`` Oh , girls , girls , '' she said , with a little tremble in her voice , `` I can never thank you enough . It was so kind and sweet of you . You do n't know how much good you have done me . '' Breakfast was an unusually cheerful affair at No. 16 that morning . There was no skeleton at the feast and everybody was beaming . Miss Allen laughed and talked like a girl herself . `` Oh , how surprised I was ! '' she said . `` The roses were like a bit of summer , and those cats of Nellie 's were so funny and delightful . And your letter too , Jean ! I cried and laughed over it . I shall read it every day for a year . '' After breakfast everyone went to Christmas service . The girls went uptown to the church they attended . The city was very beautiful in the morning sunshine . There had been a white frost in the night and the tree-lined avenues and public squares seemed like glimpses of fairyland . `` How lovely the world is , '' said Jean . `` This is really the very happiest Christmas morning I have ever known , '' declared Nellie . `` I never felt so really Christmassy in my inmost soul before . '' `` I suppose , '' said Beth thoughtfully , `` that it is because we have discovered for ourselves the old truth that it is more blessed to give than to receive .
I 've always known it , XXXXX a way , but I never realized it before . ''
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