“No, but Mother—­”

“Yes?”

“If Santa Claus has joined the Allies what will the little German children do?”

What indeed?

Jean had trimmed a little tree for the General, and the children carried it up to him carefully and sang a carol—­having first arranged on his table, under the lamp, the purple camels, to create an atmosphere.

  “’We three kings of Orient are,
  Bearing gifts we traverse far
  Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
  Following yonder star—­’”

“Yonner ’tar,” piped Margaret-Mary.

“Yon-der-er ste-yar,” trailed Teddy’s falsetto.

  “’Oh, star of wonder, star of might,
  Star with royal beauty bright,
  Westward leading, still proceeding,
  Guide us to the perfect light—­’”

Twenty-four hours ago Hilda’s book had lain where the purple camels now played their little part in the great Christmas drama.  In the soul of the stricken old man on the bed entered something of the peace of the holy season.

“Oh, ’tar of wonner—­”

“Ste-yar of wonder-er—­” chimed the little voices.

When the song was finished, Margaret-Mary made a little curtsey and Teddy made a manly bow, and then they took their purple camels and left the tree on the table with its one small candle burning.

The General laid his left hand over Jean’s—­his right was useless—­and said to Derry:  “Your mother’s jewels are my Christmas gift to her.  No matter what happens, I want her to have them.”

The evening waned, and the General still held Jean’s hand.  Every bone in her body ached.  Never before had she grown weary in the service of others.  She told herself as she sat there that she had always been a sort of sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice sort of person.  It was only fair that she should have her share of hardness.

The nurse begged her in a whisper to leave the General.  “He won’t know.”  But when Jean moved, that poor left hand tightened on hers and she shook her head.

Then Derry came and sat with his arm about her.

“My darling, you must rest.”

She laid her head against her husband’s shoulder, as he sat beside her.  After a while she slept, and the nurse unlocked the clinging old fingers, and Derry carried his little wife to bed.

And so Christmas passed, and the other days, wonderful days in spite of the shadow which hung over the big house.  For youth and love laugh at forebodings and they pushed as far back into their minds as possible, the thought of the thing which had to be faced.

But at last Derry faced it.  “It is my self-respect, Jean.”

They were sitting in her room with Muffin, wistful and devoted, on the rug at Jean’s feet.  The old dog, having been banished at first by Bronson, had viewed his master’s wife with distrust.  Gradually she had won him over, so that now, when she was not in the room, he hunted up a shoe or a glove, and sat with it until she came back.