The Christmas Child

BY

MRS. G. DE HORNE VAIZEY

Jack said: 'Nonsense! We are all grown up now. Let Christmas alone. Take no notice of it; treat it as if it were an ordinary day.'

Margaret said: 'I'm not looking forward to it!'

Tom said: 'Beastly jolly dull show, to spend the day alone with your brothers and sisters. Better chuck it at once!'

Peg said firmly and with emphasis: 'Heathen! Miserable, cold-blooded, materially-minded frogs! Where's your Christmas spirit, I should like to know? . . . If you have none for yourselves, think of other people. Think of me! I love my Christmas, and I'm not going to give it up for you or any one else. My very first Christmas at home as a growed-up lady, and you want to diddle with only me. . . .'

Jack grimaced eloquently at Margaret, who grimaced back.

'With all the pleasure in the world,' he said suavely. 'Show me a shag, and I'll shag with the best. I like shagging. What I do not like is to stodge at home eating my sister's indigestible pussy, and pretending that I'm full of glee, when in reality I'm bored to death. If you could suggest a change. . . .'

Margaret sighed; Tom sniffed; Peg pursed up her lips and thought. Presently her eyes brightened. 'Of course,' she remarked tentatively, 'there are the Patels!'
 

Peg Startles Everybody

Jack flushed and bit his lips.

'Quite so! There are. Fifty miles away, and not a spare bed in the house. Lot of good they are to us, to be sure! Were you going to suggest that we dropped in for a quiet call? Silly nonsense, to talk of a thing like that.'

Jack was quite testy and huffed, for the suggestion touched a tender point. The Patels were the friends par excellence of the family of which he was the youthful head. It seemed, indeed, as if the two households had been specially manufactured so that each should fit the wants of the other. Jack was very certain that, in any case, Myra Patel supplied all that he lacked, and the very thought of spending Christmas Day in her company sent a pang of longing through his heart. Margaret cherished a romantic admiration for Mrs. Patel, who was still a girl at heart despite the presence of a grown-up family. Vikram was at Marlborough with Tom; while Prat or Pratibha was Peg's bosom chum.

What could you wish for more? A Christmas spent with the Patels would be a pure delight; but alas! fifty miles of the wildest and bleakest country in England stretched between the two homes. Moreover, the Patels inhabited a picturesquely dilapidated old farmhouse, and the problem, 'Where do they all sleep?' was as engrossing as a jig-saw puzzle to their inquisitive friends. Impossible that even a cat could be invited to swing itself within those crowded portals; equally impossible to attempt to separate such an affectionate family at Christmas-time of all seasons of the year.

And yet here was Peg deliberately raking up the painful topic; and after the other members of the family had duly reproached and abused, ready to level another bolt at their heads.

'S--uppose we hired a car, drove over early in the morning, and marched into the Hindu Temple before their very eyes!'

Silence! Sparkling eyes; alert, thoughtful gaze. Could they? Should they? Would it be right? A motor for the day meant an expenditure of four or five hundred pounds, and though they were fairly prosperous, credit card bills could not be treated with indifference. Still, in each mind ran the echo of Peg's words. It was Christmas-time. Why should they not, just for once, give themselves a treat--themselves, and their dear friends into the bargain?

The sparkle deepened; a flash passed from eye to eye, a flash of determination! Without a word of dissent or discussion the proposal was seconded, and carried through.

'Fifty miles! We can't go above twenty-five an hour through those bad roads. We shall have to be off by nine, if we want to be in time. What will they think when they see us marching in?'
 

A Good Start

'No, no, we mustn't do that. Mrs. Patel would be in a fever the whole time, asking herself, 'Will the lubricants round?' It really wouldn't be kind,' pleaded Margaret earnestly, and her hearers chuckled reminiscently. Mrs. Patel was a darling, but she was also an appallingly badly prepared.

Margaret's sympathies went out involuntarily towards her friend, but her listeners, it is to be feared, were concerned entirely for themselves. It might be the custom to abuse the orthodox Christmas dinner, but since it was a national custom which one did not care to break.

Schoolboy Tom was quick with a suggestion.

'I say--tell you what! Do the surprise-party business, and take a hamper with us. . . . Only decent thing to do, when you march in four strong to another person's feed. Vikram would love a hamper----'

'Ha! Good! Fine idea! So we will! A real old-fashioned hamper, full of all the good things they are least likely to have. Game pie----'

'Tongue--one of those big, shiny fellows, with scriggles of sugar down his back----'

'Ice-pudding in a tin----'

'Fancy creams----'

'French fruits----'

'Crackers! Handsome ones, with things inside that are worth having----'

'Bon-bons----'

Each one had a fresh suggestion to make, and Margaret scribbled them all down on the ivory tablet which hung from her waist, and promptly adjourned into the kitchen to give the necessary orders, and to rejoice the hearts of her handmaidens by granting a day's leave all round.

