The children looked at each other. Then Dora had a bright idea.
“Uncle Dan,” she demanded, “did you lend your key to somebody while you went to church?”
“I have answered three questions and that is enough!” said Dan. And he never did answer that one.
All the family hung up their stockings. Lucy and Dora put theirs on the brass knobs either side of the open stove. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill fastened theirs to the ends of the sofa. Uncle Dan went out again, but Dora hung his sock to the back of Mother’s rocking-chair. She and Lucy took one last look at the fairy tree and went to bed.
They didn’t talk and giggle more than any little sisters do on Christmas eve and they went to sleep before Mrs. Merrill expected. In less than an hour she put out the red lamp.
It was still dark when Dora woke but a great star was looking through the open window. It was so big and so bright that it seemed like the real star of Bethlehem, shining to guide the shepherds to where the little Jesus lay.
The star was so beautiful that Dora looked at it instead of wondering about her stocking. That could wait, but the star would fade with the dawn. She watched it a long time and saw the sky gradually grow lighter and the star less distinct.
A great star was looking through the open window—[Page 220.]