He drank his tea in a long draught, wiped his moustache with two fingers, and sat looking abstractedly at the children.
They had laid all the little packets on the floor, and Millicent was saying: "Now I'll undo the first, and you can have the second.

I'll take this--" She unwrapped the bit of newspaper and disclosed a silvery ornament for a Christmas tree: a frail thing like a silver plum, with deep rosy indentations on each side.
"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Isn't it LOVELY!" Her fingers cautiously held the long bubble of silver and glowing rose, cleaving to it with a curious, irritating possession.

The man's eyes moved away from her.

The lesser child was fumbling with one of the little packets.
"Oh!"-- a wail went up from Millicent.