But the secret which most excited the young people was the deep mystery of certain proceedings at the Minot house.No one but Frank,Ralph,and Mamma knew what it was,and the two boys nearly drove the others distracted by the tantalizing way in which they hinted at joys to come,talked strangely about birds,went measuring round with foot-rules,and shut themselves up in the Boys Den,as a certain large room was called.This seemed to be the centre of operations,but beyond the fact of the promised tree no ray of light was permitted to pass the jealously guarded doors,Strange men with paste-pots and ladders went in,furniture was dragged about,and all sorts of boyish lumber was sent up garret and down cellar.Mrs.Minot was seen pondering over heaps of green stuff,hammering was heard,singular bundles were smuggled upstairs,flowering plants betrayed their presence by whiffs of fragrance when the door was opened,and Mrs.Pecq was caught smiling all by herself in a back bedroom,which usually was shut up in winter.
"They are going to have a play,after all,and that green stuff was the curtain,"said Molly Loo,as the girls talked it over one day,when they sat with their backs turned to one another,putting last stitches in certain bits of work which had to be concealed from all eyes,though it was found convenient to ask one another's taste as to the color,materials,and sizes of these mysterious articles.
"I think it is going to be a dance.I heard the boys doing their steps when I went in last evening to find out whether Jack liked blue or yellow best,so I could put the bow on his pen-wiper,"declared Merry,knitting briskly away at the last of the pair of pretty white bed-socks she was making for Jill right under her inquisitive little nose.
"They wouldn't have a party of that kind without Jack and me.It is only an extra nice tree,you see if it isn't,"answered Jill from behind the pillows which made a temporary screen to hide the toilet mats she was preparing for all her friends.
"Everyone of you is wrong,and you d better rest easy,for you won't find out the best part of it,try as you may."And Mrs.Pecq actually chuckled as she,too,worked away at some bits of muslin,with her back turned to the very unsocial-looking group.
"Well,I don't care,we ve got a secret all our own,and won't ever tell,will we?"cried Jill,falling back on the Home Missionary Society,though it was not yet begun.
"Never!"answered the girls,and all took great comfort in the idea that one mystery would not be cleared up,even at Christmas.
Jack gave up guessing,in despair,after he had suggested a new dining-room where he could eat with the family,a private school in which his lessons might go on with a tutor,or a theatre for the production of the farces in which he delighted.
"It is going to be used to keep something in that you are very fond of,"said Mamma,taking pity on him at last.
"Ducks?"asked Jack,with a half pleased,half puzzled air,not quite seeing where the water was to come from.
Frank exploded at the idea,and added to the mystification by saying,"There will be one little duck and one great donkey in it."Then,fearing he had told the secret,he ran off,quacking and braying derisively.
"It is to be used for creatures that I,too,am fond of,and you know neither donkeys nor ducks are favorities of mine,"said Mamma,with a demure expression,as she sat turning over old clothes for the bundles that always went to poor neighbors,with a little store of goodies,at this time of the year.
"I know!I know!It is to be a new ward for more sick folks,isn't it,now?"cried Jack,with what he thought a great proof of shrewdness.
"I don't see how I could attend to many more patients till this one is off my hands,"answered Mamma,with a queer smile,adding quickly,as if she too was afraid of letting the cat out of the bag:
"That reminds me of a Christmas I once spent among the hospitals and poor-houses of a great city with a good lady who,for thirty years,had made it her mission to see that these poor little souls had one merry day.We gave away two hundred dolls,several great boxes of candy and toys,besides gay pictures,and new clothes to orphan children,sick babies,and half-grown innocents.Ah,my boy,that was a day to remember all my life,to make me doubly grateful for my blessings,and very glad to serve the helpless and afflicted,as that dear woman did."The look and tone with which the last words were uttered effectually turned Jack's thoughts from the great secret,and started another small one,for he fell to planning what he would buy with his pocket-money to surprise the little Pats and Biddies who were to have no Christmas tree.