who had sung the carols in the morning stepped forward and began, "It
came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old"--

And Phronsie drew a long breath, and folded her hands, not stirring till
the very last word died on the air.

And then Jasper and the others slowly drew aside the white curtain; and
oh! the dazzling, beautiful apparition that greeted every one's eyes! No
one could stop the children's noisy delight, and the best of it was,
that no one wanted to. So for the next few moments it was exactly like
the merry time over the Tree in the "Provision Room" of the Little Brown
House years ago, just as Polly had said; only there was ever so much
more of it, because there were ever so many more children to make it!

And Polly and Ben were like children again themselves; and David and
Joel were everywhere helping on the fun; in which excitement the other
Harvard man and even Livingston Bayley were not ashamed to take a most
active part, as Jasper, who had borrowed Santa Claus' attire for this
occasion, now made his appearance with a most astonishing bow. And then
the presents began to fly from the Tree, and Jack Loughead seemed to be
all arms, for he was so tall he could reach down the hanging gifts from
the higher branches, so that he was in great demand; and Pickering
Dodge, one eye on all of Polly's movements, worked furiously, and Alexia
Rhys and Cathie Harrison didn't give themselves hardly time to breathe;
and there was quite enough for Mr. Alstyne and the Cabots and Hamilton
Dyce to do, and everybody else, for that matter, to pass around the
presents. And in the midst of it all, a big doll, resplendent in a red
satin gown, and an astonishing hat, was untied from the tree.

"O, I want to give it to her myself!" cried Phronsie.