His mother had wanted him home with her.
"Of course I ought to go," Peter had told me mournfully, "but we won't have turkey for dinner, because ma can't afford it.

And ma always cries on holidays because she says they make her think of father.

Of course she can't help it, but it ain't cheerful.

Aunt Jane wouldn't have cried.
Aunt Jane used to say she never saw the man who was worth spoiling her eyes for.

But I guess I'll have to spend Christmas at home." At the last moment, however, a cousin of Mrs.Craig's in Charlottetown invited her for Christmas, and Peter, being given his choice of going or staying, joyfully elected to stay.