The Newtown bee., 1904-01-15
Ten Pages
THE HOME CIRCLE.
A CHRISTMAS KISS.
MARY TRACEY EARLE IN THE NEW
 HAVEN SATURDAY CHRONICLE.
1850

everyone called him, was reading lav
 with Bernard Hollingsworth, whel Hollingsworth died. It was just befor' it's holiday sadly. MT Charlie wa. nearly heartbroken, for he was one O those shy, silent young fellows who love more assertive men, with the clinging devotion of woman, and art sometimes almost reverently loved by them in return. He was only 2l, anc SC slight and fair and timid, that he | looked much under 20, but his minC more than made up for what his bear | ing lacked in maturity, and he had been always so faithful and scrupu lOuSly honorable that people had faller into way of depending on him wher he was in pinafores and had kept in creasing their reliance ever since And so, when Bernard Hollingsworth < | will was read on Christmas day, it was not surprise to anyone in POntomac to find Charlie Schuyler named as ad. ministratOr of the embarrassed Hol. | lingsworth estate, and pathetically en. trusted with the care of Bernard's wife and four little girls. There were tears in nearly everyones eyes when the reading was finished, for Bernard had written the will during his last sick ness when his heart was aching for the future of the children. Part of it was like letter to Charles Schuyler, and in every word it showed that the love between them gave Bernard his only ease of mind. MT Char lie did not try to say anything but he clasped Mrs Hollingsworth's hand, and picked the little girls up one by one and kissed them tenderly. He had always been so shy that this was the first time he had kissed them in his life.
 In one way it was fortunate for MT Charlie that he was so young; it saved the Pontomac people from suggesting that he would soon fall in love with Mrs Hollingsworth, for, in spite of the smitten look which caught the heart of everyone who saw her, they would surely have suggested something of the sort if he had been an older or a different man. But MT Charlie had something of the same kind of i'm munity from gossip that a fortunate baby has in it's cradle, or an acknowl- edged saint finds in his grave; and so he took up his new duties without comment, and did them so we'll that everyone was satisfied but himself.
 There was one thing that troubled him; he was slow in overcoming his shyness with the children. He knew how their father used to rOmp with them, and sometimes when the younger ones made wistful advances, he gave himself utterly to efforts in playfulness; but they ended in blushes and the sense of failure, and he won- dered if there had ever been a time when he had not been too old to play. But the children understood him in their way, made their little allowances for him, and loved him dearly. They would not have been real children if they had not loved him, for he covered every deficiency with an abundance of gifts. He never brought the presents, but sent them in all sorts of uneX- pected ways, so that they seemed to fall from heaven in random showers all the year, while at Christmas there occurred real cloudburst of toys. It was useless for Mrs Hollingsworth to beg him to be less generous. He al- ways blushed and said it was nothing: and was so distressed at having her take him to task that she could only change her remonstrances into thanks and her thanks distressed him al most as much as blame.
 So matters went for the first few years and he was just beginning to feel at home in his new respOnsibili- ties, and absolutely at ease with the children, when a new difficulty arose. He found that they were spending all their time in growing from little girls after Dorothy was fifteen that he first noticed it. Dorothy was the oldest. She had been ten when her father died, and very small. Now she was begin ming to catch up with her years in height, and was almost as tai! as her mother. On Christmas afternoon he was in the habit of calling with good wishes for the family; he always shook hands with Mrs Hollingworth, and kissed the children little bit cere. moniously, for he remembered the be- ginning of it all and felt as if he were renewing his first VOW. This time having been away for few months, he was startled by Dorothy's height anC hesitated moment before kissing her
 The next year she was taller thar her mother, and he only offered her his hand, but she threw her arms about his neck and told him she was not yet too big to be counted with the chil
 dren He laughed, and trembled lit
 tie, and was very happy, seeing how they had all taken him into thei
 hearts, and seeing, too, that Doroth,
 had grown pretty and graceful as ;
 flower. And yet he was somewhat ap
 palled by the fact that before lonl
 there would be four young ladies to b. saluted every Christmas morning.
 Another year passed. Dorothy wa
 seventeen and had grown a trifle shy
 She was afraid that she had been child
 ish the year before, and SO she did no
 take the Christmas greeting into he } own hands. He saw her passive att
 tude, hesitated again for an instant
 and then kissed her, flushing over tn