"Go," he urged, loosing his clasp.
"Oh, Mis' Randolph! is that you?" came in Miss Crilly's clear voice. "We all wish you a merry, merry Christmas, and we thank you more than we can ever tell if we live to be a hundred years old! They piled into my room to wait till Christmas morning, for they would have me do the talking, though I can't do it half so well as some of the rest of 'em! Oh, you don't know how surprised we were! We stood talking in my door. Mis' Albright and Miss Mullaly and Miss Major and I, and I said, 'Come in and sit down!' So I struck a light, and happened to glance this way! Well, I gave one scream, and looked round to make sure where I was; and Miss Mullaly she squealed out, 'How came that here?' Then I spun across the room lively! And when I picked up your card with its dear little piece of mistletoe—well, you could have knocked me down easy! We heard little shouts and laughs all up and down, and Miss Major said, 'I wonder—' and ran right off to her room quick. Then the others caught on, and they went! I had to follow, of course, to see! And when we found there was a 'phone in every room—we just didn't know what to do! Why, if I wake up in the night I shall want to run over here to feel of it, just to make sure it is true! To think of your doing it for us!"
"I didn't! It is Mr. Randolph you ought to be thanking, not me!
He—"
There was a dash across the room and the receiver was caught from her hand.
"No, no! I had nothing to do with it! I only filled my wife's order—that's all!"
"Nelson Randolph!" she expostulated. "Let me have the telephone!"
But he shook his head. "Thank you, Miss Crilly, on her behalf!
I'm mighty glad you like them. What's that? Oh, well, if she did,
I should be there beside her, thanking Him for giving me so good a
wife!"
"What are you talking about? I want to know!"
With a smile he relinquished the instrument.
"I heard you say that! I told him that Miss Mullaly said you ought to get down on your knees every day of your life and thank the Lord for giving you such a good husband."