"A very nice girl," said Mrs. Trevanion. "Listen!"
"And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day?
And what was in those ships——"
The singing was interrupted by a rippling peal of laughter.
"Oh, Sam, you'll be the death o' me!" said Maidy Susan. "If you could only see the face of 'ee."
"What be purticler about the face o' me?" asked Sam.
"Oh, I can't tell 'ee, only it do make me smile. What was ye thinkin' of?"
"Why, I was wishin' one o' they ships was Maister's—his ship come home, as folks do say."
"Silly boy! 'Twas thousands o' years ago:
"And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day in the mornin'?"
"Well, I never heerd that psalm afore. Troll it over to Pendry afore church; he've got a wonderful ear, and if ye sing it twice he'll play it on his fiddle bang through wi'out stoppin'. Maybe Pa'son will command us to sing it instead of 'Aaron's Beard' or 'Now Isr'el say.'"