Part 16 (1/2)

”I'd do anything for _you_, though I hate to be a molly-coddle!”

whispered Diana. ”I'm most fearfully sorry if I've really made you feel ill!”

The decoration of the church was only one of the incidents of Christmas; there were other things to be done before the festival arrived. The Flemings liked to preserve old traditions, and finding that their little American guest was very keen on all the details of a genuine British Yule-tide, they did their best to satisfy her. Mrs. Fleming used the cherished half-pound of currants--which in the war-time shortage of dried fruits was all the grocer could send her--to make the frumenty and spiced cakes that from time immemorial had been eaten in that northern district to celebrate the feast of the Nativity. A Yule-log was sawn and placed upon the dining-room fire, and a huge bough of mistletoe hung up in the hall.

”We ought to have the Waits to make it just perfect!” said Diana.

”I believe some of the choir used to go round carol singing once,” said Meg, ”but it's been given up. The mothers said the girls caught cold, and they stayed out too late, so it was put a stop to. It's a pity in a way. Mrs. James was saying only the other day that she quite missed them, and so did Mrs. Holmes. They both said Christmas wasn't what it used to be.”

The pupils of Diana's eyes were growing large and round and s.h.i.+ning, as they always did when her fertile mind was evolving new ideas. She seized Meg's arm.

”Oh, I've got such a brain-wave!” she confided. ”Look here! Why shouldn't we be Waits? We've learnt all those Christmas carols at school. Let's go round and sing them. It would be ripping fun!”

The idea appealed to Meg and Elsie, and, rather to the astonishment of the girls, the boys also took it up with enthusiasm, and volunteered their a.s.sistance. They enlisted the help of the village schoolmistress, and some of the most tuneful among her pupils, and all on the spur of the moment made up their company.

”What always spoils carol singing,” said Monty sententiously, ”is that everybody's generally so beastly out of tune. They don't seem able to keep the pitch without a harmonium.”

”Pity we can't carry a harmonium with us!”

”Why shouldn't we?” suggested Neale. ”I don't mean I'm going to haul the thing on my back, so you needn't grin. I've a better notion than that.

We'll see if the Blackwoods will lend us a cart. Put the harmonium inside, hang up a lantern to see by, and there you are, with a movable concert platform ready to take round where we like.”

The others looked at Neale with admiration. It was such a very brainy idea, they wondered they had never thought of it for themselves. Time was short, as the performance was to be that evening, so they dispersed to make their arrangements. Ted Blackwood, a member of the church choir, agreed to bring his father's cart.

”I'll take t'owd mare,” he grinned. ”Shoo's steady, and won't bolt when th' harmonium starts. Aye, I've a big stable lantern as 'ull do too.”

Here indeed was an excitement for a young American visitor. Diana could hardly wait till tea was over and darkness fell. Fortunately it was a fine evening, with a hint of frost in the air, so the expedition would not be damped by rain. Mrs. Fleming insisted upon all the party being very warmly clad, and brought out an old picture of ”The Waits” to demonstrate that the use of m.u.f.flers was an integral part of the ceremony. Diana, to her delight, was lent a Red Ridinghood cloak of Meg's, clad in which she felt that she had stepped back at least three centuries, and was walking in the days of the Stuarts.

”I might be one of the pilgrims in the _Mayflower_!” she exclaimed.

”What would Dad give to see me? I wish you were coming too,” she added to Mrs. Fleming.

”I'm too busy, child, to-night,” said Mrs. Fleming, kissing the roguish little face framed in the red hood. ”Enjoy yourselves, chicks! And, Diana,”--with a warning finger held up--”_don't_, please, do anything desperately amazing!”

”I'll be an absolute model of mild mediaeval maidenhood,” promised that damsel, with twinkling eyes.

They went first to the Blackwoods' farm, then, when Ted had harnessed ”t'owd mare”, they proceeded with the cart to the schoolhouse, and, after a good deal of heaving and hauling, lifted in the harmonium and a stool for Miss Simpson, the schoolmistress, to sit upon while she played. The rest of the party having joined them, they jogged along to the first house on their list, that of Mrs. Holmes at the Old Grange Farm. They drew up the cart outside the door, placed lanterns on the harmonium, and saw Miss Simpson settled at the instrument--a matter of some difficulty, as the cart sloped, and the stool was inclined to slide away. Ted held the old mare by the bridle, in case the music might revive her youthful spirits and cause her to bolt. The others grouped themselves round the cart. Miss Simpson struck up, and through the keen night air rang out the cheerful strains of ”Christians, awake!” The Holmes family opened the door in quite a state of excitement, and listened with much appreciation while ”Good King Wenceslas”, ”The First Nowell”, and other old carols were sung. They insisted on bringing the party indoors for slices of Yule cake, and would have given them hot coffee as well, but Monty, who wished to visit other houses, declared they had not time to wait while it was made. So they tramped on to the James's farm, where they had an equally hearty reception, and were regaled with cocoa, currant bread, and cheese.

It was a unique experience, trudging along country lanes with a cart and lanterns, with h.o.a.r-frost under foot, and a few stars winking in a misty sky, then standing in the cold night air to sing their carols. Diana felt that she could never forget it, and that the shrill voice of little Jack Greenhalgh warbling

”Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!

Born is the King of Israel!”

would always be a.s.sociated with her idea of Christmas.

She had her fill of old-world customs, for she was allowed, by special favour, to go into the belfry and help for one brief minute to pull a bell. And after service on Christmas morning she stood in the church porch and watched the distribution of the ”roth s.h.i.+llings”, which, in accordance with the terms of an old charity, were handed over to ”twelve worthy widows resident within the bounds of the parish”. She helped in the afternoon at the schools, where a big tea-party and Christmas-tree were given to the children of the village, and joined n.o.bly in the games that were played afterwards, tearing round at ”Drop the Handkerchief”, or pulling at ”Oranges and Lemons”, with unflagging energy.

”Have you had a nice Christmas Day, childie, away from all your own people?” asked Mrs. Fleming, holding Diana's face between her hands as she said good-night, and looking at her critically for signs of home-sickness.