"Is that her name? I mean that tidy little figure in black. There, she is looking at us now, and I believe she recognises me too."
Maggie's eyes had indeed espied her unknown friend, and, darting across the room towards him, she cried: "Oh, sir!" then paused too agitated to utter another word.
"How do you do? I hope you are having a good time?" Jim said, genially.
"Oh, yes, sir, thank you! Oh, Mrs. Metherell, ma'am, this is the gentleman we told you about who gave me the doll!"
Mrs. Metherell comprehended the situation at once, and she laid a kindly hand on the child's shoulder, smiling down into the excited face, as she replied:
"This gentleman is Mr. Blewett, one of my lodgers, my dear. What a strange coincidence! Now you can tell him what has become of his present, for I am sure he will like to know how much it is appreciated!"
In a few eager words, Maggie explained that she had given the doll to her sister, because she was always ill, and often lonely; how they had named the doll "Rose"; and how they loved her dearly. Encouraged by his evident interest, she proceeded to tell him all about her home, till Jim knew how hard her mother worked, and what trying times they had sometimes, to all of which he listened with deep attention. Their conversation was interrupted by Mrs. Metherell, who thought it was time to begin distributing the presents to the children.
The little ones were ranged around the tree in a circle, and when they received their gifts it was quite touching to notice the pleasure on their faces. Of course, the tree was the most wonderful object of the evening, but it was dismantled at length, and pushed back into a corner of the room, shorn of its glory.
Games followed—"blind man's buff," puss in the corner, and a variety of others, and the medical student proved himself an adept in all. At first the children were inclined to be shy with him, but when they played "family coach," and Jim took upon himself to tell the history of that famous vehicle, and gave a humorous account of all the mishaps that attended its career, the young people forgot their reserve, and fairly shouted with laughter.
It was all over at last; the children returned to their different homes with happy hearts; whilst Mrs. Metherell and Clara began to tidy up after their little visitors, and the party was an event of the past.