"Do you love them all?" he asked, smiling back at her happy face.
"Oh, indeed I do. Not exactly because they've given me all these pretty things, for I love the girls just as much in the summer time as at Christmas. But because they're my friends, and so,--I love them."
"Boys are your friends, too," suggested Kenneth.
"Of course they are!" Patty agreed; "and I love them, too. I guess I love everybody."
"Rather a big order," said Roger, coming up just then. "Loving everybody, you can't give a very large portion to each one."
"No," said Patty, pretending to look downcast. "Now, isn't that _too_ bad! Well, never mind, I've plenty of gratitude to go round, anyway. And I offer you a big share of that, Roger, for this silver box."
"Do you like it? Oh, please like it, Patty."
"Of course I do; it's exquisite workmanship, and I shall use it for,--well, it seems most too prosaic,--but it's exactly the right shape and size for hairpins!"
"Then use it for 'em! Why not?" cried Roger, evidently pleased that Patty could find a use for his gift.
"And see what Ken gave me," went on Patty, as she held up a small crystal ball. "I've long wanted a crystal, and this is a beauty."
"What's it for?" asked Roger, curiously; "it looks like a marble."
"Marble, indeed! Why, Roger, it's a crystal, a Japanese rock crystal."
"No, ignorant one! 'Tis not glass, but a curio of rare and occult value. In it I read the future, the past, and the present."
"Yes, it is a present, I know," said Roger, and in the laugh at this sally the subject was dropped, but Roger secretly vowed to look up the subject of crystals and find out why Patty was so pleased with a marble.
"Elise is simply snowed under," said Kenneth, as they heard rapturous exclamations from the other side of the room, where Elise was examining her gifts.
"Think of it!" cried Patty; "she had everything a girl could possibly want yesterday, and now to-day she has a few bushels more!"
It was literally true. Getting free, somehow, of her own impedimenta, Patty ran over to see Elise's things.
"You look like a fancy bazaar gone to smash," she declared, as she saw Elise in the midst of her Christmas portion.
"I feel like an International Exhibition," returned Elise. "I've gifts from all parts of the known world!"