priate to the day than anything else had done, It was a real good fire too, on a big, wide open hearth, no coal, all great glowing logs of wood that crackled and scattered sparks in quite the proper orthodox way. It looked right down cheerful and homelike, and it made you think of absent friends. The only objection to it was its warmth. You liked it very much, but you edged away from it by degrees until at last you had backed into the furthest wall. If only one could have had the fire without the warmth it would have been just perfect.
In the morning everybody went to church. It was a nice little church that most of us had helped to decorate the day before. India certainly is a place where things grow, and there's no difficulty when you want to make a church look dressed. In fact, that service where we sang the Christmas hymns and heard the old familiar service was as much like home as it could be when once you forgot the glorious sunlight that streamed in through the open windows, and the row of giant palms that stood like sentinels without.
I had no idea there were as many people in Slumpunugger as turned up to that service. They were of all sorts and conditions, and of many colours. I mentioned my surprise to Berengaria as we drove home.
'There are lots of people one never sees in every Indian station,' Berengaria informed me. 'You see, if you are not a member of the Club, you may live in a place for years and never be seen.'
That seemed rather an unhappy fate, and I
