THE MISTLETOE BOUGH After breakfast the next morning the judge proposed a sleigh ride, and soon the entire party were skimming over the ground in two big old-fashioned sleighs.

Though the day was fairly cold, the guests were too warmly wrapped to pay any attention to the weather, and keenly enjoyed every moment of the ride.
After lunch a mysterious council took place in the library, and directly after a visit was made to the attic, Grace having received permission to rummage there.

Later Reddy and Tom Gray were seen staggering down the stairs under the weight of a huge cedar chest, and later still the girls hurried down, their arms piled high with costumes of an earlier period.
Christmas dinner was to be a grand affair, and the judge had invited half a dozen friends of his own age to share "his borrowed children." The girls had saved their prettiest gowns for the occasion, and the boys had put on evening dress.

The judge viewed them with unmistakable pride as they stood grouped about the drawing room, awaiting the announcement of dinner.

An almost imperceptible frown gathered between his brows, however, as his eyes rested upon Marian Barber, who was wearing a fearfully and wonderfully made gown of gold-colored silk, covered with spangles, that gave her a serpentine effect, and made her look ten years older than the other girls.
On going upstairs to dress, Marian had asked Eva Allen if she objected to dressing with Miriam Nesbit, and Eva had obligingly taken her belongings into Miriam's room after obtaining the latter's permission to do so.