"Really, Hazel?" she said when the tale was finished, looking at her hostess with sympathy. "Won't that be just lovely! You must send it in time for Christmas, you know; and why not pack a box to go with it? We could all help. It would be great fun, and give us something to do not entirely selfish while we are enjoying ourselves here."
"Do you mean it?" said Victoria. "Well, I will not be outdone. I will give a covering for that old couch, and Ruth shall make a most bewildering sofa pillow for it, the like of which was never seen in any house in Florida. What color shall it be, blue or red? And will denim be fine enough, or do you prefer tapestry or brocatelle? Speak out, Hazel; we're with you hand and heart, no matter how wildly you soar this time."
And so amid laughter and jokes the plan grew.
"I have a lot of singing-books, if you think there is really a chance of a Sunday-school," said Esther.
"There must be something pretty for the house, a good picture perhaps," mused Ruth Summers; and Hazel's eyes grew bright with joy as she looked from one face to another and saw that they really meant what they said.
Six pairs of hands can do much in four days; and, when the guests left for their various homes or schools, there stood on the back porch of the old stone house on the hill a well-packed box marked and labeled, an organ securely boxed, and a large roll, all bearing the magic sentence, "Christie W. Bailey, Pine Ridge, Fla."
There had been much discussion and argument on the part of Mrs. Winship and her husband. They were inclined to think Hazel had outdone herself in romance this time, though they were well used to such unprecedented escapades from her babyhood; but she had finally won them all over, had explained how the goods had been put off at that particular freight-station from up the branch road, to be put on the through freight at the Junction, had enlarged upon the desolateness of the life of that young girl who was moving to Florida alone, until every member of the party became infected with pity for her, and vied with the others to make that Christmas box the nicest ever sent to a girl.
They began to believe in "Christie," and to wonder whether her name was Christine or Christiana, or simply Christie after some family name; and gradually all thought of her being other than a young girl faded from their minds.
Mother Winship had so far forgotten her doubts as to contribute a good Smyrna rug no more in use in the stone house, after the party had gone down to the freight-house and watched the goods repacked in another freight-car for the Junction, and come back with the report that there was not a sign of a carpet in the lot. They also told how they had peeked through the crack of a box of books and distinctly seen the worn cover of an arithmetic, which proved the "school-ma'am theory," while an old blue-checked apron, visible through another crack, settled the sex of Christie irrevocably.
Hazel Winship had written a long letter in her delicate tracery on her finest paper, and sealed it with a prayer, and had gone back to her college duties a hundred miles away, and Christmas was fast coming on as the three freight pieces started on their way.
On the edge of a clearing, where the tall pines thinned against the sky, and tossed their garlands of gray moss from bough to bough, there stood a little cabin built of logs. It was set up on stilts out of the hot white sand, and, underneath, a few chickens wandered aimlessly, as unaware of the home over their heads as mortals are of the heaven above them. Some sickly orange-trees, apparently just set out, gave the excuse for the clearing, and beyond the distance stretched away into desolateness and black-jack oaks.
A touch of whitewash here and there and a bit of grass—which in that part of the world is so scarce that it is usually used for a path instead of being setting for that path—would have done wonders for the place, but there was nothing but the white neglected, "mushy" sand, discouraging alike to wheel and foot.
Inside the cabin there was a rusty cook-stove, with a sulky teakettle at the back and the remains of a meal in a greasy frying-pan still over the dead fire. An old table was drawn out with one leaf up and piled with unwashed dishes, boxes of crackers, and papers of various eatables. The couch in the corner was evidently the only bed, and the red and gray blankets still lay in the heap where they had been tossed when the occupant arose that morning. From some nails in the corner hung several articles of clothing and a hat. The corner by the door was given over to tools and a few garden implements which were considered too good to leave out-of-doors. Every chair but one was occupied by books or papers or clothing.
Outside the back door a dry-goods box by the pump with a tin basin and a cake of soap did duty as a wash-stand. On the whole, it was not an attractive home, even though sky and air were more than perfect.
The occupant of this residence was driving dully along the sand road at the will of a stubborn little Florida pony, which wriggled his whole body with a motion intended to convey to his driver the idea that he was trotting as fast as any reasonable being could expect a horse to go, while in reality the monotonous sand and scrub-oaks were moving past as slowly as was possible.
It was the day before Christmas, but the driver did not care. What was Christmas to one whose friends were all gone, and who never gave or received a Christmas gift?
The pony, like all slow things, got there at last, and came trotting up to the post-office in good style. The driver got out of the shackly wagon, and went into the post-office, which served also as general store.
"Hello, Chris!" called a sickly looking man from the group on the counter. "Bin a-wonderin' when you was comin'. Got some more freight fer you over to the station."
The newcomer turned his broad shoulders about, and faced the speaker.
"I haven't any more freight coming," he said. "It’s all come three weeks ago."
"Well, but it’s over there," insisted the other, "three pieces. Your name marked plain same like the other."
"Somebody sent you a Christmas gift, Chris," said a tall young fellow, slapping him on the shoulder; "better go and get it."
CHAPTER II
A CHRISTMAS BOX THAT DIDN'T MATCH
The young man, still insisting that the freight was not his, followed the agent reluctantly over to the station, accompanied by several of his companions, who had nothing better to do than to see the joke out.
There it was, a box, a bundle, and a packing-case, all labeled plainly and most mysteriously, "Christie W. Bailey, Pine Ridge, Fla."
The man who owned the name could scarcely believe his eyes. He knew of no one who would send him anything. An old neighbor had forwarded the few things he had saved from the sale of the old farm after his father and mother died, and the neighbor had since died himself; so this could not be something forgotten.
He felt annoyed at the arrival of the mystery, and did not know what to do with the things, but at last brought over the wagon and reluctant pony, and with the help of the other men got them loaded on, the pony meanwhile eying his load with dislike and meditating how slow he could make his gait on account of his burden.
Christie Bailey did not wait at the store that night as long as he usually did. He had intended going home by moonlight, but decided to try to make it before the sun went down. He wanted to understand about that freight at once. He found when he went back to the post-office that he could not sit with the same pleasure on a nail-keg and talk as usual. His mind was on the wagonload. He bought a few things, and started home.
The sun had brought the short winter-day suddenly to a close, as it has a habit of doing in Florida, by dropping out of sight and leaving utter darkness with no twilight.
Christie lighted an old lantern, and got the things into the cabin at once. Then he took his hatchet and screwdriver, and set to work.
First the packing-case, for he instinctively felt that herein lay the heart of the matter. But not until he had taken the entire front off the case and taken out the handsome organ