"Why?" asked Hugh.
"I must tell you another day; to-night I feel as if I could only thank God for all our mercies."
She sat down by the fire and looked into it abstractedly, while Minnie stood near her very soberly too.
"Were they so pleased?" asked Alice.
Agnes looked round on the warm room, with its comfortable curtains, clean wall-paper, tidy carpet, all lighted up with the glow of the log of wood which Alice had put on the fire to welcome her.
"If you could have seen!" she said, "how thankful you would all feel for our blessings."
At six o'clock the next morning the Christmas bells of joy rang out on the still morning air. They woke Alice, and she started up in bed and called to Minnie, who, after sundry groans and sighs, came to herself, and asked, "What is the matter?"
"Nothing's the matter, only don't you want to hear the Christmas bells?"
"Not very much," answered Minnie sleepily.
"You are a goose!" said broad-awake Alice. "But all the same, I wish you a happy Christmas."