"You mustn't make so much noise," the Doctor said reprovingly. "He'll never get to sleep."
"No, you mustn't," the Big Business Man agreed. "To-morrow's a very very big day for him."
"Some Christmas," commented the Very Young Man looking around. "Where's the holly and stuff?"
"Oh, we've got it all right, don't you worry," said the Banker.
"And mistletoe," said Lylda, twinkling. "For you, Jack."
Eena again stood in the doorway and said something to her mistress. "The tree is ready," said Lylda.
The Chemist rose to his feet. "Come on, everybody; let's go trim it."
They crowded gaily into the dining-room, leaving the Very Young Man and Aura sitting alone by the fire. For some time they sat silent, listening to the laughter of the others trimming the tree.
The Very Young Man looked at the girl beside him as she sat staring into the fire. She had taken off her heavy coat, and her figure seemed long and very slim in the clothes she was wearing now. She sat bending forward, with her hands clasped over her knees. The long line of her slender arm and shoulder, and the delicacy of her profile turned towards him, made the Very Young Man realize anew how fragile she was, and how beautiful.
Her mass of hair was coiled in a great black pile on her head, with a big, loose knot low at the neck. The iridescence of her skin gleamed under the flaming red of her cheeks. Her lips, too, were red, with the smooth, rich red of coral. The Very Young Man thought with a shock of surprise that he had never noticed before that they were red; in the ring there had been no such color.