"And you won't invite anybody else to help make it jolly for me? The last time I ventured over you had a roomful."
"I 'll invite nobody. Come, Peter Bell--do you know I 'm being much nicer to you than I ordinarily am to anybody? I let mother and Olive do the inviting, and I just look demure, as if I did n't care."
"You do care, then, this time?"
"It's time you were off, is n't it?" and she retreated, laughing, to the open door.
Peter looked back at her, an alluring figure, with the lamplight falling over the dull red silk of her frock, and wished he need not go at all. But Grandfather Bell's tall form appeared just behind Shirley's. This was an unheard-of hour for Grandfather Bell. So, with a friendly good night and a warm feeling at his heart, Peter bestrode his wheel and was off down the moonlit road toward home.
CHAPTER VII
CHRISTMAS GREENS
"Jane, I've the most charming plan in my head for Christmas week you ever heard of."
"Have you, Shirley dear? And are you going to tell it to me?"
"I am, indeed. Listen. Let's take cook and Norah, and go--all of us, your houseful and ours--and spend part of holiday week at Grasslands."