reads the papers. Burn this one, and she will never miss it."
"But she will have to know."
"Yes; but wait and let her father tell her."
"Poor Harry! It will be a blow to him. I wonder if he knew it was coming."