Page:Ned Wilding's Disappearance.djvu/74

64 The breaks Fenn made, in imparting the information, were caused by the sips of chocolate he took between his words.

"We'll all go," decided Bart "We'll be over our Christmas dinners by then."

Finishing their chocolate the boys and girls walked together down the street on their way home. As they separated they wished each other the joys of the season.

Christmas, which came next day, was celebrated in Darewell much as it is celebrated every where in Christian lands. There was happiness in the homes of the four chums, not only at the gifts which they received, but also over those they gave. Each one remembered Mrs. Perry and her two girls, and, it is safe to say, it was the best Christmas the widow's family had experienced since trouble came.

"If only Willie was home now," Mrs. Perry said to Jane as they looked at the gifts which had come so unexpectedly to them, "we would be very happy."

"Perhaps he will be with us next Christmas," Jane remarked, trying to comfort her mother. "Let us hope so anyhow. We are much more happy than we were the day before Thanksgiving when everything seemed so black."