Old Marg shook the hand from her arm.
"No!" she snarled. "I don't want nothin'! Let me go!"
With a patient smile Angela opened the door.
"I am sorry you will not stay," she said softly. "It would give me great pleasure. There is a gift for you on the tree, too. It is Christmas Eve, you know!"
A hoarse, choking sound came from the woman's lips. She pushed by into the vestibule. Angela followed.
"If you should feel differently to-morrow," she said, in her kind, gentle voice, "come here again, about eleven o'clock. I shall be here." Without waiting for a reply, she re-entered the hall. A young man, the same who had been speaking, met her at the door.
"Angela!" he exclaimed. "You should not be out there in the cold!" She smiled absently. "Did you see her, Robert?"
"That terrible old woman? Yes, I saw her. A hopeless case, I fear."
Angela's eyes kept their absent look.