But she ate no breakfast, and she went out to the kitchen and worked with her maids to get the dinner ready, and there were covers laid for nine instead of twelve.
And the Next-Door-Neighbor kept saying, “Good riddance—good riddance,” and not once did she say, “A Merry Christmas.”
But the Boy-Next-Door held something in his heart that was warm and glowing like the candle in the forest, and so he came to his mother and said,
“May I have the pink doll?”
She spoke frowningly. “What does a boy want of a doll?”
“I’d like to give it to the little girl next door.”
“Do you think I buy dolls to give away in charity?”
“Well, they gave me a Christmas present.”
“What did they give you?”
He opened his hand and showed a little flute tied with gay red ribbon. He lifted it to his lips and blew on it, a thin piping tune——