It is better that I should bear your suffering." "Thank you," retorted David Nesbit dryly, helping himself to the coveted cakes and passing the plate over Hippy's head to Mrs.Gray, "I prefer to do my own suffering." "Oh, as you like," returned Hippy airily.

"I have always been fonder of Mrs.Gray than I can say." He sidled ingratiatingly toward where Mrs.
Gray sat, her cheeks pink with the excitement of having her Christmas children with her.
From the time Grace, Miriam and Anne stepped off the train into the waiting arms of their dear ones, their vacation had been a season of continued rejoicing.

Mrs.Gray, who, Tom gravely declared, would celebrate her twenty-fifth birthday next April, was tireless in her efforts to make their brief stay in Oakdale a happy one.

On Christmas night she had gathered them in and given them a dinner and a tree.

She had also given a luncheon in honor of Anne and a large party on New Year's night.