The gentlemen smoked and praised.
Then she found an old music-book, and played Hamlet's overture to Otho, and the minuet.
The gentlemen left off praising directly, and came silently into the room to hear the immortal melodist. But this is the rule in music; the lips praise the delicate gelatinous, the heart beats in silence at the mighty melodious.
Tea and coffee came directly afterward, and ere they were disposed of, a servant announced “The Wassailers.”
“Well, let them come in,” said Mr. Raby.
The school-children and young people of the village trooped in, and made their obeisances, and sang the Christmas Carol—
“God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay.”
Then one of the party produced an image of the Virgin and Child, and another offered comfits in a box; a third presented the wassail-cup, into which Raby immediately poured some silver, and Coventry followed his example. Grace fumbled for her purse, and, when she had found it, began to fumble in it for her silver.
But Raby lost all patience, and said, “There, I give this for the lady, and she'll pay me NEXT CHRISTMAS.”
The wassailers departed, and the Squire went to say a kind word to his humbler guests.