`` Yes , beloved sis . Oh , you need n't try to look as surprised as I did . And I ordered the turkey after all . Uncle James has invited himself here to dinner on Christmas Day . You 'll have a chance to show your culinary skill , for you know we 've always been told that Uncle James was a gourmand . '' Alexina read the letter in a maze . It was a brief epistle , stating that the writer wished to make the acquaintance of his niece and nephew , and would visit them on Christmas Day . That was all . But Alexina instantly saw a future of rosy possibilities . For Uncle James , who lived in the city and was really a great-uncle , had never taken the slightest notice of their family since his quarrel with their father twenty years ago ; but this looked as if Uncle James were disposed to hold out the olive branch . `` Oh , Stephen , if he likes you , and if he offers to educate you ! '' breathed Alexina . `` Perhaps he will if he is favourably impressed . But we 'll have to be so careful , he is so whimsical and odd , at least everybody has always said so . A little thing may turn the scale either way . Anyway , we must have a good dinner for him . I 'll have plum pudding and mince pie . '' For the next thirty-six hours Alexina lived in a whirl . There was so much to do . The little house was put in apple pie order from top to bottom , and Stephen was set to stoning raisins and chopping meat and beating eggs .
Alexina was perfectly reckless ; no matter how big a hole it made XXXXX their finances Uncle James must have a proper Christmas dinner .
For after at if in on since that to with