For a few moments nothing was said. Then Captain Eli
suddenly exclaimed, "I'll tell you what we might do, cap'n! We
might ask Mrs. Trimmer to lend a hand in givin' the little gal a
Christmas. She ain't got nobody in her house but herself, and I
guess she'd be glad enough to help give that little gal a regular
Christmas. She could go and get the child, and bring her to your
house or to my house, or wherever we're goin' to keep Christmas,
and--"

"Well," said Captain Cephas, with an air of scrutinizing
inquiry, "what?"

"Well," replied the other, a little hesitatingly, "so far as
I'm concerned,--that is, I don't mind one way or the other,--she
might take her Christmas dinner along with us and the little gal,
and then she could fix her stockin' to be hung up, and help with
the Christmas tree, and--"

"Well," demanded Captain Cephas, "what?"

"Well," said Captain Eli, "she could--that is, it doesn't
make any difference to me one way or the other--she might stay
all night at whatever house we kept Christmas in, and then you
and me might spend the night in the other house, and then she
could be ready there to help the child in the mornin', when she
came to look at her stockin'."

Captain Cephas fixed upon his friend an earnest glare.
"That's pretty considerable of an idea to come upon you so