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Page 38
And then those lines began running through her head that she had not
been able to get rid of, since the morning she read them in the
magazine:
"For if he come not by the road, and come not by the hill,
And come not by the far seaway--"
She wished that she was certain that she could add that last part of the
line, "_Yet come he surely will!_" Just then, to have one strong true
face bending towards hers in the firelight, with a devotion all for her,
seemed worth a lifetime of public plaudits, and having one's name handed
down to posterity on monoliths and statues.
"For if he come not by the road, and come not by the hill,
And come not by the far seaway--"
"Yes, it certainly would be lonesome," she decided. She would miss the
best that earth holds for a home-loving, hero-worshipping woman.
CHAPTER VIII
CHRISTMAS DAY AT EUGENIA'S
"Although this is only the twenty-fourth of December, my Christmas has
already begun," wrote Mary in her diary next day; "for this morning when
I looked out of the window everything was white with snow. It has been
so long since I have seen such a sight, all the roofs and chimney tops
a-glisten, that I could hardly keep away from the window long enough to
dress.
"Phil stayed quite late last night. Just as he was leaving, Mrs. Boyd
and Miss Lucy came home, and of course we had to stay up a little while
longer to meet them. By the time Joyce had turned the davenport in the
studio into a bed for me, it was past midnight, and I couldn't go to
sleep for hours. There was so much to think about.
"The next thing I knew I smelled coffee, and heard Joyce whistling just
as she used to at home when she was getting breakfast, and I didn't
waste many minutes in going out to her in that cunning kitchenette. It
is all white tiling and shining nickel-plate, as easy to keep clean as a
china dish, and just a delight to work in. I never thought so before,
but now it seems to me that it is just as nice to know how to serve a
delicious meal as easily as Joyce does as it is to put a picture on
canvas. I can see now what a good thing it was for both of us that we
had to serve such a long apprenticeship in work and housekeeping, even
if it did seem hard at the time.
"'It gives a girl a sort of Midas touch,' Phil said last night; 'makes
her able to gild even a garret and to turn any old place into a home,'
He was so charmed with everything about the flat that he said he wanted
to move into one right away, and make biscuits himself on a glass-topped
table, and do stunts with the fireless cooker like Joyce. He has had a
surfeit of caf�s and hotels and boarding-houses.
"While we were at breakfast the postman came, and there were letters and
packages for everybody. Lloyd sent a present to each of us. Mine was a
darling little lace fan all spangled, like a cobweb with dew-drops
caught in its meshes. We opened everything then and there, as we had
already had part of our presents. Jack's to me was this holiday trip,
and Mamma's was the shirt-waist that I travelled in from Washington.
"Joyce got a check that she hadn't expected before next month, and
another one that she hadn't expected at all. It was for some initial
letter sketches and tail-pieces that had been travelling around to
different magazines for months. Besides, there was an order for a
frontispiece for a child's magazine. She was so happy she could hardly
finish her breakfast, and said now she could give me the present she had
planned to give me in the beginning. She had been disappointed about
some other work she had counted on, and thought she would have to cut my
present down to some gloves and a book, but now she could play Santa
Claus in fine style, and carry out her original intention. Just as soon
as things were in order, she would take me down town and let me choose
it.
"It was so exciting, not knowing what it was going to be, and hurrying
along with the crowds of shoppers; everybody so smiling and happy and
good-natured, no matter how much they were bumped into. I felt
Christmasey down to my finger-tips, although they were nearly frozen.
Last night's snow was almost a blizzard, and left it stinging cold.
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