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                       THE DOCTOR'S CHRISTMAS EVE




                             [Illustration]

                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                      NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO
                        ATLANTA. SAN FRANCISCO

                        MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
                       LONDON. BOMBAY. CALCUTTA
                               MELBOURNE

                   THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
                                TORONTO




                       THE DOCTOR'S CHRISTMAS EVE


                _Secretum meum mihi_
                                       FRANCIS OF ASSISI


                                   BY
                            JAMES LANE ALLEN

           AUTHOR OF "THE BRIDE OF THE MISTLETOE," "THE CHOIR
                 INVISIBLE," "A SUMMER IN ARCADY," ETC.


                               =New York=
                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                                  1910
                         _All rights reserved_




                            COPYRIGHT, 1910,
                       BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
                               * * * * *
           Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1910.


                            =Norwood Press=
                 J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
                         Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.




                              TO THE SOWER




                                PREFACE


THIS work now published under the title of "The Doctor's Christmas Eve"
is the one earlier announced for publication under the title of "A Brood
of the Eagle."




    "The Doctor, Herbert and Elsie's father, our nearest neighbor,
    your closest friend now in middle life--do you ever tire of the
    Doctor and wish him away?"

    "The longer I know him, the more I like him, honor him, trust
    him."

                                     --_The Bride of the Mistletoe._




                                CONTENTS

                               PART FIRST

                                   I
                                                        PAGE
            THE CHILDREN OF DESIRE                         1

                                   II
            WHEN A SON FINDS OUT ABOUT HIS FATHER         32

                                  III
            THE BOOKS OF THE YEAR                         69

                                   IV
            THE BOOK OF THE YEARS                        107

                                   V
            EVERGREEN AND THORN TREE                     195


                              PART SECOND

                                   I
            TWO OTHER WINTER SNOWBIRDS AT A WINDOW       213

                                   II
            FOUR IN A CAGE                               233

                                  III
            THE REALM OF MIDNIGHT                        258

                                   IV
            TIME-SPIRIT AND ETERNAL SPIRIT               271

                                   V
            WHEN A FATHER FINDS OUT ABOUT A SON          285

                                   VI
            LIVING OUT THE YEARS                         297




                                 PART I




                       THE DOCTOR'S CHRISTMAS EVE


                                   I

                         THE CHILDREN OF DESIRE


THE morning of the twenty-fourth of December a quarter of a century ago
opened upon the vast plateau of central Kentucky as a brilliant but
bitter day--with a wind like the gales of March.

Out in a neighborhood of one of the wealthiest and most thickly settled
counties, toward the middle of the forenoon, two stumpy figures with
movements full of health and glee appeared on a hilltop of the tree