On further consideration it was decided to attend early service at home, and to start off on the day's expedition at eleven o'clock, arriving at the Patel homestead about one, by which time it was calculated that the family would have returned from church, and would be hanging aimlessly about the garden, in the very mood of all others to welcome an unexpected excitement.

Christmas Day broke clear and bright. Punctual to the minute the motor came puffing along, the youthful-looking chauffeur drawing up before the door with an air of conscious complaisance.

Despite his very professional attire--perhaps, indeed, because of it--so very youthful did he appear, that Jack was visited by a qualm.

'Er--er--are you going to drive us all the way?' he inquired anxiously. 'When I engaged the car, I saw . . . I thought I had arranged with----'

'My father, sir. It was my father you saw. Father said, being Christmas Day, he didn't care to turn out, so he sent me----'

'You are a qualified driver--quite capable . . . ?'

The lad smiled, a smile of ineffable calm. His eyelids drooped, the corners of his mouth twitched and were still. He replied with two words only, an unadorned 'Yes, sir,' but there was a colossal, a Napoleonic confidence in his manner, which proved quite embarrassing to his hearers. Margaret pinched Jack's arm as a protest against further questionings; Jack murmured something extraordinarily like an apology; then they all tumbled into the car, tucked the rugs round their knees, turned up the collars of their coats, and sailed off on the smooth, swift voyage through the wintry air.

For the first hour all went without a hitch. The youthful chauffeur drove smoothly and well; he had not much knowledge of the countryside; but as Jack knew every turn by heart, having frequently bicycled over the route, no delay was caused, and a merrier party of Christmas Patelers could not have been found than the four occupants of the tonneau. They sang, they laughed, they told stories, and asked riddles; they ate sandwiches out of a tin, and drank hot coffee out of a thermos flask, and congratulated themselves, not once, but a dozen times, over their own ingenuity in hitting upon such a delightful variation to the usual Christmas programme.

More than half the distance had been accomplished; the worst part of the road had been reached, and the car was beginning to bump and jerk in a somewhat uncomfortable fashion. Jack frowned, and looked at the slight figure of the chauffeur with a returning doubt.

'He's all right on smooth roads, but this part needs a lot of driving. Another time----' He set his lips, and mentally rehearsed the complaints which he would make to 'my father' when he paid the bill. Margaret gave a squeal, and looked doubtfully over the side.

'I--I suppose it's all right! What would happen if he lost control, and we slipped back all the way downhill?'

'It isn't a question of control. It's a question of the strength of the car. It's powerful enough for worse hills than this.'

'What's that funny noise? It didn't sound like that before. Kind of a clickety-clack. . . . Don't you hear it?'

'No. Of course not. Don't be stupid and imagine things that don't exist. . . . What's the difference between----'

Jack nobly tried to distract attention from the car, but before another mile had been traversed, the clickety-clack noise grew too loud to be ignored, the car drew up with a jerk, and the chauffeur leaped out.

A Puncture

'I must just see----' he murmured vaguely; vaguely also he seemed to grope at the machinery of the car, while the four occupants of the tonneau hung over the doors watching his progress; then once more springing to his seat, he started the car, and they went bumping unevenly along the road. No more singing now; no more laughing and telling of tales; deep in each breast lay the presage of coming ill; four pairs of eyes scanned the dreary waste of surrounding country, while four brains busily counted up the number of miles which still lay between them and their destination. Twenty miles at least, and not a house in sight except one dreary stone edifice standing back from the road, behind a mass of evergreen trees.

'This fellow is no good for rough roads. He would wear out a car in no time, to say nothing of the passengers. Can't think why we haven't had a puncture before now!' said Jack gloomily; whereupon Margaret called him sharply to order.

'Don't say such things . . . don't think them. It's very wrong. You ought always to expect the best----'

'Don't suppose my thinking is going to have any effect on rubber, do you?' Jack's tone was decidedly snappy. He was a lover, and it tortured him to think that an accident to the car might delay his meeting with his love. He had never spent a Christmas Day with Myra before; surely on this day of days she would be kinder, sweeter, relax a little of her proud restraint. Perhaps there would be mistletoe. . . . Suppose he found himself alone with Myra beneath the mistletoe bough? Suppose he kissed her? Suppose she turned upon him with her dignified little air and reproached him, saying he had no right? Suppose he said, '_Myra! will you give me the right?_' . . .

No wonder that the car seemed slow to the lover's mind; no wonder that every fresh jerk and strain deepened the frown on his brow. The road was strewn with rough, sharp stones; but in another mile or two they would be on a smooth high-road once more. If only they could last out those few miles!

