52 THE FIRST GLASS OF WINE;

 

house at an early hour. They went to re
turn the basket in which their mother had
: carried away the things which had been

. given to them. ‘They were instructed to

- -ring the door-bell, and hand the basket to

~ the servants who should answer the sum-
mons, without troubling the ay by inquir-
ing for her. | |

‘¢ Two happier children you would seldom
see than those two just at that moment.
What though their limbs ached, and their —
cheeks were blue, and their teeth chattered
with the intense cold, which struck through
- their insufficient clothing without let -or line
drance. Were they not going to have a
real Christmas dinner on that eventful day?
Did not the vision of the coming feast loom
up before them, and render them almost in<

sensible to present ills !