‘or, The Silver Skates 81

articles. Every one had gifts, from grandfather down to
the baby.

Little Katy clapped her hands with glee, and vowed inwardly
that the cat should never know another moment’s grief.

Hendrick capered about the room, flourishing a superb bow
and arrows over his head. Hilda laughed with delight as she
opened a crimson box, and drew forth its glittering contents.
"The rest chuckled, and said, “Oh!” and “ Ah!” over their
treasures, very much as we did here in America on last Christmas
Day.

With her glittering necklace in her hands, and a pile of
books in her arms, Hilda stole towards her parents, and held up
her beaming face for a kiss. “There was such an earnest, ten-
der look in her bright eyes that her mother breathed a blessing
as she leaned over her.

“J am delighted with this book: thank you, father!” she
said, touching the top one with her chin, “TI shall read it all
day long.”

“« Ay, sweetheart,” said mynheer, “ you cannot do better.
There is no one like Father Cats. If my daughter learns his
‘Moral Emblem’ by heart, the mother and I may keep silent.
The work you have there, the Emblems, is his best work.
You will find it enriched with rare engravings from Van de
Venne.”

[Considering that the back of the book was turned away,
mynheer certainly showed a surprising familiarity with an
unopened yolume presented by St. Nicholas. It was strange,
too, that the saint should have found certain things made by
the elder children, and have actually placed them upon the table,
labelled with parents’ and grandparents’ names. But all were
too much absorbed in happiness to notice slight inconsistencies.