280 
THE SNOW 
for us to taste. In despair at Mr. Hayden’s visit, 
she had proceeded to make the pies alone. 
“Mincemeat and a snowstorm,” Mr. Hayden 
exclaimed. “Nothing could be better,” and he 
settled down to tell the real object of his visit. 
He had decided, he said, not to leave Nestly 
Heights for town before January, and it therefore 
rested with him and with me to give every one a 
surprise for Christmas. “You remember,” he 
added, “that my boy Percy will be home the day 
before.” 
“It must be a secret,” Mr. Hayden said im- 
pressively, “between you and me. I will lure all 
the neighbours to Nestly Heights on Christmas eve, 
and then I shall come out of the chimney dressed 
as Santa Claus.” 
One of the rooms at Nestly Heights has a chim- 
ney so large that Mr. Hayden could be hidden in 
it behind some evergreen boughs. We planned 
that he should wear the fur coat he then had on, 
and that Mrs. Keith should find a white beard 
for him. I said that I would make him a large 
bag to hold some of the presents he had to give 
away. 
Then we talked for a long time about what he 
would give Miss Wiseman and Queenie and Mrs. 
Keith, whom he thought would be difficult to please. 
He told me that he already had something for Mrs. 
Hayden, and for some one else whom he knew. 