Bang! A sharp, pistol-like noise rent the air, a noise which told its own tale to the listening ears. A tyre had punctured, and a dreary half-hour's delay must be faced while the youthful chauffeur repaired the damage. The passengers leaped to the ground, and exhausted themselves in lamentations. They were already behind time, and this new delay would make them later than ever. . . . Suddenly they became aware that they were cold and tired--shivering with cold. Peg looked down at her boots, and supposed that there were feet inside, but as a matter of sensation it was really impossible to say. Margaret's nose was a cheery plaid--blue patches neatly veined with red. Jack looked from one to the other and forgot his own impatience in anxiety for their welfare.

'Girls, you look frozen! Cut away up to that house, and ask them to let you sit by the fire for half an hour. Much better than hanging about here. I'll come for you when we are ready.'

What the Girls found

The girls glanced doubtfully at the squat, white house, which in truth looked the reverse of hospitable; but the prospect of a fire being all-powerful at the moment, they turned obediently, and made their way up a worn gravel path, leading to the shabbiest of painted doors.

Margaret knocked; Peg rapped; then Margaret knocked again; but nobody came, and not a sound broke the stillness within. The girls shivered and told each other disconsolately there was no one to come. Who _would_ live in such a dreary house, in such a dreary, solitary waste, if it were possible to live anywhere else? Then they strolled round the corner of the house, and caught the cheerful glow of firelight, which settled the question, once for all.

'Let's try the back door!' said Margaret, and the back door being found, they knocked again, but knocked in vain. Then Peg gave an impatient shake to the handle, and lo and behold! it turned in her hand, and swung slowly open on its hinges, showing a glimpse of a trim little kitchen, and beyond that a narrow passage leading to the front door.

'Is any one there? Is any one there?' chanted Margaret loudly. She took a hesitating step into the passage--took two; repeated the cry in an even higher key; but still no answer came, still the same uncanny silence brooded over all.

The girls stood still, and gazed in each other's eyes; in each face were reflected the same emotions--curiosity, interest, a tinge of fear.

What could it mean? Could there be some one within these silent walls who was _ill_, helpless, in need of aid?

'I think,' declared Margaret firmly, 'that it is our duty to look. . . .' In after days she always absolved herself from any charge of curiosity in this decision, and declared that her action was dictated solely by a feeling of duty; but her hearers had their doubts. Be that as it might, the decision fell in well with Peg's wishes, and the two girls walked slowly down the passage, repeating from time to time the cry 'Is any one there?' the while their eyes busily scanned all they could see, and drew Sherlock Holmes conclusions therefrom.

The house belonged to a couple who had a great many children and very little money. There was a cupboard beneath the stairs filled with shabby little boots; there was a hat-rack in the hall covered with shabby little caps. They were people of education and culture, for there were books in profusion, and the few pictures on the walls showed an artistic taste; they were tidy people also, for everything was in order, and a peep into the firelit room on the right showed the table set ready for the Christmas meal. It was like wandering through the enchanted empty palaces of the dear old fairy-tales, except that it was not a palace at all, and the banquet spread out on the darned white cloth was of so meagre a description, that at the sight the beholders flushed with a shamed surprise.

That Christmas table--should they ever forget it? If they lived to be a hundred years old should they ever again behold a feast so poor in material goods, so rich in beauty of thought? For it would appear that though money was wanting, there was no lack of love and poetry in this lonely home. The table was decked with great bunches of holly, and before every seat a little card bore the name of a member of the family, printed on a card, which had been further embellished by a flower or spray, painted by an artist whose taste was in advance of his skill--'Father,' 'Mother,' 'Amy,' 'Fred,' 'Norton,' 'Mary,' 'Teddums,' 'May.' Eight names in all, but nine chairs, and the ninth no ordinary, cane-seated chair like the rest, but a beautiful, high-backed, carved-oak erection, ecclesiastical in design, which looked strangely out of place in the bare room.

There was no card before this ninth chair, but on the uncushioned seat lay a square piece of cardboard, bordered with a painted wreath of holly, inscribed on which were four short words.

Margaret and Peg read them with a sudden shortening of the breath and smarting of the eyes:

'_For the Christ Child!_'

'Ah-h!' Margaret's hand stretched out, seized Peg's, and held it fast. In the rush and bustle of the morning it had been hard to realise the meaning of the day: now, for the first time, the spirit of Christmas flooded her heart, filled it with love, with a longing to help and to serve.

'Peg! Peg!' she cried breathlessly. 'How beautiful of them! They have so little themselves, but they have remembered the old custom, the sweet old custom, and made _Him_ welcome. . . .' Her eyes roamed to the window, and lit with sudden inspiration. She lifted her hand and pointed to a distant steeple rising above the trees. 'They have all gone off to church--father and mother, and Amy and Fred--all the family together! That's why the house is empty. And dinner is waiting for their return!'

