‘Aye,’ answered Ailie, patting Aunt Elspeth’s back in her delight, ‘and when you put it on you will be prettier than Patty’s mither, for your cheeks are rosier than hers.
‘I did want four little brothers and four little sisters,’ went on Ailie, after a bit, ‘but Tammus will do just as well as all of them, I think.’
‘He will be much easier to take care of,’ agreed Aunt Elspeth. ‘And then you know Uncle Rob is going to buy a farm, and you and Granny are coming to live with us there. We will have hens and chickens and ducks, and a pig, and a cow, and horses, too. You will have plenty of friends to play with there. You will never miss the four little brothers and four little sisters, I ween.’
‘Aye, Aunt Elspeth,’ said Ailie happily, ‘’twill be rare fine for Granny and Tammus and me.’
Uncle Rob proved to be so kind and friendly that Ailie, sitting upon his lap, went so far as to confide to him ‘her secret,’ her secret wish for a mother and a father and brothers and sisters, too, and how she now thought that he and Aunt Elspeth and Tammus would take their places and answer just as well.
And when, later in the day, Uncle Rob did actually put his hand in his pocket and pull out a penny for Ailie, ‘just as if it were nothing at all,’ you couldn’t have found a happier little girl in New York City than Ailie McNabb.
‘It is a grand Christmas Day, Polly,’ said Ailie as she and Polly Perkins settled down in a corner for a quiet little talk. ‘Santa Claus brought me everything. A stocking full of goodies, oranges and nuts and candies, too. And he brought me Aunt Elspeth and Tammus and Uncle Rob.
‘But I will always love you most, Polly, never fear, because I knew you first of all. Aye, I will always love you rare fine, Polly Perkins,’ said little Ailie McNabb.
CHAPTER XI
THE VERY BEST CHRISTMAS OF ALL
Christmas morning, early and dark and gray!