Christmas Stories from French and Spanish writers

ling! Ding

rchioness, in a gown of flame-colored brocade, and the young lady of Trinquelague, wearing on her pretty head a great tower of lace puffed and quilled according to the latest fashion at the court of France. Farther down the aisle, all dressed in black, with vast pointed wigs and cleanly shaven chins, sit Thomas Arnoton the bailiff, and the notary, Master Ambroy, two sombre spots amid the high colors of silks and brocaded damasks. Then come the fat major-domos, the pages, outriders,

ttention? Or is it not rather Garrigou's bell?-that fiendish little bell that tink

sooner we despatch the servic

le pages carrying great dishes wrapped in their tempting fumes, and with them he is about to enter the dining-hall. What ecstasy! Here stands the immense table, laden and dazzling with peacocks dressed in their feathers, pheasants spreading their bronzed wings, ruby-colored decanters, pyramids of luscious fruit amid the foliage, and those wonderful fish that Garrigou spoke of (Garrigou, forsooth!) r

hout skipping a line, or omitting a genuflection, and all went well to the end of the first Mass. For y

of relief; and without losing a second, he motioned h

ling! Ding

vidity of his over-excited brain. He kneels and rises frantically, barely sketches the sign of the cross and the genuflections, and shortens all of his gestures in order to get through sooner. He scarcely extends his arms at the Gospel, or strikes h

s-ps-

ulpa-

mash-tuns, they both splashed about in the Latin

!" says B

ears like the sleigh-bells that are put on stage-horses to hasten their spe

scarlet face, in a full perspiration; and without taking t

ling! Ding

impatience and greediness increases. His vision grows more and more vivid; the fish, the roasted turkeys, are there before him; he touches t

rry! Faste

on, then another, he skips one verse, then two; then the Epistle being very long, he omits part of it, skims over the Gospel, passes the Creed unnoticed, skips the Pater, hails the preface from afar, and thus with a skip and a jump plunges into eternal damnatio

e neither head nor tail, some stand while others kneel, some sit while others stand; and all the phases of this singular service are jumbled together along the bench

minute and fingers his Prayer-Book nervously. Still, at heart all these good people, whose minds are equally bent upon the Christmas supper, are not at all disturbed at the idea of following Mass at such breakneck speed; an