Six hundred
people were crowded into the room, more than half of them children.
Babies twisted and climbed on the laps of their radiant mothers, small
girls and boys everywhere were restless with excitement and
anticipation. Miss Toland only appeared at intervals, spending most of
the afternoon with a few chosen guests in the reception hall, but Julia
was everywhere at once. She wore a plain white linen gown, with a bit of
holly in her hair and on her breast, and whether she was marshalling
small girls into groups, stopping to admire a new baby, meeting the
confectioner's men and their immense freezers at the draughty side door,
talking shyly with the directors in Miss Toland's room, or consoling
some weeping infant in the hall, she was followed by admiring eyes.
At three o'clock the general restlessness visibly increased, and the air
in the hall, between steaming wet garments and perspiring humanity,
became almost insufferable. Julia experimentally opened a door and let
in a wet blast of air, but this was too drastic, and her eyes were
brought back from a wistful study of the high windows by a voice that
said:
"Merry Christmas! Give me a stick, and I'll do it for you!"
The girl found her hand in Doctor Studdiford's, and their eyes met.
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