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Updated: June 23, 2025
"And the beginning of our new one," he added, as the door swung open and Dr. McAlister came into the room. Christmas day dawned, clear and crisp and bracing, and The Savins was gay with Christmas wreaths, with holly and mistletoe boughs. The rooms were in their annual state of disorder, for Christmas gifts and Christmas jokes were piled on all the tables and chairs.
Christmas was always a high day at The Savins. Ever since Theodora was a little child, the family tradition had been unbroken, the family rite unchanged. Around the Christmas basket and before the Christmas fire, the young McAlisters had gathered for their childish revels.
At night, they murmured, not always among themselves, when he waked up and in stentorian tones demanded a drink. No child of three is altogether a desirable companion on a long journey, least of all McAlister Holden. Small wonder that it was a pale and haggard Hope who drove up to The Savins, one night in late June, while Mac was as vivacious as at the start!
Together with the McAlisters, they chose their Christmas gifts for her carefully, wisely, even merrily, for fun had a large share in Christmas at The Savins; but only Theodora knew that Billy had bought a small annuity for Cicely, and that the papers were to be given to her, not in the basket on Christmas eve, but when she was quite alone, on Christmas morning.
"Allyn," Cicely said breathlessly, as she dashed into the library at The Savins, half an hour later; "you are invited to a dinner party at our house, this day week." "Thanks. I'll come, and please have lots of sticky jelly things." "But you aren't invited to eat. I want you in the kitchen to help me." "Not much! I'm going somewhere else, that night." "You can't beg off.
The Savins lay at the western edge of the town. Beyond it, the road to Bannock Bars led away straight toward the sunset, over hill and hollow, through stretches of sand and along narrow footpaths. It was a road to terrify an amateur; but Phebe's riding was strong and steady, and she was glad to be in the saddle once more, forgetful of her work and only conscious of the sweet spring life about her.
A desolation of barren mountains closes round it, betwixt whose ribs of rugged granite, bristling with savins, birches, and firs, the Saguenay rolls its gloomy waters from the northern wilderness.
Theodora and Billy never stopped to analyze how large a hold upon their hearts this healthy, happy girl had taken. If she dined at The Savins, they devoured their own meal in silence. If she spent an evening away from home Billy read his paper with one eye on the clock, and Theodora reduced Melchisedek to whimpering frenzy by asking once in ten minutes where his missy was.
It's dreadful, Allyn, not having any real home." "If that's the way you feel over there, you'd better come here to The Savins and stay," he suggested. The dimples came back into Cicely's cheeks. "We should fight, Allyn." "Who cares? It's only skin deep," he returned, with a sudden gravity which surprised her. She looked at him steadily for a moment. Then she held out her hand to him.
"Where is Allyn?" she demanded, as she came up the steps of The Savins with Melchisedek at her heels. "I don't know. Get away! Shoo! Cicely, do call your horrid dog away." And Phebe brandished a scalpel threateningly. "Here, Melchisedek, come here!" But Melchisedek, his paws planted on the hem of Phebe's skirt, was barking madly and making little lunges at something in her lap. "Get out! Ugh!
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