HAT Christmas Eve we were all seated cosily around the cheerful drawing-room fire; and, as my eldest brother was then on his way from Liverpool, where he was engaged in business, expressly to spend Christmas Day at home, we children had been graciously accorded permission to remain up and await his arrival. In the corner of the broad fireplace, reclining in her easy-chair, grandma looked smilingly from one young face to the other, evidently quite prepared for the demand made upon her on all such special occasions. Nor had she to wait very long; for scarcely had mamma looked at her watch and announced that Richard might be expected to knock his usual loud "rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat" at the door in just forty-five minutes punctually from that moment, when little Nellie turned to the white-haired old lady in the arm-chair and exclaimed, clapping her tiny hands: "Oh, grandma! Tell us a nice, pretty story."
"Yes, grandma, do!" we all chimed in.
"A lovely fairy tale," said Ethel, a young lady of nine summers.
"No, no, grandma," expostulated Master Ned, who was two years Ethel's senior; "let's have a ghost story—one that'll make our flesh creep."
"What rubbish!" said Ethel, contemptuously. "As it every sensible person doesn't know, nowadays, that there's no such thing as a ghost."
"Quite as many as there are fairies, anyhow," retorted Ned.
"Ah! but fairies are delightful," returned E hel, determined to have the last word of the dispute, "and ghosts are always, disagreeable."
"Well, well, children," said grandma, "we won't discuss the question. Fairies and ghosts both have their merits, no doubt, especially from the story-teller's point of view, and I should be sorry to say a single word against either. But, as tastes differ, I don't think it desirable to make any of you dissatisfied, so I shall avoid both goblins and fairies to-night, and tell you a story about a certain old lady of your acquaintance."
"A true, real old lady?" asked Edith, a quiet child of seven, who had not previously spoken.
"Yes, my love," replied grandma, smiling. "The old lady I mean is a very genuine
