“Yes, that’s how I feel,” Ruth agreed.
CHAPTER VI
Afternoon Tea in Cranford
Christmas was over, and Rose and Ruth were sure there had never been one more full of fun nor more unexpectedly rich in “just-what-I-wanted” presents since time, or at least all of time they were personally interested in, began.
In the first place, they had each had a new saddle given them, having always, until now, to make shift as well as might be with two discarded ones no longer fit for heavy use. They almost took their new saddles to bed with them, so rapturous was their delight in them.
“Don’t they smell good?” Ruth declared, sniffing at hers as though it were a flower.
Rose agreed. “They are the most beautiful saddles in the world, Ruth. Oh, dear, I wish the weather would give us a chance to try them on the broncos!”
But so far it hadn’t, for Christmas had come in with a storm, and the snow was too deep for riding. So the two girls tried their new snow-shoes, second to the splendid saddles in the joy they created. They got a few tumbles in the soft snow, and lay helpless with laughter till their father pulled them up and started them fresh. But before long they were expert enough to get along without assistance, and even to race each other.
There had been other gifts; no one had expressed a wish, it seemed, all the year, which had not been remembered. And there had been a tree and a joyous dinner ending with a real English plum pudding, such as Marmie had learned to make when she was a little girl in England. Dad had been gloriously happy over the sweater Rose and Ruth had spent months in knitting for him, and Marmie simply tickled to death over a patent dish-washer they had got for her, assisted by Dad. Oh, it was a great Christmas!
After a day of strenuous exercise on the snow-shoes the girls were in their usual places before the log fire, watching the strange glowing pictures in the flames. The days were so short that though it was already dark, it was still a long way to supper, and Ruth was wondering which of her new books she would begin with, and whether Rose would get up and light the lamp if she asked her, when her sister remarked:
“It will be my turn to wish the next time the fairy comes, and do you know what I’m going to ask her to do?”