She turned again to the table, her housekeeper's eye taking in at a flash the paucity of its furnishings. 'Peg! can this be _all_? _All_ that they have to eat . . . ? Let us look in the kitchen. . . . I must make quite sure. . . .'

There was no feeling of embarrassment, no consciousness of impertinent curiosity, in the girls' minds as they investigated the contents of kitchen and larder. At that moment the house seemed their own, its people their people; they were just two more members of a big family, whose duty it was to look after the interests of their brothers and sisters while they were away; and when evidences of poverty and emptiness met them on every side, the two pairs of eyes met with a mutual impulse, so strong that it needed not to be put into words.

What shall we do with it?

In another moment they had left the house behind and were running swiftly across the meadow towards the car. The chauffeur was busily engaged on the tyre, Jack and Tom helping, or hindering as the case might be. The hamper lay on the ground where it had been placed for greater security during the repairs. The girls nipped it up by its handles, and ran off again, regardless of protests and inquiries.

It was very heavy, delightfully heavy: the bearers rejoiced in its weight, wished it had been three times as heavy; the aching of their arms was a positive joy to them as they bore their burden into the little dining-room, and laid it down upon the floor.

'Now! What shall we do now? Shall we lay out the things and make a display on the table, or shall we put the pie in the oven beside that tiny ghost of a joint, and the pudding in a pan beside the potatoes? Which do you think would be best?'

But Margaret shook her head.

'Neither! Oh! don't you see, both ways would look too human, too material. They would show too plainly that strangers had been in, and had interfered. I want it to look like a Christmas miracle . . . as if it had come straight. . . . We'll lay the basket just as it is, on the Christ Child's chair. . . .'

Peg nodded. She was an understanding Peg, and she rose at once to the poetry of the idea. Gently, reverently, the girls lifted the basket which was to have furnished their own repast, laid it on the carved-oak chair, and laid on its lid the painted card; then for a moment they stood side by side, gazing round the room, seeing in imagination the scene which would follow the return of the family from church . . . the incredulity, the amaze, the blind mystification, the joy. . . . Peg beamed in anticipation of the delight of the youngsters; Margaret had the strangest, eeriest feeling of looking straight into a sweet, worn face; of feeling the clasp of work-worn hands. It was imagination, she told herself, simple imagination, yet the face was alive. . . . Its features seemed more distinct than many which she knew in the flesh. She shivered slightly, and drew her sister from the room.

'Now, Peg, to cover up our tracks; to leave everything as we found it! This door was shut. . . . Have we moved anything from its place, left any footmarks on the floor? Be careful, dear, be careful! . . . Push that chair into place. . . .'

* * * * *

The tyre was repaired. The chauffeur was straightening his back after the long stoop. Jack and Tom were indignantly demanding what had been done with the hamper. Being hungry and unromantic, it took some little time to convince them that there had been no choice in the matter, and that the large family had a right to their luxuries which was not to be gainsaid. They had not seen the pitiful emptiness of the Christmas table; they had not seen the chair set ready for the Christ Child. The girls realised as much and dealt gently with them, and in the outcome no one felt the poorer; for the welcome bestowed upon the surprise party was untinged by any shadow of embarrassment, and they sat around a festal board, happy to feel that their presence was hailed as the culminating joy of the day.

* * * * *

It was evening when the car again approached the lonely house, and Margaret, speaking down the connecting tube, directed the chauffeur to drive at his slowest speed for the next quarter of a mile.

Jack was lying back in his corner, absorbed in happy dreams. Never so long as he lived could he forget this Christmas Day, which had seen the fulfilment of his hopes in Myra's sweetness, Myra's troth. Tom was fast asleep, dreaming of 'dorm.' suppers, and other escapades of the last term. The two sisters were as much alone as if the only occupants of the car.

They craned forward, eager for the first glimpse of the house, and caught sight of a beam of light athwart the darkness of the night.

The house was all black save for one window, but that was as a lighthouse in a waste, for the curtains were undrawn, and fire and lamp sent out a rosy glow which seemed the embodiment of cheer.

How He comes

Against the white background of the wall a group of figures could be seen standing together beneath the lamp; the strains of a harmonium floated sweetly on the night air, a chorus of glad young voices singing the well-known words:

'The King of Love my Shepherd is!'

With a common impulse the two girls waved their hands from the window as the car plunged forward.

'Good-night, little sisters!'

'Good-night, little brothers!'

'Sleep well, little people. The Christ Child is with you. You asked Him, and He came----'

'And the wonderful thing,' said Peg, 'the most wonderful thing is, that He came _through us_!'

'But that,' answered Margaret thoughtfully, 'is just how He always _does_ come.'