'Do you think Granny will make us a Christmas-tree, nurse?' asked Nettie.
'She should,' said Linda, 'because of missing last year, you know.'
'Me kismas-tee, too,' said Baby.
'Silly little girl, everybody can't have a Christmas-tree for themselves,' said Linda; at which snub Baby began her preparations for a scream, which was only averted by Alex good-naturedly picking up his little sister and instructing her to give three cheers for Granny.
'Now join too, Denis,' said Linda. 'Why don't you cheer too?'
Denis raised his grave little face.
'I want to finish this story,' he said, dropping his eyes again on the book in his hands.
'What a fancy he's taken for reading, all of a sudden,' said Linda in a lower voice to nurse. 'I don't believe he understands it. He reads awfully slowly when he's at his lessons.'
'Well, Miss Linda, he's only five,' said nurse. 'It's nice for him to find something to keep him quiet sometimes. But he is rather strange this afternoon. I don't know what he's got in his head, sitting there by himself, though to be sure he's always a good bit quieter than his brothers.'