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"Yes. She was beautiful, too, wasn't she?"
And as Betty assented, Lucia added, "Oh, Betty,
I'm learning things!"

Lucia did not explain, but Betty knew that
the sorrows of others meant more to Lucia than
they ever had meant before. There was "room"
in her heart, too! And to Betty the sordid
poverty of a city was new. They had always
"helped the poor" at home, but there were not
so many. The distress could be met. Here it
seemed endless Yet on this lovely night it
seemed that there was hope for every one in
the greatest of Gifts, of whom they had been
singing.

The girls grew gay with the Christmas joy as
they chatted with their friends. At the 'Y'
Lucia telephoned. Then they took a car to a
certain corner where the Murchison car would
meet them. Everything went as arranged and
Betty soon found herself in the midst of the
prettiest Christmas decoration she had known.
A lighted Christmas tree with the gayest of
colors stood outside under the stars, where a
little more snow was adding itself to the more
artificial burdens of the tree. Within were gay
holly and mistletoe and bright poinsettia plants
in bloom.

Mr. Murchison led both girls under the mistle-

 [[154]]