It was only needful to look at these two friends' faces to know that there was some pleasure in store, and so it proved. Neatly laid out on benches were rows of joints of excellent beef and piles of groceries—plums for to-morrow's pudding not being forgotten. The size of joint or parcel was determined by the number of mouths to be filled in each home. And there was a little sum of money in addition, to provide such odds and ends as fuel, vegetables, and matters that could not well be purchased for the people by the kind friend who had resolved that there should be plenty in every Halesford cottage on Christmas Day.
Whilst the things were being distributed one man cried out, "We should like to know who we have to thank for all these things? We do know that God has stirred his heart, whoever he may be; but we want you to tell us his name, though I fancy some of us have not been far wrong in a guess we have made."
Mr. Phillips smiled, and answered that if the people would wait a few minutes they would perhaps see him, for he was no stranger to Halesford.
Just then Mr. Burton's face appeared in the doorway, looking the picture of happiness, and the sight was greeted with such a shout of welcome that, if Mr. Phillips and Mr. Henderson had not fairly taken possession of him, he would have been ready to run away again.
The master of Halesford Hall was as modest as he was kind—and that is saying a great deal. The mere act of good-doing, and the knowledge that others were made happier and less anxious by what he was able to do for them, abundantly rewarded Mr. Burton.
There was a large congregation in the old church on Christmas Day morning, for at Halesford there was a custom which has not died out in many country places yet. Christian folk put aside for the time all religious differences, and met under the one roof to worship, and to take up with heart and voice the angels' song, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men."
Duff was there, and so were little Mrs. Brown and her husband, the old mother who was spending Christmas with them, having undertaken to see to the cookery, assisted by the eldest girl.
Duff was feeling not a little ashamed of himself, and he even owned to Mrs. Brown that he had been mistaken in his judgment of Mr. Burton and his brother.
"You see," he said, "it is not always easy to tell the difference between real gold and plated articles; and sometimes the imitations are so fair on the outside that people are deceived by looks, and take them for solid metal. It is so with human beings too, and I am afraid we are only too ready to judge people by outsides as well as plate. I'm free to own that I gave Mr. James credit for the good that was not in him, and where the good actually was I could not see it. I do feel as if coals of fire had been heaped on my head when I think that I have had the order for all the flour and bread that has been given away."
There was not much merit in owning that he had been mistaken now that the truth was made plain to everybody. Still, even this acknowledgment was the first step in the right direction from Mr. Duff. He got an answer from Mrs. Brown which gave him food for thought, and, it is to be hoped, assisted him to form a more correct judgment in future.