"But how do you know, mother? Have you sent him word?"
"Oh, I know."
Thus I put aside their enquiries, and hurried them off to bed.
"Now go to sleep right quickly," said I, after they were snugly under their warm blankets and comforts; "and to-morrow morning be up bright and early."
And so I left them to their peaceful slumbers.
An hour it was, or more, ere Mr. Smith returned, with his pockets well laden. I was in the parlor, where we had placed the Christmas tree, engaged in decorating it with rosettes, sugar toys, and the like. At this work I had been some fifteen or twenty minutes, and had, I will own, become a little nervous. My domestic had gone out, and I was alone in the house. Once or twice, as I sat in the silent room, I imagined that I heard a movement in the one adjoining. And several times I was sure that my ear detected something like the smothered breathing of a man.
"All imagination," said I to myself. But again and again the same sounds stirred upon the silent air.
"Could there be a robber concealed in the next room?"
The thought made me shudder. I was afraid to move from where I sat. What a relief when I heard my husband's key in the door, followed by the sound of his well known tread in the passage! My fears vanished in a moment.
As Mr. Smith stood near me, in the act of unloading his pockets, he bent close to my ear and whispered: