Only Nanny , far back in the shadows of the firelit hall , swallowed a resentful sob , and wiped two bitter tears from her eyes with her little red hand . `` We 're not all here , '' she murmured under her breath . `` Miss Avis is n't here . Oh , how can they be so glad ? How can they have forgotten ? '' But nobody heard or heeded Nanny -- she was only the little orphan `` help '' girl at Ingleside . They were all very good to her , and they were all very fond of her , but at the times of family reunion Nanny was unconsciously counted out . There was no bond of blood to unite her to them , and she was left on the fringe of things . Nanny never resented this -- it was all a matter of course to her ; but on this Christmas Eve her heart was broken because she thought that nobody remembered Miss Avis . After supper they all gathered around the open fireplace of the hall , hung with its berries and evergreens in honour of the morrow . It was their unwritten law to form a fireside circle on Christmas Eve and tell each other what the year had brought them of good and ill , sorrow and joy . The circle was smaller by one than it had been the year before , but none spoke of that . There was a smile on every face and happiness in every voice . The father and mother sat in the centre , grey-haired and placid , their fine old faces written over with the history of gracious lives . Beside the mother , Doctor Fritz sat like a boy , on the floor , with his massive head , grey as his father 's , on her lap , and one of his smooth , muscular hands , that were as tender as a woman 's at the operating table , clasped in hers . Next to him sat sweet Nora , the twenty-year-old `` baby , '' who taught in a city school ; the rosy firelight gleamed lovingly over her girlish beauty of burnished brown hair , dreamy blue eyes , and soft , virginal curves of cheek and throat . Doctor Fritz 's spare arm was about her , but Nora 's own hands were clasped over her knee , and on one of them sparkled a diamond that had not been there at the last Christmas reunion . Laddie , who figured as Archibald only in the family Bible , sat close to the inglenook -- a handsome young fellow with a daring brow and rollicking eyes . On the other side sat Margaret , hand in hand with her father , a woman whose gracious sweetness of nature enveloped her as a garment ; and Robert 's two laughing boys filled up the circle , looking so much alike that it was hard to say which was Cecil and which was Sid . Margaret 's husband and Fritz 's wife were playing games with the children in the parlour , whence shrieks of merriment drifted out into the hall .
Nanny might have been XXXXX them had she chosen , but she preferred to sit alone in the darkest corner of the hall and gaze with jealous , unhappy eyes at the mirthful group about the fire , listening to their story and jest and laughter with unavailing protest in her heart .
After about around before into like of on under with